GLMA Statement of Support
School librarians are facing a crisis in this country! According to Cognotes, June 24, 2007 edition, only about 60 percent of our school libraries have a full-time, state certified school library media specialist on staff. With limited funding and an increased focus on school performance, administrators are trying to stretch dollars and cut funds across various programs to ensure that maximum resources are dedicated to improving student academic achievement. Multiple research studies have affirmed that there is a clear link between programs that are staffed by an experienced school library media specialist and student achievement. It is imperative that we continue to share this message.
As your Affiliate Assembly delegates at ALA in June, Dr. Sherry Grove, GLMA President-elect, and I attended the Affiliate Assembly meetings. We were excited to learn of proposed legislation, which indicated to us that the message is being heard. The American Association of School Librarians
(AASL) and the ALA Washington Office have been working with Congress to address the crisis facing our nation’s school libraries. As you may have read, on Tuesday, June 26, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act that will accomplish the following:
- Establish a state goal of having a highly qualified school library media
specialist in each public school;
- Ensure that the term “highly qualified school library media specialist”
means that the individual has met existing state-determined certification requirements in library media;
- Allow state and local professional development funds to be used to
assist in recruiting and training highly qualified library media specialists; and
- Strengthen the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program by
addressing the needs of secondary school students and English Language Learners.
GLMA supports this legislation because we believe it is critical to the future of school library media specialists. We encourage all LMSs to support the SKILLs Act by urging your senators to co-sponsor S. 1699 and your Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 2864. For your convenience, talking points provided by the ALA Office are included below:
Talking Points:
- Multiple studies have affirmed that there is a clear link between school
library media programs that are staffed by a school library media specialist and student academic achievement. Across the United States, research has shown that students in schools with good school libraries learn more, get better grades, and score higher on standardized test scores than their peers in schools without libraries.
- Long regarded as the cornerstone of the school community, school
libraries are no longer just for books. Instead, they have become sophisticated 21st century learning environments offering a full range of print and electronic resources that provide equal learning opportunities to all students, regardless of the socio-economic or education levels of the community - but only when they are staffed by school library media specialists trained to collaborate with teachers and engage students meaningfully with information that matters to them both in the classroom and in the real world.
- Only about 60 percent of our school libraries have a full-time,
state-certified school library media specialist on staff.
- With limited funding and an increased focus on school performance,
administrators are trying to stretch dollars and cut funds across various programs to ensure that maximum resources are dedicated to improving student academic achievement.
- Because NCLB does not highlight the direct correlation between school
library media specialists and increased student academic achievement, library resource budgets are increasingly being used to mitigate the effects of budgetary shortfalls.
Please take the time to contact your legislators today. A special thank you to Melissa Johnston, Donna Milner, Julie Walker, and others who have assisted in getting the word out to our colleagues.
Rosalind Dennis
GLMA President