Presentation at 39th International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) Conference | Brisbane QLD Australia | 27 September – 1 October 2010.

1. Measuring Malaysia School
Resource Centers’ Standards
Through iQ-PSS, An Online
Management Information System
FADZLIATON ZAINUDIN
&
KAMARULZAMAN ISMAIL
Educational Technology Division
Ministry of Education, Malaysia
39th International Association of School
Librarianship (IASL) Conference
Brisbane QLD Australia
27 September – 1 October 2010.

2. Introduction
School Resource Centers in Malaysia
iQ-PSS as KPIs
Findings
Recommendations
Conclusion
Outline

3. No. of Schools
Primary Secondary Total
7,685 2,237 9,922
Enrolment 3.06 mil 2.33 mil 5.39 mil
No. of
Teachers
M 64,958 51,978 116,936
F 141,894 101,965 243,859
Educational Expenditure RM 2.5 bil
Schools in Malaysia

4. 2001 - 2010
2011
Standard Primary
School Curriculum
(KSSR)
1983
New Primary School
Curriculum
(KBSR)
School Libraries
became School
Resource Centers
1991 - 2000 2011 - 20201981 - 19901970 – 1980
Development of Education
1987
New Secondary
School Curriculum
(KBSM)
1988
Formation of ETD and
network
1993
Integrated Primary
School Curriculum
(KBSR)
1997
Introduction of
Smart School
ETD as lead
agency
Quality teaching-learning processes = optimizing on the use
of a variety of educational resources and teaching methods

5. Educational
Technology Division
(ETD)
Ministry of Education
15
State Educational
Technology Divisions
(STEDs)
367
Teacher Activity
Centers (TACs)
9,922
School Resource
Centers (SRCs)
Educational Technology
Division and its network

6. School Resource Centers
in Malaysia
Primary, 7685,
77%
Secondary, 2237,
23%

7. Indeks Kualiti Pusat Sumber Sekolah
(School Resource Center Quality Index)
1
2
3
Introduced in July 2009
A tool to measure the quality or performance
of SRC
What is iQ-PSS?
(http://btp.tarantula.my)

8. iQ-PSS Main Focus
Criterias
Pysical
facilities
(15%)
Management
(15%)
Usage (40%)
NILAM
Reading
program
(20%)
Improvement
Programs
(10%)

9. Process-based quality management system

10. iQ-PSS as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs as quantifiable metrics that reflect the performance of an
organization in achieving its goals and objectives.
Characteristics
• KPIs reflect strategic value drivers to achieve organizational
goals
• KPIs are quantifiable based on valid data and standards
• KPIs lead to positive actions and key to organizational
success

11. iQ-PSS Features
• The system is built based on the open-source technology
• It can cater unlimited users
• The system can be accessed simultaneously
• The system is based on web-technology
• The system has high level of security features
• Data entry processing is done by TLs online instead of filling
out the instrument manually.
• STEDs and TACs officers can monitor the data entered by
TLs and update the data if there is a need. They can also
give suggestions and comments on SRCs under their
administration

12. iQ-PSS Features (cont…)
• STEDs and TACs officers can observe the data of all schools
under their administration
• At the headquarters, ETD can use the information from iQ-
PSS to decide on SRCs strategic planning and future
directions
• iQ-PSS can be used to transform data into information
useful for decision making. It can provide performance
reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and
implementation of strategy.
• iQ-PSS provides a valuable time saving benefit to the
workforce of ETD and its network. Where in the past
information on SRCs had to be manually processed for filing
and analysis, it can now be entered quickly and easily
online, allowing for faster decision making and quicker
reflexes for the ETD as a whole.

13. Scope of iQ-PSS
iQ-PSS involves the following entities:
• All schools in Malaysia
• 367 Teacher Activity Centers
• 15 State Educational Technology Divisions
• Educational Resources Management Sector
• Educational Technology Division

14. Workflow of iQ-PSS

15. Findings
iQ-PSS Status No. of SRCs
1. TLs’ Action Required 2604
2. Updating School Profile
by TLs
259
3. Self-evaluation by TLs 722
6. Endorsed iQ-PSS 6258
Total 9843
Overall Status

16. Findings
Status At
State
Level
iQ-PSS Status
STEDs
No. of
SRCs
1.
TLs’ Action
Required
2.
Updating
Info by TLs
3.
Self-
evaluation
6.
Endorsed
iQ-PSS
Johor 1129 252 47 88 742
Kedah 700 700
Kelantan 551 19 32 63 437
Melaka 304 304
Negeri Sembilan 458 156 14 59 229
Pahang 707 13 8 13 673
Perak 1083 431 124 528
Perlis 101 5 4 92
Pulau Pinang 392 392
Sabah 1271 839 83 109 240
Sarawak 1440 630 34 139 637
Selangor 907 123 8 29 747
Terengganu 481 72 27 62 320
WP Kuala Lumpur 293 64 6 32 191
WP Labuan 26 26
Total 9843 2604 259 722 6258

