Decisions

Many times we find ourselves at a school board meeting, and a budget decision has to be made. Should we put money towards a new football field or should we use the money to purchase more books and materials for our public school library? Many times the new football field wins. I searched podcast by using the google search engine, and I found one interview that was incredibility inspiring. The interview is with Laura Beltchenko, who is an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for a school district in Illinois. After the reorganizing of different grade levels, Laura felt that it was extremely important for the school libraries to receive new materials. She did not let the football field win. She has won the advocate of the year award. Some suggestions she made for more funding is trying to obtain grant money, and to really determine the needs for new collections. Another great idea she had was their public library and their school libraries are very much connected. All libraries in the community work together and support each other. The libraries often hold meetings together to try to find ways to promote literacy in the community. I found this podcast to be encouraging and inspiring in knowing that there are school professions who think the library is a key element in school success. Here is the link to listen to the podcast.

http://www.librarybeat.org/longshots/play/154

Strength in Numbers

Here is a great article that was posted on a blog called Third Coast Digest about a group of students that came together to save their library and their librarian. I found the article by using the google blog search engine. (http://blogsearch.google.com) After much debate on trying to cut funding for the library, the students rallied around their librarian and formed a group called Rescue our Librarians Club or RLC. The students started a petition and even had a parent set up a website to save their library. After a presentation to the school board the library was saved. They are now trying to lobby an amendment for more federal funding. What a great tip!

"Even though Negron’s job is safe for the next school year, the RLC is not stopping in their quest to build awareness for libraries and librarians. They have lobbied Moore, who is developing an amendment to the No Child Left Behind bill which would provide federal funding for librarians and art, music and gym teachers. They have met with Alberto Retana, the U.S. Department of Education’s Director of Community Outreach, presenting him with copies of their petitions to save librarians. The students are also continuing their petition drive with an online form for adults and printable forms students can circulate among their peers at school. So far they have collected over 800 student signatures in their mission to save libraries and librarians."

Here is the address of the article on the blog.

http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2010/06/why-do-the-students-get-it/

HELLO!!!

This is my very first blog I have ever created. I am currently working on my master's degree in library science. I have taught for 4 years, and I love the school library. I one day hope to be a school librarian. I think that the library is such an important part of our public school system. The library is a great place to help students gain a passion and a love for reading and research. I work at a very small school, and I sometimes feel that the library is neglected when needing major upgrades. I would like to learn more about how to help out a small school library when it comes to funding.