 Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, depending on where you are in the world. It's good to see all of you My name is dr. Anthony chow and welcome to the school library's summit symposium Part one of we hope to be a three-part series I also want to thank our co-sponsors the iSchools from the University of South Carolina and Simmons universities My interest in school library advocacy began a decade ago With a phone call from a former student at UNC Greensboro. She was in tears She had just taken over as a school library media specialist for the most diverse elementary school in the county And what she found was a library with no budget and an outdated Average age of the collection 25 years old that did not reflect her diverse student population The only access to funds that she had was to the parents and Those were at a title one school It was on that day that I committed myself to trying to help as a parent of three children as a L.S. Professor as an instructional designer as an educational psychologist I know how important it is to allow children a wide array of resources so they can choose what they want to read What they want to be? That situation in North Carolina and today in California the wealthiest state in the nation I'm told that many elementary schools have school libraries run by untrained parent volunteers As a field we must do something all children especially those in poverty deserve equal access to high quality Reading material and resources that resonate with who they are and what they want to know more about We cannot it should not ask parents to pay for that What if they can't this is why we have gathered this incredible group of library leaders here today Now it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to my co-host and fellow co-chair of the Elise council of deans directors and chairs dr Sanda Urtiles Thank You Anthony Hello, everybody. I'm son the ambulance I'm the interim dean of the College of Organizational Computational and Information Science at Siemens University which also houses the School of Library and Information Science and As Anthony said, I'm currently a co-chair of the Elise council of deans directors and chairs and also Many roles many heads serve as the chair of the iSchool organization a Bit of personal background. I was born in Croatia and my elementary school library was for teachers only So occasionally as a good student, I was sent to receive some books from this hidden place Library where you know teachers are finding their resources and I would also linger in there and explore to See what was available, but there was no library accessible to students Public and the university libraries I was growing up were also closed stacks And it was only until I came to the United States in late 80s that I actually got emerged into notion of full library experience And then when my two children were born in the US I actually fell in love with school libraries because that's that was the first time that I experienced their open school libraries In my current role, I'm very much following and promoting activities in iSchools and LIS programs And in this role, I see that we are strategically dedicated to providing the highest level of graduate education to information professionals in variety of information agencies And the school librarians or also we call them school library teachers A unique group of students in our programs that have a very important role in impacting student learning during their most formative years Two issues that I'm personally hoping That we I will gain from this meeting today this webinar One issue is how to ensure the high quality and consistency in master degree program That is centered on students who are interested to become in school librarians, especially Given the current trends and how these current trends should be addressed in the curriculum And I'm also very much interested in Finding out how to ensure career transportability and flexibility for school librarians because we do have that Transparency and flexibility for many other career paths in library information science It is really great to see so many of you in today's webinar and I'm looking forward to learning from all of you Back to you Anthony. Thank you, sanda Okay, now it's time for our two keynote speakers key curry lance and kathy lester. So a little bit about both Keith curry lance is a consultant who works with libraries and related organizations as a researcher statistician public speaker proposal writer and facilitator He is best known in the school library community as the principal investigator of the most prolific research team studying the impact of school libraries and librarians on academic achievement and student learning That team is now involved in another landmark study to investigate what's really going on Behind the data indicating dramatic losses of school librarians since the great recession Next is kathy lester kathy lester is the school librarian at east middle school in plymouth michigan and the 22 23 president of the american association of school librarians She's also a past member of ala's committee for library advocacy where we first met And also the ala library ecosystem subcommittee You can ask questions via q&a as well as via the chats We will all try to answer them keith is asked to try to keep questions directly to him until the end of his Presentation and as i've said all panelists feel free to respond as as you are able to And prefer so keith will go first keith I'm here to talk to you about the findings so far of the slide project that stands for the school librarian investigation decline or evolution We've got several major reports out already From our first year we did a survey of our state intermediaries on the project from all 50 states in dc and collected data from them about conditions policies and practices In their states that sort of set the context for school librarian employment. So that's what those first two links are about In the summer of 21 We published what we refer to as our perspectives report for short because we looked at A decade of national senator for education statistics data About school librarian employment from national state and district level perspectives During the life of this project. We're doing articles for the annual library and book trade almanac This last month we published a special report that we hadn't planned on doing About the impact of the covet pandemic on inequities and access to school librarians Future publications will include an article in the special issue of the Peabody Journal of Education About school libraries We'll be focusing specifically on inequities associated with race and ethnicity And our final report will be called voices of decision makers and i'll speak more about that in a bit Here's some of our major findings from this project so far In the 2021 data the latest available right now 46 states in dc provided credible data 30 of the districts in those states reported no librarians. They didn't leave it blank. They reported zero That doesn't include Schools in districts where there are any librarians at all, but no librarians at particular schools So not the whole picture When we look at this same group in the 2018 19 data, which was for all 50 states We found that seven and a half million students are affected by those Losses or that lack of availability Lack of access to librarians When you ask people why school librarian positions have been cut The almost universal first answer is we love librarians and we just didn't have enough money The data does not support that Explanation In the decade of data we looked at in the perspectives report. We see librarian FTEs going down year after year after year While other positions went up and up and up There was money to pay for one but not the other We expected that Library and employment would be associated with district spending per pupil. Surprisingly, it wasn't Surprisingly the districts that had the best library staffing were those that spent the most and the least Per pupil leaving the ones in