(note: yes, I have worked at a school library, and would like to work at one again. But this is much more than just "please, I want a job")
Earlier this week, a news website Honolulu Civil Beat had an article noting that many schools in Hawaii don't have a librarian.
Terrell, Jessica. “School Librarians Are Becoming a Thing of the Past in Hawaii. Here's Why That's a Problem.” Honolulu Civil Beat. August 17, 2022.
Some schools do have a staff member that is listed as "library assistant" but not a "librarian". (both jobs have different qualifications, with the school librarians having higher qualifications). Some schools don't even have either.
There was a time when Hawaii public schools were required to have a librarian, but that changed in 2004 with Act 51.
Some people have the attitude that libraries are obsolete because we now have Google.
But Google is NOT a God!
Google is a business!
Google is about getting ad revenue to boost its profits.
Google is not a substitute for a well-trained research assistant!
Librarians are trained to assist students in finding the right resources for their research.
You actually have to go to college and major in Library & Information Science (LIS) to become a librarian.
Becoming a librarian is more than just shelving & scanning books.
It's about knowing the best resources that will help the people you serve.
While books are the most well-known library resources, libraries also have magazines, audio-visual and digital resources.
School librarians not only offer physical books but also e-books for the students.
School librarians are essential for younger children who need interesting materials for which they can practice their reading skills.
Even for the older students, librarians are beneficial in teaching the students about information literacy beyond just searching Google and Wikipedia. They teach about BOTH analog AND digital resources. They teach about how to find well-research materials on both the physical shelves AND on educational databases.
I even remember one adjunct professor (who was also a student in the LIS program at the time) mentioning telling a student you're not going to find this article on Google, you have to use the online databases your university provided for you to use.
At a mentorship at a local community college, I watched as a librarian showed the students how to use a database to find articles that are related to research that their professor assigned them.
And as I witnessed as both a student and a former library assistant at a middle school, libraries can be a refuge for students during non-instructional times (before & after school, morning & lunch recess), They can read books & magazines, use the computers, or just use the tables to do their assignments. We even had student volunteers for whom volunteering gives them a sense of belonging at an age when they need it the most.
One of my favorite moments when working at the school library was showing one of the student volunteers the World Book encyclopedia, and I could tell from her response that it was the first time she has ever seen one. This is what librarians do, share their knowledge of library resources.
Also at the middle school that I worked at as a library assistant, we also worked with the teachers in providing books for their classrooms. When classroom books arrived on campus, the library staff will add barcodes on the books, put the book in the inventory's databases, and deliver the books. I even assisted some of the teachers in doing the classroom book inventory.
So yes, I did more than just shelve & scan books.
And as the article noted, having a school librarian does have an impact on the student's academics.
At Campbell High School, Sandy Park used to hold a freshman orientation for more than 900 students at the start of the year, using games like a scavenger hunt to help kids learn what was available to them in the library.
Park, who was the librarian at the Ewa Beach school for more than two decades, said she could tell the difference between freshmen who came from middle schools with a librarian and those who had not. Some of those students struggled to put together a basic bibliography for a research paper.
“I think you’re losing a lot of the higher thinking skills, because the kids aren’t learning how to do their own research,” Park said.
Park retired in 2020 and has not been replaced. The state’s largest high school is now relying on a library assistant to meet the needs of more than 3,000 students.
Now that is heartbreaking! For a school with 3,000 students and only one staff member in the school's library? To serve 3,000 students?
As far as I'm concerned, every school with 500+ students should have at least 2 library staff members.
For a school with 3,000 students, there should be at least 4 library staff members.
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And also this, I know of another middle school (located near multiple public housing complexes) that went a few years without a librarian or even a library assistant. Because of that, the school didn't buy any new library books for 3+ years.
Do you think rich families would put up with that kind of nonsense? Of course not, they either donate to their neighborhood school or they send their kids to a private school with all the latest library resources.
It is heartbreaking when schools in lower-income areas don't provide their students with the latest in library resources. Students deserve access to nonfiction books with updated information, as well as engaging fiction books that satisfy their interests.
And who is trained in selecting the best books and other resources to keep the students engaged?
It's the librarians, of course!
I hope that whoever wins the upcoming governor's election will take the initiative to get EVERY Hawaii public school a librarian. And for every school with 500+ students to have at least 2 library staff members.
While fulfilling that number may not happen overnight, getting there needs to start NOW!