17. Findings
SRCs & Locations
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Primary
Secondary
Urban 1295 739
Rural 6357 1452
Primary Secondary

18. Findings
SRC Infrastructure
Modified rooms
40%
Not mentioned
2%
Specially designed
rooms
42%
Modified buildings
8%
Specially designed
buildings
8%

19. Findings
SRC Rating
214
799
1135
2015
2095
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

20. Findings
SRC Rating Based
on Categories
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
A
B
C
D
E
5-star 4-star 3-star 2-star 1-star
A - Physical, equipment and materials facilities (15%)
B - SRC Management (15%)
C- SRC Usage (40%)
D - Management of NILAM Reading program (20%)
E - SRC Improvement Programs (10%)

21. Findings
Library Automation
7959, 99%
120, 1%

22. Findings
Book Collection
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Primary
Rural Primary
Urban Primary
Secondary
Rural Secondary
Urban Secondary
Target Achived Target Not Achieved

23. Findings
Teacher-Librarians’ Competencies
5917
1246
131
70
61
32
2026
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Basic
Intermediate
3-month Course
1-year Course
Bachelor
Master
No Course

24. Findings
Teacher-Librarians’ Experiences
1783
1801
1602
2893
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
> 16 years
11 - 15 years
6 - 10 years
0 - 5 years

25. Findings
Teacher-Librarians’ Grades
34
626
2286
15
2836
1897
385
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
DG48
DG44
DG41
DGA 34
DGA 32
DGA 29
Not mentioned

26. Findings
Teacher-Librarians’ Workloads
3284
1756
2402
439
198
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
> 20 periods
16 - 20 periods
9 - 15 periods
6 - 8 periods
< 6 periods

27. Findings
Teacher-Librarians’ Appointments
Appointed by the
school heads,
4678, 58%
Appointed by the
State Education
Depts, 3401, 42%

28. Recommendations
• TLs should be honest in giving the information on their respective SRCs.
• School administrators should support their respective TLs as these teachers
are the main players for the enculturation of ICT through the Smart School
concept and, the inculcation of reading habits and life-long learning.
• At the district level, TAC officers should monitor and assist the progress of
iQ-PSS implementation.
• At the state level, STED officers should coordinate the implementation of iQ-
PSS with the TAC officers. They should monitor and evaluate the
performance of SRCs and give appropriate supports in the programs and
activities.
• ETD as the headquarters should ensure that the information highway runs
smoothly by providing access to the Internet to all schools 24x7and lay a
strong foundation in ICT infrastructure. The information from iQ-PSS should
be reported to the top-level officers and used to propose preventive and
corrective actions to ensure continuous improvement of SRCs

29. Conclusion
iQ-PSS, first introduced in July 2009,
is a tool to monitor and coordinate
the development of the School
Resource Centers throughout
Malaysia. Using ICT as an enabler
and open-source technology as cost-
optimizer, iQ-PSS has successfully
achieved a new terrain in supporting
effective delivery of public services,
mainly in education.
With this systematic monitoring, it is hoped that any decision relating to the
development of SRCs can be made accurately and meet the needs of users.

30. Conclusion (cont…)
Even though there are several hiccups in the implementation of all
initiatives such as ICT knowledge and readiness among TLs, commitment
of administrators of all levels and financial factors, the embodiment of the
spirit to change is there.
It just needs a spark to ignite the fire of transformation as Malaysia is fast
approaching 2020. Smart School concept, world-class education system
and Vision 2020 can be achieved not by being rhetoric but they need
shared vision, flexible organization of implementers at ground level, well-
defined deliverables, performance-based management, continuous
improvement and customer satisfaction which act as puzzle pieces of
quality management standards.

31. Moving Forward
iQ-PSS has opened up new horizon in embracing the School Resource
Centers of the future. By applying the same concept as iQ-PSS, SRCs can
be linked together all over the country, and their educational resources can
be explored, accessed and shared among teachers and students, anytime
anywhere, ubiquitously.
At the moment, the ETD is implementing new initiatives based on the same
framework:
 i-NILAM, an online student-reading activity databases
 ps-Sentral, an online library automation
 online educational resources portal
 online newspaper archive (education articles)
 online Dewey classification system both in Malay and English languages

32. ICT Initiatives -
Integrated
Educational
Resources
Management