Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sad Loss of School Libraries
Do you remember the excitement of going to your school library when you were a child? I have written here before about how important public libraries and university libraries are; school libraries are also extremely important, and unfortunately an increasing number of school libraries are underfunded, understaffed, and inadequately stocked. According to Susan Thompson of the California School Library Association (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/8/10, Insight p. E11, "Letters to Insight"), school libraries are "in trouble" in California and elsewhere. School librarians are increasingly reassigned to classrooms or leaving the profession. This is a sad loss. Not only do libraries get children interested in books, but "studies have documented the positive and measurable impact that library programs have on student achievement even when poverty, parent education and language are factored into the equation" (Thompson). I can still remember the joys of going to libraries at various schools I attended, browsing through the displays and stacks, and taking home armfuls of books. I also remember school librarians reading to us and generating excitement about various books. This defunding of school libraries is very sad, and should be unacceptable.
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Did most American public elementary schools have libraries in the '50s and '60s? My school--in a pretty affluent section of an affluent college town--did not. Instead, each classroom had a few shelves of books for kids to borrow and read at school or at home. (I most fondly remember the series of biographies written for kids--my favorites were of George Washington Carver and Amelia Earhart!) It wasn't until I was in Junior High that we had a central library with a librarian. There seemed to be a requirement (back in those days) that most school librarians be stern and crabby, and the library for me was a dull place where our teachers occasionally took us so we could "research" by reading the encyclopedia (while whispering and stifling giggles with my friends until the librarian reprimanded us). (Aren't middle schoolers charming?) By the time I was in high school, though, I loved going to the school library--I suddenly realized I could read anything I wanted to, and was on a quest to read every book I'd ever heard my parents or older siblings talk about. A whole world opened up. And thank God there must not have been a school board on a rampage to censor what we read--but that is another topic for discussion...
ReplyDeleteThat's a good reality check about elementary and middle school libraries, Mary! I perhaps romanticize them. But I am guessing that for some kids -- especially those who didn't have access to as many books at home as you did -- in some school libraries, the availability of books was exciting, even life-changing. I love your description of how you felt about your high school library.
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