[masraum]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

I see libraries mentioned. I don't see how that's really all that relevant in the digital age where any home with a tablet, phone or computer and the internet has a library at their fingertips. Also, statistics show that around 88% of all public schools (I was surprised it wasn't 100%) have a library. I don't believe the problem is lack of access. I believe it's the result of an education system that is failing kids and has been for a long time.

Many, many libraries are being closed in schools. The libraries are expensive, require space, technology, and workers (payroll). Presumably, they track utilization which I suspect has dropped precipitously in recent years.

I think there are schools that use and/or require pads and even use digital textbooks instead of physical textbooks.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/one-of-the-countrys-largest-districts-is-turning-school-libraries-into-discipline/2023/08

< not the full article, only specific excerpts >

School librarians and media specialists at 28 of Houston Independent School District’s 274 campuses will not be returning to their former jobs this coming school year.

Houston Superintendent Mike Miles, who was appointed in June by the Texas Education Agency as part of a state takeover of the district, authorized the repurposing of former school libraries into “team centers,” where students who misbehave will be sent to watch lessons virtually. That means 28 schools, most of them serving student populations that are either majority-Black, majority-Hispanic/Latino or economically disadvantaged, will not have school libraries in the coming school year.

This decision stands in direct contrast to efforts by the previous superintendent, Millard House II, who actively pushed to get school librarians into every school and, according to longtime district teacher Sarah Rivlin, was well on his way to attaining the goal before the state takeover of the district this spring.

The affected libraries are all in feeder patterns of three historically poor-performing high schools. The district website describes these New Education System Schools as “priority schools ... that will be provided resources and support to dramatically improve outcomes for their students.”

Houston, the largest district in Texas with an estimated 194,000 students, recently recorded its worst reading scores on national assessment tests in nearly two decades.

Nationwide, nearly 20 percent of full-time school librarian positions were eliminated between 2010 and 2019, according to research conducted by SLIDE (short for the School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution?) and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Between 1999 and 2011, per pupil spending on library materials dropped by nearly half, from $36.33 per student to $8.50 per student, according to federal figures adjusted for inflation. During that same period, though, total per pupil spending rose almost 15 percent to $11,149 a year from $9,729. Here’s a look at what’s behind some of the recent closures, what they mean for students, and who is affected most.

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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner condemned the plan in a press conference. “You cannot have a system where you’re closing libraries for some schools in certain neighborhoods, while more-affluent neighborhood schools have libraries that are open and stocked with books and other resources,” he said.

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Other districts have seen a downward trend in the number of school librarians employed. In 1991, Philadelphia public schools, with 259 schools, had 176 librarians. The district stopped funding school librarian positions in the late 1990’s, shuttering its Office of School Libraries in the mid-2000s, according to The Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Librarians, or PARSL, an advocacy group.

By the 2012-2013 school year, the number of full-time equivalent school librarians in the district had fallen to 57.6; by 2021-2022, that number had dwindled to the equivalent of one full-time school librarian, consisting of six part-time librarians with other teaching responsibilities.

The decline in the Philadelphia district’s pool of school librarians coincided with lower reading scores for students, according to the District Scorecard. In the 2012-2013 school year, 42 percent of the district’s 3rd through 8th graders were reading at or above proficiency levels, compared to 34 percent in 2021-2022.

Data also suggest that districts serving a high percentage of minority and economically disadvantaged students are most likely to have too few school librarians. A nationwide analysis of school librarians from four consecutive school years (from 2015-2016 to 2018-2019) found that high-poverty districts were more likely to be without a consistent librarian presence than districts with low rates of impoverished students.

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