Hello! It's Carly writing on the demise of school libraries!
I have a daughter
in 4th grade here in San Diego and she only gets to see her school
library twice a month for a few minutes. Everywhere, school districts are
cutting school librarian positions and limiting library hours. This graph is
from the Oregon Department of Information and shows the disappearing numbers of
school librarians.
I decided
to use my Palomar College access to look for useful articles relating to the demise of school libraries within the Library, Information Science, &
Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database. There were three articles that
immediately grabbed my attention and I thought I would share them with you.
o
Abstract: The
article focuses on research that aims to examine the practices of school
librarians to know their impact on stakeholder perceptions. It mentions that
the research was guided by the question of the advocacy strategies that were
effective in changing the perception of the school library program among
stakeholders. A chart is presented depicting the characteristics of participants.
o
Abstract: The
author presents his thoughts on what he considers the important role of school
libraries in students' academic achievement. He discusses the focus of school
libraries on active learning, innovative technology, and critical thinking. To
increase support for school libraries, he calls for a meeting of school
district representatives, students, and academic librarians.
·
o Abstract: Discusses
the impact of budget cuts, layoffs, reduced hours and closures on school and
public libraries in the U.S. Implication of the layoff of media specialists for
students; Reason for the layoff of library positions at Detroit Public Schools
in Michigan; Effect of the budget proposal of Mayor William Johnson for the
Rochester Public Library and Monroe County Library System in New York State. Debra Lau Whelan is the author.
My main
takeaway from these articles is that while the disappearance of school
librarians is widespread, it is truly unfortunate and our students will be the
ones that suffer for it. Libraries in schools help to level the playing field among different socioeconomic groups and offer opportunities to find new books to children whose parents work a lot or do not have as much time to invest in their children's educations. I am heartened to see that many of these types of articles include actions that can and have been taken, such as calling for the meeting of school representatives, students, politicians, teachers, and librarians.
It's unfortunate that funding seems so difficult to secure for so many school libraries. I don't think it's fair that budgets must constantly shrink or become eliminated for other things. I am hoping that with advocacy, we will see a shift and reversal of the dwindling school libraries.
Carly Janine Gutierrez
4/26/20
Works Cited
Burns, E. A. (2018). Advocating for Change in School Library
Perceptions. Teacher Librarian, 46(1), 8–14.
Neal, J. (2018). Fight for School Libraries: Student success
depends on them. American Libraries, 49(3/4), 4.
Whelan, D. L. (2004). Library Cuts Still Run Deep. School
Library Journal, 50(7), 15–16.
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