I’m the manager of a small branch of a large library system. I don’t have a children’s librarian on staff, but the children’s librarians at the main library choose the books for the collection. A parent has filed a formal complaint that my staff allowed her nine-year-old daughter to check out Deenie by Judy Blume. How should I handle this?

It sounds as if there are two issues: (1) A problem with your staff (2) A complaint against the book. Make sure that the mother understands that it’s never the role of the librarian to monitor what children read. Then invite the mother to file a book reconsideration form, which I assume is part of your library system’s policy. Deenie is appropriate for most nine-year-olds. The mother needs to tell her daughter if she doesn’t want her to read it. I do think it wise to ask the children’s librarians at the main library to conduct a workshop in children’s services for your staff. They may need reassurance about their roles.

A seventh-grade student brought his mother’s ereader to class on the last day of school. He passed it around so that students could read passages from Fifty Shades of Grey. It created an uproar and the teacher came to the library to ask my help. I really didn’t know what to do.

This is no different from my generation passing around dog-eared copies of Peyton Place. Don’t make a big deal out of the situation. In the future, advise the teacher to simply ask the student to focus on class work and continue reading the book when he gets home.

My friend’s son (an advanced eighth-grade student in the middle school where I’m a librarian) may take ninth-grade English for credit. The summer reading selection for ninth-graders in the school district is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. He is registered for freshman English in the fall, but she doesn’t want him to read the novel. I was her easiest target because she doesn’t know the English teacher. I didn’t know how to handle this.

Do you know for a fact that students weren’t given a reading choice? Many school districts allow students to make a summer reading selection from a list of books provided by English teachers. This accommodates various interests and maturity levels. If this isn’t the case, then the mother has a choice. She can elect to take her son out of the class and put him in regular eighth-grade English. If she insists that he stay in the class, then he needs to complete the requirement. It sounds as if she will listen to you.

I’m taking an online course in children’s services from a university that is located in another part of the country. I have an issue with some of the theories about public library services to children. In my public library system, children are welcome to use the entire library collection. The professor defines children as birth to 11 years old. This makes me feel that I have to defend the policy of my library system.

Children should have free and open access to books and materials. Most children will reject what they aren’t ready for, especially if they don’t feel the materials are forbidden. What about 12- and 14-year-olds who simply want to continue using the children’s room? Does this professor think that they should be banned because they grew up? Your library is on the right track.

Another elementary school in my district had several challenges last year. Since my school library has a number of parent volunteers, I thought it wise to provide them training in hopes of avoiding challenges in my school. What should I tell them?

Two main points: (1) Student privacy is a requirement (2) Leave reader guidance to you. I personally recommend that parent volunteers be used for more clerical types of jobs. If parents want to read aloud to students, then make the reading choice together. Never ask a parent to read aloud something they aren’t comfortable reading.

Ingrid Abrams

The post by Rosenblum, the founder of Current TV, posited on the growing irrelevance of libraries—and earned the ire of librarians and library supporters everywhere. After several discussions over Twitter on how best to respond, Abrams and Binder established LCML, they say, so that people from all walks of life could share how libraries have made an impact on their lives.

With ongoing budget cuts being made to libraries across the country, their grassroots endeavor aims to bring attention to the resources that these institutions provide to their communities. Of the nearly 50 posts published since its inception on May 13, the majority of entries on LCML are from library users—not library staff.

“We don’t mind submissions from librarians, but we prefer non-librarian [posts],” Abrams tells School Library Journal. “We do our own advocacy, and that’s important. When I advocate, it’s me fighting for my job. But this platform is for the voices that are not being heard. These messages are straight from the patrons themselves.”

Posts highlight the variety of ways that public and school libraries have influenced and shaped the lives of these users, from being a home away from not-so-safe home to helping a person with Asperger’s socialize with other people. In a recent entry, children’s book author Tim Federle shares, “[The library] saved me and changed my life. It was a free workspace in a city defined by its expenses. I wrote vast chunks of my first novel at a library. I return to it now as a kind of church, where the only praying I do involves hoping I’ll complete a chapter before the security guards start switching off the lights.” Other authors have told their own library stories, including Sara Farizan and Marilyn Johnson.

Library staples like storytime, research, internet use, and books are also mentioned on the micro-blog, showcasing the diverse needs of the general community.

“Rosenblum implied that only poor people use library for internet. I don’t appreciate that a place that serves under-resourced people is considered bad,” Abrams says. “But average people use the library every day. We try to show that by posting a variety of users: authors, teachers, and students.”

One high school student from Saegertown, PA goes a step further and includes on the site his petition to stop library cuts in his own school district; it’s been widely shared.

Abrams and Binder encourage all types of submissions, whether visual, video, or anonymous. They can also be sent through the Tumblr website, email, or regular mail. Abrams adds, “We hope that LCML can be a standing reminder that libraries do matter. Even if we don’t always have the funding to back that up, we have the people to back that up.”

A

As I travel to the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in Chicago later this month, I will inevitably carry the baggage of an unresolved disconnect. Those of us inside Libraryland know what our K–12 peers deliver, yet that value is clearly not understood by administrators, who are cutting school librarian positions nationwide. I can’t help but think that a key resource is being squandered out of sheer ignorance.

We have a perception problem. ALA’s current president, Maureen Sullivan, agrees. “I am concerned that school administrators may not fully understand the critical role school libraries and their librarians play in fostering academic achievement and student success in a technology-driven world,” she wrote recently on Huffington Post.

I think she’s right. Moreover, ALA has an obligation to help set the record straight and demonstrate to school leaders the value of the talented people and programs right under their noses. But this challenge calls for more than a task force. It requires a shift in strategy.

Don’t get me wrong. It was encouraging to see Sullivan’s “State of America’s School Libraries” (April 15). The post conveyed urgency and important background about school librarians’ role and their contribution to student learning. But, she buried the lead. The massive body of research that articulates how librarians directly affect student success was allotted only a short paragraph. I think administrators will care if they see what they are actually giving up.

So, what to do? Engage in radical advocacy. The last time ALA leadership really confronted a pressing perception problem—the refusal of publishers to offer ebooks for lending in public libraries—they broke the mold and made inroads with industry leaders through a persistent series of high-level meetings to raise awareness about the role libraries play in building a reading public and marketing publishers’ products—books.

Somewhere along the way, ALA realized the necessity to reframe the conversation about libraries in light of ebooks. It needed to proactively engage the powers that be in the commercial sector to correct the misperception that a library sale is a lost sale. I’m sure some of those meetings were hard to arrange, and even felt risky. I sat in on one in New York that was undeniably confrontational. Facing differences of opinion and knowledge gaps can be like that.

I urge ALA leadership to step out of the comfort zone as it did on ebooks and advocate with education leaders they don’t normally talk to—district leaders, principals, superintendents, and departments of education—to correct the misperception that school librarians are expendable. Tap incoming president Barbara Stripling’s deep passion and knowledge to tip the scales. She managed one of the most complex school library systems in the United States, New York City’s, during a time of tremendous change, and she is past president of AASL. Stripling is uniquely positioned to tell this story in a compelling way.

Cuts to school libraries can’t just be one of ALA’s problems, and it’s not a challenge for the youth divisions to shoulder alone. These cuts impact all libraries and leave our kids in the lurch. If you care about the future of libraries, you have to care about the future of school libraries. Just as the association tackled ebooks head on, now is the time for ALA to drive a new advocacy strategy for school librarians.

  Rebecca T. Miller
Editor-in-Chief
rmiller@mediasourceinc.com

I recently sat in on a school board meeting, where members debated whether to move full-speed ahead on deploying an innovative technology plan or implement the program in stages.

My first thought was: If we hesitate, are we selling our students short? The board, in this case, adopted the program and decided to proceed quickly. But too often we hesitate when considering new strategies and products that could significantly help our students or teachers. If dotcoms were as tentative, would they be so successful?

