Biggest Challenges for 2002

If you were to weigh all the aspects of your job, which would you choose as most critical to your short- and long-term success? To which pressing issues do you need to commit the most time and attention? The School Library Journal staff decided to help elucidate, and confirm, the front-burner issues for those professionals who provide library service to children and young adults. We observed, we listened, and we interviewed the profession, and then we took our findings and argued amongst ourselves. From that process, we distilled five themes that represent the profession's overriding challenges for 2002:

• educating individuals higher up in the school district food chain;
• making information literacy a higher priority among teachers and an essential, required research skill for students;
• stanching the flow of retiring librarians by using innovative methods to recruit new blood;
• managing effectively the challenge of accessing information despite a filtered information environment;
• dealing with sometimes unpredictable fiscal hardships due to a sagging economy.

There is sentiment among a growing number of research experts in the field that all of the issues above, as well as a raft of other concerns, are merely tributaries that feed a greater objective: the ability of librarians to show how their efforts influence student learning. "Evidence-Based Practice [documenting how the school library impacts student achievement] is fundamental to our survival," says Ross Todd, an associate professor in the department of library and information science at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "We need to show learning outcomes, and then we will be heard. Otherwise there will be a fundamental erosion of our role. What difference have you made that you can tell, that you can share?"

Ross points to school library studies conducted both in Canada and Australia that have yielded a similar finding: principals tend to be more supportive when the school media center program brings about a tangible contribution to student learning levels. "There needs to be a major paradigm shift away from the advocacy position, which has characterized the profession, to a learning-centered, evidence-based paradigm, which I see as critical to the survival of the profession," he says.

With Ross's comments as a galvanizing influence, we present 2002's most critical challenges.—E. S. L.

The image of the quietly competent school librarian disturbs Gary Hartzell, professor of educational administration at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, who cautions, "Being good isn't enough, you've got to become visible to your principal." Hartzell, author of the forthcoming book Your Principal Relationship (Libraries Unlimited), is a man on a mission. He lectures widely on the potential of school libraries as an asset to learning, an asset which, sadly, he maintains, is grossly underutilized and undervalued because librarians' work goes unnoticed by other educators. And the consequences—wasted resources, lost opportunities to improve teaching and learning, and reduced student achievement—are, indeed, painful.

Hartzell, himself a former high school principal, places some of the blame on administrator and teacher training, which fails to present librarians as partners in the learning process. Moreover, "the people who currently run schools—mostly in their 40s and 50s—received their training when libraries didn't have the potential that they have now," says Hartzell. While recent efforts may improve libraries' visibility—Wisconsin now requires that teaching candidates receive instruction about library media programs—Hartzell believes that school culture is slow to change.

Thus, it's imperative that librarians do everything possible to raise their own profile. "Administrators are by nature problem seekers," says Hartzell. So if you're running a quiet library, you need to make some noise. For one, he advises, "Bring to bear the kind of skills you utilize with students to capture your principal's interest." If you're at a faculty meeting, for instance, and the principal mentions that the board is considering block scheduling, tap into a database online, and in 20 minutes have a package of related information on the impact of block scheduling. That way, you not only help prepare the principal, but you also deliver the unspoken message, "Look what the library can do for you!"

It's also necessary to cultivate other allies, namely, teachers. Become an involved staff member, preferably as a member of the curriculum committee, recommends Harriet Selverstone, past president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and a 29-year veteran of school libraries. Then there's "the schmooze factor," says Harlene Rosenberg, a librarian at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, in Flemington, NJ, who uses her precious free time to mention new books and promote her program to colleagues.

While most of the librarians interviewed believe that teachers and administrators respect their work, "this doesn't seem to translate to funding," says Dorothy McQuillan, president of the Massachusetts School Library Media Association. Consequently, her organization has become increasingly political, providing testimony before the State Legislature on behalf of libraries. "We really need to become our own advocates instead of waiting to be recognized," says McQuillan. "Librarians often… do not take up the reins of being the intellectual and technological leaders of their schools. This really needs to change, and I'm hopeful that the resources and respect will follow."

