Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they more valuable than a second language?

More valuable than 45 minutes a week of learning to "Me llamo Larla" and sing a song in Spanish? Almost certainly.

Anonymous wrote:(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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As other posters have, I want to remind you that public libraries are not accessible to all. I work in a very high poverty school where some families are often unfamiliar with the advent of public libraries or their usefulness, and many of the adults are not literate in their home language.

Having lived in other countries, the library system in the US is great. In one country, you need to pay to enter the library!

I agree many parents may not know much about public libraries, but is enough being done to get the word out? For example, are kids in school made aware of their public library and all the resources available? The libraries have great events too -- I wonder if word is getting out enough. We go to some events, and the turnout does not reflect the diversity of the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a great question that I, as a school librarian, love to answer!

First of all, there is a research base to support the correlation between school libraries staffed by licensed librarians and improved student performance on assessments. Read more here: https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

Keep in mind that despite their presence in the press, book challenges are overall very rare. In my decades-long career I’ve not had a single parent concern raised. And “expensive to maintain” is not accurate: my current budget is about $6k, and if you divided that by the classrooms in my school, each teacher would get $250 each. That’s only enough to buy about a dozen hardcover books for each classroom annually. I buy from an approved vendor that is often able to provide a discount, and because they are processed for a library (the fancy covers), they are durable and my books serve the entire student population for many years.

Half of my job is serving students, but half of it is serving teachers. Not only do I annually research and purchase books to meet state standards, I also select many of the books teachers use for instruction. Teachers will ask me to gather what I have on X topic and then they base their instruction on what I give them. They have little time and often little familiarity with what is available and the rely on my suggestions.

My district deems my instruction more valuable than a foreign language (I am in ES). I assume that is because I am teaching both library and literacy skills. Students learn how to use a library independently so that in MS and HS they can do so for academic reasons. Kids need to learn how to identify good search terms and strategies and how to choose and navigate the many databases available to them. Classroom teachers often don’t know this stuff, so librarians are teaching them, too. They also learn research and literacy skills that supplement classroom learning. I know that with the amount of focus on testing and standards, my students seem to value the library as a place to celebrate the freedom to read whatever brings you joy, which promotes a valuable lifelong habit of reading.

As other posters have, I want to remind you that public libraries are not accessible to all. I work in a very high poverty school where some families are often unfamiliar with the advent of public libraries or their usefulness, and many of the adults are not literate in their home language. Many families have just one car used by the adult at work, so most errands are done by walking. My students have to cross a six-lane highway to get to our awesome public library and many are not permitted to do that until they are older. And don’t forget, a school library can be visited daily, and not at parents’ convenience on weekends or in the evenings.

Thank you!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they more valuable than a second language?

Hop over to the FCPS forum and read how many think FLES is a waste of money and want it gone. My kids had a mandatory foreign language in elementary. They didn’t learn anything except a hate for that particular language. We are not alone with this. They don’t become fluent or even competent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they more valuable than a second language?

More valuable than 45 minutes a week of learning to "Me llamo Larla" and sing a song in Spanish? Almost certainly.

+1

When my kids had FLES, they had a beautiful concert at the end of the year. I’ll never forget when my mother-in-law asked my kids the meaning of the songs they sang. The kids laughed and said they had no idea. They only memorized the words to the songs. What APS did with FLES with a waste of time and resources.

Anonymous wrote:This is a great question that I, as a school librarian, love to answer!

First of all, there is a research base to support the correlation between school libraries staffed by licensed librarians and improved student performance on assessments. Read more here: https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

Keep in mind that despite their presence in the press, book challenges are overall very rare. In my decades-long career I’ve not had a single parent concern raised. And “expensive to maintain” is not accurate: my current budget is about $6k, and if you divided that by the classrooms in my school, each teacher would get $250 each. That’s only enough to buy about a dozen hardcover books for each classroom annually. I buy from an approved vendor that is often able to provide a discount, and because they are processed for a library (the fancy covers), they are durable and my books serve the entire student population for many years.

Half of my job is serving students, but half of it is serving teachers. Not only do I annually research and purchase books to meet state standards, I also select many of the books teachers use for instruction. Teachers will ask me to gather what I have on X topic and then they base their instruction on what I give them. They have little time and often little familiarity with what is available and the rely on my suggestions.

My district deems my instruction more valuable than a foreign language (I am in ES). I assume that is because I am teaching both library and literacy skills. Students learn how to use a library independently so that in MS and HS they can do so for academic reasons. Kids need to learn how to identify good search terms and strategies and how to choose and navigate the many databases available to them. Classroom teachers often don’t know this stuff, so librarians are teaching them, too. They also learn research and literacy skills that supplement classroom learning. I know that with the amount of focus on testing and standards, my students seem to value the library as a place to celebrate the freedom to read whatever brings you joy, which promotes a valuable lifelong habit of reading.

As other posters have, I want to remind you that public libraries are not accessible to all. I work in a very high poverty school where some families are often unfamiliar with the advent of public libraries or their usefulness, and many of the adults are not literate in their home language. Many families have just one car used by the adult at work, so most errands are done by walking. My students have to cross a six-lane highway to get to our awesome public library and many are not permitted to do that until they are older. And don’t forget, a school library can be visited daily, and not at parents’ convenience on weekends or in the evenings.

Anonymous wrote:As a school librarian I can’t tell you how many kids come in and say that library is their favorite special. By knowing the kids and what interests them, we save new books for them that we know they would love and help them find new books to try besides their favorites. We also help teachers find books to use for their curriculum. In addition, we coordinate author visits among many other things.