Urban Decay: A Survey Report of Urban School Libraries

Laudato, Maricar

AASL urban schools task force survey report. (2011). American Association of School Librarians Survey. (Survey). Chicago, IL.

Summary

A task force was created to gather information from urban librarians and library administrators about their current work situations and specific needs. Urban schools were determined to be those districts that served 40,000 or more students. Profile of urban students from the survey show that a significant majority of the students qualify for the free or reduced lunch program and are of minority ethnic/racial background. About a quarter of students are identified as being English Language Learners. While libraries should be positioned as the “equalizers” of society for the disenfranchised, many urban school libraries have print collections whose average age is 11 years or older. In addition, many urban school libraries face the challenge of being unable to provide sufficient access to computers and the internet in their libraries. In addition, the survey recounts how urban librarians feel that the level of online subscription database access is not as comprehensive in content as they would like it to be. In regards to staffing, roughly 1/3 of urban libraries are staffed by a full-time credentialed librarian. Most librarians are staffed by part-time credentialed librarians, non-credentialed teachers, or non-credentialed library aides. Furthermore, the great majority of libraries have seen a decrease in their budget over the past 2-5 years, despite already being underfunded in the first place. When the urban librarians were asked as to what were the top three needs that were necessary to support their libraries, the top three responses were: increased funding for books/programs, additional technology/hardware/tech support, and improved staffing.

When the urban library administrators’ answers were collected, they were more concerned with issues related to advocacy on behalf of the school librarian. For example, the administrators wanted to shed light on the contributions of school librarians to student achievement. In addition, they wanted to make professional development available to district librarians at minimal or no cost.

Evaluation

 

I’ve seen the gamut of school libraries. I currently work for a private high school library in an affluent neighborhood that has amazing resources: 32 shiny new PCs with large, flat touchscreen monitors, a Tech Service Center staffed by 2 full-time technicians, 4 lounge areas, 2 full-time librarians and 1 part-time librarian (all with either a MLIS or earning a MLIS) where the library is open 11 hours on Mondays-Thursdays, and for 9 hours on Friday. And I’ve been a student teacher in Downtown Los Angeles where students must make do with subpar computers with slow internet connectivity, which is staffed by one harried part-time non-credentialed staff member. And I’ve taught for a high school in Lawndale, CA where they didn’t even have a library at all. Usually the word “survey” bores me, but the fact that this was a survey conducted by AASL on urban schools is the reason this caught my eye, and I’m glad it did.