Investing in Our Role First

We reported last month that California Governor Gray Davis cut funding for school library materials by 80 percent, from $28 per student down to $5 per student (see November 2002, News, p. 21). Discouraged but not defeated, library advocates salvaged the situation by convincing the governor to maintain the California Public School Library Act—which specifically allocates school library money—as a separate line item in next year's budget.

At the same time, School Library Journal has chronicled the struggle to preserve funding for library resources in many other states, including Washington, Georgia, and Colorado. Talk of doubling the 2001 Reed Amendment funding—for school library materials and resources—from its initial allocation of $12.5 million to $25 million proliferates. Several states, armed with researcher Keith Lance's studies that document the correlation between healthy school libraries and increased student achievement, are scrapping for funds during a lingering economic downturn (see TechKnowledge , pp. 24–26).

These events have one dynamic in common: a focus on library materials and resources and an unintentional deemphasizing of the school librarian's role and importance in student learning. This is not to say that the Lance studies haven't indicated that leadership and collaboration on the part of school librarians are factors that contribute to heightened student performance. In fact, Lance presented exactly those findings in June to a host of library supporters at First Lady Laura Bush's White House Conference on School Libraries.

However, California presents an interesting case. While determined library advocates were able to convince California lawmakers to raise spending on school library materials to as much as $28 per pupil before the recent cuts by Governor Davis, the ratio of school librarians to students languishes. California's count of one school librarian for every 4,673 students is nearly five times the national average of one to 953, according to the Sacramento Bee. The unconscious message is: the school library and its resources are a priority, but anyone can run it.

California is not the exception by any means. We have national legislation calling for more school library materials, but nothing for developing keen, promising talent to fill the school library pipeline. To her credit, the First Lady has helped influence the Bush administration's decision to earmark $10 million to bolster librarian recruitment. Further, American Library Association President Maurice "Mitch" Freedman has made recruitment the focus of his program. However, neither of these well-intentioned initiatives is aimed at moving the influence of the library media specialist to the center of the school community. Until the job of the school librarian is more effectively integrated with the school's core objectives, its potential as a bright career opportunity for teachers and other young professionals will remain a secret.

To get the message out, the Center for International Scholarship in School Librarianship at Rutgers University, headed by Associate Professor Ross Todd and Professor Carol Kuhlthau, is cultivating research that represents the most promising work in the field for articulating the instructional and collaborative role of the school librarian. The crux of their effort is to document evidence-based practice, the process of actively engaging in carefully planned strategies that gather evidence about the local impact of school librarians on student learning.

We must begin to refocus our lobbying efforts by highlighting the need for school librarians to establish quality learning agendas. In this issue, we report on Colorado's commitment to a grassroots effort (see "Power to the Librarian ," pp. 48–50). With increased responsibility worthy of higher stature, we can raise the profile and perception of the school librarian as an indispensable member of the learning community.

Evan St. Lifer Editor estlifer@reedbusiness.com