Losing Libraries

It’s Friday afternoon and my students are racing around the library, pulling books out, looking at the cover for 2 seconds and then shoving them back in.  “Slow down,” I remind them, “read a few pages, see what you think.  Remember how we practiced looking for the ‘just right’ book?”  I breathe deeply and try to hang onto my patience while I watch them skip from shelf to shelf.  The truth is they only have 10 minutes to find a book and check it out, their adrenaline is flowing from the P.E. class they just finished and they are 10 yrs. old.  

Our school librarian retired last year and the district decided she would not be replaced.  ‘Library’ is not a mandated curriculum extension subject in  N.Y. so it was quickly swept out of the schedule and replaced with another P.E. class.  I love P.E., I wish my students could have it everyday BUT they also need time in the library, especially if we actual want them to love books and reading.  It’s like asking someone to become a chef and then giving them 10 minutes in the kitchen (a week) and letting them pick one ingredient.  

Teachers now have a weekly 10 minute time slot to allow their students to select a book.  10 minutes.  Are you kidding me?  I can’t even get past the magazine rack in 10 minutes.  Finding the right book takes time, it’s like finding the perfect pair of jeans, these things can’t be rushed.  But, alas, this is the reality in 2010, so the students race around, grab a book and check it out - 1 per week - only to bring it home and discover it’s not the right book.  The next day it is back in the return box and kids are pawing through my measly classroom library (that I have purchased and collected on my own)..

William Hite, the superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools, announced that he would like to fire 90 school librarians in 2012 in order to close the $85.7 budget shortfall in the district.  90 school librarians.  It would save the district $7.4 million but what would it cost the children?  Where are they going to learn about the library?  Who will read a book to them that sparks their imagination?  When will they sit in beanbags and listen to a book on CD?  What will happen to Prince George’s $250,000 collection of books and materials?

New York, my home state, is thinking about eliminating library and media information classes in middle school in order to ease their budget woes.  David Steiner, the commissioner of education in New York, says he understands the importance of the library and is “discussing a set of cost containment and mandate relief options. These proposals could increase local flexibility and reduce certain existing requirements—without adversely impacting the essential elements of education reform or student health and safety and, where possible, improve educational outcomes.”  

First of all, who talks like that?  And secondly, I  hope he bring his magic wand to the discussion.
Of course some kids are lucky, they have parents that already take them to the public library every week or they live close enough to a library to walk or ride their bike on their own.  But most of them are not lucky - the library will become a memory, something they used to do and they will soon forget about.  Students who begin pre-k and kindergarten next year will never have the chance to listen to a librarian read to them, learn how to find books they love or where to find information about their favorite author.  The irony is that while districts slash library funding with one hand, they pile on new literacy and technology standards with the other.  The solution, in their minds is that teachers, who are having such an easy time educating students as it is, can now increase their class size, reach ever higher common core standards and incorporate the library curriculum - all in 10 minutes a week.  No problem.