Spokane7
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June 13, 2011 in City
Face Time: School librarian worries about cutbacks’ effects
Trish Henry, library media specialist at Prairie View Elementary School, works with fifth-grade students exploring on school computers.
(Full-size photo)
Mead School District officials decided shifting its 12 librarians out of the library and into a traditional classroom was the best way to help solve its $1 million budget deficit.
The district will save $660,000 by moving the librarians, who all have teaching endorsements, because they won’t have to hire new teachers.
School librarians teach students how to do research, where to find the most accurate information, how to use reference materials, how to use any library – skills that help students navigate classes throughout their primary and secondary education.
Mead’s libraries will remain open, but will be staffed in some other way, officials say. The details are still being worked out.
Trish Henry, a librarian at Prairie View Elementary School in the Mead School District, explained the duties of her current job and what might be missing if trained librarians are no longer there.
Q. What do school librarians do?
A. We teach information literacy. That’s more than books, more than print. It’s teaching students how to read information off computers, from databases, how to get information from audio sources, like iPods, CDs, e-books and audio books. It’s a different set of skills for students.
I also teach search strategies. In some cases, you end up teaching technology, such as Garage Band – an audio program – Google Earth or how to make a movie.
Q. Why is it important for the students to learn the various ways to find information?
A. With the work my students are doing, they need basic research skills. For example, the sixth-graders study ancient civilization and third-graders learn about Native Americans.
The classroom teachers bring the content into the learning. I show them how to find the information.
Navigating information is a good way to explain why what we teach is important, whether it’s finding information in the library or finding information on the Internet.
Q. Do students still learn the basics about using a library?
A. Yes. The idea is for students to be able to go from this library to a public library or a university library or any library and use it.
Q. What will students be missing without having trained librarians in the library?
A. Schools without trained librarians tend to have lower scores on standardized tests as well as lower reading skills, according to several studies. They will be missing the most basic research skills. I know Mead School District teachers are trying to make sure kids still get those skills some other way.
Another piece that will be missing: We’ve been trained to select materials that match teachers’ curriculum.
Q. Do you assess reading skills?
A. Teachers assess reading levels, but I do different stuff with the students to help with that, such as administer some online reading tests. It’s truly a partnership with the teacher.
But I have kids who come in and ask me if I can find them a book at their reading level, and now a librarian won’t be available to do that.
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ChefGus/ John Olsen on June 13 at 5:56 a.m.
One of my favorite times during the school day/week was the hours spent with the school Librarian at Longfellow Grade School in the mid 50”s…. Learning to use informational resources and learning to think in a critical fashion about the mostly printed media at that time was essential and became part of my critical thinking process. While this “triage” of certificated Librarians in to the class rooms may seem wise… and staffing the libraries “somehow” … may seem a good budget move, but will continue the long term slide down hill for our students, particularly those without a lot of personal family resources. The Internet does not help with critical thinking… John
eagleproducer on June 13 at 7:25 a.m.
The librarians will be replaced with classified personnel. That move has already been happening in smaller districts. The WEA and local teacher’s unions should be jumping up and down and threatening to strike if these positions are lost. Once they are lost, they are never coming back. Why do we even pay union dues if our representatives simply sit back and watch these positions bleed away because Wall Street fleeced the country, again??
Hiring “new” teachers is not less expensive than laterally transferring those with seniority and higher on the pay scale. We need to encourage older teachers to retire instead of ruining the future of our profession.
Any educator who uses the word “stuff” while being officially interviewed as a representative of her/his profession needs to expand their vocabulary. But from my personal experience, our elementary teachers aren’t exactly ready to split the atom. As well, the term is not “information literacy” it’s “media literacy” and that means evaluating sources for bias, authorship, etc., not simply the extraction of material from varying sources.
The internet might not help for critical thinking (which it does, the “algos” of a search engine are the height of critical thinking) but it will aid in ratting out your “friends” won’t it Gus?
mikeln on June 13 at 7:50 a.m.
