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The Demise of School Libraries by Emilce Sirkin

 

The Demise of School Libraries

 by Emilce Sirkin


The disastrous financial crash of 2008 not only affected many Americans who lost their 
jobs, housing, and retirement savings, but also their children’s education was affected. Adam Rowe highlights in his article U.S. Public Schools Have Lost Nearly 20% of Their Librarians Since 2000 that “between 1999-2000 and 2015-16, U.S. public schools lost 19% of full-time equivalent school librarians” and he also states that “The shortage in public school librarian employment – which saw the most dramatic drop following the Great Recession of 2008 and hasn’t recovered since— has hit districts serving minorities the hardest.” In fact, there are several studies which associate children academic success with school libraries. For example, reading progress tends to be low in those children who are attending educational institutions that don’t have school libraries services. Moreover, librarians help students to develop critical thinking, research, and technology skills.

Along the same line, the former president of American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Kathryn Roots Lewis (2018-2019) acknowledges that “School librarians across our country make a profound difference in the lives of learners by empowering them to explore ideas, craft compelling questions, find information, ​inquire, ​​tinker, invent, create new knowledge, think deeply, and read voraciously.” Indeed, there is a genuine necessity for school libraries in order to achieve students’ academic success; however, the main reasons for the demise of school libraries appear to be budget cuts and disregarding their value.

As a future librarian technician, I believe that the value of the school libraries needs to be reinstated, supported, and promoted. These institutions improve children’s literacy, numeracy, and technology proficiency. If you side with the statements above, you can advocate and take action to support school libraries by signing this petition from the website Save School Librarians.

 References

"Kathryn Roots Lewis elected 2018-2019 AASL President", American Library Association, April 12, 2017. http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2017/04/kathryn-roots-lewis-elected-2018-2019-aasl-president Accessed 4 April 2021.

Rowe, Adam. “U.S. Public Schools Have Lost Nearly 20% Of Their Librarians Since 2000.” Forbes, 18 May 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2018/05/21/u-s-public-schools-have-lost-20-of-their-librarians-since-2000/?sh=4b91956d5ce5. Accessed 4 April 2021. 


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