"I don't think we're doing a real good job with information literacy," says Joyce Valenza, a librarian at Springfield Township High School in Erdenheim, PA. "We talk a good talk about collaboration, but we're not walking the walk." By "information literacy," she means possessing the skills to locate and evaluate information sources, to decide which ones can be trusted, and to cite those sources properly in a finished project. Valenza recently interviewed a group of students on videotape about the sources they use to do research. Almost all of them said the same thing: "the Internet." Do they use books? Not if they don't have to, Valenza was told.

But books have richer and more accurate information, she replied. Why did students only use the Internet instead of looking for the right book?

"Because we're lazy," one student cheerily admitted. "We don't want to have to get up."

Students aren't the only ones uninterested in information literacy. "It's not clear to teachers either [why they should be invested in information literacy]," says Valenza. "Unless a student feels he's going to benefit, he's not going to do it. Kids are plagiarizing. Kids aren't caring about how to do research." Students need extrinsic motivations, she adds, and if teachers are unaware of why students need to evaluate—and this means recognizing the difference between the statewide databases and any old Web site—the kids won't be motivated.

To meet the information literacy challenge, librarians need to present a convincing argument linking the importance of information literacy skills to improved test scores.

How can we change the way research assignments are done? Dave Loertscher, a professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at San José State University, has a proposal that will encourage collaboration and send a message to students. Loertscher says that too many librarians never get beyond teaching students how to locate information. Instead, librarians should stress evaluation skills and teach an effective research model. He suggests asking teachers to make a few changes in how they assign research projects. "Require students to annotate every Web site used as a part of their report," he says. "This annotation must defend why the site was of high enough quality to earn a place in the report."

When the project is completed, each student should describe on paper the model, or process, they used to locate the sources, and the teacher and media specialist together should spend a few minutes discussing the student's model, giving feedback on how it succeeded and how it could have been improved. Finally, the teachers should save copies of these research models in their students' portfolios and revisit them at the end of the year to show students how their skills have grown. The goal, Loertscher says, is to have each student ask, " 'Am I a power learner? Am I learning how to learn?'—not just whether he or she is passing some test dished out by the state."

"We can't hire enough librarians," says Barbara Stripling, director of instructional services for Fayetteville, AR, Public Schools. She knows how few qualified applicants there are to staff school libraries in her state. Open positions remain unfilled, Stripling says, and she expects many of the media specialists in her district to retire in the next few years. Part of the problem in cultivating new talent is the absence of a nearby library school. "There aren't enough places to get training," Stripling says. "We don't have an ALA–accredited school in Arkansas, and we have to rely on distance education." However, even distance education programs are difficult for potential new librarians. Many of them have families with young children, yet are required to spend at least one summer spanning several weeks at a distant campus to obtain their degrees. "Some of them just can't be away that long," Stripling says.

Schools in several parts of the country are alleviating some of the need for trained librarians by establishing programs that train teachers to become media specialists. Della Curtis, coordinator of the Office of Library Information Services for Maryland's Baltimore County Public Schools, has established the School Library Media Cohort (www.bcpl.net/~dcurtis/cohort) in cooperation with Towson University College of Education's Department of Instructional Technology, a library school in Baltimore County. Classes are taught both by Towson faculty and working media center professionals. Teachers who enter the program are virtually assured jobs as media specialists upon graduation.

Curtis started the program after site-based management in the district had removed librarians in 33 out of 165 schools. She successfully lobbied the superintendent to restore those jobs, and now the district requires a librarian in all of its schools, including its elementary schools. "Where would I find those 33 people?" says Curtis, who couldn't rehire the ones the district let go, since they had already moved on to other opportunities. That's when she decided to contact Towson University's library school. Teachers graduate from the program with a master's degree that raises their salary considerably, and because of district reimbursements, they pay only $100 per graduate course. To enter the program, the interested teachers must submit a sample lesson plan and a copy of their most recent staff evaluation, as well as be interviewed. "Some applicants tell me they're applying because they're feeling burned out in the classroom," says Curtis. "But I want them to know that they're moving from a small classroom to the biggest classroom in the school."

Since most schools' fiscal years approximate the school year, school libraries are waiting and hoping: waiting to see to what degree their FY2002–2003 budgets will be affected by what economists are now calling a recession, and hoping that by the time kids return to class in the fall of 2002, the country will have emerged from its economic doldrums.

