School Librarians Under Attack

Under what scenario have school librarians now become disposable? Used to be—and still ought to be—the school library was the heart of the school, often literally positioned at the architectural center of the school building. Just as our nation's public libraries have been a democratizing essential of civic life by giving free access to knowledge regardless of socioeconomic status, so, too, our public school libraries have been vital in extending equal access to learning to students from all backgrounds.

So, is the attack on school librarians part of the corporatizing of public schools? If public schools can be further undermined by eliminating some professional educators—which is what librarians are—then will it be even easier to condemn the public schools and widen the gap between monied education "haves" and the impoverished education "have-nots"?  Pretty slick. Mischaracterize librarians as mere shushers and book-shelvers, and it's easy to advocate replacing them with lower-cost nonprofessionals.

Why bother? Why not just get rid of libraries altogether? Oh, wait! That's already happening. After all, everything in books can now be found on the Internet. Schools are beginning to transition away from bricks and mortar—or volumes and shelves, in this case—to virtual libraries. Is that why some policy makers and short-sighted school people think we don't need librarians, simply because the form of library resources is in transition?

Let's think about that. I'm sure there was hand-wringing when papyrus and parchment replaced all those tidy clay tablets, and then the scroll lovers probably wept when codex came into vogue. Well, now codex may be giving some ground to digital. None of those transitions eliminated the need for librarians. In fact, precisely the opposite is a more logical conclusion. In the uncertain territory of Digital Age libraries, "collections" stretch the very definition of that word, and professional librarians are more necessary than ever.

School librarians today are called on to undertake all of the traditional professional responsibilities attached to that career and to add a few new ones, such as vetting digital resources. They are certainly not merely shelvers and shushers. They are digital curators, a role that is vitally important if students and teachers are to take full advantage of the vast educational resources now available in true Digital Age schooling. 

As Joyce Kasman Valenza notes in School Library Monthly, "Librarians are uniquely qualified to curate. School librarians are perhaps most ripe for this function, because they understand the curriculum and the specific needs and interests of their own communities of teachers, administrators, learners, and parents." Seems as though that's an excellent reason to keep and to nurture school librarians, not get rid of them.

Critics act as though librarians are artifacts of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth. School librarians are architects of the future.