Earlier I posted about the dramatic decline in the number of librarians in the Philadelphia public schools: only 8 librarians in 220 schools!
This librarian replied:
Thank you for bringing attention to this sad trend in education, Diane. School librarians in Indiana are also becoming extinct. Indiana school guidelines only require one licensed school librarian per district. This means in lean times the librarian is the first to get cut. As a result, many Indiana school districts only have one high school librarian.
While it is true that high school students do more research and definitely need a librarian, I could argue that librarians are almost MORE important in the lower grades. Elementary school librarians are crucial in helping to develop a love of reading in children through story times and activities. They have extensive training on selecting and maintaining a quality library collection and as licensed teachers, they educate both student and staff on the effective use of these collections. Studies indicate that younger students (and many older ones as well) need to cut back on screen time. Therefore, it is important that schools continue to have physical books available.
As students move into middle school and wish to use alternatives, they will know that they can turn to their librarian for instruction on how to find and use digital resources. Elementary and middle school librarians are crucial in teaching our children the information literacy skills they will need to become well-informed adults. They teach our youth how to responsibly use the power of the Internet and navigate the massive amount of information that’s on it. They are on the front lines when it comes to battling the current “fake news” epidemic. If anything, we need school librarians now more than ever!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for all the coverage of school libraries! We have just won a nod to bring back our middle school librarians in Los Angeles – but it is never a sure thing. A constant struggle…
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I can still hear Dr. Russell G. Stauffer, father of the Language-Experience Approach to the teaching of reading, say this: “The library is the mecca towards which each child should turn to daily.” This dear and brilliant man would be spinning in his grave if he knew what was happening to our schools today.
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“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” Albert Einstein
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Librarians and libraries were the most important part of my education. We are lucky to have great public libraries in my community that my children love. Every child should have access to a good library. Period.
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Not only are elementary school librarians crucial to the development of a love of reading but they are vital to the development of the love of learning. It is so cool to locate just the right resources for young students who ask about a topic and watch them pore over everything that can be provided. Self directed learning with a little support from the librarian –
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A library ideally needs to be at the center – bringing it all together wherever possible. Education in general would be better if every building had a vibrant library at its center pumping out interest and excitement. Every school like every cell needs a nucleus; K-post graduate. In elementary libraries NO COMPUTERS – I was most impressed by the library at the Eric Carl Museum in Mass. Introduce computers in MS. Elementary schools need to place emphasis on learning by hand – handwriting, and connect it to graceful body motions in gym. Knitting (life long knitting) as preparation for things like coding – other hands on activities strongly supported / initiated by the elementary library. HS, take a look at our library in Tenafly. http://www.librarymedia.net/ with some ideas taken from the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.
Districts would be well advised to support unique school libraries generously –
David Di Gregorio
Supervisor of Library Media Services
Tenafly School District
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What she said.
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Sad days.
I was thinking a few minutes ago about “counterfactual history”. You know, what if the South had won the U.S. Civil War? What if the U.S. never got into World War II? etc… etc…
Seems like we’re now living in our own real life, counterfactual history come true. Schools with empty, desolate libraries, millions of citizens seemingly hypnotized in the glow of small, electronic devices, entranced by fake news and infotainment while President Trump rules from high atop a gaudy Fifth Avenue tower. What if the vulgarians won? Well, here we are…..
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It’s “The Hunger Games”. I’m waiting for the lotteries to begin. The next few years will be very scary.
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A good library is one of the most democratizing institutions a community can invest in. If we want turn students into competent, skilled readers, we need libraries and librarians. The internet is a great tool. However, to create readers that think and feel, we need access to literature. Here’s a quote from Stephen Krashen on the value of recreational reading.
“There is massive evidence that self-selected reading, or reading what you want to read, is responsible for most of our literacy development. Readers have better reading ability, know more vocabulary, write better, spell better, and have better control of complex grammatical constructions. In fact, it is impossible to develop high levels of literacy without being a dedicated reader, and dedicated readers rarely have serious problems in reading and writing.”
― Stephen D. Krashen
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Some people argue that the teacher has books in the classroom so the schools can do away with libraries, but the LMC has the depth and breadth of book choices (and I’m talking good books which will interest the kids not some Common Core prefab crap written to support “the curriculum” which some of the publishing companies are trying to pawn off as literature) which can stimulate the love of reading in a child (even those reluctant to pick up a book).
A school librarian who knows books and children’s interests is also a huge plus.
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Gotta love that Stephen D Krashen!
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“There is massive evidence that self-selected reading, or reading what you want to read, is responsible for most of our literacy development. Readers have better reading ability, know more vocabulary, write better, spell better, and have better control of complex grammatical constructions. In fact, it is impossible to develop high levels of literacy without being a dedicated reader, and dedicated readers rarely have serious problems in reading and writing.” –Stephen D. Krashen
When I listen to Donald Trump blather I often think about his limited vocabulary. Clearly he is not a reader.
I was tutoring a fourth grade student today and came across a word that was new to me, “ductile”. The reading selection was about gold. The word means able to be drawn out into a thin wire.
This is what I used to stress to my parents: a great deal of our vocabulary comes from what we read. I read in bed and there is a dictionary on my bed at the ready.
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