The Demise of School Libraries… How bad is it? by Aubrey Halman

 

Questions have been raised regarding school libraries, their importance, and whether they are going out of fashion. People continue to question the importance of libraries in a digital age. However, this disregards the fact that school libraries are more than just places to borrow books. School libraries are absolutely essential to helping students become technologically literate and “make measurable [differences] to the academic performance of students,” according to the article “School Libraries Matter but Are under Threat” (2010). In his article in Young Adult Library Services, Steve Matthews mentioned that school library staff were let go and school libraries were closed due to the effects of that time's recent recession. (2011) He also mentioned that school librarians were not viewed as “instructional personnel,” according to No Child Left Behind, and that the Los Angeles Unified School District had even gone so far as to “reclassify several school librarians as ‘nonteachers’” (2011). 

However, this viewpoint is far from the truth. Every day, school librarians teach students how to do research, how to use the library, or even how to use the latest technology. To refer to librarians of any sort as “nonteachers” or refusing to acknowledge them as “instructional personnel” is a disservice to all the hard work they do. As the world becomes more technologically advanced, if you do away with school libraries and school librarians, who will be there to teach students the newest trends in technology without judgment? Librarians at all libraries are teaching students, young and old, skills they didn’t previously possess. Every day, patrons visit their local library seeking help with tasks like setting up an email account, updating their resumes, or even learning to use a 3D printer. Librarians are constantly staying up to date with the latest technology, and if they aren’t here to teach those of us who didn’t learn earlier in life, how can we be expected to teach our children or young students? We can’t…

But THEY can.

 

Works Cited

Matthews, Steve. “Stopping the Slow Train to Disaster or How to Talk Up, Trick Out, and Establish Beyond a Doubt That School Libraries Are Vital for Kids (and That Means TEENS!).” Young Adult Library Services, vol. 10, no. 1, Oct. 2011, pp. 5–6. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=797943c3-775e-3379-b96e-81547f7c28af.

“School Libraries Matter but Are under Threat.” Education (14637073), no. 401, July 2010, p. 2. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=319b49be-23d8-36cf-9b97-5d7c044a081c.