At this year’s TEDxAustin—an annual event that brings together leaders in technology, science, and design—the theme was “Fear Less.” For librarians and educators, this might be our motto. Fear limits possibilities. It keeps us from venturing out on that limb, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries. In a fearful state, we focus on our limitations and the judgment of others, which hampers our ability to do what’s best for kids.

When our students graduate from high school, are they adequately prepared to take their place in the world? Being skilled in information literacy is paramount to navigating their personal and professional lives. So we must be fearless in advocating for our students’ needs.

Being widely connected professionally is an essential piece of fearless advocacy. Not only can we find courage and support from a network of educators, but we can also tap the “best of the best” in terms of our practice, resources, real-life experience, and relationships. Whether you build a network of local librarians, join an established online discussion group, or create your own on Twitter or on sites such as Teacher Librarian Virtual Cafe and Library 2.0 Ning, outside support can provide invaluable resources and strengthen your resolve. Use your networks and your “librarian powers” to curate reading lists that inspire fearlessness—titles such as Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick (Random, 2007), Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point (Little, Brown, 2000), Tim Brown’s Change by Design (HarperBusiness, 2009), Curtis Carlson and William Wilmot’s Innovation (Crown, 2006), Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s The Impact Equation (Portfolio, 2012), Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment (Portfolio, 2011), and Carol Dweck’s Mindset (Random, 2006). Books are also powerful resources to reach for when you become discouraged.

As managers, we have a great deal of autonomy over what we bring into our library programs. We can introduce the first ereaders to our campuses, purchase some tablets and try them out with teachers and students, or press for a new local filtering policy. You’re bound to encounter obstacles along the way. So knowing how to maneuver school or district politics becomes an important skill. Again, maintain the focus on student need—this isn’t about the library per se—and understand that the decision makers have many constituencies to serve, not just the library (as important as it is to us).

Ask yourself (and your district), as Chris Lehmann, principal of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy, suggests, “What’s the worst consequence of my best idea?” If the worst consequence is that someone might say “no,” then nothing ventured, nothing gained. Also consider: What’s the best possible consequence of your best idea?

Two years ago, I got permission to pilot a tablet program at my school library. We started with six iPads. It required lobbying, negotiating, and securing funds. And the best possible consequence of that idea? Our school board recently voted to fund a 1:1 program, providing iPads for every student in our district. It’s taken a village to get there, but change begins with an idea and a few people who are willing to bring it to fruition. It takes a little fearlessness.

Carolyn Foote is a “technolibrarian” at Westlake High School in Austin, TX. Fascinated by the intersection of libraries, technology, students, and creativity, she blogs at “Not So Distant Future.” 

Author/illustrator extraordinaire:

Willems has created more than 40 books for children. The exhibit will feature “preliminary drawings that give viewers a glimpse of Willems’ process, as well as other finished illustrations that fully reveal his comedic genius and the influence of his early work as an animator for Sesame Street. Willems’ own work is accompanied by a selection of work from his private collection by the comic book artists and cartoonists who have inspired him most, including Charles M. Schulz, William Steig, and Saul Steinberg.”

Related programming include a members-only opening featuring a talk by the author on June 22 (reservations required), Mo Willems Day at The Carle on June 23 with a book signing for guests and another Mo Willems Day at The Carle on July 13. Ongoing events for school groups and guests will take place in the Museum’s Art Studio, Auditorium, Galleries, and Reading Library.

And the Winner Is…

Jane Addams Book Awards:  Each Kindness (Penguin) by Jacqueline Woodson and We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March (Peachtree) by Cynthia Levinson are winners of the 2013 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards in the Books for Younger Children and Books for Older Children categories.

Two books were named Honor Books in the Books for Younger Children category: Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers (Marshall Cavendish) by Sarah Warren and We March (Roaring Brook) by Shane W. Evans. In the Books for Older Children category, two titles were named Honor Books: Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Hours (National Geographic) by Ann Bausum and Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World (Houghton Harcourt) by Sy Montgomery.

Established in 1953, the annual Jane Addams Book Award honors books published in the U.S. during the previous year that “address themes of topics that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community, and/or equality of the sexes and all races.”

Debut author awards: The 2013 winners of the International Reading Association (IRA) Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards have been announced. The award recognizes promising debut authors—only first and second books by an author can be considered. Deborah Jo Larson’s One Frozen Lake (Minnesota Historical Society Pr.) won in the Primary Fiction category, and E. S. Redmond’s The Unruly Queen (Candlewick) received an Honor. Eight Days Gone by Linda McReynolds took the Primary Nonfiction prize, while the Honor in that category went to Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building (Lee & Low) by Christy Hale.

Susan Verrico was the Intermediate Fiction winner for Privateer’s Apprentice (Peachtree), and Lana Krumwiede and Natalie Dias Lorenzi nabbed the Honor award for Freakling (Candlewick) and Flying the Dragon (Charlesbridge), respectively. The Intermediate Nonfiction winner was James Doyle for A Young Scientist’s Guide to Defying Disasters with Skill and Daring (Gibbs Smith).

In the Young Adult category, the Fiction winner was Lovely, Dark and Deep (S & S) by Amy McNamara, and the Honors went to Out of Reach (S & S) by Carrie Arcos and E. M. Kokie for Personal Effects (Candlewick). We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March (Peachtree) by Cynthia Levinson won the Young Adult Nonfiction award.

Peer awards: Fifteen books have won the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) 2013 Crystal Kite Award. The awards recognize books from 15 regional SCBWI divisions around the world and the winners are selected by other children’s book writers and illustrators. All titles nominated must be published by a SCBWI member.

This year’s winners are: The Magyar Conspiracy (Tafelberg) by Neil Malherbe (Africa), Ten Tiny Things (Fremantle) by Meg McKinlay (Australia/New Zealand), The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins) by Katherine Applegate (California/Hawaii), Glory Be (Scholastic) by Augusta Scattergood (Southeast), The Dark Unwinding (Scholastic) by Sharon Cameron (Mid-South), Samurai Awakening (Tuttle) by Benjamin Martin (Middle East/India/Asia), Creepy Carrots (S & S) by Aaron Reynolds (Midwest), How to Babysit a Grandpa (Knopf) by Jean Reagan (Southwest), See You at Harry’s (Candlewick) by Jo Knowles (New England), Capture the Flag (Scholastic) by Kate Messner (New York), Boy + Bot (Knopf) by Ame Dyckman (Atlantic), Chained (Farrar) by Lynne Kelly (Texas/OK), The Stamp Collector  Fitzhenry and Whiteside) by Jennifer Lanthier (Americas), Fifteen Days Without a Head (Oxford Univ. Pr.) by Dave Cousins (UK/Europe), Pickle (Roaring Brook) by Kim Baker.

Tech awards: Tod Brekhus, Capstone Digital president, has won EdTech Digest’s 2013 Leadership Award, and the company’s flagship product, myOn reader, was selected as the best e-Learning Solution in the Cool Tool Award category. The awards honor “tools, trendsetters, and leaders in the education and technology sector. The distinguished awards program recognizes outstanding solutions—and the best and brightest minds—in education and technology.” Log on to EdTech Digest’s website for a full list of award finalists and winners.

“We are very proud to have myON reader chosen as the best e-Learning Solution,” noted Brekhus. “In just three short years, myON reader has created a unique reading environment that makes reading fun for students, a critical component in their individual academic success.” myOn reader offers online access to more than 4,000 books with multimedia supports and creates a collaborative reading environment where students, educators, and parents work together to support student reading performance.

Library Makeovers

In-need schools receive free renovations: Twenty-five school libraries across the country will be renovated thanks to the 2013 Target School Library Makeover Program. Each in-need school will get 2,000 books, new carpet and furniture, and a technology upgrade that includes iPads, interactive white boards, and more. In addition, students and their siblings will receive seven books to take home. The school libraries slated for renovation are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, and Washington.

To renovate the schools, Target is partnering with The Heart of America Foundation, a national nonprofit headquartered in Washington, DC, that promotes volunteer service and literacy, and recruiting the Target design and construction teams to do the work pro bono.

