Letters

With librarians losing their jobs, there’s no time for navel gazing

I cannot imagine why any energy is spent discussing whether it is better to have an education degree than a library science degree. As long as the individual is licensed or credentialed by the state to work as a library media specialist in a school, the path one takes really becomes secondary to other issues facing school libraries today. Keep the real issue upfront! School libraries are being tossed out the window.

In Ohio, library media specialists are losing their jobs because the Ohio Revised Code only requires a minimum of one library media specialist per district. Written into the code is permission for districts to give lesson plans created by a library media specialist to educational assistants to teach. Our lawmakers and state board of education in Ohio think that this is OK! Our lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Education think that this supports education and promotes literacy.

Do you want to write letters and debate critical issues? Then take on the people who came up with the 65 percent solution. Take on the people who think that our children don’t deserve highly qualified library media specialists to teach information literacy skills and impart a love of reading that will carry them into a successful adulthood. Take on our national government that gives lip service to literacy but disregards the people (library media specialists) and means (libraries) which provide the most educationally sound and cost-effective method of raising literacy test scores.

Rebecca Vasilakis, library media specialist, Lancaster, OH

I am writing to clarify the article by Lauren Barack, “Drug Money Helps Libraries” (February 2006), regarding a new law in Wisconsin. The law is not quite what it seems at face value.

School libraries in Wisconsin are fortunate that its constitution directs the Common School Fund (CSF) to solely support the purchase of school library resources. This year, Wisconsin school libraries will receive $28.2 million in CSF library aid, or $22.32 per census child. This equates to about the cost of one hardcover book per child based on 2006 average prices.

Previous to this law, 80 percent of cash collected from drug-related seizures was directed to the CSF with 20 percent retained by the originating agency for the costs of processing and administration. Since this law allows the originating agency to now keep 50 to 70 percent of the amount collected (depending on how much is seized), a much smaller percentage (30 to 50 percent) will go to the CSF and school libraries. This means that the amount of drug-related cash seized will have to be increased ten-fold or more for the CSF to see an actual increase from this source over previous years.

For this reason, Wisconsin’s library community, including the Wisconsin Educational Media Association (WEMA) and Wisconsin Library Association (WLA), did not support this legislation. Along with the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, which manages the CSF, we will be waiting and watching with bated breath for the dramatic increase to the CSF promised by Rep. Bies.

Kate Bugher, past president, WEMA, Madison, WI