This year, on the first day of school, I discovered that my principal had decided that the best use of the library was to house large study halls every period of the day, nominally “supervised” by disinterested faculty members. Last year, I lost part of the library as an in-school suspension space for several months; next year, I’m losing the library computer lab one period every day.

When the school formed a committee to design research at each grade level, my colleague (now former colleague) and I were not invited—though the first meeting took place in the library. When we finally complained enough, we became members of the committee, but were pointedly ignored as we spoke in favor of teaching a scaffolded research process rather than concentrating on product rubrics. Still, I inundate my principal with quality articles about the value of school libraries and ask for proof of “best practices” when decisions like those described above come along. But since there’s no one at the administrative level supporting the library program, the two of us at the high school level are lone voices and considered argumentative.

ALA and AASL leaders, movers, and shakers—take the message to annual conferences for administrators. Make them hear. Some will still make their decisions based on whatever voodoo data they claim to be using, but they can’t say they didn’t know otherwise.

Catherine M. Andronik
Teacher Librarian
Brien McMahon High School
Norwalk, CT

Bravo on Rebecca T. Miller’s editorial (“It’s Time to Step Up,” June 2013, p. 11). I have never understood why the American Library Association hasn’t done more to help keep full-time certified librarians in school libraries. I hope your prediction of tapping Barbara Stripling as a leader for this charge comes true. SLJ is exciting under your editorship. Thank you!

Diane K. Zentz
Library Media Specialist
Warren Central High School
Indianapolis, IN

I am writing in response to SLJ’s article, “ALA Promises Expanded School Library Advocacy in 2013-14,” Extra Helping, June 18, 2013). A group of concerned citizens has been working on revitalizing the school libraries in our community in Michigan, and this past year we were able to partner with our district library to bring a certified librarian back to the middle school. We have watched the students respond with enthusiasm. Teachers bring students to the library during class. We also open the library during lunch, and we had to cap how many students could come in because the response was overwhelming. Our librarian is very popular with students, staff, and parents, and he has become an invaluable team member at our school.

Our Title I school is a now a priority school in Michigan, so a thriving library is of utmost importance. Students need to be guided in their research efforts and they need to be exposed to a variety of resources, but even more importantly, they need a place with a large collection of titles where they can read for pleasure. We are on our way to providing these things for our students. Now, with ALA’s advocacy we can find more support.

Heather Albee-Scott
Parent Volunteer
Parkside Media Center Project
Jackson, MI

 Vocabulary development

Paige Jaeger (“On Common Core: Vulcanizing Vocabulary,” June 2013, p. 18) acknowledges the contribution of reading to vocabulary growth, but suggests that we need more; we need to require “challenging (and engaging) nonfiction,” “integrate academic vocabulary into our classes,” and add word games. We don’t need more. School librarians know how to help students develop a large vocabulary: provide a collection of engaging, understandable books, and help readers find the right books for them.

Studies show that when interesting and comprehensible books are available, young people read them, and that self-selected reading results in profound development of literacy, including vocabulary. Dedicated pleasure readers acquire thousands of words each year through reading, far more than they could from direct instruction programs or word games.

It is sometimes argued that voluntary reading may not include “the right stuff.” We know, however, that dedicated pleasure readers typically choose different kinds of reading and more complex reading as they mature (L. LaBrant, 1958, “An Evaluation of Free Reading.” Hunnicutt and Iverson Eds., Research in the Three R’s. Harper & Bros.). Students involved in reading eventually choose what experts have decided were “good books” (R. Schoonover, 1938, “The Case for Voluminous Reading.” English Journal 27, 114-118).

Also, even though different types of books are written in different styles, there is substantial overlap; anyone who reads deeply in any area will acquire a great deal of the academic style, enough to make a considerable amount of academic reading comprehensible. Students who have read extensively from series such as “Fear Street,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” and “The Hunger Games” will have a much easier time with a New York Times editorial than those who have not done so. Self-selected reading is the bridge between conversational and academic language.

