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Schools begin to see libraries as budgetary ‘luxury’
June 28, 2010 | 2:59 pm
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By Chris Meadows
And speaking of school libraries, NPR reported a few days ago that they are increasingly becoming seen as a luxury where school budgets are concerned. Since there are few laws mandating that schools must have libraries, they are beginning to go by the wayside as budgets dwindle.
But librarians do far more than just check out books. They help students with research and information technology, such as the Internet—or even e-books. Students, especially those from low-income families may not have access to the resources they need to do their schoolwork at home.
[Rosemarie Bernier, president of the California School Library Association and librarian at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles,] spoke of a student with a first period English class who came to her in tears because she didn’t have enough time to transfer and reformat the essay she had written on her cell phone. Since she doesn’t have a computer at home, the student’s cell phone is her only hope of completing assignments that need to be typed.
But increasingly, school libraries are being closed, or being staffed with people who only know how to check out books. This is especially worrying given how much more important Internet literacy is becoming as the world becomes ever more computerized.
One of the core principles behind the “Teleread” philosophy expressed by our founder, David Rothman, was the importance of using information technology to further education. But information technology by itself falls short without people who can help kids learn how to use it.
Thanks to the One Laptop Per Child program, kids in poorer parts of the world that had teachers are beginning to get the technology. How ironic it would be if kids in the USA keep the technology but lose the librarians who teach them how to use it.
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I admit that I do not know how high schools and below are accredited, but at least at the college level, libraries are part of the accreditation requirements. Perhaps the time has come to offer accreditation to high schools as a way to enhance their scholastic reputations.
Hi, Chris. Just to be clear, I’ve written here in the past of the importance of school librarians. My TheAtlantic.com piece in Jim Fallows’ blog (URL below) calls for more efforts to help librarians and teachers adjust to the Net. If anything, society needs more school librarians to help students find and evaluate information. I love Rich’s idea of in effect requiring high schools to have qualified librarians. Same for elementary schools.
Thanks,
David
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/06/guest-post-david-rothman-on-the-ipad-stimulus-plan/58539/
While it may be lamentable that schools are closing their own private libraries, I don’t think it’s really a problem. Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense, financially and logistically, for students to use the public library? It might not be as convenient, but…
It seems to me like a lot of unnecessary duplication of under-used services to maintain multiple smaller libraries. Bloggers like yourself often lament the potential decline of public libraries, for all the same reasons as this article laments the decline of high school libraries. There’s no good reason these resources can’t be pooled, especially since both are funded by the public to a large extent.
Whenever I did research for reports and such in high school, I rarely used my high school library because it was smaller and inferior to the public library. The thing I liked most about the library in high school is that we could go there during study hall, and the librarian would let us talk (quietly), which wasn’t allowed in normal study hall.
But, Ben, many public libraries are already stretched thin and are cutting back hours. Also, I want to see students receive individual attention to help them master research techniques. Public librarians are often busy on other matters such as helping with job hunts or locating health-related advice. The other thing is that even small school libraries can be useful for such activities as convenient recreational reading, which can help spark an interest in other kinds. I do agree with you that public libraries have more specialized materials for research purposes, but what good will that be if the students lack the basic skills to use them? Finally, I can recall studies linking school librarians with better student test scores, and I suspect there may actually be cause-effect here.
David
I can’t disagree that public libraries also are stretched thin. I’d hope that if schools lose their libraries, that might free up more money for public libraries. (of course, pessimistically, that’s unlikely to happen.)
Public librarians may be busy, but perhaps they are busy with things they shouldn’t be, if they are indeed doing things like aiding in job searches. That’s superfluous to a library, especially if they are stretched thinly, and there are likely other government services (good or bad) to address employment issues. Even if you interpret a library’s function broadly as “information services” (which I would concur with), I’d consider job searches at the edge of that domain.
I’d suggest that numerous school libraries be dissolved, their resources (including most of their trained staff) be pooled into the public library system, and then librarians can make visits to schools in order to teach research methods. Some of that burden should also rest on the teachers requiring their students to do research.
In terms of recreational reading, I’d suppose this is where ebooks could really shine. Students wouldn’t need to visit the actual library to borrow ebooks through their local library system, and theoretically could have instant access to far more titles than would be available in a school library. Certainly high school students are capable of using a computer to find recreational books. I’d bet that most of the time they hear about books from their friends, blogs, or TV more than from browsing the shelves. The public library is simply a conduit for students to get ebooks without having to purchase them. I could even see big players like Amazon setting up some kind of subscription service for schools where the school pays a yearly fee, and students get access to titles for a “borrowing period” (similarly to how OverDrive works).
I agree that it’s nice for each school to have a library and skilled librarians at its fingertips, but local governments have ever-smaller budgets to work with. I’d hate to see other valuable school spending impacted because a municipality’s library resources (public and school) are uncoordinated and mismanaged. Duplication of library services for the ‘public’ and the ‘school’, which are practically the same group of people, must incur some unnecessary expense. I’d only like to see this streamlined into a more efficient system where, hopefully, libraries actually benefit.
Let’s get this straight, Ben. You really think most jurisdictions can and will just transfer the money from the shut-down school libraries to the public ones? And that it won’t be a burden on the kids and the parents to deal with the new locations of the pooled services? And that the current E collections are as big as the paper ones? It would be great for everything to be conveniently virtual, but that’s just not reality today. Even you concede that the transfers of the money won’t necessarily happen. Do you really want to gamble so casually with the kids’ academic futures?
As for the suggested Amazon service, the current inventory is hardly as complete as it should be, and beyond that, I’d prefer that librarians rather than corporate executives be in charge.
You also wondered about the appropriateness of libraries for job hunting. Where else will the hunters go for detailed info not just on individual companies but on industries, etc.? Furthermore, how about older people, the poor and others uncomfortable with computers? Better to have human assistance, and speaking of the advantages of aggregation, librarians are already providing the services. Meanwhile other parts of government, especially the employment related ones, are busy with their own missions.
I’m all in favor of reforms and new efficiencies, but killing off school libraries would be be a bad move, especially if you remember the connection between these services and higher test scores.
Thanks,
David
Having been on both sides of this discussion, I would like to add my thoughts. I began my Library career as a school librarian, first in a middle school and then a high school. I then moved to public libraries where I still am today.
School librarians are necessary, they provide more personal assistance than a public librarian can. As a school librarian, I was able to assist the children with homework, etc, but I could also help them dream of doing something with their lives – showing them that nothing was impossible. I know this sounds corny, but it is true. Helping the kids learn library etiquette so they can use the public library resourses more efficiently is very important and goes a long way to improve the self-esteem of kids. Also a school librarian is trained for interacting with kids and can notice learning and behavior problems much earlier.
In the public library, not only do I have children to assist, but there are the elderly, the homeless, families, new English speakers, the undereducated and the substance abusers. I have to be able to help everyone at least a little and that does not leave much time to give children the individual attention that a school librarian can. The idea that local governments will reallocate funds from schools to public libraries is laughable. We have been taking cuts in $s and staff for years; any money has departments with higher prioriy that the library getting it first. Forcing schools to use the public library as their only school library is lowering the already low standard of education. If we want good citizens in the future, we have to begin now with good teachers, school librarians and public librarians. Informed citizens, good politicans, good government does not appear from dust, it takes cultivation to have a bumper crop.
Stellar note, Barbara–I couldn’t agree more. From afar, thanks not just for your insights but also for your obvious dedication. I hope others will spread around your first-hand observations. – David
David, thanks for the spam, we all appreciate it.