between Doing more poorly The thing Deb and I are most concerned about from our findings so far is the issue of equity What we have found is that several demographic variables have a huge impact on access to school librarians The smaller district is the less likely it is to have librarians the more isolated or rural it is likewise Staffing is not likely to be as as good. It's more likely to be all together absent If it's a district that has a lot of students in poverty a lot of minority students or a lot of English language learners We also went back and looked at the nces data through the lens of the data we collected in our our context report our context survey The two things that correlated with library and employment were these uh School library and mandates are important and interestingly whether they're enforced or not States that have mandates for school librarians that are enforced had the best staffing ratios related to schools Those that had mandates that weren't enforced Had the next best staffing and the states that had no mandates at all were at the bottom Similarly the number of institutions that prepare school librarians was correlated with staffing levels the the more institutions offering training for school librarians The higher the level of staffing relative to schools in that state our advisory council asked us to look As closely as we could at what's going on in the districts that reported no librarians The one thing we could tell them Is that half of those districts half of those districts that report no librarians Do report library support staff? So the libraries and those those districts and their schools Uh must be being run by support staff who don't have on-site supervision Uh, they may may only have supervision from the district or even the regional level We also looked at what was going on over time for the the four years of data We could clean up the best of that Latest decade at the time 15 16 through 18 19 If a district reported that it didn't have any librarians by 15 16 By 18 19 only one Out of 10 of those positions had been reinstated So once the positions are gone, it's a uphill battle getting them back We also are dealing with a lot of data issues We dealt with a lot of them in the process of doing our research for this report The nces data comes from something called the common core data They collect data about all kinds of school staffing in full-time equivalents Unfortunately for all the positions they collect data for the definitions are very outdated And none of the definitions including the one for librarians makes any reference to state certification So that's the limit of the way the data is defined at the state level. We Spent a lot of time Cleaning up as best we could three different sets of issues One was historical inconsistencies from year to year about how a state reported This often meant going back to state sources and revising the data that nces had to make it more accurate We also found its states where there were inconsistencies between the data they reported to nces and the data the state itself reported Did what we could with those cases And then we also had a few states where there were high levels of missing data Lots of districts just not reporting at all. We were able to get data for a lot of those districts not all of them But quite a few We have a dilemma in the school library world here in the united states at least a real dearth of data 2012 was the last year that the national center for education statistics Conducted its quadrennial sample survey of school libraries nationwide That's a decade ago. We have had no new data collected for a decade Fortunately, we have the common core of data staffing figures, but that's really yet We have no other data the national level of at school libraries. So that's something we hope this project will will Stir up a bit of concern about and see some action about We're in the final phase of this project shifting from Nonitative to qualitative focus. We've conducted more than 50 interviews with school leaders Who've made decisions about school library staffing and amazingly enough we got people in all three of these groups to talk to us Districts where they added librarians districts where they cut some but not all of the librarians And districts where librarians were all together illuminated. Frankly, I thought that last group would be tough to get We got some of them to talk to us We're learning a lot about their explanations their own rationalizations for why they made those decisions Some of them are very structural Something else drove it wasn't up to me. Sometimes it's very pragmatic. They felt like they had to deal with some kind of Coverage issue a word we heard a lot And sometimes it was a strategic matter They made a decision because they wanted to achieve something and they felt that either a library would help to achieve that So they added them or they felt like some other position was more important We're also interested as we analyze these interviews To see what we can learn about the e in slide the evolution part We have had a lot of curiosity About the the data and the limits of it How well does it reflect jobs that have been combined jobs that have been restructured and Most especially jobs that have been given different titles. So far we have a list I think it's around a couple of dozen job titles that school librarians have that don't have the l word in them The word library or librarian doesn't appear in their job title How accurately are those counted hopefully from the interviews will get some sense about that The lip slide website has everything there is to know about our project on it Our presentations and publications our proud point slides Videos of some of the presentations All of our own reports are there on the present the publications page including infographics and videos We also have a news page the study has been referenced in a lot of other publications And data from it cited in those publications. We have links to those there But perhaps the most valuable part of our website is the interactive data tools The data on the nces website is technically available But it's buried pretty deep and it's pretty tough to get at it We have designed what we believe are some much more user friendly Interactive data tools will allow you to pull out of that all the data we can make available to you Exactly what data you want for who you want it for for whatever years you want it for And you see the four different types of tools we have listed there We hope you'll give them a try if you have any issues with them any questions about them Please use the link provided to get back to us and let us know what your concern is Deb was very sorry she couldn't be with us today But we're she and I are both very keenly interested in this series of summit meetings and we'll be watching them very carefully If any of you have questions or comments About the slide project. We would be more than happy to try to address them And wish you well for the rest of the day. It's going to be a great meeting Thank you so much. Keith greatly appreciate it Now we're honored to have the president of the american association of school libraries kathy lester Who will provide some remarks? Welcome kathy Hi everyone. I wanted to go ahead and present some remarks about advocacy for school libraries I am I will say that i'm an experienced advocate I've been involved in a wide range of advocacy efforts Probably since 2013. I've been president of the michigan school library association have been their Advocacy chair or co-chair For many years. I've been on the ala committee of library advocacy As well as the ecosystem subcommittee As well as my day job of being a school librarian in flimith michigan i'm Although I would say also that i'm a passionate advocate. In fact, I have been accused of that in the past I really feel it's important that all of our students Have equity of access to school library staffed with certified school librarians In the ala committee of library advocacy We created a infographic called students