Describe your current understanding of the role and mission of school libraries. What are/have been your experiences with school libraries and how has this colored your understandings of what a school's library is and should be?
My memories of my own elementary school library are limited. In fact, there are only two. I remember sitting in the library watching the Challenger space shuttle disaster. The class sat in awe, first at the glory of the launch, and then at the horrible fate that met the crew. My other memory of my elementary school library is of the book fair. I was delighted to have so many exciting materials available for my perusal.
As I reflect on the memories from my elementary school library, I am a bit disappointed that I don't remember more. I was a voracious reader, spent each weekend at the public library, and I have an excellent memory. What this signifies to me is that my elementary library experiences were rather unremarkable. As I consider the role of the school library, I like to believe that what I do makes a difference in the lives of the children that I serve. I hope that as they look back on their elementary careers, their experiences in the library will stand out more than mine have.
This is my ninth year as an elementary school librarian. I have tried to create a bright, inviting safe space for students to gather. I began working in an elementary school in an economically depressed area that suffers from gang violence. After arriving in November, I learned that the school library had not yet been opened for the school year. The first day I opened it up at recess for all students who wanted to visit. I counted 96 kids that first day. Students raced around the room, thrilled to be allowed to visit. After eight years at that school, there was no doubt that the library once again belonged to the students. Funding was cut, and it was time for me to move on. The next two years were spent with students who were quiet and respectful. I had to challenge myself to find ways to get the students to participate. The library space, which is dominated by a computer lab only has one small table for people to sit at. That space, which was built to be the library, has also been used as a science lab and as a classroom. The place that students come to visit me in the library is actually a large closet off to the side of the room.
The variety between the experiences that I have had, both as a student and as a teacher-librarian, have led to me realize a couple of things. First of all, in all three of the experiences I described, the library was not honored as a community resource. They were barely used as school resources. The second thing this causes me to acknowledge is that the people who were left with the charge of maintaining this space were not doing their jobs. Libraries need representatives who will stand up and fight for their importance. With the rise of the Internet, it will become increasingly easier for schools to neglect libraries that do not make efforts to stay relevant to their learning communities.
School libraries exist as a resource for teachers and students alike. The traditional elementary school library was a place that students came to to listen to stories and check out books. By high school classes no longer came into the library for weekly visits, but instead to learn research skills and to put them into practice. In that sense, the high school library was a information storage facility. Until widespread usage of the Internet became the norm, students didn't have many places to go to find information. They could go to their school library or their public library. Either way, librarians were the gatekeepers to the information that students needed. Now, students will find the majority of their information through the Internet and are more independent in the search for that information. They do not, however, necessarily have the skills to effectively perform those searches. This is one way that librarians can prove their worth. Classroom teachers are completely bogged down with standardized curriculum and mandates. School librarians who do not have these same obligations have the ability to meet the new information literacy needs of students. This is where I see the role of the modern school library. If, as teacher-librarians we are able to find ways to use the school library space to make learning relevant by connecting it to the technological tools that have become embedded in the lives of our students, then we will be bridging the gap between what students learn and how they learn it.