Just another sign that the dumbing down of the public is well under way.
pseeger on June 13 at 8:08 a.m.
Agree with some of your “stuff”, Eagle, but certainly not the denigration of elementary teachers. Shame on you for that. And while “media literacy” may be be your term, there’s also “information literacy”:
Information Literacy is the ability to identify what information is needed, understand how the information is organized, identify the best sources of information for a given need, locate those sources, evaluate the sources critically, and share that information. It is the knowledge of commonly used research techniques.
eagleproducer on June 13 at 8:43 a.m.
pseeger: I’m just stating facts the public should know. If you look at entrance scores for those who attend college, the average teacher is in the lower 1/3 of their entering class. If you then look at the average elementary school teacher, they are in the lower 1/3 of that group. Get it now?
The low pay compared with other professions and continuing lack of public respect for their jobs means we aren’t exactly getting the cream of the crop leading classrooms. Their hearts might be in the right place (and I question that these days when I listen to discussions take place about how any reductions in pay/benefits will mean reduced access for students) but the surest way to improve our schools is to improve the quality of teachers.
So here is the “real deal:”
Mead won’t have the librarian positions so that “C” squad athletics go untouched. Or any athletics. Great. Got it.
See what I mean, now, pseeger? Those are the types of decisions coming from these people you want me to hold with the highest respect for their intellect? Please. I’m having trouble believing they are sane, let alone smart.
oneanddone on June 13 at 8:53 a.m.
Amazingly, it is NOT necessary to spoon feed students in how to use resources. You learn from doing. Anyone who has education beyond 12th grade knows that no one holds your hand in a university library. Give kids today a little credit and increase your expectations.
eagleproducer on June 13 at 9:13 a.m.
oneanddone: Your statement about college students isn’t true. English 201 is a requirement for every major and part of the curriculum for that course includes library/media sourcing scholarship.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on June 13 at 9:38 a.m.
There is a reason we are 37th in the world in education now. I think it is pretty obvious half the country refuses to spend any money on education, they would rather use it to build themselves another lake house over helping our countries youth.
KopperBuck on June 13 at 10:12 a.m.
Nailed it on the head liberal. We’re 37th b/c we’re not willing to spend money on librarians. Sorry, while I don’t disagree that they’re helpful and a great resource, I don’t believe that they’re as critical a function as they used to be. And to be honest, if you can’t find yourself around a library - we’ve got bigger problems.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on June 13 at 10:21 a.m.
Kopper, yes that is why we are 37th, because we stopped funding libraries. Ummmm HELLO…..we stopped funding EDUCATION altogether, including libraries, but for the most part we have decided to cut as much as possible from schools and teachers.
We have a whole political party that would rather the rich have tax cuts over our students having an education, how does that make sense?
mikeln on June 13 at 11:40 a.m.
When we fail to teach our children how to learn, we fail at educating them.
Thoreau on June 13 at 12:58 p.m.
Librarians that have valid teaching degrees SHOULD be in the classroom.
Sounds like spoiled Mead doesn’t realize this luxury that they’ve enjoyed. Suck it up, MEAD.
Regarding the WEA’s passivity to this issue (eagleproducer) - are you surprised? You pay dues to inflate the pockets of the WEA staff in Seattle. Your union is impotent - always has been, always will be.
pjc on June 16 at 8:21 a.m.
we stopped funding EDUCATION altogether, including libraries, but for the most part we have decided to cut as much as possible from schools and teachers.
Really?
Spokane Public School District Budget
2008-2009: $303,397,863
2009-2010: $304,605,563
2010-2011: $310,973,724
http://www.spokaneschools.org/1733101212151725113/lib/1733101212151725113/2010-2011_adopted_budget.pdf
That is an increase coupled with a decrease of 3,000 in student enrollment since 2000.