reach greater heights with school librarians and What I have found in my years of advocacy is that's really important That our advocacy stays student centered We really have to talk about What school libraries school librarians can do for students? And so I just wanted to review real quickly What we came up with was five main points For this infographic Along with data to support those points So I thought I would start by reviewing that The first point is that students achieve more in schools with libraries and librarians We are teachers and in we're the school's largest classroom and so Research shows that this benefits student achievement And what it also shows is that it's actually more important For disadvantaged students that they show actually a greater benefit when there's a professional school librarian there to help them and unfortunately Um, what the Keith's data is showing is that those are the students that are least likely to have Access to a school library with the certified school librarians. So it makes me even more passionate about This um the other thing as we are all seeing with the environment with book challenges today Is that certified school librarians? Have that training to be able to curate diverse collections and provide our students the resources that they need Um across grade levels in multiple formats so that they can Um support we support the curriculum as well as providing students those self-directed learning resources The other thing is um, we support technology and a lot of schools were known as being the technology leader in our school and so um In this respect, we really support students, but we're also supporting teachers as well um by helping teachers access those technology resources and oftentimes co-teaching lessons That include integrated technology Um, this fourth point is that students really do value the school library as a safe space um, we want to make sure that students have that space to um do some self-directed learning to feel like there are resources there that support them And then the fifth and um final point on this infographic is that um school librarians teach Information media literacy digital citizenship skills these skills that our students need Um to not just be better better prepared for college, but these are really career and life skills that we need and again in today's environment These skills of evaluating information and being able to spot misinformation disinformation and mail information Is even more important than in previous years. I feel And again, there's that equity issue that um, the students are disadvantaged really benefit proportionally more By having a full-time certified school librarian at their school So I wanted to show An example of two middle schools. Um, I Advocate at my state legislature. I'm in michigan and I go talk to some legislators and they're like What are you talking about every school has a school library and in michigan and in many schools? They do not so this um school on the left with the empty shelves this Superintendent decided to close the school library in 2021 And you would say, oh, well, maybe that school librarian was not doing a good job. No It was an award-winning school librarian who The superintendent would not budge no matter how much advocacy we did On the right hand side. This is actually my middle school library And um, you can just and that's just a small portion of my library But even more important If you look at this next slide Is not just the books. It's more than the books As a school librarian, I provide my students. Um Not just access to the resources but support in finding those resources I teach those information literacy skills. I teach digital citizenship skills I support the technology. I support my teachers So if you think about all of the resources and the support that the students and the staff are getting Over here on the right hand side compared to the left hand side um, it's just something that is really Um disappointing to me and something that inspires me to do more to try to advocate So that this doesn't happen because as Keith said Once um, a school does that with their school library It is very difficult to advocate to bring it back and expensive so What does the American association of school librarians show say? So our position statement is that every school should have a certified school librarian um And that also aligns with the vision statement of a asl That every learner has a school librarian and it's something that we're very committed to But how are we in achieving that vision? Like where do we stand? And again, um, this is from the slide study With keith kary lance and deb cockle and I happen to be an advice on that advisory group on that study Um, I happen to be a little bit of a data geek and so If you look at this map The darker states are the states that are a little bit closer to reaching that one fte per school None of them have actually reached it or gone above it But some are closer than others and if you look at the lighter color states Those states um tend to be further away from meeting that goal um And as keith mentioned some of the things are that the darker states may have state laws requiring Schools or some kind of guidance um for requiring school librarians in those states states like virginia vermont tennessee all have um some kind of requirement Um, and then I get asked this a lot So why don't we have a law at the federal level? requiring all schools to have school librarians and um, it is difficult because there's um kind of um Difference in the federal role and the state role in education Um, the tenth amendment is the one that basically says if it's not listed in the constitution Then either the states or the people have the rights to control or govern that and I don't think education is specifically called out So that role is given to the states And so then what happens is as this um quote here Shows you basically have some standards and quality varying from state to state town to town and even district to district um federal advocacy and federal dot Laws can make an impact When issues concern equal access safe guarding students rights safe guarding teachers rights There is the every student succeed act which was a reauthorization of the elementary and secondary education act and that is basically guidance for Grants the title one title two title four grants That the federal government distributes to states And those grants are distributed based on poverty levels So it is an issue where they are trying to provide better access by giving Those poor districts or poor states more money um And when we talk later in the panel I have some ideas of things that can be done with that to strengthen that and But in state and local advocacy work. I wanted to point out that Um, it's really important that we align our work with the goals of educational leaders and stakeholders and also the importance of um building partnerships And I am so grateful that seeing that lis educators interested in this topic And thinking about what role can they have and how they can help Um advocate as well. So I appreciate that. I'm very thankful to be here I just wanted to give a brief overview of You know, what this looked like in michigan since I have been involved in this in michigan for a really long time Um, I kind of we have in michigan taken Essentially like a three prong approach. We've advocated with legislators and our governor We've advocated at the michigan department of education and then we've also built a lot of partnerships Um with different groups around our state So briefly um at the legislative level we have gotten three bills introduced To require school libraries require them to be staffed by school librarians And then the third bill is that if the school librarian is absent that someone covers basically and keeps the library open um The issue is these bills are still sitting in the house education committee um the controlling party Um, doesn't want to even give us a hearing on these bills We've met with the governor trying to get the