Jaeger notes that “Within the CCSS framework, everyone is in the vocabulary business.” Librarians were in the vocabulary business long before the Common Core [Common Core State Standards], and have been the most important part of it. Young people get a lot of their reading material from libraries, and for those living in poverty the library is often their only source of books.

Stephen Krashen Professor Emeritus
Rossier School of Education University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

In my region, I have seen two school districts vote to eliminate school library media specialists in the last months. The problem we encountered when trying to engage in and support advocacy is that we could not locate a clear, brief, impactful, compelling statement describing why school library media specialists are essential.

We could not find an op-ed like piece that said these are the three reasons why school media library media specialists are necessary for children’s success in school. The studies are good, but alone they aren’t sufficient. We found nothing that would stir the public to action or tell them why they should care. This should be easy to find on the ALA or the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) web pages, but it’s not. Until ALA gets out a brief, clear, powerful message, things will only get worse. And ALA is capable of doing incredibly effective advocacy communications. This is not rocket science—just put the message out!

Charlie Parker,
Executive Director
Tampa Bay Library Consortium, FL

Well said and well timed, Rebecca! We can all gain by pushing ALA to strengthen support for school libraries. Effective education is in everyone’s best interests, and teacher librarians are at the heart of student learning. Thanks also for SLJ’s article on the Strengthening America’s Schools Act (“New Education Bill Calls for Effective School Libraries, Extra Helping, June 5, 2013), introduced in the Senate on June 4 by Tom Harkin (D-IA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Jack Reed (D-RI). It 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 ALA.

Craig Seasholes,
Sanislo Elementary
Seattle Public Schools, WA

Thank you for your compelling editorial. I agree! Barbara Stripling’s ALA presidency is timely and her expertise and passion for school libraries will chart new thinking about the value of school library programming and literacy instruction in the education of youth.

Della Curtis, Coordinator
Office of Library Information Services
Baltimore County Public Schools, MD

Cover design

I love getting the latest copy of School Library Journal, but I am often confused by your choice of covers. There are so many creative possibilities. Although photographs of notable people are interesting, they don’t necessarily serve as a great introduction to the latest issue. How about considering covers which show more about our students and various school environments?

Jill Millard, Librarian
Shaler Area Middle School
Glenshaw, PA

Mark Tuchman, SLJ’s art director, responds: Our cover strategy is simply to create compelling covers that accurately represent the lead feature (or in the case of this month’s SLJ, the issue theme). You’re right that there have been more portrait covers lately, but this hasn’t been intentional. See some of my favorite covers.

Correction: “Test Drive: Is This It for the Nook?” (June 2013, p. 13) included some erroneous information. The statement “Boasting the only E Ink display as readable in the dark bedroom as on a sunny beach, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight…is the best dedicated ereader on the planet” is incorrect. Since the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight debuted in April 2012, competitors have released similar front-lit E Ink products: Kindle Paperwhite became available in Oct. 2012; Kobo Glo began selling in the U.S. about Nov. 2012; and the Onyx Boox i62HD Firefly is now available in Europe.

Another great SLJ issue! However, I think that what [Keith Curry] Lance and [Debra E.] Kachel share in their article (“Librarian Required,” Mar. 2013, pp. 28–31) is really nothing new nor groundbreaking in any sense of teacher-librarianship research and advocacy. We know that teacher-librarians matter to achievement in schools. We—teacher-librarians and our few external advocates—but that’s about it.

But here’s the real problem: we don’t have the ears of those we need to have. We need to get these articles and this research into the journals of the real educational decision makers: administrative officers. Gary Hartzell is so on the money in his belief that when we publish in teacher-librarian oriented magazines and share with our administrators, it really comes across as only self-serving. So true!

It’s not about what but a question of where. Would it not be more powerful and productive to get these sorts of articles and related research into administrative officer magazines (for example, Phi Delta Kappa) and go where the decision makers go to advocate for change in school libraries and a revaluing of teacher-librarian role?

