School Library Budget Advocacy Donna Johnson Western Kentucky University LME 512 Spring 2016

21st Century School Librarians...Traditional and Timely Offer electronic resources and the equipment to access them Teach use of electronic equipment for research and fun Teach online research skills Provide Digital Citizenship instruction Create welcoming atmosphere to encourage learning Employ makerspaces to enhance education Teacher collaboration and training Offer print books and periodicals Teach reading and literacy skills Teach organizational, letter, and number skills via shelving books Teach research skills using print resources such as books and encyclopedias

Increasing Services...

...But Declining Budgets. (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012), (School Library Journal, 2016b)

Print Material Purchasing Considerations Paperback Hardback Cheaper at only $7.32 each More easily damaged More expensive at $19.19 each More durable for multiple student checkout (School Library Journal, 2016a)

Digital Purchasing Considerations Ebooks are Coming... 66% of school libraries offer ebooks 20% more plan to “definitely” add them Average collection size is 189 ebooks Average annual ebook spending= $1199 Average ebook cost= $9.57. Increased cost if school chooses to provide ereaders with ebooks. (Farmer, 2012), (School Library Journal, 2014) Total: $4463

Time Considerations Lesson planning Teaching traditional and 21st Century library skills Checking books in/out to students and teachers Shelving books Book fairs Parent involvement events Collection development tasks Implementing and maintaining a high-quality school library program takes a great deal of time. Even the most effective time managers may find themselves spread too thin between the traditional duties of a librarian, teacher, and involved member of the school community.

Collection Development Assess Priority areas Visual inspection Publication dates Circulation reports Weed Core subjects & areas next in rotation Damaged/visually unappealing Outdated Publication/Last circulation Properly discard Purchase Weeded areas Areas in need of expansion Intake Catalog Label Collection Development may seem to be a simple task, but is in fact highly involved and time-consuming. Assess: Priority areas determined by curriculum connections. Includes areas such as 300s (Social Science), 500s (Science), 600s (Technology), 900s (History/Geography), and Biographies. Visual inspection involves assessing holdings for damage and visually unappealing appearance. Publication dates JCPS recommendations vary by subject but none should be more than 10 years previous. Circulation reports Check Library World for last checkout dates; again, JCPS recommendations vary by subject but no holding not checked out within the last 5 years should be kept. Weed: Core/rotation areas should be weeded based on a rotating schedule developed during assessment. With a rotating schedule, no area will be missed. Damaged/visually unappealing items include holdings that are torn/have missing pages (beyond repair) or feature unappealing/absent cover art. Outdated holdings include nonfiction areas such as the 500s and 600s where knowledge is continually evolving and fiction holdings that do not stand the test of time. Properly discard weeded items per JCPS policy (box up and send to C.B. Young for destruction) Purchase: Weeded areas as well as areas in need of expansion should be stocked with new purchases each year to maintain a good balance of holdings. Intake: Catalog each new item individually in the computer system, according to complex MARC guidelines, and Label each new item individually by stamping it property of the school and printing and attaching spine labels and barcodes for checkout. Paperback books must also be covered in clear contact paper for durability, and security strips must be added in schools with electronic inventory monitoring devices in place at the library exit. (Jefferson County Public Schools Library Media Services, 2015a), (Jefferson County Public Schools Library Media Services, 2015b)

Continual Maintenance Maintain Replace labels Repair books Recover overdue items/money for lost items Maintain: A continual process of Replacing torn labels, Repairing damaged books, and trying to Recover overdue items and/or the monetary value of lost/destroyed items. With an average of 12,000 books to maintain, this translates into a very time-consuming task for the school librarian. (Farmer, 2012)

Creating a Superhero Team in the Library School librarians are superheroes, but every superhero needs a partner or sidekick. Adding or retaining a library assistant to handle tasks such as check-in/out, shelving, and repair can free up the librarian to focus on education and collection development tasks.

Staffing and Student Achievement “The most important thing a strong library program can have is a full-time certified librarian with support staff.” Adding or retaining a library assistant for a total of 60 or more staff hours in the library impacts student achievement, according to Scholastic’s 2008 study School Libraries Work! The full study encompassed more than 8700 schools and found an average increase of 10-20% on reading and achievement tests in schools with strong library programs, one factor of which is staffing. Other school conditions, including student-teacher ratio and student and community demographics, did not diminish this effect. (American Association of School Libraries, 2013), (Scholastic, 2008).

Building a Strong Educational Experience for Students Higher student achievement Certified school librarian with time to educate, collaborate, and train Well-funded, well-staffed school library In conclusion, a strong educational experience for students has its foundation in a well-funded, well-staffed school library. This leads to a certified school librarian having the time necessary to educate students in the library, collaborate with classroom teachers on students’ education outside of the library, and train staff on new technology and its uses in the classroom. With both of these factors in place, achievement grows and students can reach the pinnacle of the best educational experience possible.

References American Association of School Libraries. (2013.) Strong school libraries build strong students. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslissues/advocacy/AASL_infogra phic.pdf. Farmer, L. (2012). Brace yourself: SLJ’s school library spending survey shows the hard times aren’t over, and better advocacy is needed. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2012/03/research/slj-spending-survey-2012/. Jefferson County Public Schools Library Media Services. (2015a). Weeding guidelines by Dewey classification. Retrieved from http://lms.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Program%20Admin/Collection%20Management/Weeding/W EEDING%20Guidelines%20by%20Dewey%20Classification.pdf. Jefferson County Public Schools Library Media Services. (2015b). Weeding: A practical manual for librarians. Retrieved from http://lms.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Program%20Admin/Collection%20Management/Weeding/W EEDING%20Guidelines%20by%20Dewey%20Classification.pdf.

References National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). Digest of education statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_701.10.asp. Scholastic Research & Results. (2008). School libraries work! Retrieved from http://www2.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/s/slw3_2008.pdf. School Library Journal. (2014). Ebook usage in U.S. school (K-12) libraries. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/wp- content/uploads/2014/11/LJSLJ_EbookUsage_SchoolLibraries_2014.pdf. School Library Journal. (2016a). SLJ’s average book prices for 2016. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2016/03/research/sljs-average-book-prices-for-2016/. School Library Journal. (2016b). SLJ spending survey. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2016/04/budgets-funding/school-library-budgets-rise-20-yet- challenges-remain-spending-survey-2016/#chart.