governor to support as well And there's an educator advisory council and they have recommended that the governor support the bills as well um, and she does in um theory, I guess I would say but um She hasn't really been able to again. She's not a part of the controlling party Um with the michigan department of ed There's been a lot of work done with them in trying to strengthen Some of the policies around school libraries and try to Strengthen our certification requirements for library media staff and so we've worked really hard with them beginning when The every student succeed act was first introduced in 2015 2016 basically We advocated um, there was language in every student succeed acts around school libraries that these title funds Could be spent on school libraries But the state plans had to be written to include that So we did work with them. We did get some um inclusion by the state of michigan Um, also there's been a statewide literacy effort Michigan back a few years ago We were like in the basement In terms of our literacy scores and in fact if you line up our literacy scores and our graph of school librarians They basically mimic each other in our state Um, but yet when they first started these literacy plans school librarians weren't included And so we had to advocate very hard to get school librarians included and We did in the school wide practices. We were eventually included And then with the partnerships these are um that upper part there is all of the um Groups that um signed on to a letter To ask the legislature to give us a hearing on the school library bills um, so we work with a diverse group of Associations um To help us in our advocacy efforts And then with the michigan association of school boards the michigan association of superintendents administrators and the secondary school principals we um, they all wrote articles that they sent out to all of their members um with the increase in funding From the covet funds as well as our state Increased the per pupil funding for students So they all put out articles that basically said now is the time to invest in school libraries so they were trying to support our efforts by Reaching out to their members and letting them know that they should be investing in school libraries But what does that in reality look like? This is the graph And then as I mentioned if you lined up the literacy scores from National comparison it would actually mimic this as we lost school librarians. We also lost Stepped back in our literacy scores um We have tipped up the effort In you see a little dip there due to the pandemic but the last data that I have We've actually come up back higher than pandemic numbers not a lot but a little bit And what I don't have the numbers for this school year yet because it's so early in the school year but having seen all of the Postings for school librarians in our state I believe that the number and the graph will be continuing to go up this year as well But we are far from where we need to be and one of the issues now Honestly is that school districts want to hire school librarians and they're having a hard time finding them We have a shortage of school librarians available for the open positions so in summary Advocacy is really not a short term project I feel like somehow We need to find a way To be able to put a continued sustained effort into it and often I Have these five p's of advocacy And they are being present being prepared being polite being positive and then that final one of being persistent So I try to be positive And um take any small step forward is a great step to stay motivated and keep working Towards advocacy All right, so I think I have a few minutes. I don't know if there were any questions Um as I mentioned I'm on the panel later and I'll talk about specifically some ideas for moving forward We're ready. Thank you Kathy very much. Um, I did want to surface one question that I believe Jackie asked about kind of the move towards instructional technology In and the conflict it creates in terms of being stretched way too thin in that area As opposed to being able to do the more traditional school librarian duties, do you have any thoughts on maybe how to Surf that or navigate that? um well I It is difficult. I do feel like um, we do have to keep our toe in the side of technology um to maintain our positions but to focus on literacy um Is I think a really important thing and there are a lot of states that are having these literacy efforts right now And so I feel it's like it's really important for us to make sure we're involved in those Like I do see that the tipping point in michigan Had to do with talking about how school librarians supported literacy The tipping point did not have to do with how we were helping technology because You know, um, they can go out and buy technology, but you know buy higher technology people um, but those technology people don't have the literacy expertise that we have um and the The training on You know curation and teaching information literacy and all of those other skills So I think part of it Is having to remind people all the time that Those are actually the most important parts of our work the literacy and teaching information literacy skills Rather than the technology is really more of a support Great point Kathy great distinction santa. Yes, and if I could add In some ideal worlds obviously as Library information professionals We would like to be recognized for who we are for our training for what we bring But sometimes opportunities appear from Unexpected angles and I would say in response to jackie The key question is how we turn this opportunity That came with coveted where we were the ones Our field was the ones who could really quickly step in and be very helpful how we Help transform this awareness from the role that we were quickly able to fill To the awareness about other roles that we know we have but others around us may not be As aware and may not see that these roles are maybe So important even though we know they are so some of these techniques skills of redirecting Attention and bringing recognition. I think it would be really helpful for Broader audience to see how it worked for those who were able to make these switches and bring the attention Thank you santa. Thank you Kathy. Thank you to both Keith and Kathy for your insight and leadership Kathy. I really again like your model of Really talking gathering a coalition in your state. I know we've talked about that before it's definitely a good Road map for others to try to do the same thing. So so thank you for that and certainly We'll make sure that we're sharing that broadly The next hour will involve two panels the topic of the first panel is what does a school? Library or actually I take that back It's changed now to how can we empower school librarians to create excellent school library programs? I also wanted to reiterate that this recording the slides links everything will be posted soon after This symposium so you will have direct access to everything shared here today so Delighted to have this distinguished panel of Karen Gavigan, Jonathan Hunt and Cynthia Cynthia Richardson Johnson To save time. I'm going to allow each one of them to introduce themselves and then I believe that this group already has organized themselves around The conversation that they are going to have so really look forward to your discussion Karen Karen go ahead. Yeah. Hi everybody. I'm delighted to have you here speaking of empowering Anthony told us before we got on that over five hundred and sixty people Registered so those who will be seeing the reporting Just delighted so many people are here and from all over the world. It's been interesting seeing the chat So thank you for coming. So I've got two great people on the panel with me I'm going to start by introducing myself and then Turn it over to them So my name is Karen Gavigan and I'm a professor and interim director of the school of library and information science at University of South Carolina I'm a former school librarian for 15 years And in our