Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has just posted an opening for a library technology coordinator, according to Lisa E. Perez, library manager for CPS’s Department of Literacy. The successful candidate must have a master's degree in library science, an elementary or secondary teaching certificate with certification in library science, five or more years of experience working as a teacher librarian, and prior experience as a classroom teacher. It’s encouraging to see the opening given that Chicago, like many cities across the nation, has recently faced city and state budget cuts. “These positions rarely open up, so we hope to attract a highly qualified pool of candidates,” Perez says.

For the 2013–2014 school year, CPS cut more than 3,000 positions, including teachers and teacher librarians, and closed nearly 50 elementary schools, although it also consolidated underutilized schools and opened four new stand-alone school libraries to serve its students.

Still, school librarians, media specialists, and library technology coordinators around the country—in communities in Colorado, California, Vermont, Utah, Michigan, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere—repeatedly face being eliminated due to budget shortfalls.