I got waylaid by a book review, then by a really bad cold, so this post comes to you a couple weeks late. Nothing has changed though. Hope you find it of interest, and that I can get back on track with Saturday postings next week.
All best,
Elaine
As a former member of the governing Council of the American Library Association, I continue to follow alacoun-listserv conversations, paying more-or-less attention depending on the topic. When the school librarians in Los Angeles were being tried regarding their status as teachers in that basement “courtroom” in early May, ALA Council members engaged in a bit of conversation about what was happening.
I was very dismayed to read one councilor’s message, a reply to another councilor’s posting in which she noted how disturbed she was at the treatment of the Los Angeles librarians. After agreeing that this was a demoralizing affair, the councilor wrote:
I have to wonder, though, whose fault it is if people don't understand what school librarians do. We have failed as a profession to make our society aware of what librarians in general do. We've yet to find the right message in the right venue to the right audience to make our value understood. I find that depressing, given the amount of money and effort that we as a profession have expended on getting that message across. [posted May 15, 2011]
Talk about blaming the victim – which later the writer above said was not his intent, offering an apology. However, after-the-fact retractions of this sort have a hollow ring to them and he continued to maintain that a lack of understanding was at the root of the situation.
The problem in our schools across the country has almost nothing to do with whether or not decision-makers understand the important role librarians and libraries play in the education of children. Yes, of course, there are some ignorant administrators, but, in my experience, most have both awareness and appreciation for the invaluable contributions our profession makes in the lives of children. And, to regard what is happening to school librarians and libraries as primarily a public relations problem is a HUGE mistake.
So, what did ALA do? Along with the American Association of School Librarians, ALA sent an open letter to the superintendent of the LAUSD expressing deep concern that
…the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is considering defunding its school librarian positions (or “teacher librarian” positions, as they are known in California) from its schools. If the elimination moves forward, only 32 of approximately 700 schools will have full-time school librarians and only 10 will have part-time school librarians. This means that approximately 600,000 students will be deprived of one of the most valuable educational resources needed for students to compete in today’s 21st century workforce – a school librarian…. (1)
The letter then went on to describe how important librarians are in schools.
In other words ALA and AASL treated the situation as one stemming only from a lack of understanding on the part of LAUSD administrators. Not one word addressing the real culprit – the fact that what is happening to our school librarians and libraries is part of a long, steady, relentless attack on the public sphere. (2)
Yes, what is happening in our schools is one more result of the actions of political and economic players who for the past 30 years have been intent on diminishing, downsizing and ultimately destroying public institutions, services and programs of all sorts – unions, parks, community health clinics, welfare, social security, education…libraries.
All done to eliminate supposedly wasteful, inept, over-staffed government services. Starting with the Reagan administration and carrying forward under every administration since (Republican or Democratic – matters not).
Libraries have no public relations problems. Everybody LOVES libraries – except those people who see dollar signs and drool over the tax monies that could go in to their private pockets if they weren’t going into public budgets.
So, the privateers peck away at this program and that program.
– Hospitals – privatized!
– Prisons – privatized!
– Custodial services – privatized!
– Government information – privatized!
– Schools – charterized!
– Libraries –- ?????
To be continued.
(1) For the ALA/AASL open letter to LAUSD, see http://www.pio.ala.org/visibility/?p=3014
(2) See Dismantling the Public Sphere: Situating and Sustaining Librarianship in the Age of the New Public Philosophy, by John E. Buschman. Westport CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.
