PVLD Director's Blog

A librarian's influence

Nearly two years ago I wrote this post about my elementary school librarian and the influence she had on my life.  Today, that post received a comment from another student whose life Mrs. DeFirmian touched.  And in response to the commenter's question, since I also went to elementary school in Santa Barbara it must be the same Charlotte DeFirmian. 

Although she hasn't confirmed it, my guess is that the commenter found my blog by Googling "Charlotte DeFirmian" because when you do that post is one of the first hits.  If so, just the fact that she was actively seeking Mrs. DeFirmian, as well as her comments, are indicators that what I wrote in 2009  about both Mrs. DeFirmian and the impact a gifted teacher can have on a child's life. 

A timely reminder as school districts continue to lay off librarians and other teaching staff....

It's about the people

A couple of weeks ago I was at a meeting of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's Community Arts Committee, a group of arts teachers, school administrators, and community partners that meets periodically to discuss how to improve arts education in the school district.

One of the teachers said something that really struck a chord with me.  I don't remember his exact words, but they were something along the lines of "It's not the art project you made in 6th grade that you remember years later, it's the teacher whose skill and passion turned you on to art."  In short, it's about the people not the art.

Ever since I've been thinking about how that might just as well be said of school librarians.  Forty years ago when I was a shy kid in elementary school my elementary school librarian, Charlotte DeFirmian, was my hero.

 Mrs. DeFirmian introduced me to authors who became lifelong favorites, challenged me to read beyond my comfort zone, and by appointing me an unoffical library assistant made the library a refuge from tormenting peers and a troubling family situation.  In fact, Mrs. DeFirmian is probably the reason I am a librarian today.

We live in an era when California ranks near the bottom of the nation in funding for school libraries, when at the elementary and middle school levels most libraries are staffed by low-paid clerical employees who may or may not have the knowledge of children's literature and talent and skill for connecting kids with books that Mrs. DeFirmian had, and when many school are closing their school libraries or relying on volunteers to keep them open.  

It seems to me that we are at at the bottom of a downward spiral that started when we downgraded the school librarian from someone with the skill and training  to really engage kids with reading to a clerical or volunteer position focused on checking the books in and out...and that what the schools have saved in staffing costs has been more than offset in the loss to students.   It's not about the books, it's about the people...and I hope our schools will come to realize this.

Tough times for schools

I confess that I spent more time working during my vacation than I probably should have, but I spent a lot of time waiting around...for my nephew to go on rides at Knott's Berry Farm (I am a confirmed coward in his mind since I won't go on anything scarier than the log ride) and while he tried on shoes and clothes (he's a shopper, and I'm definitely not!)so checking my email on my Iphone not only helped pass the time, it made my re-entry today much smoother.

I also had the privilege of attending some of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's management retreat on Thursday morning while my young visitors slept in.  I appreciated the opportunity to spend time with PVPUSD administrators and Principals, and to learn in more depth about some of the challenges our local schools are facing.

School Superintendent Walker Williams presented the "State of the District and there were many parallels between the PVPUSD tale and ours - from declining revenues to fewer programs to cash flow challenges to what Walker termed "enterprise" efforts to generate revenue through  fee-based programs to the Peninsula Education Foundation's commitment to double their level of support.

At the same time, there were some substantial differences that made me glad I don't have Walker's job.  Per student "average daily attendance" funding from the state has declined 18% over the past two years, and there is every expectation that this could go down even further as the State economy continues its freefall and the expectation is that public agency funding will lag 12-18 months behind the general economic recovery.  PVPUSD relies on the State for 81% of its funding (by comparison only 1% of PVLD's funding comes from the State) so there is little hope of a turnaround any time soon. 

The net result is that despite the Peninsula Education Foundation raising its level of support from $1.1 million to $2 million this school year, and for the first time funding classroom teachers in additional to supplemental programs, PVPUSD will have 40 fewer teachers to support essentially the same number of students. 

Of particular interest to PVLD is that instead of having both library aides and technology aides at the elementary schools, Prinicipals will have funding for less than 15 hours/week of non-classified support staff and will have to choose how to deploy those funds with the likely scenario being another year with unstaffed school libraries.  

Yikes!  

In the face of these tough times both insitutions are facing, PVLD and PVPUSD continue to work together to  coordinate expenditures, to further our shared educational mission, and to enhance the quality of life (and the property values!) on the Peninsula, although with staff in both organizations stretched thin it isn't going to be easy.... 

The Future of Education - What does it mean for public libraries?

