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The State of School Libraries --- by Patty Hiebert

 


According to the American Association of Libraries (ALA), there is a positive correlation between the number of certified librarians in a school and higher test scores among students, yet we see a trend: fewer librarians, lower funding, and higher students per librarian ratios (ALA, “State of America’s Libraries 2020”). How can schools support student success if libraries are taken out of the equation?

Case and point: In California, the 2000-2001 academic school year reported ratios of one librarian to 4,306 students (1:4,306) as compared to 2014-2015 when the number of students per librarian increased to 7,187 – that’s about a 67% increase (“State of America’s Libraries 2020”). Another 2016 report published by PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) compares California to the U.S. average: California with one librarian to 32,216 student ratio as compared to the U.S average of one librarian to 1,178 students (edpolicyinca.org). Funding in California is a complicated issue since the demise of the School and Library Improvement Block Grant. Since then, approximately fifty-one percent (51%) of school library funding is carried by the schools themselves---often through fund-raising activities (“State of America’s Libraries 2020”).

When adjusted for inflation, California is among the states with the lowest funding per student---along with Texas and Florida (edpolicyinca.org). Overall, investment in our public schools across the board has flat-lined. Host Ann Fisher by way of NPR News, reports some of the impacts: one in five school librarian posts have been eliminated across the country (2000-2016); school libraries have been defunded, closed, or repurposed; fewer librarian degree programs are available through universities; and in an era of test-score to monetary reward correlations, libraries are deemed unessential and not even considered as an assessment factor.

The question remains: if studies show that student success correlates with librarian to student ratios, why do schools value libraries and librarians less as compared to STEM classrooms and teachers? Ann Fisher reports that library services as a function of student success is not tested. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of test scores as a function of school funding---brought on by the “No Child Left Behind Act.” So I’m not here to necessarily promote these types of funding programs; however, if the data suggests a direct correlation between student literacy and success, aren’t we ignoring an essential part of the equation regarding school success and justification for library funding?

As an educator, I see approximately 150 students per semester in my critical thinking, analysis, and composition classes at the university level. This is some of what I’m seeing:

  1. Students who are not proficient in using library resources to conduct basic research --- and instead defer to master Google;
  2. Students who are not proficient in determining the difference between sources that are questionable as compared to credible;
  3. Students who are not proficient in the differences between a credible mainstream source and a scholarly article;
  4. Students who struggle with citation rules and purposes; don’t know how to properly format an essay according to some recognized standard; don’t fully understand what constitutes plagiarism;
  5. Students who don’t know the spectrum of services offered at the library. 
  6. Overall, students who are overwhelmingly information illiterate.

School libraries and the librarians who support instructors and educate students are essential to academic proficiency and success across the board. Students coming into the university should already be proficient in the handful of skills listed above --- skills that are all too often absent. While these students may be proficiently passing standardized tests and meeting SAT requirements for university entrance, they are all too often information illiterate. The demise of our school libraries is, indeed, the demise of our educational system and society as a whole.

Graphic of U.S. library budget cuts in 2011

Works Cited

Fisher, Ann. “The Decline of School Libraries.” All Sides with Ann Fisher. WOSU public media, NPR News, 29 Aug 2019. Audio. https://news.wosu.org/show/all-sides-with-ann-fisher/2019-08-29/the-decline-of-school-libraries. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.

Hahnel, Carrie. "California's Education Funding Crisis Explained in 12 Charts." PACE. 2020 Oct. www.edpolicyinca.org/publications/californias-education-funding-crisis-explained-12-charts. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021

 “School Libraries.” American Library Association. 12 April 2020, www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2020/school-libraries. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.

“Statistics about California School Libraries.” California Department of Education. 15 Mar. 2921. www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb/schoollibrstats08.asp. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.

Treble, Judy. "Library Journal Budget Survey 2011." American Library Association. 2011. www.google.com/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.

Zalusky, Steve. “The State of America’s Libraries: 2021: A Report from the American Library Association.” American Library Association. 2021. ala.org/news/sites/ala.org.news/files/content/State-of-Americas-Libraries-Report-2021.pdf. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.




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