I feel as though these types of articles (and their related research) are only speaking to the choir when they appear in magazines like School Library Journal, Library Media Connection, and Teacher-Librarian. I say keep the research coming, but remember that we need to get the word out to the folks that make staffing and financial decisions. In most provinces in Canada (and I would suspect in most of the United States), we need to grab the ears of the school principal and superintendent and bend them a little bit more.

Keep up the amazing work!

Jeff Yasinchuk, Teacher-Librarian
L.V. Rogers Secondary School
Nelson, BC

A librarian’s critical role

Lance and Kachel’s article, “Librarian Required” (Mar. 2013), makes it sound like just having a librarian in the building makes all of this wonderful stuff happen. The role that the librarian takes on in the school is critical as to whether the program affects students. Librarians who are active with the students and classes in their schools; who co-plan and co-teach with the staff; who actively seek ways to support the teachers, the students, and the curriculum do have a powerful influence on students. If they stay in the library only to check out books; only read stories to the youngest students; only order, catalog, and shelve materials; or only assist with the materials within the four walls of the library, then do they really make that much difference? There is also the problem with librarians being placed on the master schedule by administrators to cover classes. This takes the potential for developing a good library program away. There are so many factors that influence the power of a library’s program to create the statistics you mention. I would have just liked to have seen the story include some of the activities librarians do within their schools to make these students perform so much better in school.

Wynelle Welsh, Instructional Support Specialist, Ed. Tech.,
SC/Stewart/DODDS Cuba School District
Ft. Stewart, GA

Jobs at risk

Thank you for writing your editorial, “The Cost of Cuts” (Mar. 2013, p. 11). I am an educator in Baltimore County Public Schools, where our library media specialist positions are at risk. Recently, our school board proposed changes to a policy to eliminate language that requires certified library media specialists in our school libraries. The library office was also reorganized from being a part of the curriculum and instruction department to research, accountability, and testing. These moves undercut library media specialists’ value as teachers and send the message that their presence in schools is not essential to student success. Thank you for pointing me towards Kachel and Lance’s study. I will be using their data in future advocacy efforts.

Lindsay O’Donnell
Baltimore County Public Schools, MD

 Research is a puzzle

I am writing in response to the review of my book Daredevil (Apr. 2013, p. 150). I do not feel that the reviewer understood the complexities of researching the book so I would like the opportunity to share them with you (I do go into more detail about specifics of the review on my website).

While working on Daredevil, I drove to the National Air & Space Museum in Virginia, where Betty Skelton donated much of her collected memories. The collection is immense! She saved almost every news article about her. There are also many press photos of her, such as Betty and her little dog Tinker, smiling wide-eyed into the sun. I liked the faded photographs of her with her parents. Those made everything more real for me.

After studying the time period and hunting down more articles, I was struck by how Betty’s opinion on women’s rights wavered throughout the years. At times she said that the 1960s wasn’t the right time for women to go to space, but at other times she said that it was. What were her true feelings? It’s hard to know for sure. After the war, women were expected to return to the home. Imagine Betty defying the standard by daring to do her own thing! I think to be able to do her part well she had to feminize what was traditionally a “guy” thing by wearing feminine clothes and donning high heels after exiting the plane. Doing this was a way of not alienating her male counterparts. But she was simultaneously gaining media attention by looking gorgeous. Part of the frustration, challenge, and fun of doing research is that it’s a puzzle. But sometimes not all of it will be put together, because only the subject holds the final pieces.

One thing I tell children is that websites often contain incorrect information. But…newspapers do too! Many researchers use the “3” rule. If you don’t read the same piece of information at least three times then it’s unusable. The issue that arises, for example, is that articles using information from The Associated Press go viral. If something is incorrect, it can be reprinted in dozens of newspapers. That same incorrect information can be recycled for years. Even when someone is quoted, they can be quoted again years later about the same event, and say something completely different! This is because memories change. This is why writing nonfiction is largely a decision-making process.

