Power Libraries May Get the Ax
Colorado-based school library mentoring program lacks funds
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2004
Due to severe budget cuts, the state-sponsored Colorado Library system has pulled the plug on the program, which pairs school libraries with scant resources with those that have successfully integrated information literacy skills and teacher collaboration into the curriculum. (For more about the program, see "Power to the Librarian," December 2002, pp. 48–50.)
The news couldn't have come at a worse time—Colorado's Department of Education now mandates that every school district integrate educational technology and information literacy into the classroom. And that means that collaboration with media specialists is of the utmost importance, says Betty Bankhead, the program's staff development coordinator.
Despite the threatened closure, Power Libraries is still trying to operate at full speed during its final months. Glenwood Springs Elementary, just west of Denver, was one of 16 schools selected in December 2003 to join the program as a "developing school" and six schools, including Stott Elementary in Arvada, were chosen as high performance schools. Teachers, principals, and librarians from promising schools visit mentoring schools—which all have certified librarians—to learn about teacher-librarian collaboration, technology, information literacy, and instructional planning. To date, 125 schools from 45 districts throughout the state have participated in the program.
The program's demise was expected when the state slashed funding to regional library systems from $2.4 million to $600,000 for 2003–2004. Although Bankhead and Joy Van Meter, Power Libraries's director, have since tried to keep the program afloat, so far they've only received rejection letters from state grant agencies. "The Power Libraries program will no longer exist as it presently looks today, and if there's no frame that keeps it together, eventually it just goes away," says Van Meter, adding that she and Bankhead would continue to offer their services to individual districts. "I'm still hopeful that we'll find some way to continue, but it's anybody's guess what will remain."
This year, Power Libraries is operating on a $50,000 shoestring budget, which runs out in July. That money pays for salaries, training workshops, and materials, as well as operating and travel expenses and substitute librarians for those who must travel to meet their mentors. The program, launched in 1997, initially had received a three-year $500,000 grant from the federal Library Services and Technology Act, which has since run out. There are still ongoing efforts to save the program, but to date, there have been no positive developments. "It's so sad that we're going to lose this opportunity to really help teachers and librarians work together," Bankhead says.
