School Library Petition Exceeds 25,000 Signatures
RSSBy Lauren Barack
At least 25,000 signatures were needed by the February 4 deadline to push the petition forward—and supporters passed that mark this morning, just after 10:30 a.m. ET, ensuring that the White House will now see the petition. Library advocates are asking that school libraries have a dedicated funding stream in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to "ensure more students have access to the resources and tools that constitute a 21st century learning environment," reads the petition. Carl Harvey, a librarian at North Elementary School in Noblesville, IN, and president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), launched the petition on January 4, mirroring a similar petition started by Seanean Shanahan, a Los Angeles-based teacher-librarian at South Region High School #2 in October. "I am very excited to see that we reached the 25,000 signatures to require the White House to issue a response. It is thanks to a lot of hard work by the entire library and education community that the petition has reached the threshold," says Harvey, by email. The petition has been a high priority in recent weeks among those in libraries and education, who have used social media to encourage librarians, teachers, parents, and other education supporters to sign. "The White House petition has reached 25,000 signatures," the AASL tweeted via @AASL, the organization's Twitter handle, this morning. "But let's not stop here! Let's use our 'loud librarian voices.'" Those who haven't signed the petition, can still lend their names to the cause by registering at Whitehouse.gov and adding their digital John Hancocks. "In the remaining few days of the petition," says Harvey, "I hope even more people will sign and bump that number even higher to demonstrate the commitment to school library programs and the essential role they plan in preparing our students for their futures."
January 31, 2012
Media specialists and other library supporters made their voices heard on an online petition asking the Obama Administration to make school libraries a national priority.
