The Big Misperception

It is time to take the offensive. Right here. Right now . We can no longer blame uninformed elected officials who continue to woefully misjudge the mission and importance of school libraries in education. Based on what we're seeing nationwide, we have to face the reality that our politicians see libraries as a luxury and not a necessity, an expendable service that can be pared when the economy goes soft. We need a campaign—both locally and nationally—to shed light on the school library's indispensable role in education and its indisputable impact on student achievement. Just two months after Washington Gov. Gary Locke sought to close the State Library allegedly to save education (it was subsequently spared; see News ), we hear that Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes has also bought into The Big Misperception. State lawmakers recently passed a measure initiated by Barnes that will decimate state school library funding by cutting it in half (see News ). You want irony? Terry Gandy, head of education in Barnes's Office of Planning and Budget, says the cuts were made in order to "have the least impact" on classroom instruction. Georgia happens to be the home state of Pam Nutt, a library media specialist at Moore Elementary School who was named Teacher of the Year in Spalding County. Teacher of the Year. Moore's principal, Martha Taylor, calls Nutt's library "the focal point of the school." Ask Taylor if cutting Nutt's library budget in half will affect student learning in the classroom.

Massachusetts has its own share of wretched irony (see News). While school districts across the Bay State were axing librarians—some media specialists are now required to serve as many as 12 schools—Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) was signing a letter asking the Senate appropriations subcommittee to increase federal school library funding from $12.5 million to $100 million for the "Literacy Through School Libraries" legislation sponsored by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). Is Kennedy aware that while he's commendably seeking to advance federal funding for school libraries, those in his own state are being hacked to shreds?

How we can help.

In this issue, we've published an ambitious, groundbreaking survey on school librarians' growing sphere of influence (see "Got Clout?"). According to our survey, here are five compelling reasons why you ARE an educator and your library IS a critical and indispensable part of the school's educational mission:

• You teach an average of 13.6 classes per week.
• While 54 percent of you share purchasing decisions in Internet/technology goods and services, 30 percent of you share purchasing decisions on textbooks.
• Two-thirds of you say your principals are "very supportive" of your curricular collaboration with teachers.
• Nearly nine out of 10 of you say that your school libraries are "very or somewhat integrated" into the school curriculum.
• Nearly seven out of 10 of you deem your relationship with the school technology coordinator as highly collaborative.

What you can do.

Copy this editorial and fax it to your local politicians, school board, and state representatives. Show them SLJ's " Influence Survey" and urge your state library associations to distribute information showing the correlation between strong school libraries and higher student achievement. For the latest research, go to warriorlibrarian.com/RESEARCH/libresearch.html.

We must launch this effort now to expose The Big Misperception, to inform elected officials about this awful incongruity: that by cutting libraries, state and local jurisdictions are not "saving" education at all, but in fact undermining it.

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