“The Target School Library Makeover program is part of our commitment to give $1 billion for education by the end of 2015,” said Laysha Ward, president, community relations, Target. “By reimagining school libraries and transforming outdated spaces into state-of-the-art learning centers, Target hopes to ignite a love of learning and put more children on the path to high school graduation.”

Game On

Games in the classroom: Administrators and teachers are invited to attend a one-day workshop focused on integrating games into the K–12 classroom on August 19, 2013 at Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. The workshop is part of the Serious Play Conference that will be held August 20–22. Attendees will get advice on the types of games that produce the best results. The workshop will feature serious games developers as well as teachers and administrators who have integrated game-based learning. Speakers include David Martz, Muzzy Lane Software; Susan Meek, Breakaway Games; Dan White, Filament Games, Ray Yan, Digipen; Tammie Schrader, an elementary school science teacher from Spokane, WA; and Michele Zimmerman, master trainer, Amazing Grace Christian Schools. The speakers will discuss the kinds of products that are best for different ages, where they work in the curriculum, and how to create and measure learning objectives. Register now for the workshop: the early bird price is $100; a pass for the Serious Play Conference and the workshop is $350.

Serious games are simulations of real-world events or processes that are designed for solving a problem and their primary purpose is to train or educate users. The Serious Play Conference examines the current challenges and future developments of serious games.

Advocacy

New website: Everyday Advocacy is a new website launched by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The website offers resources “designed to empower librarians and library staff to take action in their libraries, communities, and beyond.” Make sure to check out the website to easy to implement ideas and tips.

Summer Programs for Students

The joy of reading: Middle and high school students from all over the world will come together at The Great Books Summer Program to discuss the books they love and some topics in literature. There’s an intermediate program for students in grades 6 to 8 and a senior program for those in grades 9 to 12. The sample readings include works by Dante, Virgil, T. S. Eliot, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Hardy, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville, among others. Guest speakers include writers and filmmakers. The program gives students the opportunity to experience college life and have fun by exploring the surrounding areas, swimming, going to baseball games, attending Shakespeare productions, and more. The programs are held on the campuses of Amherst College in Massachusetts, Stanford University in California, and Oxford University in England. Tuition ranges from $1,745 for a one week session to $5,385 for a three week session.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

I’m usually a glass-half-full kind of person, but sometimes you can’t help reflecting on the emptiness—on what’s missing. When our schools cut librarians to save dollars, a critical contributor to student learning exits the building. And kids lose out.

This is the undeniable impact illustrated by a Pennsylvania study presented in our feature story, “Librarian Required,” by Debra E. Kachel and Keith Curry Lance (p. 28). The study joins a growing body of research that proves the efficacy of librarians in our schools. But this one goes further, showing how some 200,000 students are being denied in a state with deep cuts to school libraries. All this in light of the Common Core State Standards and the call for 21st-century skills. Given the responsibility for student achievement, anyone with control of the purse strings should seriously consider the lessons of the Pennsylvania study.

“Consistently, reading and writing scores are better for students who have a full-time, certified librarian than those who don’t,” note Kachel and Lance. On the flip side, “Below Basic” scores on reading and writing are higher in schools that do not have librarians. The inclusion of writing is an important element of this kind of research, which has often focused on reading scores
(see “Something to Shout About,” SLJ, September 2011, pp. 28–33).

This writing aspect is especially vital given the Common Core and its emphasis on students’ ability to produce meaningful materials in the learning process. “Advanced” writing scores are three times as likely in schools with a full-time librarian. And, it gets better with better budgets. “Students with access to well-resourced libraries are two to five times more likely to score ‘Advanced’ in writing than students without such libraries,” write Kachel and Lance. From the glass-half-full perspective, that’s inspiring. But then I think of the kids in schools without librarians.

The findings of this study alone should take the decision to cut a librarian off the table. Pennsylvania should serve as an example for all.

Of course, principals and superintendents make hard decisions based on much more than research—the decision to trim a library position is no doubt a complex one. This is why, inside the profession, we have to be ever more creative in surfacing this kind of data as we illustrate librarians’ value in terms of student achievement to principals, superintendents, and parents.

We have the research, now we have to get it into the right hands. Kachel and Lance call for each of us to take these findings to key stakeholders. As part of the profession, I’m committed to sharing the message in our publication and in my discussions with educators and partners. As a parent, I’m going to take these findings to the principal of my son’s school, which currently has no librarian despite strong library leadership in the district.

What will you do?

Too often, advocacy can take a defensive position. I’m not talking about defending what has been, but showing what librarians bring toward a successful future. The survey makes clear: one key staffer can make a huge difference in the overall learning in our schools. And that staffer is a librarian.

Rebecca T. Miller
Editor-in-Chief
rmiller@mediasourceinc.com

Illustration by David Flaherty.

Imagine trying to teach kids how to swim in an empty pool.

That’s exactly what Baruch Kintisch envisioned when he took a hard look at the effects of his city’s deep education cuts. Philadelphia’s “schools are underfunded; classrooms are crowded; libraries, labs, and special-education services are outdated or nonexistent,” writes Kintisch, the director of policy advocacy and a senior staff attorney at the Education Law Center (see the Philadelphia Inquirer’s “City Schools’ Real Problem,” August 9, 2012).

Simply put, students suffer when they don’t have adequate resources—and, in particular, we’ve found that student achievement suffers when schools lack libraries that are staffed by full-time librarians. “Nearly every public school in Bucks, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties has a library with certified staff, which has been proven to increase student reading and comprehension,” notes Kintisch. “In contrast, most public schools in Philadelphia do not employ a certified librarian, and more than 140 do not have a library.”

He’s right. More than half of Philadelphia’s public schools are currently without a library. And according to the recent Pennsylvania School Library Study, a comprehensive study of school library services in publicly funded K–12 schools, 56 percent of the state’s schools don’t have a full-time school librarian. During the current school year, 2012–2013, the School District of Philadelphia, the state’s largest district, provided only 17 percent of its schools with professional librarians—that’s an anemic 43 of 249 schools. The picture is almost as bleak in the Pittsburgh School District, where just 27 percent of schools have full-time librarians—or a measly 14 out of 51 schools. Yet that hasn’t deterred many districts from getting rid of media specialists.

Even wealthy suburban districts find library reductions acceptable. For example, Manheim Township in Lancaster County, PA, has slashed librarian positions by 80 percent since 2010, going from 10.5 to 2.5 media specialists. At the same time, other districts employ full-time librarians in every building, many with support staff and annual budgets that enable them to update their collections and technology. How do these inequities affect teacher effectiveness and student achievement? And why is the research that shows the impact of quality school library programs and librarians on students being ignored?

Background

In 2007, when the trend to cut library programs and staffing became apparent to us, the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) teamed up with the Education Law Center (ELC), a nonprofit educational advocacy organization that has made substantial gains for the state’s most vulnerable children—including poor kids, kids of color, kids with disabilities, English-language learners, and others. PSLA and ELC discovered that they had many similar interests and goals, including a strong urge to ensure a quality public education for every child. The two groups began to lobby for statewide regulations and reforms to ensure library equity for Pennsylvania’s 1.8 million K–12 students.

When representatives of the two organizations approached influential state legislators, they quickly discovered that some lawmakers didn’t know that schools weren’t required to have libraries, and others had no idea how rapidly these programs were being eliminated. Among many legislators’ first questions were, “How many schools do not have libraries or librarians?” and “How do school librarians improve student achievement and by how much?” Clearly, research and verifiable data were needed to influence these policymakers.

In the absence of data to answer their questions, PSLA persuaded the state’s House of Representatives to commission the Pennsylvania School Library Study of 2011—a “snapshot” of library programs in which 73 percent of public schools participated. While the study uncovered huge inequities among various districts, according to PSLA surveys, school library programs and staff have continued to be cut. For instance, in 2011–2012, an additional seven percent of librarians were let go, and, in 2012–2013, another six percent were jettisoned. As a result, “almost 200,000 students have been affected by elimination or severe curtailment of school library services throughout the Commonwealth,” says PSLA’s president, Eileen Kern.

