The Future of Youth Services

I must confess, I was still admiring my regal surroundings in the East Room of the White House, trying to sneak a closer look at Senator Ted Kennedy and former First Lady Barbara Bush, when Laura Bush began her opening remarks as host of the June 4 conference on school libraries. She talked about her library card as a "passport" to childhood adventures, and lauded libraries for "allowing children to ask questions about the world and find the answers.... Once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open."

I found it somewhat ironic yet also uplifting that our nation's putative "former school librarian" would open the first-ever White House conference on the importance of school libraries in education by waxing nostalgically about her experiences in a public library, undoubtedly influenced by none other than a youth services librarian. While the goal was to highlight school librarians, the First Lady unwittingly gave some much-deserved credit to their counterparts in public libraries, where the public's perception of the youth services librarian's role in helping students become better learners is sorely underappreciated. This chronic lack of understanding exists while the youth services librarian is flourishing as the linchpin of her community's early learning and literacy efforts, the Bush administration's highest priority other than domestic security.

A vibrant example of the impact youth services librarians are having on literacy efforts is Maryland's ambitious "It's Never Too Early" program, in which each of its public library systems is training parents and childcare instructors in the fundamentals of language development and early literacy skills. (See "It's Never Too Late," pp. 38–42.) Other dynamic efforts dot the national landscape, with the Public Library Association (PLA) coordinating an ambitious program of its own. UCLA's Virginia Walter is evaluating PLA's initiative to confirm whether parents and caregivers actually use the language-development activities they've learned.

Walter's efforts must be the first step in an initiative to document how these programs are making a difference. Unfortunately, no empirical evidence exists to show the impact of these programs. However, until statistical proof can be collected and widely disseminated, youth services librarians will continue to toil under the cloak of relative obscurity, a condition that will continue to have a depressing effect on their already woefully low salaries.

The salary issue comes into sharp relief while the library profession is in the painful throes of dealing with the mass exodus of baby boomers retiring in record numbers. This seismic turnover has created a daunting staffing void. The supply problem is most acute in the youth services area, where, relative to the rest of the field, the pay is lower.

Where will we find the next generation of youth services librarians? Several library schools report a healthy interest in youth services among their students, but a good many also report that those same students are tending toward school careers. Florida State University's library school dean, William Summers, discounted library schools' mostly sunny portrayal. "Being a youth services librarian in a public library has been greatly de-emphasized by both the library schools and the field as a whole," he says.

Until the importance of youth services librarians to students of all ages is documented by statistical evidence that makes its way to politicians and other officials who influence the structure of salaries, librarians' pay will remain disgracefully low, and the promising young talent that has shown a desire to work with children and young adults will continue to select more financially viable careers.

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