My number one priority is my readers—the kids.

Meghan McCarthy, Author

 Library programming

Thank you, thank you, thank you Rebecca for sharing your thoughts and passions in “Building Bridges: Up Close with Librarian Assistant Rebecca Zaran Dunn (Extra Helping, Apr. 18, 2013)! I can’t tell you how much reading this interview improved my week. I attended a class yesterday for my certification, and I left with the impression that I was doing programming and activities at my library all wrong. I’m a children’s librarian who has to think a bit outside of the box when it comes to programming for my school-age kids because they simply won’t come in if I don’t. Once they get through the door and get to know me a little more, I can then sneak books and literacy things into the conversation. I’ve had huge success with non-traditional library programming, but after yesterday I still found myself feeling like I’m doing it all wrong. You echoed my thoughts on library programming and my transition into the library world perfectly, and made me feel like there is someone else out there who is more like me. Thank you.

Ashley Pickett
North Country Library System
Watertown, NY

Last year a group of concerned citizens got together and, a year later, we have a part-time certified librarian (we’d like him to be full-time) and the difference is huge. When we started the process of bringing the library back to life, I was fortunate to have experts say that without a librarian it wasn’t worth reopening—I can see how that is right. Our students come in with their classes, but also during lunch and other free periods to pick the materials they want to read, to get help with research, and to congregate with their peers. It’s wonderful! I’m going to share your article with our administration. Thank you for writing it.

Heather Albee-Scott
Parkside Media Center Project
Jackson, MI

As a former school librarian now in higher ed, I am glad to see the research-based argument that Rebecca Miller puts forth in her editorial, “The Cost of Cuts,” for more reading and fewer cuts to library services. Apparently, though, SLJ did not get the memo about the Rotted Common Core, which is designed to function as the testing delivery system for the education deformers who are addicted to the multi-billion dollar business of standardized testing. As long as high-stakes testing continues, so will the slashing of educational services by the modern day efficiency zealots in charge at ED. Librarians need to climb aboard the anti-testing train, for until high-stakes testing ends, no book is safe. In solidarity.

James Horn, Professor
School of Educational Leadership
Cambridge College, MA

Dino tails

I’m very pleased that School Library Journal reviewed my book, Dig Those Dinosaurs. I’d like to respond to the reviewer’s concern about the position of the Triceratops’ tails in the illustrations. As the reviewer notes, current scientific theory holds that Triceratops did not continually drag their tails behind them. However, this book was vetted by Carl Mehling from the American Museum of Natural History’s Division of Paleontology, who writes: “We have no good reason to believe that Triceratops never placed their tails on the ground. It is more than reasonable to state that we have very little idea about what long-extinct animals’ behaviors were like or what they were capable of.” Mr. Mehling disagrees with the reviewer’s comment that showing the tails down is “a major flaw” in the book.

Lori Haskins Houran
Author
Palm Beach, FL

Dewey in Michigan

This is a response to Anne Colvin’s letter that contradicts my statement that Dewey is not being taught in Michigan schools. I based my statement on several facts.

The state benchmarks that the state tests are based on do not include any about library skills that include the Dewey Decimal System. They did prior to the MEAP testing, but have not included these benchmarks in years. The state of Michigan doesn’t even require schools (including high schools) to have a library. Now that NCA Accreditation has become AdvancEd, librarians are not even required for schools or whole districts to be accredited. The state has cut school funding for years.

Who would be teaching Dewey Decimal in the schools that have no library or have a library but no librarian? I have been in Michigan for 25 years as both a public and a school librarian. My district didn’t teach it for many years until I was hired a decade ago. I am in a growing district and students who have moved here from other Michigan school districts have not had any lessons in Dewey. Almost every student I have had from another state knew about Dewey and other library lessons I am teaching. While the too few librarians remaining here try to do their best, most students in Michigan don’t learn about the Dewey Decimal System. Ask the public librarians if you don’t believe me.