Research and key findings

Joining forces with the Education Law Center and the Health Sciences Library Consortium (a nonprofit group that manages ACCESS PA and POWER Library electronic databases), PSLA was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership research grant to determine what school library infrastructure contributes most to student achievement, the costs and benefits associated with it, and what’s needed to develop students with 21st-century learning skills. Although more than two decades of similar research has been conducted in over 22 states, the Pennsylvania study uncovered the following new and significant findings:

Quality school library programs significantly impact the most vulnerable students. For the first time, the impact of library programs on selected student groups that tend to experience achievement gaps was examined directly. The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), which measures how well schoolchildren are doing in reading, writing, math, and science according to the state’s education standards, maintains separate test scores for subgroups of students who are economically disadvantaged, black, Hispanic, and have Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). PSSA scores range from “Advanced,” which indicates an in-depth understanding of the subject and superior academic performance, to “Below Basic,” which reflects poor understanding and inadequate academic performance.

Consistently, reading and writing scores are better for students who have a full-time certified librarian than those who don’t. Students who are economically disadvantaged, black, Hispanic, and have IEPs (i.e., students with disabilities) benefit proportionally more than students generally. These findings suggest that staffing libraries with certified librarians can help close achievement gaps. What are some of the other key findings?

• Students who are poor, minority, and have IEPs, but who have full-time librarians, are at least twice as likely to have “Advanced” writing scores as their counterparts without full-time librarians.

• Generally, the benefits associated with larger staffing and collections and increased access to technology, databases, and to the library itself are proportionally greater for students who are poor, black, Hispanic, and disabled.

• For black and Hispanic students, access to more books more than doubles their chances of obtaining “Advanced” writing scores and cuts their risk of “Below Basic” writing scores in half.

• The association between flexible scheduling and writing scores is more pronounced. With flexible scheduling, all students are about four times more likely to earn “Advanced” writing scores, and Hispanic students are almost seven times more likely to earn “Advanced” scores with flexible scheduling.

Writing scores are more positively impacted than reading scores. Since 21st-century learners must be effective knowledge producers as well as information consumers, examining the relationship between writing scores and quality school library programs was essential. Writing scores of students were studied at both the “Advanced” and “Below Basic” levels. Interestingly, the impact of school library programs was greater proportionally on writing than reading scores. Students with access to well-resourced libraries are two to five times more likely to score “Advanced” in writing than students without such libraries. Other significant findings include:

• For all students, those with full-time librarians are almost three times as likely to have “Advanced” writing scores as students without full-time librarians.

• The differential impact of librarians suggests that writing rather than reading scores may be a better indicator of a student’s mastery of 21st-Century Learner and Pennsylvania/Common Core standards.

The role of the school library program and academic standards. This is the first statewide study to assess the roles of librarians in teaching the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner as well as Common Core standards. We and our associates at RSL Research Group in Louisville, CO, surveyed more than 1,850 librarians, teachers, and school administrators to determine the extent to which these standards are addressed by school library programs and the instruction by librarians. To verify their perceptions, survey results were then correlated with the reading and writing scores of the respondents’ schools. This study provides the first evidence that what librarians teach both addresses academic standards and impacts students’ standardized test scores.

• These relationships are especially strong for the Pennsylvania/Common Core standards for English language arts and reading and writing for history and social studies.

• Notably, the positive association of the librarian’s role in teaching AASL’s Standards for the 21st-Century Learner with “Advanced” writing scores is dramatically higher than with “Advanced” reading scores.

• Consistently, students are less likely to score “Below Basic” on reading and writing in schools in which administrators, teachers, and librarians assess as “excellent” the library program’s teaching of inquiry-based learning.

As Carol Heinsdorf, a National Board–certified school librarian at Philadelphia’s Youth Study Center High School, explains, “These nationally adopted academic aspirations, supported by empirical evidence of school librarians’ effectiveness, are at odds with the 87 percent of Philadelphia’s incoming ninth graders who have never experienced an adequately resourced school library managed by a certified librarian, don’t know how books are arranged on a library shelf, do not know to, or how to, cite sources, and have not read a book from beginning to end for either academic purposes or pleasure. How are these students being prepared to successfully complete a two- or four-year college program? How are they to be reading role models as their children’s first teachers? How are those policy and decision makers shepherding public education as a public good for the future of our democracy going to prioritize adequately resourced school libraries managed by certified school librarians, to align with the evidence?”

Staffing remains the key factor. This study suggests that there’s no substitute for a full-time, certified school librarian who’s fully engaged in the teaching and learning process. Key findings include:

• With a full-time librarian, students are more likely to score “Advanced” and less likely to score “Below Basic” on reading and writing tests.

• Consistently, reading scores are better for elementary, middle, and high school students who have full-time certified librarians. In schools with full-time librarians, “Below Basic” scores not only improve, but improve more from elementary to middle to high school as well.

• The proportional difference in “Advanced” reading scores associated with a full-time librarian grows from elementary to middle to high school.

• Students who are Hispanic and whose full-time librarians have support staff are three times as likely to earn “Advanced” writing scores as their counterparts whose full-time librarians lack such support staff.

• On average, almost nine percent more students score “Advanced” in reading where students have a full-time, certified librarian with support staff than where they have a full-time, certified librarian alone. Further, almost eight percent more students score “Advanced” in reading where students have a full-time, certified librarian than where they do not.

• On average, the percentage of students scoring “Advanced” in writing is two and a half times higher for schools with a full-time, certified librarian than those without one. Similarly, the average percentage of students scoring “Advanced” in writing is almost twice as high for schools with a full-time, certified librarian with support staff as for those with only a full-time certified librarian.

As Jessie B. Ramey, a parent of two Pittsburgh public school students, wrote on her educational advocacy blog, Yinzercation, “Without a full-time librarian in each of our schools, we are still short-changing our kids…. As this most recent study clearly found, librarians are even more significant for our most struggling students, yet these are often the very kids forced to go without books, staff, or space.”

We couldn’t agree more. Of all the factors examined in this study, the one with the most impact on students is the presence of a full-time certified librarian in the school library.

Conclusion

This study adds to the evidence that all K–12 students need and deserve quality school library programs with full-time certified staff. Students are more likely to succeed when they have library programs that are well staffed, well funded, technologically well equipped, well stocked, and more accessible. And, the neediest learners may benefit the most from trained librarians and quality library programs.

However, much work still needs to be done to use this research to reach influential stakeholders who control the future of school library programs and their staffing. While many states are pursuing state reforms and regulations, this doesn’t negate the role of the individual school librarian to learn and share these findings locally. Everyone needs to nurture library champions who will defend the position that all K–12 school students need and deserve full-time school librarians and well-resourced school libraries in order to develop the skills needed to be productive in the 21st century.

Debra E. Kachel teaches online library science and technology courses at Mansfield (PA) University. Keith Curry Lance is a consultant with the RSL Research Group in Louisville, CO. To read a complete report of the study, see Pennsylvania School Libraries Pay Off: Investments in Student Achievement and Academic Standards. The research was presented at SLJ’s 2012 Leadership Summit.

Illustration by Jean Tuttle

After 20 wonderful years as a teacher librarian, I’ve gone over to the dark side. I’ve become a suit—an administrator—and the very worst kind, a district IT administrator! (Cue Darth Vader’s theme song.) Before you turn away in horror and disbelief, here’s a quick tell-all from the Evil Empire. I’m going to share some shocking (and instructive) secrets from the Death Star of Administration, explaining why principals should be your best friends and colleagues. I’m also going to stop using Star Wars metaphors.

