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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous](I'm asking a genuine question, not trolling.)

Why do we have school libraries, particularly in elementary schools? They're expensive to maintain and people get upset about the selections. Then the teacher ALSO has a class library and that's the one that seems to be used most of the time. Why not just help teachers fund their class libraries instead? I was told that there isn't time for a language elective because the electives are already fully scheduled for the week. So why not eliminate library and add in Spanish/Chinese/French/whatever?

We have wonderful public county libraries that kids can go to any time they want outside of school. They're easily accessible by bus routes and they have much better programming. They even allow kids to study in them after hours, whereas the school library kicks you out when school closes. [/quote]

That’s a good question OP. My kids love library time at school and love the idea of borrowing and returning books. I think getting used to going to the library at school is what gets them excited about going to the public library. We try to go to our public library as much as possible but honestly only make it there once or twice a month. They do check out a ton of books from there though so that’s not that bad I guess! The other thing about the school librarian is that she gets to our kids. So she directs them to books that she thinks they would like and open their mind up to other ones. I think it’s a good thing and teaches kids the joy of reading and also how great it is to have public libraries. As my kids get older, I hope the librarian will focus on research skills (at least that’s what our librarian did when we were kids!) I think overall it’s a special to have.

One more thing, as schools move towards a more structured knowledge based curriculum delivered via direct instruction (hoping that’s the case everywhere!) library time can be come a time where children pick books that interest them. [/quote]

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