Greek Primary School Teachers Dream of the Ideal School Library

School libraries developed during the 20th century. Because of the great technological and cultural strides made especially in the west, the term "school library " has taken on a new and wider meaning, and does not simply denote a place used for filing and storing books. The development of contemporary school libraries keeps abreast with introducing new, radically different views about educational systems and the relationship between teachers and pupils. The influence and importance of libraries for young people has been extensively discussed, from public figures like Franklin Roosevelt, who remarked that, "after the church and the school, the library has the most positive effect on young people " (Big Pedagogic Encyclopaedia 1968), to scholars such as Stathopoulos (1960), who wrote that "the library is rendered essential for every intellectual institution, it is really essential and necessary for the primary school, since it constitutes a big and rare treasure, " and who quotes Jean Mace as saying that the "supplement of the primary school is the constitution of libraries. The first one is the key but the second one is the residence. " Haralampopoulos (1963) states that that "the library is a basic element that leads to the education and to the spiritual culture of students. " Nevertheless, even in the late 20th century, the school library is still sometimes a metal cupboard with books, locked in the office of the school director, seldom updated. It may also coexist with an audiovisual centre, a collection films