Philly Media Specialist Fights for a Certified Librarian in Every School
RSSBy Lauren Barack
Carol Heinsdorf doesn't believe school librarians should have to fight for their own jobs—even as she watches their roles slowly disappear throughout the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), where she works as a media specialist. Yet, that doesn't mean Heinsdorf has kept quiet over the past few years. Quite the contrary. As president of the Association of Philadelphia School Librarians (APSL), and as a member before, she's spoken to and educated stakeholders on what students need to succeed. Librarian Carol Heinsdorf (at podium) is flanked by students and community members during a speech she gave before SDP's School Reform Commission in March. Photo: Janet Malloy. "I don't think we should be advocating for our own jobs," says Heinsdorf, a high school librarian at the Youth Study Center School. "I think our job is to advocate the stakeholders, parents, and administrators who are unfamiliar with the services that school librarians can provide for children." That's why Heinsdorf and APSL have presented the district with a "School Library Reform Proposal" that outlines requirements they say are essential to bridging the achievement gap for the city's low-income students—including putting a certified librarian in each district school. Library services are shrinking, according to data provided by APSL. The number of certified school librarians in Philadelphia's 265 K-12 schools has dropped by more than 63 percent to 65 this year from 176 in 1991, notes Heinsdorf. And that number is expected to plummet further as four librarians are retiring and seven have been notified that their positions have been cut for the coming school year, she says. To Heinsdorf, the tragedy lies not just in students losing access to school librarians, but also the way budget cuts have forced departments to compete against each other. Within a district—or even a school—the push isn't always to collectively save valuable programs for children but to watch out for your own job. "One group is pitted against the other," she says. "Art and music against computers and libraries, instead of a collegial atmosphere where everyone is working for the best for students." Still, despite Heinsdorf's frustrations, others believe she's made significant progress in bringing the kind of attention to school libraries that didn't exist before. For starters, while layoffs continue this year as they have every year since 1991, Heinsdorf says she doesn't believe school librarians top the chopping block as they have in years past. That and the support she receives is what keep her going. For example, during a speech Heinsdorf gave in March before SDP's School Reform Commission, students and community members from groups, including the Education Law Center and Youth United For Change, stood behind her to show their solidarity with her cause. "I think she's made significant headway in having the community understand what's happening," says Debra E. Kachel, the legislation co-chairperson for the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. "The bureaucracy in the Philadelphia school district is incredible, and so just the fact that she's made some significant headway is laudable." But it's not enough, says Heinsdorf, who has no intention of laying down her sword—or her voice—until more people understand what children miss when school librarians continue to evaporate from the school system. "School libraries are not valued in Philadelphia because what is valued gets funded," she says. "And now we have adults who went through school without school librarians, and they're having children, and so we have two generations who don't know what they're missing. It's a problem." This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe. I feel the same situation in my school and other schools as well.
It is true that, in some sense, being a librarian at my school in Lebanon has given me opportunities to widen our student’s culture, yet minimal time and library hours are offered. Though I have a teaching background in education and currently enrolled in MA course in book career at Saint Joseph University in Beirut, (Master Professionnel des metiers du livre) I find the librarian’s position sometimes is at stake as IT department can easily take over and teachers in other divisions prefer taking over and teaching research skills or reading activities. We are sometimes left as guidance and receiving students at recess time.
This is frustrating not only to you but to all future generation who will miss valuing the treasures of our culture.
Carla Mitri
Librarian
carlamitri@hotmail.com
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Reader Comments (1)
Posted by carla mitri on June 1, 2011 08:06:08AM