Ann West LaPrise
Elementary Librarian
Huron School District
New Boston, MI

A maverick librarian?

I was appalled at reading the interview with Deven Black in Library Hotline. Why would anyone choose to interview and highlight this man? He is a failure as a teacher, which continues to promulgate the idea that school librarians are terrible teachers, probably do not like the kids, and go into the library to escape them. As I continued reading “How is being a librarian different from being a teacher?,” Mr. Black states students like him more, “I listen to them blow off steam about their teachers…” How completely unprofessional can you get? Did he or anyone at Library Hotline stop to think perhaps this is why he failed at teaching?

You are perpetuating the stereotypes. Those who can’t do, teach. And those who can’t teach move into the libraries? As more schools are dropping certified MLS librarians for aides in the library and cannot seem to understand the correlation between a well-stocked library run by a professional librarian and reading scores this interview can’t help.

As a side note, I was a successful classroom teacher in junior high, middle school, and high school for 25 years. I went back to school and earned my MLS in 1994 and worked for five years as youth Ssrvices manager for the Yuma County Library District before being hired as the Assistant Library Director in 2005. I substituted in school libraries from elementary school through high school. I’m not unfamiliar with what I speak.

Carla Peterson
Assistant Library Director
Yuma County Library District, AZ

I am a retired school librarian working part-time in a public library. I was horrified to see an interview with Deven Black highlighted in Library Hotline. Learning to be a school librarian by tweeting? This kind of training/entry into the school library field is abhorrent and I am very surprised that the interview was published.

Rita Fontinha
Reference Librarian
Milton Public Library, MA

Editor’s Note: The version of the interview in Library Hotline was a very brief excerpt from the lengthy interview that was published in School Library Journal’s newsletter, Extra Helping: “Middle School Maverick: NYC Librarian Deven Black on Partnerships, Principals, and Progress”

A new book committee has formed under the umbrella of Library Services for Youth in Custody (LSYC).  We will look for more “gritty” titles for Latino readers, books like It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way (Lee & Low, 2004) by Luis Rodriguez, Next Stop: Growing Up Wild in the Bronx (Touchstone, 2008) by Ivan Sanchez, Detoured (JSD Consultations, 2011) by Jesse De La Cruz, and Willie Stokes’s Testimony of a Black Sheep (Willie R. Stokes, 2009).

We will seek out and highlight  high-interest preschool through adult fiction and non-fiction books for boys or girls ages 9 to 18 who may fit into one or all of the following categories: multicultural (primarily African American and Latino), from a street culture,  in restrictive custody (books need to be suitable for children’s and YA sections), and/or reluctant readers.

The committee will select and review the best books of the year, specifically for the population listed above. Titles of interest may be unusual; possibly not reviewed; have multicultural characters; and deal with difficult situations including (but not limited to) street life, marginalized populations, crime, justice, war, violence, abuse, and addiction.

“YA Underground,” a SLJTeen column featuring highlighted titles, will run reviews bimonthly throughout the year. You can check out an example at tinyurl.com/cblsq7a. The final list will be decided upon by this committee and also run in SLJ. Books will be featured on the Library Services for Youth in Custody website (youthlibraries.org). For more information, contact Amy Cheney at ajcheney@mac.com.

Amy Cheney
Librarian
Alameda County Library, CA

Interesting article. It is so difficult to get most children’s books in front of any kind of audience. So little money and effort is spent publicizing them. As bad as it is for most children’s literature, it is much more difficult for Latino books.

Publishers like Lee & Low and Cinco Puntos Press can’t reach the broad audience of librarians, much less the general public, with their books. Awards like the Pura Belpré help, but unfortunately are often still considered to be “special interest” awards by bookstores and libraries. Mainstream media covers only blockbuster books, usually ignoring everything else.

