Vermont librarians have won a battle. They fought to be reintroduced into their state education standards, in writing, and succeeded. The fight started in August 2013, when the Vermont School Library Association (VSLA) discovered that the requirement for their jobs was being removed from the language in the Education Quality Standards. In April, school, university, public, and state librarians campaigned to ensure Vermont’s school children would continue to have access to certified school librarians—and got that requirement back into state standards.

Denise Wentz, Vermont School Library Association president and school librarian

“The standards had said schools need one librarian for every 300 students,” says Denise Wentz, VSLA president and a school librarian at Allen Brook School, a Pre-K-2 school in Williston, Vermont. “A draft we saw had taken that out. We are a small, rural state. One person said she knew if her school board saw this, they would think they could save money by not needing a librarian.” School librarians went quickly into action. Knowing they would be busy with their jobs, with school starting that fall, Wentz says school librarians reached out to Martha Reid, state librarian at the Vermont Department of Libraries, which oversees public libraries. Wentz had initially set up a meeting with the Secretary of Education for the group in September at the Vermont State House in Montpelier, the state capital. They, then, went on to meet with the Vermont Agency of Education and began to speak at hearings to campaign for change. Wentz says that school librarians used to have a representative at the Vermont Agency of Education, but no longer do. This may have contributed to both school librarians being removed from the education standards—and the school librarian community not being aware of changes that had been proposed. “We used to have someone, but it’s been at least 10 years,” she says. “So when the [revised state education standards] came out we didn’t know until it was a final draft.”

Martha Reid, state librarian

College librarians organized as well, building a document saying that library media specialists needed to be kept in the state; it was signed, says Wentz, by every college library director. VSLA also sponsored a postcard campaign to push the word out about the need for reform in the education standards document across Vermont. The new wording that re-inserted school librarians went before the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules and was approved as part of the Education Quality Standards by the Secretary of State’s office this past April. The language once again made school librarians part of the requirements for schools and students throughout Vermont, stating school media specialists “shall be made available to students and staff.” (Read more about the standards here.) The effective date was April 5. Wentz believes that the standards are unlikely to change again for at least five to 10 years. She also hopes that the “grassroots campaign” can help inspire other states and school librarians as they push to have their positions protected in their regions as well. “This was about the future of school libraries and children having access to qualified, certified, school librarians,” she says. “This is for the children. And we’re hoping this is a positive sign for other states.”