All Students Need School Librarians
Michigan -- December 2019 Update
Michigan School Library Coalition
Although there has been an increase in the number of certified school librarians in our schools, Michigan still ranks 47th in the nation in the ratio of students to certified school librarians. All students in our state deserve to have access to the services provided by a teacher-certified school librarian.
School librarians:
- Improve student achievement, especially reading achievement
- Lead and support technology integration
- Improve college and career readiness by:
* Teaching research and information literacy skills
* Teaching digital citizenship skills
Thank You, Michigan Library Association (MLA) for Your Support!
The Michigan Library Association announced their statement of support for school libraries at the MAME Conference in October 2019. You can read the statement here: https://mla.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/MAME%20Support%20Letter%20082819.pdf
Thank you to the Michigan Library Association Board. MAME looks forward to continued collaboration with MLA to strengthen the Library Ecosystem in Michigan.
Mark your calendars for Michigan Library Legislative Day which will be held on April 22, 2020. All library supporters are welcome to participate!
October was Library Appreciation Month in Michigan!
Both the Michigan House and the Michigan Senate passed resolutions recognizing October 2019 as Library Appreciation Month. Thank you to the Michigan Library Association for orchestrating the passing of these bi-partisan resolutions in both the Michigan House and the Michigan Senate.
Details of the resolutions are below.
Senate Resolution 79
Sponsors
Jim Stamas (district 36)
Marshall Bullock, Kenneth Horn, Michael MacDonald, Dayna Polehanki, Sylvia Santana
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2019-2020/resolutionadopted/Senate/pdf/2019-SAR-0079.pdf
House Resolution 170
Sponsors
Mark Huizenga (district 74)
Kathy Crawford, Alex Garza, Rachel Hood, Cynthia Johnson, Steven Johnson, Donna Lasinski, Leslie Love, Angela Witwer
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2019-2020/resolutionadopted/House/pdf/2019-HAR-0170.pdf
Video from Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Governor Whitmer created a video as part of Library Appreciation Month. At about 0:40 sec in the video, the governor says "Reading skills are fundamental in laying a foundation for future academic success in every grade and for every student. It’s appalling that only 8% of Michigan schools have certified, credentialed, full-time librarians and 65% have no staff at all. We must do better.” Thank you, Governor Whitmer, for recognizing the need for certified librarians in our schools!
Research Confirms Value of School Librarians
The New York State Education Department, the New York State Library along with the Northeast Comprehensive Center/RMC Research Corporation have published a new Informational Brief entitled Roles of the School Librarian: Empowering Student Learning and Success (2019) at: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/slssap/ncc-roles-brief.pdf. An Executive Summary of the document is available at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/slssap/ncc-roles-exec-summ.pdf.
The summary states: “The school librarians’ contributions, whether direct or indirect, are consistently shown to be of positive value to not only students and teachers, but the wider school community."
MAME Meets with Representative Pamela Hornberger
MAME Honors Representatives Camilleri, Koleszar, and Pagan
New Videos from NJASL & NJEA
https://www.njasl.org/resources/Documents/Iveth_MollinedoFINAL.mp4
www.njasl.org/resources/Documents/...
www.njasl.org/resources/Documents/Dee_VenutoFINAL.mp4
Baltimore Libary Project - Proven Results!
MAME Member, Kathy Lester, had the opportunity to visit one of the school libraries in Baltimore that was renovated by the Baltimore Library Project supported by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Project made sure that a certified school librarian was in place at all of the renovated school libraries and funding was included for the professional development of the librarians. They found:
Book checkouts increased by 400 percent over a four-year period
Reading fluency scores among third-grade students in two of the first Library Project Schools rose from 33 percent of students at benchmark to 64 percent at benchmark.
Library Project students in the third grade were almost three times as likely to meet reading fluency proficiency standards as students in comparison schools.
The first three Library Project schools outperformed more than 120 Baltimore City Public Schools on PARCC tests in reading proficiency.
What Your Organization Can Do to Support School Libraries
- If you have not already, write a statement of support for school libraries (or for the school library bills). Samples include:
Michigan State Board of Education Resolution in Support of School Libraries
Michigan Reading Association Statement of Support
Michigan Library Cooperative Directors Association Statement of Support
Michigan Library Association Statement of Support
Michigan Academic Library Association Statement of Support
REMC Association of Michigan Statement of Support
Michigan Education Association Resolution (p. 434 of pdf)
Education Trust-Midwest Support for School Library Bill
- Continue to Share the Call to Action. Continue to ask your members to send emails to their legislators to support the school library bills. EveryLibrary has created a page to make it easy to do so at this link: https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/3billsmichigan
- If you have not done so already, send an email/letter from your organization to the House Education Committee Chairperson, Pamela Hornberger (PamelaHornberger@house.mi.gov) to request a hearing on these bills.
- Reach out to Local School Boards and Superintendents to express the need for ALL students to have equitable access to school libraries staffed by certified school librarians.
MAME Willing to Present at Your Association Event or Conference
Previoius Versions of This Newsletter
You can find previous versions of this newsletter at the following links:
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Also, please let us know what actions your organization has taken.
Email Kathy Lester at kathyL@mimame.org
Thank you so much for your support!
Michigan Association for Media in Education
Email: mame@mimame.org
Website: www.mimame.org
Location: 1407 Rensen Street, Lansing, MI, USA
Facebook: facebook.com/mimame.org
Twitter: @michiganmame