Budget cuts should not determine a school librarian’s fate

In Pennsylvania, it is not mandatory for schools to employ full- time librarians. Some law makers were not aware of this down fall. The PA House of Representatives commissioned the PA School Library Study of The findings of this study overwhelmingly support access to a full-time, certified school librarian in schools. (Kachel and Lance 3) New York state has made steps that support school libraries in 2012:  Adopted and implemented an information fluency curriculum statewide, aligned to the Common Core  Require an elementary school librarian in every school  Created incentives for districts to expand and promote access to the school library collection  Created incentives for districts to adopt flexible scheduling (Biagini 10)

School libraries improve all students

 Students who are economically disadvantaged, black, Hispanic, and have IEP’s benefit proportionally more than students generally  Students who are poor, minority, and have IEP’s, with full-time librarians, are 2x as likely to have “advanced” writing scores than those without  Hispanic students are 7x more likely to earn “advanced” scores with flexible library scheduling (Kachel and Lance 3) Students that struggle the most improve with a full-service library

 Students need to learn to use information technology beginning in primary grades  Students must have access to the school library online catalog and digital resources  Librarians teach teachers how to use emerging technology and Web 2.0 tools for use in the classroom (Biagini 7)

School Librarians: Understand the scope of a topic Know how to use the OPAC Possess technology skills to assist teachers Often conduct staff developments Engage students with Web 2.0 tools (Anderson 17)

 Students to be critical thinkers  Students to be enthusiastic readers  Students to be skillful researchers  Students to be ethical users of information (Biagini 3)

 Students how to locate and prioritize information  Students how to distinguish fact from bias  Students about personal safety  Students about intellectual property rights (Kachel)

Great libraries fall apart  Collection development breaks down  Books go uncatalogued  Weeding becomes nonexistent (Anderson 16)

The more time a librarian spends collaborating with teachers and teaching information literacy skills to students, the better those students perform on standardized reading and writing tests. (Biagini 6) N e w s F l a s h ! ! Barb Haynes said, "There is much less research. Teachers using the library for class has dropped dramatically. I no longer teach skills in classrooms…” (Anderson 16)

Budget cuts are a necessary evil in all organizations. The research has proven that one place the axe should not be dropped is in the school library