Grand Reopening

When the libraries closed, "I thought I'd never see them returned," Bailey admits. But over the last several years, an influx of students and changes in Michigan's school-financing system have left Oak Park with some extra cash. Enough extra to spend about $800,000 to reopen four media centers at the same time. Another factor in Oak Park's favor is that over the last few years Bailey has learned a lot about what school libraries should be. He readily admits he's had help in this area. "It's kind of a joke," he explains, "because I'm dating a librarian. As she was getting her degree, I was reading her books."

So, when Bailey set out to reopen his libraries, he wanted to do it right. Some people suggested making do with the district's old library tables. Bailey said no. Precisely because so many of his students come from low-income homes, Bailey wanted to give them libraries that were state-of-the-art. He ordered new carpeting and new oak furniture and shelves. He hired three professional librarians and four paraprofessionals. He let the librarians get rid of about three-quarters of the old collections and buy thousands of new books, about 5.5 per student.

"The new books, I'm telling you, you just have to see them," gushes librarian Mary Langer. "They have beautiful pictures, and they're all brand, spanking new." Langer actually ran one of the libraries closed in 1994, when she was reassigned to a classroom. Her colleagues are Nancy Voigt, who's been a public children's librarian for several years, and Arlinda Crossland, a former technical illustrator who went back to library school and spent three years running a school library in Detroit.

The only thing left, says Bailey, is to train his principals in what libraries can do. "They need goals and objectives," he says. "[They need to know,] what should a principal be looking for in a library, what should they see when they go down and talk to staff?"--A. G.