Note: This article was originally published in the March 2010 School-Force eNewsletter. At this reposting, January 2012, it represents a snapshot into the time just before a huge round of budget cuts. Due to those cuts and other factors, the libraries were shuttered for the first 6 months of the following school year. That was despite historic School-Force fundraising. In March of 2011, libraries were brought back at the elementary schools every other week. Hence, the children are not currently receiving the level of library time discussed in below.
by Louise Lee, Central Parent
At 8:45 a.m., the Central Elementary School library is peaceful yet inviting. The seating areas are tidy and the floor cushions plumped up. Bright posters highlighting the latest award-winning children’s literature decorate the walls. And the books, all 8,000 of them, are in order. Classes will troop in all day for out-loud story sessions and independent browsing and reading. Dozens of students will visit during recess or lunchtime to play chess, read, or just decompress.
Patty Branscum, Central’s library media specialist, is at the ready to make recommendations or guide students to books on topics from art to zoology. When she’s not helping students face-to-face, she’s operating behind the scenes, checking in the dozens of books returned daily and reshelving each to await the next eager reader.
The scene at Central is similar at each of the five elementary schools and one middle school of the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, in which almost 3,000 students currently enjoy the invaluable benefits of an on-site library. Funded by School Force and parcel taxes, the libraries bear heavy and regular use.
Check It Out! About 40,000 Books Checked Out This School Year!
Current funding of $180,000 from School Force and $56,700 from parcel taxes supports the district’s library staff of five, down from six last year. The numbers reflect an unfortunate national trend: According to a recent national survey by the American Association of School Librarians, most of the 5,824 respondents reported a budget decline in 2008 from the prior year. And last fall, according to a report prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group in Washington, D.C., 25 states cut funding to primary and secondary education, a move that impacts school libraries.
Even a temporary loss of a school library erodes students’ educational experience. Consider the Folsom Cordova Unified School District outside Sacramento: As budget woes cascaded down the system, the district’s 28 libraries were closed for about two months last fall. Without school libraries, students had to scramble for transportation to the public libraries, recalls one parent and administrator in the Folsom district. The closings especially affected the elementary students, she adds, because as beginning and emerging readers, those students benefit the most from easy and regular access to books. “Parental feedback was not positive,” she says. Ultimately, the Folsom district’s libraries re-opened later in the fall, but they don’t operate for as many hours a week as they did the prior school year.
The Belmont-Redwood Shores district hasn’t had to close any of its libraries yet. Following the departure of one fellow staffer, some of the five remaining library media specialists this year have picked up the slack by floating between two libraries. The upshot: Because they are spreading themselves thinner, hours and 
services simply can’t be what they were in the past.
Only Sandpiper and Ralston, the two schools with the largest enrollments, continue to open their libraries five days a week. The remaining libraries this year are open either four or three days a week, down from five last year. Despite each school’s increased enrollment, every class continues to visit the library once a week, the same frequency as in the past, so outsiders might easily assume that students aren’t feeling any impact. But the staffing and scheduling changes this year mean something’s got to give, and so students miss out in other ways. At Nesbit, for example, Ms. Cutter works four days a week from 9:00 to 2:45, overseeing 24 classes weekly, up 33% from 18 classes a year ago, when the library was open every day. More classes packed into fewer days leaves Ms. Cutter with less time to plan and prepare lessons on important skills students need now and in the future, such as using browsing and search software and locating individual books.
Likewise, Ms. Branscum, who splits her time between Central and Cipriani, hasn’t yet been able to plan and prepare lessons that review the ideas students hear from their classroom teachers. In the past, for instance, Ms. Branscum has reviewed with students the uses of varied reference materials, including the atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia. “They hear this in the classroom, but it’s helpful to them to hear it repeated” in another setting and from another person, she says.
Instead, the library media specialists say, when they’re not reading to classes, helping individual students, and checking books out, they’re running the crucial day-to-day operations such as checking books in and reshelving. Some tasks, including repairing books and weeding out those that are fragile, out-of-date, or just plain musty, are being postponed. Staffers have also been putting off ordering new books, a time-consuming job that requires research and consultation with teachers. It’s also far more difficult to do the extras that make the library special, such as putting up seasonal wall decorations in a timely manner. “It feels like we’re doing the bare minimum,” says Ms. Cutter.
Yet despite the challenges, the staff remains determined to keep building up students’ appreciation of books and libraries. “The kids are always smiling when they come in,” says Ms. Branscum. “They love it here.” Adds Ms. Cutter: “To see a child just sitting down and reading … it’s the best.” With the support of School Force, library staff, teachers, and parents can all hope that the school library will stay a part of every student’s life.
Check out Ms. Cutter’s Library Archive to see examples of typical library happenings over the year.
