School Library Cuts Not Good for Students: Library Association

The CLA is raising the alarm over the declining number of teacher-librarians in schools across the country.
School Library Cuts Not Good for Students: Library Association
The Canadian Library Association is raising concerns about the declining number of teacher-librarians in schools across the country. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
6/16/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

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The Canadian Library Association is raising concerns about the declining number of teacher-librarians in schools across the country. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Canada’s largest library association is raising the alarm over the declining number of teacher-librarians in schools across the country.

Teacher-librarians are accredited teachers with librarianship qualifications and additional expertise in digital media, and play an essential role in information literacy and in guiding students in the effective use of online resources, says the Canadian Library Association (CLA).

But their numbers are being cut drastically by cash-strapped school boards, leaving some school districts with no professional staffing.

In Nova Scotia teacher-librarians are no longer employed in any school district, while in Manitoba there are now only six school divisions with teacher-librarians, down from twenty since cutbacks began in the 1980’s.

In Ontario, only 56 percent of elementary schools have a teacher-librarian (80 percent of whom work part-time), a number that has fallen steadily from 80 percent in 1997/98, according to People For Education, a parent-led education agency based in Ontario.

Within the past few weeks, several teacher-librarian positions have been eliminated in British Columbia. Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board in Ontario recently announced a plan to eliminate school library staffing and make serious cuts to school library services and resources.

The CLA’s Linda Schantz-Keresztes says that in the age of the Internet and electronic media, teacher-librarian services are needed more than ever.

“With the massive influx of information on the Internet, the teacher-librarian plays an ever increasing instructional role to ensure that all students become responsible digital citizens, understanding where to find reliable information and how to use it effectively and ethically in their research projects.”

It is through quality library collections supported by teacher-librarians or district library consultants that ensures all students have the best resources to support their individual learning needs, including print, multimedia and digital resources, Schantz-Keresztes says.

She notes that years of research in Canada and the United States have shown that a quality school library collection and staff have a positive effect on student achievement ratings through increased literary success.

A 2005 joint People for Education/Queen’s University study found that the presence of trained library staff is associated with a higher proportion of grade 6 students attaining level 3 (the provincial standard) on reading tests, and that the presence of teacher-librarians is associated with more positive attitudes towards reading in both grade 3 and grade 6 students.

“The cost of losing the instructional role of the teacher-librarian is high,” says Dianne Oberg, a professor of education at the University of Alberta. “While in parts of Canada we are cutting back on school libraries and teacher-librarians, they are being supported in parts of Europe as a force for educational reform, for improving reading education as well as information literacy.”

Schantz-Keresztes says that while many administrators and district leaders in school districts support the guidelines laid out by the CLA’s “Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Library Programs in Canada,” they cannot implement the measures due to limited budget funds.

However, in Alberta, the education department currently has an initiative looking at innovative ways to deliver school library services throughout the province.

Within the context of 21st century learning, the traditional teacher-librarian will inevitably have to adapt from the traditional role to one that involves a high degree of “digital citizenship” and media and information literacy, in addition to helping students obtain the traditional literacy that is integral to education.

But Schantz-Keresztes notes that libraries in their traditional form, with traditional resources, still have their place.

“The greatest misconception is that everything can be found on the Internet and that all users wish to learn online. Many resources are only available in print, such as Canadian fiction, which is core to school program of studies,” she says, adding that picture books, junior fiction, and young adult fiction in print form can often be preferred by readers.

“We are in a transitional time and all students deserve a school library Learning Commons that provides excellent access to reliable and quality resources in print and digital format with the support of a professional teacher-librarian and library support staff.”