Jaime Naidoo’s ah-ha moment holds true for almost every reader—they want to see themselves in books, as well as enjoying new experiences and meeting different people through stories. Several years ago a 43-year-old student in my children’s literature class at the University of Texas–Austin finally made a connection to reading when he read a book about a kid with ADHD…Joey Pigza was just like him! It was the first book he read all the way through just for the joy of reading.

Librarians try to connect kids with books they will relate to, but first we have to have access to the kids. And we have to have the books that will be meaningful to them. The struggle continues.

Jeanette Larson
Consultant/trainer/author
Pflugerville, TX

Each student is shaped by personal experiences and culture, and we can explore these different cultures through the integration of resources into the classroom curriculum and library program. It is critically important that students see themselves reflected in the library collection and programming and in the books that they read in their classroom and for pleasure. By doing so, we build students’ self-esteem and cultivate empathy, respect, and cultural and global awareness.

Oakridge Elementary School in Arlington, VA, initiated the MOSAIC project—a school-wide reading program that uses globally diverse literature to teach targeted reading strategies. Each month the entire school (more than 680 students from 50 different countries) reads a single text portraying a different country or region and uses it to explore culture and delve into a reading strategy appropriate for the grade level. Through the MOSAIC project, we’ve been able to open the doors to new worlds to all our students. For more information on the project, visit apsva.us/Page/6203.

Julie M. Esanu
Librarian
Oakridge Elementary School
Arlington, VA

The continuing conversation about whether Dewey’s days are numbered (“Are Dewey’s Days Numbered,” Oct. 2012, pp. 24–28; “Summer Project: Kill Dewey,” Aug. 2012, p. 14) has been useful as I consider how to make my library’s collection more accessible. While I believe that Dewey still has its place, I’ve thought about fresh ways to meet the needs of my middle and high school students. As a result of the debate, I’ve added a lot more subject heading labels to my shelves, especially highlighting topics of high interest, and I’ve adjusted Dewey in the 800s section.

I abridged Dewey to 19 numbers in relation to literature, essentially eliminating the geographic/cultural separation of authors and literary eras, making this subject area an easy one for browsing. Instead of 810s for American authors, 820s for British authors, etc., all poetry by one author is under 821, and all collections of poetry are filed under 821.08, regardless of nationality or time period.

In addition, all literary criticism, without regard to the type of literature, is now shelved under 829 in the manner we file biographies, with the letters of the writer first, then the letters of the criticism’s author. A work of criticism on Elie Wiesel is now assigned the number 829 WIE BLO, with WIE placing all criticism on Wiesel together. BLO represents the critic’s last name. This book formerly was labeled 848.914 BLO. These changes make it easy for students to browse literary works by their author without knowing nationality or date, and to find literary criticism about Maya Angelou without deciding whether she is a poet or an essayist. Her poems are found with poetry, essays with essays, but all criticism about one author is shelved together.

I used the 820s because Shakespeare is too important to adjust. Shakespeare’s plays continue to be shelved under 822.33 SHA TEM (for The Tempest), and literary criticism for Shakespeare is shelved under 829 SHA and then the critic’s name.

A brief letter can’t describe the plan. We have 375 books in the 800 section, and it took seconds to reassign most books. Adjusting the online catalog records was also quick, but relabeling took longer.

Bill Fabian
Information Literacy Teacher/Librarian
McGinnis Middle School/
Buena Vista High School
Buena Vista, CO

Save Dewey redux

Sigh. I’m sure Scarlett Middle School’s library isn’t the only school library in Michigan in which the Dewey decimal system is used and taught. I wish Ms. LaPrise’s blanket statement (Letters, Dec. 2012, p. 10), “In Michigan, the students are frustrated because Dewey is not taught in their schools,” had been edited, as it is false.

Anne Colvin
Media Specialist
Scarlett Middle School
Ann Arbor, MI

I recently started a job as a middle/high school librarian at an independent school that realized it needed a stronger library program. One of the challenges I’m finding is trying to explain the balance that’s needed in technology education and how having a website is part of it—but having a good website and using the right tools at the right time is hard.

