Texas Turnaround
In an about-face, Houston will start buying new books and computers for its ailing school libraries
Staff -- School Library Journal, 4/1/2000
1971. 1979. 1982. The numbers tell much of the story. For years Houston neglected its school libraries, and now the average age of its collections is embarrassing at best. But this is one story of library neglect that may have a happy ending. Because Houston, TX, unlike many other large urban districts, has acknowledged the problem and pledged to do something about it. District Superintendent Rod Paige wants to spend $10 million over the next three years to upgrade library collections and computer systems in the city's 280 public schools. He's already ordered librarians to get rid of all out-of-date nonfiction and reference books, even if it results in fewer books per students than recommended by the state. There is also talk of freeing elementary-school librarians from having to supervise classes during teacher planning periods, a practice that librarians say turns them into glorified baby-sitters. The initiatives have made many of Houston's school librarians optimistic about their media centers for the first time in years. "I had no hope--I thought maybe I'd have to mark time until my retirement," says Ellen Wiseman, a librarian at Scroggins Elementary School. "Now," she says, "there's really something to look forward to.'" As in many districts, Houston's librarians blame much of their troubles on school-based management. Without a mandate from the central office, a lot of schools simply slashed their library budgets. So part of what excites district librarians now is that for the first time in memory, they're getting support from the top. What led to the change? Hall and several other librarians credit the district's new manager of library services, Jim Hundemer, who took over the post in the fall of 1998. They say he's been a forceful spokesman for libraries who has gathered the right research and won the superintendent's ear. Hundemer, for his part, thinks his case was helped by a series of studies that showed the appalling age of library collections. He also focused on the backward state of technology in district libraries, many of which have Internet connections but few computers. Of the $10 million that Paige has pledged to libraries over the next three years, Hundemer hopes to spend $3 million on books, $1 million on a centralized automation system, and the rest on putting many more computers in school libraries. Then Hundemer will ask the superintendent for a plan to relieve elementary librarians from covering for teachers during planning periods, which of course means hiring extra staff. It looks like there's support for that initiative. A press release announcing the new library funding says the district will mandate that every school have a librarian "who performs only the duty of a librarian."--Andrea Glick