My fade to gray didn’t occur overnight. I have worked as an instructional technology facilitator in Vancouver’s (WA) public schools since 2008. During the first three years, I was also Skyview High School’s full-time teacher librarian. Then, in 2011, my role changed: I spent half of my time in the library and the remaining half in the IT department. Depending on the day of the week, I was either “The Man” or I was working for him. And despite enjoying the opportunity to blame myself for whatever was wrong either with management or with teachers, in 2012, I was finally asked to make a choice between those two options. I think you’ve heard about receiving an offer you can’t refuse….

While I still see myself as a teacher librarian, last July, I became a real-live administrator with a spiffy title—manager of instructional technology and library services. During the last few years, I’ve been able to reflect on many of my own beliefs and assumptions about working with administrators. As a former teacher librarian, I’m also well aware of other perceptions that teachers have regarding management. Speaking now as a teacher—and not as a manager—I’ve come to realize that the reality is far more complex than a simple equation of us vs. them. Teacher librarians have far more in common with principals than we realize. I’d like to share some ways to find common ground with our friends in the corner office.

When I was in grad school, Joyce Petrie, my wise and now long-departed professor at Portland State University, explained in detail how library administration and building administration are a lot alike. She was right. Now, speaking from experience, I teach my University of Washington graduate students that school librarians often have more in common with principals than with their fellow teachers. Why is that? Like principals, we manage budgets, purchase materials, evaluate employees, and make executive decisions, ranging from selecting materials to determining instructional outcomes. Unlike many teachers, we know virtually everyone in the school by name and maintain positive working relationships with all of them. We also excel at putting a wide variety of district policies and programs into practice. Most importantly, like principals, we’re often the only ones in our schools who do the jobs that we do. I often hear teacher librarians say that they feel misunderstood, isolated, and even lonely in their positions. Empathy check: Do you think principals just might feel the same way?

If it hadn’t been for my many wonderful teaching colleagues, I wouldn’t have been the 2012 Washington State Teacher of the Year. But it all began with my Skyview High principal, Kym Tyelyn-Carlson. Over the course of five years, our professional friendship evolved beyond library advocacy and became a two-way exchange between educators who both cared deeply about the success of our school. We discussed everything from staff socials to strategic planning. When she called me into her office in May 2011 and told me she was nominating me for teacher of the year, it was less about my librarianship than it was about her perception of me as an educator. Well beyond my library role, I had become a trusted confidante, consigliere, and colleague. Kym isn’t an exception. I’ve enjoyed good and frequently great relationships with the six principals I’ve worked with during the last two decades. I’ve always seen them as allies rather than adversaries.

Before addressing the opportunities for media specialists to connect with principals, I’d like to dispel some common misconceptions. First, there’s a widespread belief that building and district administrators always think the same way. More often than not, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Get a principal to talk off-the-record, and you’ll find out for yourself. Despite the mysterious district meetings and the inscrutable binders on their shelves, principals struggle with translating district policy into practice as much as we do. In more than one meeting, I’ve heard them express frustration, uncertainty, fear, and powerlessness in the face of the same issues that teachers confront. Like other educators, building administrators are concerned about daily challenges such as poverty, student readiness, literacy, fear of violence, and assessments. In addition, many district policies and programs are often created with insufficient input from or consultation with building administrators. Like many teacher librarians, principals are the ones who must explain and train faculty in the policies and practices created by managers like me.

And what of the conspiracy theory that administrators are “all in it together”? Ask any superintendent: they’d retire and die happy if they could only get their administrative leadership teams to plan, work, and lead based on an authentically shared set of values and priorities. Even the highest-functioning educational administrations grapple with issues of nurturing and maintaining social capital—communication, relationships, leadership, and sustainability. Just like individual schools, district programs and departments work with specific challenges, leadership models, and cultures.

Are there bad principals? Yes. And bad teachers? Of course. Are there tyrannical administrators and administrations? Yes, probably. Do administrators circle the wagons when challenged? Yes, in the same way that teachers and librarians do when they’re threatened. Do administrators meet in secret to devise evil plans? Unlikely. I have found that most district conspiracy theories are often conflated with honest mistakes, incomplete planning, imperfect implementations, and/or poor communication. Speaking for my district, our leadership team cares deeply about students and it respects and values teachers and staff. We work very hard to get it right. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we could have done better.

This is where teacher librarians come in. By cultivating strong relationships with principals and even district administrators, we can strengthen library programs, not to mention improve schools and districts. I am wearing a suit because of relationships with both teachers and administrators, built on shared work, planning, and success. Here is a quick list of ways to create those relationships, even when you’d think it might be impossible.

Seek out win-win opportunities. Identify what keeps principals up at night and then offer to help. Right now, three big trains are barreling down the tracks—Common Core, new teacher and principal evaluation systems, and 21st-century student skills. In addition to running a school, principals are accountable for these vaguely defined and game-changing reforms. Choose one, learn as much as you can about it, and then offer to help your boss. Join them on district or regional teams. Offer to provide leadership in your building. You’re likely to be surprised at just how enthusiastically they say yes.

Give before you receive. Teacher librarians often conceive their relationships with principals as quid pro quo, beginning with the question “What will you do for me?” rather than, “What can I do for you?” Pay it forward with the goal of building trust, rapport, and a valuable relationship. Many years ago, I took up an offer by our former chief information officer to lead our district’s library automation project. I had a vested interest in the job being done right, and she wanted the implementation to go smoothly. Thanks to our partnership, the project was a success. A few years later, she asked me to join her team as an instructional technology facilitator.

Bridge the gap. Because of our hybrid roles, teacher librarians can effectively bridge the artificial divide between teachers and administration, and promote communication, collaboration, and advocacy between and across various roles and functions. In the same way that my recent leadership role blurs the definition of “The Man,” teacher librarians can provide unique building and even district leadership. Teachers often grapple with crossing a line by appearing too supportive of administration. As a teacher librarian, I never saw a line because my job was different. I necessarily had to see things from a systems perspective that included not only building administration and teachers, but also district interests. That’s why some of our teacher librarians currently lead a district task force to develop a digital citizenship program. They are working with administrators to develop a systemic digital content strategy, and they’re participating in state and district groups connected to the Common Core. Like principals, the best teacher librarians see the big picture and can build partnerships that ensure success.

Identify successes. Most teachers hesitate to call attention to their work or to be praised for it. But principals always want to be able to share good work with parents, peers, and their bosses. When teacher librarians see innovation, creativity, and greatness in the classroom, they should share those stories with the principal. Principals appreciate the ability to see and value success in others. More importantly, they value hearing about good things beyond the library program. In addition to building rapport with your principal, everyone wins. Teachers get the recognition they deserve. The principal better understands the great work that’s going on. And the school may well get some praise at the district’s next meeting. As a proponent of creativity in the classroom, I made it a point to highlight innovative teachers who dared to emulate Apple and its slogan “think different.” More often than not, Kym would nod in agreement. In those moments, we were of one mind, not about libraries, but about great teaching.

My friends and colleagues keep checking up on me and asking how I like my new job. I tell them it tastes like chicken. To me, the only significant difference between what I’m doing now and what I’ve done for years as a teacher librarian and an instructional technology facilitator is that there’s a different title below my name. Sad as it might seem, that changes a lot in my relationships with others, both among teachers and administrators. To many teachers, I’ve gone over to the dark side. To some administrators, I’m now part of the club. But here’s the reality—there’s no dark side; and there’s no key to the executive washroom. Thankfully, my teacher librarian colleagues still see me (and themselves) for what we are—occasionally lonely, frequently misunderstood, and loving the jobs that we do. Just like principals.

Mark Ray (Mark.Ray@vansd.org) is the manager of instructional technology and library services at the Vancouver (WA) Public Schools.

Arriving on the scene together—and even worse, on the tails of declining budgets for schools and libraries nationwide—these two factors present a real challenge. Fortunately, we also have some real opportunities ahead thanks to collaborative, solutions-focused thinking at the Summit. The gathering brings together school librarians, publishers, aggregators, and vendors to talk about vital issues and, more importantly, to discover the answers to today’s big questions.

A key question relating to the perfect storm of collection development is, of course, funding. Where will the money for new CC resources come from? How will we pay for new digital resources? Likely not from a new pot of money. But that doesn’t mean we can’t access funding that’s “new” to the library.

