News

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the education system in the United States since this past spring when classes were abruptly halted and students were sent home to complete the rest of their semesters through virtual classrooms. This is a time when smart school administrators should look to their school librarians to help fill the gap.

The Coronavirus economic shutdowns have threatened the financial stability of schools across the country. The future of school library programs and school librarian positions are tied directly to the financial health of their local districts.

School librarians, long identified as thought leaders in school communities, provide invaluable services and resources to children in times of crisis. With educators facing unprecedented challenges presented by COVID-19, school librarians and their libraries play a more important role than ever. The new report "School Libraries and the COVID Slide" from the EveryLibrary Institute looks closely at how school library programs staffed by certified school librarians can help stand in new education gaps during COVID disruptions. 

The Coronavirus economic shutdowns are threatening the financial stability of schools across the country. The future of school library programs and school librarian positions are tied directly to the financial health of their local districts. In the decade since the last recession, one in five full-time school librarian jobs were lost. Districts serving high numbers of poor and minority students were particularly hard hit.

Just one dollar per month ensures that we can continue our work!

We are facing a crisis in Pennsylvania School Libraries! Join the Social Media Storm on June 22nd to tell school boards across PA to retain their school librarians. 

We’d like to thank you for your advocacy and signatures on our online petition to support Washington D.C. school librarians. Mayor Muriel Bowser released her School Year 2020-21 budget on Monday, it includes a 3% increase in funding for public education. Please see the Washington Post article.

Editor: We are publishing this "open letter" to the School Board and Superintendent of the Greensburg Salem School District in Pennsylvania from recent graduate Melissa Paravate to highlight just how important the school library program - and school librarians - are to future academic success. If you know and believe like Ms. Paravate does that every student from the youngest age through high school should have a school librarian supporting their education, please sign the petition to the Board now: https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/salemgreensburg

Many of our state leaders will be pushing for cuts to school libraries when budget time comes around. Without school libraries and school librarians to teach students about information literacy in the news, we face a grim future in which misinformation distorts our mutual understanding of reality. 

We are proud to see the support of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association for the Washington D.C. School Librarians. Read the full statement below.

Library Media Specialists (librarians) are very concerned about the closure of librarian positions throughout the district. Right before DCPS closed due to the Covid-19 health crisis, I’ve personally learned that colleagues at Malcolm X, King, Stanton, Wheatley (the librarian just received a major book grant), and Dunbar High Schools were informed by their principals that their positions would close at the end of the school year. Our fear is that there will be more librarians added to the list of closures.