Dreams crushed: the Demise of Public School Libraries, by: Hailey Jackson

I’m in my final semester to obtain a “Library Information Technology” certificate from Palomar College in San Marcos, California. Final semester. I sat across the table from a professor and two other students, both of whom already worked at elementary school libraries in Southern California. The information shared with me was nothing short of jaw-dropping. “The jobs aren’t what they used to be.” “Librarians used to be credentialed teachers.” “The union is really coming down on ‘media technicians’ doing anything that could be taken as ‘teaching’.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had been persuing this certificate for the last 18 months hoping to secure a job at my kids’ elementary school once they were all going for full days. It was a good fit, and I’d get to make a difference! The “librarian” there now does a handful of story times each week and does the laminating for each teacher. Surely, there were improvements to make, things to teach, ways to get kids excited about reading and make meaningful connections. The librarian should be working with teachers so that the students’ time in the library coincides with Common Core curriculum. But no. And it will never be.

According to the California Department of Education, “California continues to rank at the bottom of professional library staffing numbers.” Professional staffing numbers refers to trained, or credentialed librarians. That said, the CDE states that sixteen percent of schools in California don’t have a library. So are libraries reaching the end of their usefulness in schools? Is there hope for people like me, who want to work in school libraries?

An empty library at a New York Public School. Funding enabled the creation of the library, but is lacking for staffing.

Clearly, there is a place for libraries. Studies abound online that show a correlation between access to books and success, so how can libraries be saved. The answer, like it so commonly is, is money. “Once, students held bake sales and car washes to fund some activities. Now, principals, teachers, and parents have been forced to assume that role on a grand scale to pay for books, athletic equipment, after-school activities. Instead of cupcakes and soapsuds, they use today’s equivalent of the hat in hand—the grant application—to beg foundations and corporations to underwrite what, until recently, most Americans would have considered the birthright of students in our public schools.” (School Library Journal, Sept. 2013) Even the CDE states that library funding has gone the way of the Grant, meaning that administrators, teachers and parents now have to petition private industry and the government to solicit funds for everything from playground equipment to books for libraries and classrooms. And while it seems grim, there is hope. Even for someone like me, in her last semester of obtaining a certificate that seems doomed. While credentialed librarian positions are decreasing in the state of California, libraries themselves seem to be making an impact. In my own local school district, our once antiquated librarian is running STEM programs at lunch time. The job is not the same as it once was, but now I don’t need a teaching credential to work at the school. And my hope still exists that I can make a difference in the lives of children in my community.
Works Cited:
Owens, John. "Not As We Remember It." School Library Journal 59.9 (2013): 20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

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