One approach is to look for existing funds within your school and district that can be redirected so that your library can purchase CC resources for the classroom. Eric Fitzgerald, Capstone Publishing’s vice president of direct sales, encouraged Summit attendees to seek out this kind of “blended funding.”

Blended funding means asking the English department to kick in some classroom or textbook money to help support that new literary criticism resource. Blended funding means pointing out to the elementary school principal that many of the new interactive ebook series are replacing science and social studies textbooks… so maybe they should be partially funded by the textbook budget. Blended funding isn’t a foolproof solution, but it’s a solid tactic. One challenge: it requires that you market your expertise in resource selection and collection development so that your value is obvious to others.

You also must, as they say, have skin in the game. Before you go asking for additional funds from departmental, textbook, or classroom budgets, make sure you’re ready to talk about the percentage of the cost that will be covered by the library budget. It’s a lot easier to sell someone on splitting the cost than it is to ask them to pay for the whole shebang.

When crafting your appeal for blended funding support, the other key component to address is efficiency. Remember, the library budget isn’t “our” budget; rather we’re centrally managing funds to enable more efficient purchases of resources to support classroom teaching and learning. Given the widespread need for new CC-aligned resources, libraries can work with publishers and aggregators to deliver wider access to content by going digital. One of our most powerful arguments is that we can save our organizations money by sharing resources and purchasing in larger consortia to reduce costs and increase access. The science teachers in a district or region aren’t set up to leverage group purchasing, but librarians are.

From my perspective as a school administrator, this is the perfect solution to a perfect storm. Everyone is desperate for content; now it’s our time to step up and deliver. We have the infrastructure, business relationships, and great publishers and aggregators to work with us. We just need to apply blended funding to make it happen for everyone.

Christopher Harris (infomancy@gmail.com) is coordinator of the school library system of the Genesee Valley (NY) Educational Partnership.

Mark Ray speaking at the SLJ Summit

Mark Ray sounds the call for librarians to step up to a larger role

What can school librarians bring to the table? Plenty, says Mark Ray, a presenter at SLJ’s 2012 Leadership Summit, October 25–27, in Philadelphia. But to do that, Ray says they’ll need to define their roles more broadly and make sure they’re leading the way in schools.

Ray, the manager of instructional technology and library services at the Vancouver (WA) Public Schools, is no stranger to the challenges that today’s media specialists face. As a former teacher librarian who was named Washington’s 2011 Teacher of the Year (the first time a librarian received that honor), he’s experienced many of those headaches firsthand, and he wonders if the word “library” is part of the problem and if media specialists may be facing extinction because of “internal and external forces beyond our control,” such as shrinking budgets and unsupportive administrators.

But just because Ray’s 45-minute presentation, “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m a Librarian: Leadership Beyond the ‘L Word,’” reflected on school librarians recent woes, doesn’t mean he’s not bullish on the profession.

“I love the library, and I firmly believe in it,” says Ray, a 20-plus-year veteran of the Vancouver School District. “But what I also think is that we can redefine perceptions on the part of administrators and decision makers by not necessarily wearing the library on our sleeves.” Media specialists, he says, need to take a tip from his teaching heroes in Washington State and “be informed but not defined by their librarianship” and do “some of their best work outside of their librarians,” which means reaching out to those in the classroom.

As for trying out those new, more expansive roles, Ray says that school librarians need to become digital strategists (who advise administrators on the best choices for tech programs and mobile devices), data and metadata mavens, teaching pioneers (who are “the first ones to adopt Common Core” in their schools), technology whisperers to make the user experience understandable and manageable, virtual administrators, and innovation integrationists that excel at making connections between various organizations.

And that’s not all. Ray drew a knowing chuckle from the afternoon crowd of 240 media specialists an vendors when he suggested that media specialists also need to be “blended-learning baristas—using technology and teaching in fluid ways.” If librarians can do that, says Ray, “You can provide services to teachers and to students that’s personalized and powerful.”

Upper Merion High School Librarian Sharon Nardelli assists ninth-graders with research. Photos by Stuart Goldenberg

Story update October 26, 10:11 AM.

Access to a full-time school librarian increases student test scores, closes the achievement gap, and improves writing skills, according to a new study of Pennsylvania public schools conducted by the Colorado-based RSL Research Group.

The results of the first comprehensive study of Pennsylvania school libraries in a decade was presented at an October 25 press conference, kicking off School Library Journal’s annual Leadership Summit.

Garnet Valley Elementary School Librarian Tracy Nelson reviews research techniques with a pair of 5th-grade students.

The research, focusing on students in grades 3 to 11, was also the first to examine student writing, according to a press release. Outcomes were analyzed in relation to five factors: staffing, collections, digital resources and technology infrastructure, library access, and funding.

Debra Kachel, Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Legislative Chairperson, advised librarians to take the necessary steps to further the cause, making themselves visible to administrators, the chamber of commerce, the teacher’s union, school board members, and the community at large. “It’s time to stop talking to ourselves,” she said, and instead “create champions” by reaching out to state legislators in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Dr. Mary Kay Biagini, who analyzed the data, reminded those present to utilize the language that principals will listen to: “Here’s empirical evidence that you can use. Every administrator is looking to raise those scores.”

In this struggle to get heard by school and government, persistence is key. When denied the opportunity to present the study’s finding and the project’s goals at a three separate associations of school administrators, school board and curriculum organizations, the group’s head researcher, Dr. Keith Currey Lance, suggested that PSLA be present at the event as an exhibitor, which gave them access to a large group of administrators.

Also at the press conference, Eileen Kern, PSLA’s current president, said that the state’s urban school districts are the most lacking in resources and staff. Out of the 458 school buildings in those cities, only 135 of them are equipped with a librarian. “It’s about equitable access. We have to answer to the students. They are our future and we can’t leave them behind.”

Unity within the profession and with parents and teachers was also an element emphasized by the partnership. Ludy Soderman, director of the Multilingual Family Support Office in the Philadelphia school district, stirringly stated, speaking to librarians: “You are too polite. This is too urgent. The numbers will continue to decline and the kids will continue to fall through the cracks. Time to get into the streets. We need parents’ involvement. Let’s not wait months to dialogue. We have to raise our voice together.”

Sandra Selzno from the Education Law Center, concluded the briefing with a startling observation: In the state of Pennsylvania, “access to libraries is mandated in private schools and prisons—but not in our public schools.”

The findings were part of a year-long project led by the Education Law Center, the Health Sciences Library Consortium, and the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. The collaboration was established when dire budget cuts made to Pennsylvania’s school funding in 2007 spurred several organizations to form a coalition that addressed the issue. At the briefing, Selzno encouraged school media specialists to seek out and create non-traditional partnerships.

Hempfield School District Library Department Supervisor Cathi Furman assists a pair of Hempfield High School seniors with a writing assignment.

Some key points from the study:

“Students who have access to a full-time, certified librarian scored higher on the PSSA Reading Test than those students who do not have such access. This finding is true for all students, regardless of their socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and/or disability status.”

“For several student groups that tend to experience achievement gaps—economically disadvantaged, Hispanic, Black, and those with IEPs (Individualized Education Programs)—Reading and Writing results are markedly better when those students attend a school with a librarian and library support staff, according to the research. In fact, they benefit more proportionally than the general student population.”

“Nearly twice as many high school students who have access to a full-time, certified librarian scored Advanced on the PSSA Writing test as those students without access to a full-time, certified librarian, according to the report.”

“Considering all students, those students with access to a full-time, certified librarian are almost three times as likely to have “Advanced” scores on the PSSA Writing Test as those students without access to a full-time, certified librarian.”

More information can be found at the project website.

The Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization (CHPSPO) has spent the past seven months pushing Washington, DC, to open its coffers to school libraries to replenish shelves, upgrade library spaces and hire more librarians for K–12 students.