Schools in some states are already feeling the budgetary pinch, even though budgets were set in the first half of 2001, when the economy was still performing reasonably well. School librarians in the state of New York, who do not receive all of their money at the beginning of the fiscal year, are concerned that unanticipated cuts might leave them underfunded, even though nobody has said there would be cuts, says Frances Roscello, a school library media services asssociate in the New York State Education Department. "I've had schools calling me because they've said their districts have not given them what they were budgeted for," says Roscello, adding that these districts are withholding local funds budgeted for school library materials and resources.

In Texas, Mary Lankford, the state Education Agency's director of library services and educational technology, doesn't think the state will lay a hand on technology funding to schools. "Tech is glitzy and people like to see those kids on computers," she says. Lankford preaches balance between technology and books, a hard sell right now in Texas, where the state in FY2001–2002 allocated $30 per student for technology and only 30 cents per student for books. She says the true impact of the economy won't be felt in Texas's schools until the fall.

Colorado's Eugene Hainer, director of library development for the State Library, remains somewhat optimistic, partly because he doesn't foresee Colorado schools' FY2001–2002 budgets being affected by the downturn, despite warnings from the State Legislature of a potential $800 million deficit. "Our governor has positioned himself as a champion for education," says Hainer, who added that as a result, the governor would seek to avoid negative publicity involving education. Further, a referendum to funnel excess funds to schools, coupled with a modest bill for library funding, has helped solidify funding for libraries.

Public libraries, many of which obtain their funding based on the calendar year rather than the school year, have emerged with fairly strong budgets for FY2002, according to Library Journal's annual public library budget survey. With materials and salary expenditures getting a boost of nearly 3.1 percent and 5 percent, respectively, public libraries' children's and young adult departments will be breathing a collective sigh of relief. However, there have been pockets of financial duress, particularly in New York City, where all three public libraries–New York, Brooklyn, and Queens Borough –have had to endure a mandate of 10 percent cuts (see SLJ News ). In California, school librarians are nervous about potential cuts at the local level.

The profession will be looking over its shoulder to Philadelphia on March 25, the first day of a trial that will decide the fate of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). The CIPA case pits the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association against the federal government. The law, which became effective in 2001, requires libraries and schools that receive federal funds–such as E-rate funds that support Internet connectivity or Library Services and Technology Act grants–to install filtering software on their Net terminals. While no figure exists on how many schools now use filtering software, estimates run in the neighborhood of 70 percent or more.

The librarian, whether a supporter of filtering or not, is rarely the decision-maker on whether to filter a school's terminals. "Most of the people I know at district level have been pressured by their technology people to meet the requirement of the federal law, and are foot dragging as much as they can. But it's hard to give up the money," says Judy King, the director of program development for AASL. "[However,] when you're trying to teach students to access the Internet independently, the filter gets in the way."

Most of the approximately 30 percent of schools that do not filter rely on a combination of teacher and librarian vigilance and a well-written appropriate-use policy with consequences for students who flout its rules. Melora Ranney, the director of the Bailey Public Library in Winthrop, ME, and co-chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee of the Maine Library Association and Maine Association of School Libraries, surveyed a group of school technology coordinators working in schools that don't filter. They told her it was possible to have students use filter-free Net terminals without serious incidents. "The one thing necessary for a positive unfiltered school Internet experience," she says they told her, "is… qualified, attentive, trained, and caring staff to work directly with students."

Public libraries, which unlike schools, don't serve in loco parentis, are watching closely for the result of the spring trial. According to Library Journal 's annual public library budget survey released this month, of the 43 percent of public libraries that say they filter at least one terminal, 96 percent filter the terminals in the children's room. Some, like San Francisco Public Library, have decided not to accept federal funding if they are required to filter. Many others, such as the Seattle Public Library (SPL), offer a combination of filtered and unfiltered terminals in their children's areas. Chance Hunt, SPL's coordinator of children's services, says that having at least one filtered terminal in each location appears to satisfy the community. "We provide choices about Net access now," Hunt says. "We're not seeing a great demand for filtered terminals, but parents appreciate having options."

"I'm pretty optimistic that we'll prevail," Emily Sheketoff, executive director of ALA's Washington Office, says about the CIPA trial. "The judges will have plenty of time to rule in [ALA's] favor before July 1, the deadline [for libraries and schools] to meet the CIPA requirements for E-rate funds. We're encouraging all libraries to apply for Year 5 of the E-rate, because they can always refuse the money if the court rules against us."