program, we have the benefit of having all school librarians required by our legislature. So And as you learn from feet, that's not always so so we feel very lucky We have a certification program. We currently this fall have 178 school library students and our program which We but we have a lot of shortages around the state And I just want to tell you about a couple of things we have going on that I really do Think helps us produce excellent librarians, which means excellent results in excellent library programs So one is a cohort program and I saw we have christie james from charleston public school district and We have been in a cohort program With christie and her wonderful crew We're on the fourth cohort with them. We've also done cohorts with lorence and darlington school districts and what that means is they get a lot of Benefits for their students to come through their classroom teachers who want to be school librarians And then they come through together And and as a group Typically we have a minimum eight sometimes as many as 12 And then they get special benefits We do professional development with them. We they get the ASL standards and they go to conferences Through this cohort model. So, you know what encourage programs to do more of that It's a great opportunity to bring in from districts who who are high needs in terms of needing Having having losses from retirement And things the other thing we do and I know virginia I can speak does this well as well for regional workshops So we have a collaboration between our iSchool Between the southern association of school a brand, which is an excellent school library association in the state and our also our liaison at the department of ed We do for around the state once a year And it's a great opportunity for professional development We have strong advocacy workshops. We have this this year the focus is going to be on The bookmaning attempts in our state and intellectual freedom issues. So those are just a couple of ideas in terms of helping library programs and certifications Help with creating excellent librarians. So now I'll turn it over To my partner on the panel and a wonderful phd student in our program Cynthia rickett and johnson Hello everyone like dr. Gavigan stated. My name is Cynthia johnson. I am a former school librarian from south carolina I have 10 years of experience as a school librarian before that. I was a reading specialist Um also in atlanta georgia in south carolina. So I'm literacy is something i'm very passionate about. I am currently a doctoral student Um with a focus on school librarianship and equity diversity and inclusion I also teach one of our capstone courses that's specific to school library programming That's at the end towards the end of a student's journey through their master's program I have presented at a couple of different conferences Many of them with dealing with literacy recruitment and retention of Black school librarians was my last presentation that I did Um as well as maker spaces. So I kind of have my hand in a couple of different Areas of interest when it comes to school librarianship I did want to point out one. Um program that I participated in It was actually spearheaded by A school librarian erica long and it was through the asl improving represent representation mentoring program And I was partnered with a school librarian actually here in south carolina And I decided to be a part of this particular program because um I wanted because you know when you're a school librarian, especially in the middle school You're the only one you feel very isolated And so I wanted to get more um Mentoring more tips more advice on what is like to be a librarian of color And I was fortunate enough to be paired with someone in south carolina So that particular mentoring program I thoroughly enjoyed As well. So i'm going to hand it over to Jonathan hunt Um, I'm obviously jonathan hunt. I am in my 10th year As the coordinator of library and media services at the san diego county office of education I started my career as a classroom teacher where I taught grades four through eight Then I went to san jose state university and got a master's degree. Um, I've worked in Um libraries that serve students k through 12, but the vast majority of my experience has been focused at the elementary level In order to better answer the question that we've been given I wanted to give you some context for My situation here in san diego county and the districts that I work with So that when I answer the question you would better understand. Um where i'm coming from We do have 42 local school districts that we support Of those 42 only six of them have teacher librarians Only two of those six have teacher librarians at every site in the district and one of the six Which happens to be the second largest district in the state has less than three teacher librarians for the whole district They have about 120 schools So you can imagine the the level of support that they are offering through their school library program Of the remaining 36 districts in the county 18 of them contract with me for something called librarian of record California education code provides that if you do not hire a teacher librarian You can contract with either your county office of education or a public library To be the librarian of record. So 18 of them have signed up with me. So that's about a hundred thousand students almost that I support They all have library media technicians in their libraries, but they don't have any teacher librarian. So I am at best A consulting librarian. They you know, I I perform a consulting role for them That means if you're doing the math There are 18 school districts that what we would technically we would say they're out of compliance So we're one of the we're in that group that Keith described as having a mandate, but it's unenforced So we have 18 of our 42 districts have library media technicians But they don't have any teacher librarian and they don't have They don't have any contract with a public library or with a county office of education I also want to say that this crisis is especially pronounced at the elementary level We have less than three elementary teacher librarians in the entire county So the vast majority of our teacher librarians are focused at the high school level with a little bit With a little bit also at the at the middle school level. So it's kind of a bleak picture I want to talk a little bit about how we got there. It's probably a very complicated story I mean, from my view, there are two really important things We had a very important tax law that would pass 44 years ago prop 13 that kind of Initiated this boomer bus budget cycle that we've been kind of trapped in every year We're one year. California is rich and the next year it's core I noticed in the chat that dr. Farmer mentioned an earlier law in 1974 that kind of Stripped away some of the additional funding. So there are definitely other factors in play But for me, this is probably one of the more important ones And then over the last several decades, we definitely had a growing population with diverse needs And that's also strained finances Just to give you a couple examples of that. We have a lot of multi-language learners I mean Spanish, of course, but we have districts that have At least a dozen and sometimes two dozen different home languages spoken within the district So that that's the level of complexity that requires a lot of support and a lot of finances to deal with Another discreet another thing is we've got districts that are very very urban and they deal with a set of challenges And then we have districts that are very very rural and they have their own unique set of challenges So it's a very very large state and a very diverse state And so I think that these are some of the most important factors that have kind of brought us to the place where we are What that means for school libraries is that we have undergone decades of chronic underfunding But we are not alone. Everybody's gone through chronic underfunding. So Logic is not