“We wanted to get librarians restored but also get District of Columbia Public Schools to make a commitment to get school libraries on their feet,” says Peter MacPherson, a member of CHPSPO and a parent of a 10th grader in public school.

MacPherson and his cohort are reacting to a decision last spring from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to pull dedicated funding from schools with fewer than 300 students and also allow schools with 300 or more students to divert funds for librarians to other purposes. That led to 58 of the 124 schools in the DCPS to start this fall without librarians — nearly double the 34 from the 2011/2012 school year. (DCPS did not respond to a request for information.)

Parents pushed back, asking for a meeting with Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who agreed to form a task force, says MacPherson, which is to be co-chaired by Barbara Stripling, former director of library services with the New York City Department of Education and current president-elect with the American Library Association. (Stripling did not respond to an interview request by press time.)

And CHPSPO has found other allies, namely Council Member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) who has proposed a bill, “The Public School Librarians, Art and Music Teacher Act of 2012,” requiring every DC public school to have a full-time librarian, art and music teacher. However a hearing has not yet been scheduled for the bill and if not set by early January, when the council period ends, the bill would have to be re-introduced next term, according to Council Member Phil Mendelson’s office, who chairs the committee considering the bill.

A $140 million budget surplus announced by D.C. finance officials last month is also cause for hope. CHPSPO would like $23 million of that surplus to be used for school libraries, to restore high school and middle school materials, purchase new ereaders, magazine subscriptions, and 40,000 ebooks, upgrade school library and hire 57 new full-time librarians.

With 2,758 signatures on their online petition demanding for a minimum of part-time librarians in each school, and a second protest scheduled in front of the Wilson Building at City Hall this Friday October 19, CHPSPO expects to bring more energy to the effort to restore school libraries for the betterment, they say, of student learning.

“We hope to have teachers, students and parents come to support our effort,” says MacPherson.

Illustration by David Flaherty

Principals value their librarians. They also want them to be more visible leaders.

Those are just two of the interesting findings from a recent survey of 102 media specialists and 67 principals. In fact, 90 percent of the administrators that we surveyed think we have a positive impact in schools—and a large number also feel that our jobs are important. That’s great news, considering only 65 percent of librarians in the study thought their bosses would recognize the valuable role we play.

Tech respect

When asked about our tech contributions, not only did 90 percent of principals say that we encourage its use, they also ranked dealing with technology as one of the top 10 important tasks that we perform. In fact, our bosses highlighted three technology-related activities—sharing our tech expertise with students and teachers, offering tech leadership, and providing tech equipment—as being among our most important job functions.

“The evolution of the ‘library’ into the ‘media/technology’ center is a reality,” says one administrator. “The librarian needs to be current on new and emerging technologies, and assist others in their use.” Another explained that our “teachers are not technology literate, but the librarian is doing her best to change that problem.”

One principal even went as far as to say that technology and the library go hand-in-hand. “As the information landscape continues to evolve, the librarian is the rudder guiding the school toward the new or unknown, while at the same time melding ethical use and appropriate application in the school environment as well as life outside of school.”

Not surprisingly, we’re keenly aware of the crucial role that technology plays in our professional lives—and we like being called the “tech expert.” Some 95 percent of media specialists surveyed agree, or strongly agree, that technology is an essential component of our work, with one librarian saying it was “vital” to her library and another saying she pushes it all the time.

“Technology is my baby! I infuse it into each lesson,” says one respondent who’s also part of her district’s tech team and offers tech training to her colleagues in newsletters and emails. “I present with it and teach it. It hooks the students and the staff.”

Every librarian who responded to the survey said they embrace and encourage technology in their schools, with many adding that they’re one of the few people in the building who are up to date on the latest and greatest technology available, in addition to having in-depth knowledge of web design, prezis, wikis, blogs, and the hottest educational apps.

While some media specialists—especially the veterans—admit to fearing technology at times, they say they still push themselves to help teachers see its value and how it’ll make learning easier in the long run. Several, for example, mentioned getting creative with their Kindle Fires and iPads to teach students about online resources. The only negative comments were about funding—or more specifically, the lack of it—for keeping up with the fast-paced tech evolution.

What are other areas of our jobs that scored high with our bosses? The bulk, 93 percent, strongly agree that we’re helpful in “reinforcing concepts learned in the classroom” and that we assist teachers by making resources available. Plus, 90 percent of administrators think our rooms are inviting. Meanwhile, 90 percent also feel our professional development efforts with teaching colleagues are effective. This is an area of opportunity for librarians: as more than half of librarians surveyed report working with teachers on a one-on-one basis, and express a desire to do more professional development and collaboration in the future.

The big disconnect

Of course, there are areas where school librarians and their principals simply don’t see eye to eye. One that stands out has to do with the promotion of recreational reading. A whopping 98.4 percent of librarians agree—and 81.3 percent strongly agree—that they encourage reading for pleasure, which, according to researcher Stephen Krashen, “is the major source of our reading competence, our vocabulary, and our ability to handle complex grammatical constructions.” Simply put, those who read more show superior literacy development, and as Krashen explains, literacy and language growth are “clearly attributable to free reading.”

Yet only 48.8 percent of principals strongly agree that the librarian encourages recreational reading. It’s quite possible that the question was misunderstood, or that of more concern, principals just don’t understand that it’s a significant—and important—part of what we do each day.

This may help explain another disparity we uncovered: when asked to list the activities that librarians perform daily, media specialists provided a list that exceeded 100 tasks. On the other hand, principals listed 20 items, which, when we eliminated redundancies, were narrowed down to a mere 10. The good news is that both pretty much agree that the top tasks performed by librarians include helping students to access books and information, teaching students and teachers research and tech skills, and collaborating with teachers.

Looking for leaders

So why do so many librarians complain about not feeling the love? Our survey found that some of the negative stereotypes that we’ve been fighting all these years still persist. A lot of principals continue to view librarians as unfriendly shushers who are more concerned with keeping their books in order than encouraging kids to read. One administrator said that courtesy and customer service were important but lacking in his librarian, with another adding that a smile wouldn’t hurt. And when asked to identify the visible leaders in their schools, most of our bosses simply don’t think of us. Only 24.4 percent of administrators view media specialists as visible leaders. And the sad news is that we agree. When posed the same question, only 28 percent of school librarians say they strongly see themselves in a leadership role.

A very likely explanation is that school librarians don’t feel comfortable labeling themselves as leaders—but it doesn’t mean they’re not acting like ones, says Marcia Mardis, associate director of the Partnerships Advancing Library Media (PALM) Center at Florida State University. “Leaders are as leaders do.”

Mardis makes an interesting point. As our survey shows, media specialists perform dozens of tasks each day, but they don’t necessarily feel the need to stand up and shout about it to the world. Some feel that librarians would have taken district-level or managerial jobs if they wanted to be identified as leaders in the traditional sense of the word.

“Labeling yourself a leader can require a lot of chutzpah in an environment that very clearly labels its leaders as principals, assistant principals, and curriculum directors,” explains Mardis. “To stand in the face of that formal recognition and say, ‘I am a leader, too—even if you don’t call me one’ is a professional risk. It’s much less professional risk to act like a leader than it is to call yourself a leader.”

We’re trying to overcome this exact problem with our MLS students at Sam Houston State University, where I train teachers to become school librarians. When asked to rate themselves on key areas that are important to the role of a media specialist, my students consistently rank themselves low in leadership potential and high in the areas of literature expertise, tech ability, library administration, and teaching. Since these future librarians don’t seem to know how to lead—or don’t have a natural affinity for it—our faculty has developed several assignments to teach them how to lead through collaboration, by providing training, teaching technology, and by encouraging them to be the go-to person in the school and community. We’re even teaming up with our school administration department to offer a Ph.D. program in school administration, with an emphasis on library science. By training our students to lead before they enter the media center, we hope these future school librarians will consider leadership and advocacy as important as ordering books and teaching kids how to do research.

