Student Opportunities Vary in Oregon School Libraries

First graders cheer as the librarian sends their pen pal letters over the Internet. Sixth graders get excited about research because a trained librarian taught them to search using a CD-ROM. A high school freshman feels great about her health report because the librarian helped her find current AIDS information in the electronic newspaper index.

Students in some Oregon schools have these opportunities because they have the help of a trained librarian with background in literature, reference, computers and many forms of equipment for visual presentations. In other Oregon schools, students are helped by a volunteer or a person with no library training. Their opportunities are much more limited.

The Oregon Department of Education does not require schools to hire a librarian with a teaching certificate and library training. This leaves the decision up to individual districts and schools. According to Oregon State Standards, the library must be supervised by a principal or teacher, but this supervisor is not required to have any library or technology training or to work in the library itself.

Many districts throughout the state have cut library staff in recent years. Many school librarians who have been keeping up on new technology and reading children's books for decades in order to connect each child with a book they'll love are not working with children at all. They have lost their jobs or have been assigned to supervise untrained staff who work directly with the students. Some districts have shown a constant commitment to library service and have full-time trained librarians in all their schools. Some have no trained librarians helping students.

Why does it matter?

Certified school librarians are professional teachers who continually read juvenile and young adult literature in order to recommend good books to reluctant readers and skilled readers alike. They take classes each year to learn new technology so they can teach teachers, administrators and students. Studies show that 85% of teachers look to librarians as the technology brains who can give them in-house support.

Librarians plan programs which provide computer and information access to all students, making the playing field more even for those with no computer at home. Professional school librarians teach whole classes and individual students research skills and presentation techniques such as creating videotapes and computer graphics.

Students without access to such a trained professional are missing out on many educational opportunities.

What can you do?

Ask your school superintendent or principal:

• Does your school have a librarian with a teaching certificate as well as library training?

• If not, why not?

• Why are your children missing out on services that other Oregon students enjoy?

• Does your school librarian work full time?

• Do they have other responsibilities such as the yearbook or teaching outside the library which take them away from helping all students?

• If your school librarian is not staffed with a trained librarian with a teaching certificate, who is developing, coordinating and evaluating the library program? Oregon Department of Education Standards say this must be done by a certified person.

Some helpful terms for your discussion with school officials:

 

• Certified school librarians are often called media specialists.

• Certified means the person holds a classroom teaching certificate or administrator's certificate with the State of Oregon. Certified librarians are also required to have approximately 30 college credits in educational media (school librarianship).

• The name librarian is often used for personnel in the library, regardless of their education level. Someone with a high school degree might be called the librarian.

• A school employee who is not a teacher or administrator is called a classified employee. If a classified person is in charge of your library, they are usually required to have a high school education.

• The library may be called the library-media center, media center or another name.

You can make a difference in the quality of education the students in your community receive. Ask questions of your local school. How a school feels about its library reflects how it feels about education.

Contact us at:
Oregon Educational Media Association
P.O. Box 1759
Roseburg, OR 97470
or Jim Tindall, Promotions Chair
jtindall@gorge.net

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