From the School Library Journal (US)

This isn’t the only country that underappreciates media centers. The British government says it has no plans to make school libraries a requirement, despite an online petition with more than 5,700 names directed at Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying that the signatories support the move.

Author and school library advocate Alan Gibbons.

The petition, run by author Alan Gibbons’s Campaign for the Book, asked the government “to accept in principle that it will make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate professional associations and trade unions.”

While the government admits that school libraries “are a key resource for pupils and teachers,” support the national curriculum by providing books and technology, and are a valuable source of enjoyment and learning for children and young people—it still can’t make them mandatory.

“The provision of a school library is not a statutory requirement, and there are no current plans to alter this and change the legislation,” the government says, explaining that as much money as possible will be given directly to schools, which will then target their resources appropriately and “make their own choices about their school library provision and book resourcing.”

Gibbons says that while he agrees that “there has to be the freedom to make local decisions,” the government can set out specific principles and guidance and insist on minimum standards. “If this is not done with sufficient rigor, government is in danger of abdicating its responsibilities.”

“In many areas of the curriculum the government intervenes strongly,” Gibbons goes on to say. “Curiously, it does not consider reading and information retrieval an area that needs similar strong direction. We think this is wrong.”

An international community of library organizations, including the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the European Network for School Libraries and Information Literacy (ENSIL), the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), has expressed regret over the announcement and is asking the government to reconsider its decision.

“School libraries boost student achievement. This is not just a sound bite. There is irrefutable evidence to support it,” members of the organizations wrote in a joint letterto Brown. “A 21st-century school library is more than just a room with books. A state-of-the-art school library has a function in the school. A function to support, engage, and stimulate learning and development in this digital era.”

The letter went on to say that teachers alone cannot do the job. “They must partner with librarians in the context of knowing how to use libraries and information, if countries are to prosper in the Global Information Society.”

The letter says it’s not enough to allow national and local governments, school principals, and school boards to decide whether to fund school libraries at their discretion in the name of “budgetary flexibility.”

“The role of a school librarian, operating in a modern multi-media library resource centre, and equipped with the technical skills learned in an accredited librarianship education programme, is absolutely crucial to economic and social progress,” the letter goes on to say. “The need for a library, staffed by a full-time professionally trained educational information specialist (librarian), in every primary and secondary school (not just at the university level) is an absolute “must” if countries are to survive and compete successfully in the 21st century.”

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