Empty Words No Longer

"The school library is the nerve center of the school." "The school librarian is a full partner in the education team."

In an editorial written 30 years ago, School Library Journal Editor Lillian Gerhardt, in a fit of pique, derided the above aphorisms as empty words too often mouthed by the annual crop of educators invited to speak at the latest library convention. "The rhetoric standard to any local, state, regional, or national library association conference can temporarily unseat the wits of even the most stable librarian," complained Gerhardt. "No record exists of any of the many library audiences, repeatedly subjected to this line, rising up in wrath against the educators or administrators who [mention] it—thought this may be the year when it could happen."

The idea that such statements describing the school library as "the nerve center" and the school librarian as a "full partner on the educational team" were seen in 1972 as disingenuous fodder to be scorned, rather than as the profession's au courant strategic direction, says a lot about how the field has evolved.

However, Gerhardt and some of her librarian colleagues, who three decades ago sat impassively as the umpteenth educator patronized them about a role they weren't permitted to embrace and synergies that weren't encouraged, might be heartened by current developments. Kathleen Smith, the principal of Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, CO, reported on how the emergence of the library as the focal point of her school, "both literally and figuratively," helped bolster student test scores. "One of the most effective and efficient ways to increase student achievement and love of learning is to leverage the power that library media centers can have in this process," said Smith, one of several administrators who presented similar findings at the White House Conference on School Libraries in June.

However, spreading the library gospel among ourselves is not going to instigate widespread change in education. Librarians, as well as their teachers and administrators—the Kathleen Smiths—must report and disseminate their valuable information where administrators live and breathe: at their state and national conferences and in their professional journals. (See this month's column by Gary Hartzell, "Breaking New Ground )

Findings from a recently released California study, "School Library Media Centers and Student Achievement" (see News story ), point to a need to improve student access to school library resources—including access to the Internet as well as to "library media teachers"—in order to meet the number-one challenge facing educators: preparing students to succeed in high-stakes testing. The report surveyed curriculum leaders in the state's 25 largest school districts.

This issue's interview with Bob Berkowitz (see "Acing the Exam "), a high school librarian in Ontario Center, NY, offers a nuts-and-bolts analysis of how librarians can work with teachers to play a leading role in helping students to become better critical thinkers and thus improve their test scores.

Perhaps my predecessor would have been less inclined to roll her eyes at the sight of another candy-coating administrator if that principal or superintendent was actually reporting on something real: how he or she created a learning environment where the school library is at the center of the school, for instance. We need to publicize and learn from these administrator-cum-library–supporter scenarios, where librarians are being emancipated from age-old stereotypes, and realizing their long-held potential to collaboratively impact student learning. The words of a growing number of administrators are empty no longer.

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