In an era when school districts are chopping funds to libraries, Union, MO is looking to break the mold—and give more.

The Union R-XI School District is working to increase the budgets for all five of its K-12 school libraries, hoping to hire aides to assist in the lower grades, offer more money for materials, redesign its high school library space, and even bump up its digital services.

"Our libraries meet state standards," says Ron Sohn, a school board member. "But just because you meet state standards that doesn't mean that's where you want to be."

With seven years on the school board, Sohn is a strong ally. A former assistant superintendent who watched his four children move through the district, Sohn was an eager advocate when current assistant superintendent Aaron Jones presented his case for a larger school library budget to the board at its meeting in December.

Taking on his new role at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, Jones has made school libraries one of his priorities. Concerned about the age of books and other materials, Jones asked school librarians to put together ideas about how they would improve their space and collections. A former school principal in the district, Jones understands the complexities around library funding. He wanted to make that a bit easier—and grow the budgets to about $11 to $12 per student.

Missouri's Union R-XI School District's libraries, including Union Middle School, Beaufort Elementary, and Union High School, stand to gain funds, thanks to efforts by board member Ron Sohn and assistant superintendent Aaron Jones.

On the list? Potentially refreshing the high school library with some seating to make the space look more like "a Barnes & Noble," says Jones. Also on the wish list are aides to be on hand  when school librarians cover classes so the library can stay open longer.

Technology is also a priority. Union launched a BYOD (bring your own device) pilot program at the high school and middle school in  2013-2014, allowing students to use personal devices as tools, says Sohn. The program has been so successful, he says, the district is looking to potentially expand in the upper elementary grades next year. Jones knows the time is right to focus on libraries.

"We look at the Cadillac, the greatest thing we can get, and then prioritize from there," says Jones. "We probably won't be able to get the Cadillac in one year, but we can set aside money over time."

He adds that the district is looking to partner with the local public library to get cards for each of its students so they can more easily access digital materials when at home. Growing the schools’ collection of online materials is also attractive to the district, they say, because of the potentially lower cost for books as compared to printed matter. Sohn agrees that growing the digital collection in the school libraries may help stretch funds.

 "We will be giving more money than we have in the past because we're going to make the library a priority," Jones says. "Will it be what they want? Probably not. But will it be more than in the past? Yes. It probably will."