The Demise of School Libraries . . . or Not!

Hello all, Vivian Sanchez here! When I think about school libraries I think back when I was in elementary school, at the beginning of the year, we made the first visit to the library. Oh, happy days for me. It’s a special place for little kids who have inquisitive minds embarking on the new excitement of learning to read and explore. How could anyone think about closing or eliminating the school library?

Well as the adults know, in most cases, money is a core issue. I reviewed several articles and studies that were done over a decade ago, and they discuss the trends of funding. In this one study by the American Association of School Librarians, School Libraries Count!, you can see that funding increased and decreased every other year from 2008 to 2012.

http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/advocacy/research/docs/AASL-SLC-2012-WEB.pdf

Did they eliminate school libraries all together? No. In my opinion, they never will. Budgets go up and down. Will this budget trend continue? Yes, it will, however, in our current time, school libraries are more essential now than ever. As Stephanie Rosalia states in this YouTube video, she is a “multi-faceted information specialist who will guide students through the flood of digital information”.

https://youtu.be/idjmD04IpDI

In general, I used to hear people say libraries were going to go away altogether. Again this was a decade or so ago. I came across an article done by the Pew Research Center (2016) which shows millennials are the ones most likely to use a library to find trustworthy and reliable information.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/30/most-americans-especially-millennials-say-libraries-can-help-them-find-reliable-trustworthy-information/

With the new technology and the vast amounts of information available, school librarians are now the information superheroes or "Super Librarians". 

According to the key findings in a compendium, School Libraries Work! (2016) from the National Center for Literacy Education, along with the School Library Journal’s (SLJ) who did a national analysis of the relationship between librarian staffing and the National Assessments of Educational Progress (NAEP) fourth-grade reading scores; they have a plan or what they call a “road map." The graphic below shows the framework for bringing the “Place, Professional, and Program” together for student success. Technology is now a big benefit to school libraries. Maintaining professional training and providing a road map for a successful program is a win-win in my book. No pun intended. 😃

Scholastic, Inc. (2015) School Libraries Work!  A Compendium of Research Supporting the Effectiveness of School Libraries (2016 Edition).

Having a plan is a good thing. The budget, well . . . that’s always a work in progress.