Baltimore Beefs Up School Libraries

After years of neglect, the Baltimore, MD, public school district is taking steps to reverse the severe decline of its libraries. Collections not weeded since the 1970s are being purged of such items as a 1965 World Book Encyclopediaand a 1963 career guide with the chapter heading "Help Wanted: Male." In addition, schools are hiring librarians, buying books, and renovating library facilities.

The situation in Baltimore is grim: 104 of the district's 180 schools have no certified librarian, while only 15 schools meet state standards for collection size. But, say library supporters, after more than a decade of indifference, district leaders are paying attention to media centers–and spending money on them. The district committed $4 million this year to beef up 11 libraries, in addition to two already renovated. Until now, the budget has lumped libraries in with other items that principals, under site-based management, could spend on as they pleased. With money tight, most opted to spend their funds elsewhere.

"This is the first time I remember that we have actually been able to hold on to some budget money to support the transformation of library media centers," says Mike Pitroff, Baltimore's director of educational technologies.

The seeds of the district's library turnaround were planted two years ago with a project headed by Bill Struever, a school board member and prominent real estate developer whose company, Struever Bros., Eccles and Rouse, helped renovate a couple of local media centers. They were "pretty sorry-looking places," he recalls. "They were dark and gloomy and empty and essentially not much more than storage areas." Last fall, Struever and other community leaders who'd participated in the project decided that all district schools should have an up-to-date library.

Pitroff and his staff person who works on libraries, Sheila Grap, were told to come up with a plan. They produced a $60-million, five-year outline, which, if totally implemented, would result in overhauling all district media centers. So far, the school board has committed only $4 million, but it is also requiring schools getting new libraries to commit to hiring a certified librarian. Schools that get new libraries in the future will have to do the same, because the $60 million does not cover staff.

Struever, meanwhile, is working with Pitroff, Grap, and several community and business organizations to raise the private money that will surely be needed to augment district funds. And according to Grap, who's been in the district for 27 years, the current school board and district CEO seem committed to following through on their end. "I feel very optimistic, very supported," she says. "I feel the leadership is realizing the importance and the need."