There are many administrators who are also older and so only see that we need technology and don’t understand the complexities of getting the right tool in the right place. It makes it tricky but not impossible. I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem of trying to explain that having a website is only part of what’s needed.

“Soap Box: Not Fast Enough” (Extra Helping , Dec. 4, 2012) by Mark Ray, a response to School Library Journal’s tech survey, “The League of Extraordinary Librarians” (Nov. 2012, pp. 24–27) is a thought-provoking article, but I worry that you’re preaching to the choir at this point since sometimes, as school librarians, we can create and teach and explain. Yet teachers and administrators have to say, yes, we want this and will use it.

Kate Keith-Fitzgerald
Middle/Upper School Librarian
The Roeper School
Birmingham, MI

Listen up

“Now You’re Talking” (Nov. 2012, pp. 32–38) is a great list of must-have audiobooks for teens and tweens. Happy to see some titles I really enjoyed (Beauty Queens was hysterical) and some for my to-listen list. Of course, I have to put my two cents in for my hands-down absolute favorite audio this year—Mandy Williams’s narration of Seraphina (Listening Library) by Rachel Hartman—that wasn’t on your recommended list.

Geraldine Farmer-Morrison
Head of Children’s Services
Levittown Public Library, NY

While there may be children’s librarian jobs out there, and indeed librarian jobs in general, they are few and far between. Plus many of them may be part-time, or downgraded to “assistant” in order to save on salaries. Public service has gone the way of private corporations, wherein job openings require someone to already be doing the exact same job somewhere else, not taking into account the ability to learn if taught. Entry level jobs as a librarian are almost non-existent in my neck of the woods, and it’s difficult to gain new skills because staffing levels are so low that one’s time is stretched thin. So looking for a different experience is pretty much luck. My take is that few public library systems value children’s librarians at the appropriate level. We are the shapers of the future generation, yet many who don’t dwell in our world think it is an “easy”” job and, thus, devalue it. And it is definitely not easy, if done correctly. I also think the article needed to point out that public school librarians in many states must have teaching experience prior to stepping into the library part of the school. At this point in time, it is extremely difficult to get a children’s librarian job that delivers appropriate pay and a great working environment. I hate to be so negative, but that is what I am seeing and experiencing.

Name withheld

The right to read

Debra Lau Whelan’s July 23, 2012 news story for SLJ, “Michigan ACLU, Students File ‘Right to Read’ Lawsuit” reported on a class-action suit filed on behalf of 1,000 students claiming that the state and school district have failed to teach them how to read, thereby violating their rights. The following comments are in response to that story.

If school districts weren’t so overly obsessed with standardized tests and instead focused on teaching and inspiring these children to learn, perhaps low literacy wouldn’t be the dangerous issue it is today. I have family members in the teaching profession, and they often complain that each year the Michigan Educational Assessment Program and all the preparation it requires takes more and more away from things they want to teach the kids. I realize that these types of tests are an essential part of school district funding, but evidence seems to suggest it greatly distracts from teachers’ lesson plans—and, in turn, from kids actually learning the things they need to survive and thrive in the real world. Perhaps the state (and its districts) needs to reevaluate its obsession with standardized testing and go back to the old school way of teaching. This article is certainly a wake up call!

Name withheld

Perhaps the district can counter sue the parents for not being “full partners” in their children’s education. How many parents ensure that children attend school every day on time and homework is completed? How many parents turn off the TV and take away video games until the children are reading proficiently? If the parent is underemployed or unemployed, he/she has time to volunteer in their children’s schools. Do they? It would be interesting to see what the families are doing to support their children’s education besides suing the district.

Name withheld

Filtered

The following comments are in response to Lauren Barack’s July 10, 2012 news story for SLJ, “Arizona Mandates Stiff Penalties for Schools, Public Libraries without Filters” about a new law mandating that Arizona’s public schools and libraries filter all computers children use or risk losing some state funding.

