September 18, 2013

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ALA Urges FCC to Accelerate E-Rate Goals

By on September 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
broadband

The American Library Association on Monday asked the Federal Communications Commission to accelerate the goals of E-rate, the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries. ALA’s statement specifically calls for faster deployment of high-capacity broadband and new strategic investments in infrastructure, as well as program changes to save costs and streamline the process so that more schools and libraries can participate in the program.

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Public Libraries Tagged With: ,

Florida School Librarians Stretching Resources—Themselves

By on September 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
EastMarionelementary

Sharing has a whole new meaning for Marion County, FL, elementary school librarians, far beyond the lesson they help teach their young charges. Today, the word refers to the way media specialists manage their jobs—which means each must head two elementary school libraries instead of one.

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Round Rock Library (TX) Gets $49.5K Grant to Create After-School Maker Program

By on September 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
RoundRockTxLibrary

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has awarded the Round Rock Public Library System a grant of $49,500 to build Innovation Station, an after-school maker space and program that aims to engage middle schoolers in project-based science, technology, engineering, mathematics, art and design activities. The grant is part of a total $1.6 million in awards that TSLAC is distributing in fiscal 2014 to Texas library programs.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Public Libraries, Public Services Tagged With: , , , ,

Chicago’s New Public/School Library Hybrid Opens Doors

By on August 27, 2013 2 Comments
Chicago's new Back of the Yards Library, a public/school library hybrid.

Can a public library serve both school children and its other patrons at the same time? That question is being put to the test in Chicago this week as the Back of the Yards Library—a public branch meant to serve as a school library for the 9–12 grade students attending the new Back of the Yards High School next door—opens its doors.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Public Libraries, Schools & Districts Tagged With:

In Philadelphia, School Librarians Still In Flux

By on August 22, 2013 Leave a Comment
Philly_skyline

Already hobbled, Philadelphia schools are facing their first day with fewer school librarians—continuing a trend in the metropolitan school district and the state of Pennsylvania as well. Of the approximately 22 remaining certified school librarians working in the Philadelphia school district, some are not returning to their school librarian positions.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , , ,

Miami’s Public Library Cuts Detrimental to Students

By on August 2, 2013 2 Comments
Miami_Bus

Draconian cuts to Miami public libraries—nearly 45 percent of its branches shuttered and more than 250 staff positions—lost stand to impact the community. The intended cuts pose a monumental loss of service to Miami’s K–12 students, as some of the public libraries slotted to shut down are close to Miami-Dade County public schools.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Future of Libraries, Public Libraries Tagged With: , ,

School Libraries Are Year-Round in Galt, CA, Despite Crippling Budget Cuts

By on July 25, 2013 2 Comments
Galt_CA_500

School libraries in Galt, California, are open this summer and preparing to circulate 240 new Google Chromebooks to the community. Once slated for closure after a $790,000 budget gap, it’s a big turnaround, thanks to community fundraising that started with a seventh-grader, who opened her wallet and said she would donate $40 to keep the school libraries running.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured

Community Angered by Tossed Black History Collection

By on July 17, 2013 2 Comments
booksindumpster

Highland Park, MI, residents are still enraged that a selection of books and other materials from the local high school’s collection devoted to global black history was thrown away recently. The revelation that many hundreds of titles had been found in a dumpster has spurred one community protest, accusations of neglect and mismanagement, and the resignation of an appointed school board member.

Filed Under: Books & Media, Budgets & Funding, Collection Development, Featured, Schools & Districts Tagged With: ,

Media Specialists’ Role Endangered in Florida

By on July 9, 2013 1 Comment
EndangeredLibrarian_ss

School media specialist positions are being hit hard across the Sunshine State, with school librarians finding their positions renamed—and, in some cases, their jobs re-assigned or terminated—for the coming 2013–2014 school year. From Citrus County to Pasco County, some of Florida’s districts have completely changed the way they now view the role of a media specialist.