going to matter facts are not going to matter Research is not going to matter because everybody else in line for a handout also has those Visual and performing arts also has all their ducks in a row for that maintenance and operations and facilities also, you know So it's just this very draconian situation in terms of the budget and the school financing and we have made stride in recent years because the economy has been booming but We seem to be perhaps heading into a recession and then, you know, then the fund will begin once again So what this means for the system as a whole is that we have people in San Diego county that are teachers that do not have the experience of collaborating with the teacher librarian They don't have the opportunity to plan, teach and assess a unit of instruction And so some of those people will become administrators They'll become principals or they'll become district administrators And they won't have that knowledge of what a school library program really is beyond a book warehouse And some of those will become, you know, we'll work at the county office They'll work in state educational organizations. So the or the deep organizational knowledge that's not superficial about what school libraries really do and the impact that they can bring Is rapidly eroding, you know Keith talked earlier about the number of teacher librarian positions that decrease and as that as they decrease, you know There are a whole group of students and teachers and administrators that don't have the opportunity to collaborate with them So what that means is that the the bottom line is this is a systemic issue that's not easily solved at the site level It's not going to be lobbying the pta or the school site counselor The principal are going before the school board even and it's not going to be a magic law that you sign in You know, you know that you sign in that says everybody has a teacher librarian because we don't have the capacity You know in our teacher librarian program Pipeline to deal with that and even more importantly the administrators don't have the capacity about what to do with the school library So I I apologize for my very long winter in production. I did want to provide you some context for For revisiting our question that we have before us, which is how can we empower school librarians to build excellent school library programs We talked about this idea and these are these are some ideas that we put forward some of many That that we were kind of in agreement around so I'm going to share this slide But then in the following we have some follow-up questions that we will engage in further conversation so I'm going to rip off a phrase from michael fulham There's an educational guru and his phrase is go slow to go fast and he's talking about implementation of change ideas So mine is actually related to visioning and I'm going to say go small to go big So what I mean by that is we do so much that it's very difficult to describe what we do in a very compelling Concise manner, but we need those elevator speeches to provide clarity not just For our stakeholders, but for ourselves. They can almost become affirmation. So less is more common language that everybody Everybody understands really helps put the message out there and making sure that our roles are connected to student outcomes Is critically important. So my elevator speech I'm going to give you the three second version of it But if you're interested in the 30 second version, you can click on this link and it's kind of like in a accordion I can do a three hour version in a professional learning or I can take three days but I can do whatever I need to do but This is my promise to you. Okay. This is my elevator speech If you give me an excellent school library program K12 and you give me students in return I'm going to give you students that are extremely well versed in literacy learning and leadership. Okay Those are words that are unambiguous Everybody in the educational system buys into them. You would look like an idiot if you didn't agree with me, right? So I just you know, I just return to those over and over again I really appreciate You know, like I love the six shared foundations and the four domains But that's a lot of stuff to wrap your head around in terms of messaging for a stakeholder group. This is more you know I just It's hard to do that in an elevator speech. It's better for an internal conversation that we have with each other So the school library program once you refine it to its core essence Then you can see How grand and how big This can be in the broad scheme of things. We can weed together very disparate elements into a cohesive whole And um, I've listed some of those. Okay on the slide community schools Is an issue that the california state budget allocated four billion dollars for over the past two years So if we are putting librarians out there in the field That don't understand that these are what the legislature spent money on the past couple of years Because you know, there's a thing that says budgets or statements of value. There was no school library I mean, we just heard about michigan. There was nothing in the california budget for school libraries either But these are the things that the legislature valued and so what I think is incumbent upon us as Libraries is to see the connection between what the state is spending on money because those are the things that they value And those can easily be woven into a comprehensive school library program so Now i'm going to pass it back over to cairn who's going to moderate our conversation We we pick several questions out for you. We probably won't get all to all of them But i'm going to turn it back over to cairn hey So you can see on the screen there are four but I I sort of cherry picked and i'm going to have jonathan and senpia asked The one number two What single element of a school library program if properly implemented in scale Would change the perception of school libraries and the broader educational Community so senpia you want to go first? Sure So I want to first say that Kathy lester when she spoke of her five p's that really resonated with me the positivity politeness preparedness persistence and being present and so for me when I thought about this question For lasting Relationships that actually helped with the literacy And the learning and the leadership And the reason why I say that is when I go back into Um the museum of my memories as a school library and I've only been out of the school library for a year But when I think about it, I think that when I actually had those moments and those experiences where I really had the collaboration whether it was with teachers Or when I did my book in a day and I brought in different individuals Um When covet did hit and I wanted to still do my school-wide read I had developed those relationships Um Before hand so that when I said hey, would you mind coming and reading a chapter through zoom? Those individuals where they were whether they were district officers community members they saw the importance of The school library program and so for me it was also a way for me to advocate for myself Without actually saying anything So I think for me it would be the collaborating That helps to develop those relationships and partnerships Great. Thanks. Thank you. How about you Jonathan? You know, uh, Cynthia stole the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say collaboration too and I mean, I do think that that's the single thing that we can do that's going to move the needle And I know when I came out of library school. I went into an elementary school where I was a prep teacher, right? And the last that's the last thing anybody wanted to do with me, right? Is because it was their prep. They didn't want to be bothered with what, you know With whatever was happening in the library. It's not that they weren't interested. It was just that it was their prep, right? So I think they're definitely, you know I think that It's one thing to go to library school and learn about the vision, right? And