The biggest problem isn’t so much the need for a filter, but who decides where the line is. Blocking pornography is an easy decision to make, but my school blocks etsy.com and all blogs regardless of content; if it runs WordPress then it’s blocked automatically—everything from Zenhabits.net to the Huffington Post. It’s sad and something that we can never stop working on.

Name withheld

Very frightening—government forced censure! What about the freedom of speech that the men of this country have fought and died for? What children view can be monitored without Big Brother’s help.

Name withheld

I just read Rebecca Miller’s editorial, “We Need Tag-Team Librarianship” (May 2012, p. 11), regarding collaboration between public and school libraries. It made me very excited to see a cover story dedicated to a partnership that makes sense. With Limitless Libraries finishing its third year, we are continuing to flourish and have really seen the benefits of the program. I have had the privilege to experience the program from both sides, first as a high school librarian and then as the project coordinator of the program. The program and Nashville Public Library provided materials and opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to budget for my students.

Through the program this school year, we saw increased school circulation at 45 of the 54 schools we currently serve and NPL delivered over 96,000 materials to schools this past school year. We have over 25,000 registered Limitless Libraries users and 15,000 of those are first time NPL card holders. The program showed all parties that this can be the perfect partnership. Together we all have the same goal of providing students and educators access to the best material possible. Working so closely with the school librarians has been an amazing experience to further collaboration and programming to reach young adults in Nashville.

I hope school and public libraries took a very close look at your article to begin the discussions in their cities because it can work! Nashville has experienced amazing results and we look forward to expanding our partnership next year to include elementary schools.

Stephanie Ham
Project Coordinator
Limitless Libraries
Nashville Public Library, TN

As a public library administrator, I read with no small amount of incredulity the ideas espoused in Rebecca Miller’s editorial, “We Need Tag-Team Librarianship” (May 2012, p. 11). Collaborate with public schools? She has to be kidding.

Our experience in “collaboration” with the local school district has been a complete failure…a failure on the part of the school district to respond to any and all initiatives on our part. We have tried to engage the school district in library programming to benefit students, in outreach advertising our collection, and in sending our youth services librarians to the schools. Both school administrators and students have ignored our efforts.

Why has this happened? Two reasons. First, the school district is flush with money. They are constructing new buildings and hiring new teachers. Second, school administrators have embraced the scourge afflicting the whole library profession which is technology. Give students a laptop and they can access textbooks, ebooks, and databases in the comfort of their homes. Who needs a library? The school district has done away with professional librarians in the schools and rumor has it that they are going to do away with the high school library all together.

Our public library is withering on the vine financially. The whole state is in trouble financially and state public library funding has gone the way of the dodo. Yet this editor would have us coordinate book purchases that support curriculum and deliver books to students in the schools? What planet did she fall off of yesterday?

In view of the school district’s intransigence towards our efforts to “collaborate,” it will be a cold day in Hell before we reach out to a school district that is not interested in “Tag-Team Librarianship.”

Name Withheld by Request

CORRECTIONS:

The editors regret that the bibliographic data accompanying the review of The Healthier Happier Life Skills series (June 2012, p. 51) referred to the classroom edition instead of the home edition actually reviewed. The home edition consists of 3 DVDs priced at $19.95 each, and does not include the 100-page teacher’s guide embedded in the DVD of the classroom edition. Hence, the teacher’s guide was not evaluated.

In the video clip of Jeff Hasting’s review of Ebook toolkit: Mackin VIA (www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/06/ebooks/ebook-toolkitmackin-via) in SLJ’s The Digital Shift, the product’s name was pronounced incorrectly. Mackin “VEE-ah” is the proper pronunciation, and not “VYE-ah” as spoken in the clip.

The review of Jason Myers’s Run the Game (S & S, 2012), published in SLJ’s June 2012 issue (p. 131) was inadvertently attributed to the wrong reviewer. The book was reviewed by Kimberly Castle-Alberts, Hudson Library & Historical Society, OH.