History of American public libraries, pre-2008 economic downturn: remembering the positive

Sinclair, Kimberly

Michie, J. S., & Holton, B. A.  (2005).  America's public school libraries: 1953–2000. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov

            This report presents a collection of data about school libraries in the United States, drawn from over twenty-five reports and surveys, spanning the latter half of the 20^th Century; in particular, it reveals an overall increase in public support of funding school libraries—namely in terms of increasing the number of libraries in schools across the nation and increasing the average amount of money and resources allocated per individual student. Upon first reflection, this statistic seems to fly in the face of everything I have seen and read about downsizing and defunding school libraries; how can this be true? According to the data, the percentage of school libraries per public school increased 23% between 1953 and 2000, in spite of the fact that the total number of public schools actually decreased during this same time span, as a result of budgetary limitations (NCES, 2005, p.2). Additionally, during the final year of the 20^th Century, more than 75% of public schools could boast having a dedicated teacher librarian, compared to less than 50% nearly fifty years earlier. The data compiled in this publication states that book allocations per student significantly increased while the amount of money allocated per student more than doubled, from $6 to $15 per student, over the fifty-year span. If I weren’t seeing the numbers for myself, I would be hard pressed to believe that federal funding for public school libraries actually increased from 4.5 percent in the 1950’s to 7.3 % at the end of the 20^th Century.  

            In trying to synthesize the patterns of increased financial support of school libraries with the staff cut-backs that I have witnessed all along the West Coast the past several years, I am reminded that my perceived lack of public/governmental support of school libraries is the result of anecdotal experiences and newspaper articles about policies in Oregon and California (i.e. localized vs. national, like the data in this report) and relegated to the trends of the past five to ten years, which lie outside of the years covered in this report. It is encouraging to recall that, for several decades, the public has increasingly supported funding school libraries by improving both the quantity and quality of school library services across the U.S., and that many recent reductions to staff and resources in this area directly stem from the current economic depression, rather than a widespread disdain for the value of school libraries across the board.  On the other hand, realizing that library services are among the top services within a school to be cut during financial hardship is an important reminder that, for many people, school libraries are perceived as dispensable “luxuries” and/or are outdated in lieu of emerging digital technologies. And it is against this perception that we, as current and emerging teacher librarians must proactively combat, to ensure that a “temporary” fix for dealing with a depressed economy doesn’t turn into the new normal, which persists even after economic conditions have improved. School librarians and staff are challenged with having to prove the worth and relevancy of the learning commons in today’s educational system, which makes learning how to do this through projects—such as developing the Virtual Learning Commons and creating Personal Learning Environments—all the more exciting and significant.