about collaboration and then it's another thing to go into the real world and try and implement it So I think that one of the things on my journey that really helped kind of refine my thinking If there was an article posted on the aasl website called toward a theory of collaboration between teachers and librarians I believe the scholar was out of the university of arizona. I believe her name was patricia Montiel overall You can I don't know if that name is ringing about for anybody. I probably botched it but the theme that I love is collaboration is a word that we just throw out there and It's really kind of a very big vague kind of a word and I the theme that I loved was she broke it down Into kind of a spectrum between least effective and most effective, you know Starting with coordination, right juggling schedules, you know fixing iPads, you know things like that, you know You get the state report books this week. You get them the next week coordination is a very low-level You know thing but still still an important one And then the next thing up the rung was collaboration, which was more of a superficial Collaboration, you know, like we'll help each other. We'll answer each other's questions We might share things with each other But what we really want is that integrated instruction where they're planning teaching and assessing A unit of study that involves the student diving into a line of inquiry But she goes one step further and says Integrated curriculum is when you can do that with every single teacher in the building and I Have yet to see that I'm sure there are probably school libraries out there where the you know The librarian has been able to do that. I would also say that I would almost call that a mythical unicorn, right? Like I'll see it when I believe it right that you're going to coordinate with the math teacher and the PE teacher and the Sped teacher and everything but then for those of us that work with systems. There's a super mythical unicorn, right? How do we make sure that happens at every school in the district and it's not because All that librarian has a cult of personality or that library is on the other side of the railroad track So that library has a great pta that pays for everything or that city has you know, how the You know how is rich and they have a lot that funds all their school libraries You know, so how do you make sure that happens across the system? Whether it's a district or a county or a region a state a nation So those are that's the super mythical unicorn But I think that I definitely agree that collaboration is the single biggest thing that we could do That would that would move the needle for us Great. Thanks. So we um, I'll ask one more um, and We're limited just for time, but I'm going to throw a little zinger into the question So what's the most pressing problem facing school libraries today? And here's my zinger. They didn't get warned about this one To to help us empower librarians. How could you help them address that one pressing problem? So Cynthia Okay, so I'm going to say something I'm going to say the perception I think that the perception of um, you know, when we're in our own Circle we're in our own communities. We know exactly what we do um But I think it's such a hard um Thing to explain. I think the elevator speech is a great way To really combat that but for me is the perception because it goes from students to parents to um community members to administrators um Because once they realize What The roles are as a school librarian. I think they they can grasp A better picture. So I know it seems really simple, but for me it would be the perception Um, that's out there and Once again, I'm going to agree with Cynthia That's not what I was thinking when I when I first saw the question But to kind of build on what she said before I get to my question I think one of the things that we really struggle with is that everybody thinks they know What school libraries are and what they do because they've grown up using them, right? And many different kinds They've used the school library. Their kids have used the school library. Everybody's got a school library They've used the public library. They've used the a college an academic library So they're familiar with the concept of libraries, but they've gone through as a user and like Our colleagues in education would be able to understand that just because you've been a student in the system Doesn't mean you have a good working knowledge of the system because there are other roles, right? Being a student is very different than being a teacher an administrator, right? It expands your view. It's more complex There's more moving parts But for some reason when it comes to school library People don't understand that duality that just because you're familiar with a library doesn't mean and I'll give you an example I I have a supervisor that My supervisor worked in the college library and thought about becoming a library And so that is her show of solidarity. That is her supporting me. That's her understanding me and In my mind when I sit there and I go, yes, you are now qualified to be a library media technician But what I really need from you is you were a math teacher So I need you to go back and think about What's the unit that you and I would collaborate and then come back and tell me and that would show me that you Really understand what's going on here. Okay? So I definitely think that there's a perception problem Um, and I think it's rooted in the fact that administrators don't have the capacity to Understand there's a quote. I love that that you can You can manage Um, you can manage somebody if you don't understand their job role, but you can't really lead You can't innovate. You can't lead you can't disrupt the system You can just kind of manage it and keep it going, right? Just do your thing and I'll write your evaluation every year, but you're not going to be in charge of innovation now, sorry What I was initially going to say in answer to this question was I think that we have some very real threats to our democracy And I see two different facets of that. You've got the intellectual freedom challenges that are happening across the country I think they've probably been the most Prominent in florida and texas, but they're happening here in california as well In other states. So I definitely think that's a threat to democracy and then the other thing that we've been dealing with as a crisis in media literacy and And you know the health misinformation the election misinformation I think that's very insidious and nobody's taking ownership of that right nobody's stepping in to say I'm going to explicitly teach those skills to students So I think the threat to democracy with those two facets is what what I have initially been leaning to Thanks to both of you all I wish we had time to answer the other two, but we're going to move on um to the next slide before a little more time on our panel So john, I think can you advance that? I'm sorry That's all right. Thank you. I was reading the chat. You caught me. You probably turned the multi-path and read the chat It's all right. So, um, I see I've got a lot of um school library educator peeps out in the audience and they can speak to this in the chat as well But so how can we as library schools preparing for future librarians? better prepare them So I think having um certification and ala accredited committee on accreditation programs Is is you know the way we hope that all states can go eventually um also focusing on the asl standards When we were prepping for this panel we were talking about the fact that some people have got common core You know districts are focusing on different things But if all of our librarians out in the field are focused on those standards Then we're all speaking from the same hem sheet um And we all can have a voice together that then um some of the things that sent them down and what's talking about Is is um marketing and advocating for our programs that it helps Um, I would say multiple opportunities to spend hands on time