PVLD has worked hard to develop a community awareness of the role public libraries play as a partner in education, and to develop active partnerships with local schools.  As the current economic crisis unfolds and our public schools are forced to lay off school library staff, technology aides, and teachers  our PVLD staff have been wrestling with how best to support students, parents and teachers within the constraints of our own limited resources.  Through the current strategic planning process we've also been wrestling with developing a vision for our future in the face of technological and societal changes.

One of the things that seems certain is that we are almost certainly, as David Lee King put it in a recent blog post, at "The Beginning of a New Normal".  David's post was primarily about the restructuring of our economy with the potential for entire industries to disappear (print media? American automotive manufacturing?), an acceleration of the shift from physical to digital channels of distribution of content, and the growing importance of the "long tail"...and the implications for libraries.

All of that is of great interest, but what grabbed my attention was a link that was somewhat buried in the body of the blog post that triggered David's thoughts. The blog post that got me thinking was Hacking Education (continued) by New York Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson.  It reports on a conversation among a number of leading entrepreneurs and education thinkers on the topic of how education needs to be "hacked" (i.e. broken into and reconfigured).

In the blog post Wilson summarizes a number of trends that I think have significant implications not just for schools, but for libraries.  How will we -

• Support an array of alternative forms of education from home schooling to online learning?  We do some of this already (for example the information literacy class one of our librarians taught to a group of homeschoolers the other day) - but as these forms of education become more popular we probably need to look not just at the services we provide, but the design of our facilities and technology.  At a minimum I can see a need for more computers and more bandwidth, more "learning lab" environments where learners who aren't part of a formal school setting can come together, and staff/collections to support these new forms of education.
• Understand, educate our communities about, and make use of technologies like open courseware, lesson sharing, social networks, and lightweight/public publishing tools that will become an increasingly important part of the education infrastructure?  We need to be better than ever at learning and applying new technologies

In a world where the line between student and teacher is increasingly blurred, we'll need to figure out how to provide the tools for people to develop and publish content and learning (e.g. podcasting, webcasting, courseware etc.) not just get information from the Internet. This probably means moving from computer workstations out in the open to self-contained and sound-proofed learning/production stations.

As education and learning moves from classrooms to home- or office-based and/or online environments, it also will become a round-the-clock activity.  This will increase the pressure on us to uncouple access to our resources and services from our physical facilities.  We'll need to continue to find ways to answer questions, deliver information and content, and provide support to people who aren't at the physical library, and to do it 24/7.

These are challenges for sure, but they may also provide a real opportunity to engage with our local schools in a much more meaningful way to help them navigate these changes and to integrate our respective activities to provide seamless support to the learners in our community - wherever and whenever they need it.   Food for thought....

The Importance of School Libraries

Yesterday my husband emailed me this story from Sunday's New York Times about the changing role of school librarians and the role that a qualified school library media specialist (a term that usually refers to someone with both a teaching credential and a Master's degree in library/information science) can play in teaching the information literacy skills that are so important in today's digital age.

The NY Times story particularly resonated for me because our local school district just announced the layoffs of all of the part-time library aides who run the school libraries at all of the PV elementary schools. In practical terms this means that effective April 1st the elementary school libraries, which like those in many California schools have long been staffed entirely by part-time paraprofessional aides rather than professionaly qualified librarians, will either be entirely unstaffed or staffed by parent volunteers.

The announcement of the layoffs was accompanied by a statement from the School Superintendent (whom I like and respect, and who is having to make very difficult decisions in the face enormous fiscal challenges) to the effect that school libraries "are not core to the educational program".  Ouch!

There is a very large body of research that demonstrates a direct correlation between access to good quality school libraries and educational achievement, and that demonstrates the educational value that a qualified school library media specialist can provide in terms of curriculum support and information literacy education.  Properly staffed and funded, a school library can be at the very heart of the educational program.

I have no criticism of the soon-to-be laid off library aides in PV - they are talented people who do a great job encouraging reading and providing access to books and other educational resources with little training, limited access to professional support, and scant funding.  I've thought for a long time, however, that much more could be achieved if they were supported by a qualified school library media specialist at the District level.  Now it is clear that even that will be a distant dream.

In the meantime we are expecting that our usage will go up as students and parents turn to the public libraries for homework support...we just wish we were better equipped to help.  Our staff resources are already stretched with current programs and rising library use, and while our librarians are outstanding they are not trained educators and lack the pedagogical knowledge that a school library media specialist brings.  We also lack the relationships with individual teachers and the "on the ground" knowledge of what is being taught in the classroom that are a product of daily interactions on the school site.

While I fully understand the fiscal crisis facing the schools, I can't help but wish that something other than the school libraries were the first vicitms.