The Demise of School Libraries: What Libraries are doing to stay away from Demise by Keli Ingrande

As a mother of three children, hearing the word demise and school libraries in one sentence is pretty frightening. I want what is best for my children and I am glad my children’s school does encourage use of their School Library. I wanted to focus on what School librarians and the AASL are trying to do to keep the demise away.  Below I posted a video that showcases the importance of School Libraries

Over the years, School Libraries have been through quite an ordeal with limited staff, budget cuts, and emerging digital challenges(Mantel 625) . It really does sound like demise but school libraries along with the AASL keep on fighting to stay current and relevant by embracing new technologies and resources.

Some ideas I saw in Librarians on the Loose was to “break the virtual wall” and start reaching out to the children in the form of web communication.  A majority of children are digitally connected and it really does sound like a great idea to get the children excited about the library. The Author mentions an idea of videos linked with QR codes that are inside the physical books that the kids can access by just scanning with their mobile device. (Lawrence 67) Keeping the kids excited and excelling in growth and learning helps the School library remain a vital part of the school community (Lawrence 70)

The American Association of School Librarians is promoting a Parent Advocate Toolkit to rally parents to get involved with their children’s school library and to keep promoting their School Library’s importance. They even provide examples of questions parents or others may ask. Along with a few other toolkits, I saw they  provide a Toolkit for School Library Media Programs to help Librarians boost their library's programs

The Month of April is School Library Month, with all of the terrible news regarding COVID-19 and the schools adjusting to distance learning they provided graphics still promoting the importance of School Libraries.

In statewide studies, they show that strong libraries equal “stronger academic learning and lifelong learning” as per the Infographic Resources on the AAL site.

It’s important that Libraries, Parents and Librarians keep promoting the importance of School Libraries to discourage any more talk of their demise.

Works Cited

Capstone Publishers. “School Libraries Matter: The Changing Role of the School Librarian”. Online video Clip. Youtube, 22 Oct. 2014, https://youtu.be/6eilZJp3_h8

Lawrence, Ellen. “Librarians on the Loose: Breaking out of the Library to Create a Culture of Literacy.” Knowledge Quest, vol. 42, no. 4, Jan. 2014, pp. 64–70. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1041599&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Mantel, Barbara. "Future of Libraries." CQ Researcher, 29 July 2011, pp. 625-52, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2011072900.

"Parent Advocate Toolkit", American Library Association, August 14, 2009. http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/tools/toolkits/parent-advocate (Accessed April 30, 2020) Document ID: a368a521-17d6-4484-8988-7d26235b7fee

“Resources”, American Library Association, April 2, 2013.

http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/resources (Accessed April 30, 2020) Document ID: d3f5acf0-28ed-7144-612e-4fae58e97ccd