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Libraries Changed My Life | A Platform for Patron Advocates

By on July 8, 2013 2 Comments
I love libraries heart

Ingrid Abrams, children’s and teen librarian at Brooklyn Public Library in NYC and Natalie V. Binder, a systems librarian at the Jefferson County R.J. Bailar Public Library in Monticello, FL, teamed up virtually to create Libraries Changed My Life (LCML), a patron-driven Tumblr initiative, in direct response to Michael Rosenblum’s article “What’s a Library?”, which was published in the Huffington Post this past May.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Future of Libraries Tagged With: , , , , ,

LEAP Grants for Libraries – Last Days to Vote

By on June 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
61913leapgrants

Only a few nonprofit organizations will get up to $7,500 in funding from Better World Books, and the public can decide which one will get the prize. In 2012, approximately 3.5 million dollars worth of grant requests and more than 50 applications were reviewed by the Better World Books Literacy and Library Council, and three very worthy projects were selected. Now the clock is ticking for 2013—voting closes in just a few days!

Filed Under: Awards & Contests, Budgets & Funding, Teens & YA Tagged With:

ISTE Hopes ConnectEd Stirs Political Will to Fully Fund E-Rate

By on June 13, 2013 Leave a Comment
SLJ_ISTEandERATE

The White House’s announcement last week of the ConnectEd initiative, President Obama’s urging of the FCC to overhaul the E-Rate program, is only the first step in what must be a larger, committed effort to fully fund technology in our nation’s schools and libraries, the International Society for Technology in Education says.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Public Libraries, Public Services, Schools & Districts, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Philadelphia Begins Laying Off School Librarians

By on June 13, 2013 2 Comments
SLJ_IndHall

Facing a $304 million shortfall for the coming year, Philadelphia’s public schools have started making severe cuts from its so-called “doomsday budget” —many of them to the 43 certified school librarians throughout the district.

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SLJ’s Average Book Prices 2013

By on June 11, 2013 Leave a Comment
EH_6_11_13_BookPrices

Here at last! The numbers our readers have been waiting for—the list of average book prices for 2012 and 2013 to date—are finally available.

Filed Under: Books & Media, Budgets & Funding, Featured, Industry News, Research Tagged With: ,

ALA Hopeful, Excited by White House Push to Overhaul E-Rate Funding

By on June 7, 2013 1 Comment
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The White House’s announcement Thursday that it is urging the FCC to overhaul E-Rate—the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries—is an important and nearly unprecedented step forward in closing the digital divide, the American Library Association tells SLJ.

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Public Libraries, Public Services, Schools & Districts Tagged With: ,

Chicago To Add New School Libraries—Even As It Closes Schools

By on June 6, 2013 Leave a Comment
SLJ_ChicagoStory_6_6_13

As Chicago prepares to permanently shutter 49 K–12 schools and one 9–11 school program for the coming school year, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is planning to open four new stand-alone school libraries for the 2013–2014 school year—and spend more than $2 million for the facilities.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Schools & Districts Tagged With:

UPDATE: ALA: New Education Bill Calls for Effective School Libraries

By on June 5, 2013 2 Comments
4Senators_Thumbnail_Featimage

The Strengthening America’s Schools Act, introduced in the Senate on Tuesday by Tom Harkin (D-IA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jack Reed (D-RI), includes strong provisions for effective school library programs, and is the first piece of legislation to recognize the role school library programs play in student learning since 1965, according to the American Library Association.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Schools & Districts

Rally for NYC Public Libraries; Christopher Awards Gala

By on May 24, 2013 Leave a Comment
Library supporters at City Hall

NYC Councilmembers and other library supporters gathered on the steps of City Hall to protest proposed cuts to library funding. Warren St. John and Jo S. Kittinger were both presented with Christopher Awards on May 23.

Filed Under: Authors & Illustrators, Budgets & Funding, Public Libraries Tagged With: , ,

NYC Kids Rally for Libraries; City Council Members Urge Full Funding

By on May 22, 2013 Leave a Comment
Crowd on the Steps of City Hall

More than a dozen New York City Council members, the presidents of New York’s three library systems, and several hundred librarians, library staff, supporters, advocates, and children from nearby schools rallied on the steps of city hall to protest $106 million in proposed funding cuts. Council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Vincent J. Gentile also pledged to introduce legislation that would create a baseline of stable funding for the city’s public library services.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Public Libraries, Public Services Tagged With: , , , ,

Philadelphia May Cut Its School Librarians

By on May 1, 2013 1 Comment
78773635_GirllibFloor

Philadelphia school children are facing an education without librarians—as well as nurses, counselors, athletic coaches, summer school, and school secretaries—because of a $304 million budget shortfall for the 2013–2014 school year.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , ,
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