Indeed, formidable obstacles to leadership exist in the real world. While many librarians who were surveyed say that they feel like visible leaders with their students and want to be leaders outside the library, it’s a different story when it comes to standing out among their teaching peers. The roadblocks range from fear of rocking the boat and being spread too thinly among different schools to jealousy from classroom teachers and a lack of support from administrators.

“I have been an advocate in my district, which has earned me a few gray hairs due to the lack of interest,” says one respondent. Another says she’s never invited to faculty meetings, despite raising repeated requests to her administrator. “It’s hard to be a visible anything—let alone leader—when you aren’t even seen.”

Lisa Hunt, a media specialist at Apple Creek Elementary in Moore, OK, concurs. “The first year my principal arrived, she rarely came into the library. It soon became clear that she not only thought I wasn’t leadership material, she wanted to ignore my existence.”

One high school librarian in rural Alabama says she wasn’t even allowed to accept an invitation from a student to a banquet honoring academic excellence among the top 10 seniors at her school because “my principal said, ‘No, she’s not a teacher.’”

Lorraine Calabrese, an elementary school librarian with the Northgate School District in Pittsburgh, PA, inherited both the legacy of a former librarian who possessed few leadership qualities and the difficulty of splitting her time between two buildings. “I have two schools, two principals, often with very different styles of management,” she says. “I have my hands tied somewhat by teaching seven out of nine periods a day. Students are dropped at the door, [and I’m] lucky if I see the teacher. When technology came in, I grabbed the chance to be a leader and was… until they hired a technology teacher.”

Taking the lead

Although most administrators don’t see us often taking the lead, about 50 percent of respondents say they’re receptive—and in favor—of the idea. And while some media specialists say they’re waiting for an invitation to lead from their principals, a majority of administrators say librarians should take the initiative themselves.

“This position is the best of both worlds,” wrote one principal. “Students work in project-based learning environments without the threat of failure in the library, and actually, failure in the library is incentive alone to continue learning.” Meanwhile, another administrator said, “An effective librarian could be as important as an effective principal, given his/her ability to impact teaching and learning in the school.”

At the same time, almost all librarians agree that achieving success without their principal’s backing is impossible. “It is vital,” says Gerri Ellner Krim, a media specialist at Brooklyn Collegiate in New York and a 2007 winner of the School Library Journal/Thomson Gale Giant Step Award for the most improved library.

What advice do librarians who consider themselves leaders have to offer? Advocacy ranks at the top of the list for all of them—and it can come with huge payoffs. Alice Yucht, a retired school librarian and the creator of the widely read Alice in Infoland blog, describes the need to be “assertively courteous” by offering timely and useful resources to teachers and administrators. But she cautions against complaining. “Always be positive, even if you have to fake it,” she says, adding that it’s important to promote the library, not yourself—and to know the difference between promotion and advocacy. “You cannot self-advocate. You need to create satisfied customers and users who will then advocate for the library.”

Learning the language of administrators and even dressing like them was key for Rose Luna, a librarian at New York’s Freeport High School. “When you wear a suit, people perceive you a certain way. If you’re wearing a holiday sweater with a pumpkin on it, you aren’t going to be perceived as a leader or as a part of the leadership tribe.”

After giving numerous presentations and workshops to teachers, parents, and other community members—sometimes on weekends and after school—Margaux DelGuidice, a librarian at Garden City High School in New York, says she and her co-librarian were asked by their superintendent to present at a Superintendent’s Cabinet Meeting to administrators from across Long Island. The topic was a librarian’s dream: the importance of a research curriculum and the link between school librarians, research skills, and the Common Core Standards.

For Pamela Jackson, a teacher-librarian at East Wake High School in Wendell, NC, social media played a big role in her success. “I’ve Twittered with educators globally for over three years, and this has led to exponential professional growth,” she says. “I’ve participated in numerous free online webinars, boot camps, edchats, virtual cafes, classroom 2.0, and unconferences. I’ve attended board meetings, advocating for librarians, information literacy, and student success; and I’ve shared with business leaders what librarians do.”

The best advice that Maureen Schlosser offers is to attend every meeting possible, especially the ones at grade level. “Bring to every meeting some little tidbit from the library, whether it’s a great book that will support a lesson, or a website that will help teachers or administrators in some way,” says the librarian at Colchester Elementary School in Connecticut. “When presenting the tidbits, think of it as a quick commercial, and you are the star of the commercial, and the cameras are rolling. If the audience sees you excited about whatever it is you are bringing to the table, they can’t help but be excited, too. Especially when they see that you truly want to help support what they work so hard at doing every day. Who wouldn’t appreciate help?”

Schlosser also says to stay current. “Read all of the current information out there about what is new and relevant. Go to any classes or workshops that will not only help you in the library, but also teachers in the classroom.”

She routinely follows “revolutionary” librarians such as Joyce Valenza, Michelle Luhtala, Buffy Hamilton, and Gweneth Jones on Twitter to see what they’re doing.

“With the Common Core being implemented next year, you can’t help but see library media skills written all over those standards,” says Schlosser, explaining that her goal last year was to team up with her school’s ed-tech teachers on lessons using the Common Core Crosswalk and the Inquiry Model developed by Barbara Stripling, the former head of school libraries for the New York City Department of Education, and to share the lessons with everyone. “Because of our efforts, our administrators are asking all social studies teachers to work with school librarians on research projects.”

Nicole Knott, a media specialist at Connecticut’s Watertown High School, sums it up best. “If you promote the image of the media center as the hub of the school—for staff, students, and the community at large—it will inevitably become such, and the person in charge of such a vital place is bound to be sought out as a leader.”

EVENT DATE AND TIME: Thursday, March 29, 2012, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM T

Dive into the data from the most recent SLJ school library spending survey and learn how to use it to strengthen your advocacy work in this free webcast on Thursday, March 29, at 3 p.m. (EST).

Featuring informative presentations from Dr. Lesley Farmer – professor, author and international school library advocate and extraordinaire, and Sara Kelly Johns – former AASL president, advocacy expert and author of the all new SLJ Blog Make Some Noise!

Presenters

Dr. Lesley FarmerProfessor, California State University Long BeachDr. Lesley Farmer, Professor at California State University Long Beach, coordinates the Librarianship program. She earned her M.S. in Library Science at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and received her doctorate in Adult Education from Temple University. Dr. Farmer has worked as a teacher-librarian in K-12 school settings as well as in public, special and academic libraries. She is active in the Education Section of the Special Libraries Association, and is the International Association of School Librarianship Vice-President of Association Relations. In 2011 she was selected for the ALA Beta Phi Mu Award for contributions to library education. A frequent presenter and writer for the profession, Dr. Farmer’s research interests include information literacy, collaboration, assessment, and educational technology. Dr. Farmer’s most recent books include Youth-Serving Libraries in Japan, Russia and the United States (Scarecrow, 2012),Instructional Design for Librarians and Information Professionals (Neal-Schuman, 2011), Using qualitative methods in action research: How librarians can get to the why of data, with D. Cook(American Library Association, 2011).

Sara Kelly Johns Librarian, Lake Placid Middle/High School, NYSara Kelly Johns has been the 6-12 school librarian at Lake Placid Middle/High School since 1999 and taught at Beekmantown (NY) Middle/Senior High School before that. She is an instructor for Mansfield University’s School Library and Information Technologies and was an adjunct professor for the Library Research Methods through Technology course at SUNY Plattsburgh from 1990-2006. The recipient of the 2011 New York Library Association’s Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, she also won the Excellence in Teaching Award for Adjuncts in 1999 as well as the sixth annual Award for Excellence in Library Service from the North Country Reference and Research Resources (3R’s) Council in 1996. One of the writers of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Library Media Specialist standards, she served on the New York State Regents Commission on Library Service for the 21st Century and is a current member of the Regents Advisory Committee on Libraries American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Legislative Committee, the ALA Committee on Legislation’s Grassroots Advocacy Subcommittee and is the AASL Division Councilor for the ALA Council. She is a speaker and author of several articles on advocacy.

Register now to access the on-demand archive.