in schools um We we try that very hard and I know a lot of my colleagues In here today do Whether it's for assignments or internships practicums, whatever you want to call it But to get people out there in the field as soon as possible So they really know what's going on and can be mentored By practicing school librarians um practical and timely resources um And we're going to be sharing some with you and some that Kathy Lester's put together As well. Also, you know your state affiliates your state Associations do a wonderful job. We've got the south carolina center for community literacy. I know Valerie shout out to her Um came up with a wonderful we were talking about intellectual freedom issues They came up with a wonderful resource and we're going to share the link with you in the next slide When all the book book attempts to ban books started And then Lucy Santos green came up with a program And it's called get ready stay ready. That's for community for parents to get involved so not just us as librarians, but The piece that Cynthia said of collaborating with others To address issues in a timely fashion. So and also um mentorship opportunities. I mentioned the cohorts Anytime you can to get um our students attending conferences, let them volunteer to get free registration Go to ASL and do that and also visit other model programs Is is a wonderful way to learn what you want to offer in your future excellent programs. So And then if you'll go to the next slide, Jonathan, these are some of the things and you'll be able to link out to those Alive I wanted to mention and I know Anthony's going to touch on this David Lurcher's in the house and um, he has a wonderful with the health of his team From San Jose has got tours of school libraries. So talk about model programs. This has videos It's it's an excellent resource and as I said, it'll be touched on some more The Augusta Baker program has some equity diversity um An inclusion webinars and things that are available for free for anyone to attend We need diverse books The ASL website links to a lot of these things I've just mentioned. So just generically I put that up there Kathy Lester, who's already spoken Has got a great, I think it's about four four page sheet You can link out to that talks about library professionals and during challenging times I mentioned the skill Website you can even put in there if you've had a book challenged and someone will get back to And of course, that's true through the ala office of intellectual freedom And then the community action toolkit for parents and caregivers that lucy santos green has done in conjunction with penguin and some other partners So we wanted to share those with you. We are um, I think We've just got time for some q&a unless Cynthia and jennifin. Do you want to add anything else? You know, I just want to in the comments. Dr. Bernier mentioned a book called american public school librarianship That's a history and I want to second his recommendation. I know you probably can't see it very well But um So I would add this as well. It's a really thorough comprehensive history. So I second that Um, someone asked about programs for teacher library and with masters in other countries I would just answer. I think that would be done by a school by school basis um our graduate programs have have um Rules about that. So whatever program you're interested in may be contact Their admissions person and they would be able to address the fact and of courses can transfer it depends Our program on the number of years that that you took it but every school is different but Reach out to the ones you're interested in and they'll be able to answer it Other questions for our group I think we've just got a few minutes For those of you who are library educators, you know, what would you add that your programs are doing? That that you think would help create Excellent librarians who create excellent programs I love um, we've talked a lot about collaboration, but I You know the ways to collaborate are some of the things we've talked about too visiting other programs Um, visiting conferences visiting rebel regional workshops in states Um Cindy is a teaching certificate always necessary that'll depend on the state too Um, some states have alternative licensure programs Uh, for example, I just called pace Um, we we would encourage you to go to a library school, but there are alternatives in in different states Yeah, key things so that report will tell you kind of what people are asking for And if you all have peer professionals in your schools who are interested um, some of our strongest students are the ones who were Uh, you know staff in the school library and got interested in getting a degree It's it's great because they've seen it. They like it and they want to do it So that's a great way to get some future librarians down I I see a question in the q&a about various credentialing requirements. I will say and You know, I think we have people I think dr. Farmer Dr. Harlan could probably address those in california But I will say generally speaking people that come from out of state to california are frustrated That there is so much additional Coursework that they have to do to get certification. So We we are we make it very challenging to do that Tara asked about going to library school online. Um, Several of us on on this call. I know our program is 100 online So we have people from all over the nation So it depends on which program you go to and that's readily available You can find a list of programs on the asl website, but it is opportunities to be 100% Or face-to-face and and some maybe hybrid programs as well Exchange programs that again would depend We just had some librarians from taiwan come over in a And not school librarians, but um academic librarians. So different programs have opportunities Um for exchanges and if you're interested in contacting one, maybe I saw so many countries represented, which is great Just contact someone in the program and I'm sure they'd be happy to try to work some things out Well, thank you karen. Thank you Cynthia. Thank you jonathan excellent job excellent work and again I'm sure everyone probably realizes this how much work went on behind the scene. So thank you again for sharing your insights I I know a lot of great Connections will be made today as well And certainly our commitment will be to make sure everybody has everybody's contact information As we post the the slides and recordings I'm also delighted to present to you work Called the alive project And what we did with that essentially is support Uh the vision of dr. Uh loicher And also our school library faculty on really bringing together a lot of resources And also doing original research and interviews with people across the country. So It is called the alive project. Uh, and Especially again, thanks to uh, dr. Loicher or dr. Marianne harland and dr. Blanche wools for developing this resource Funded by the sjsui school And also i want to give a shout out to the students and staff who work tirelessly to get it already For show time for today's symposium. So Afraid if you wouldn't mind drop the the website address And there also will be a virtual reality address, but I would encourage you to not click on that right now Because what's wonderful is that virtual reality now is browser based, but certainly still has been with A challenges so but certainly save that the vr link for later exploration We view vr as a adding that third dimension allows us to tell our story in in more experiential ways also one of the mention that we have a gs map that's coming out in combination with A gis consultant and also keys results. We are going to list all state credentials Uh and and the requirements and also cross-reference with demographics and Naep and other student achievement scores. So again kudos to keith and his team for generating so much interesting data And we're going to do our part to make it visual and sharing it with the rest of the nation. So Now i'm really excited to give the rest of the time to some wonderful speakers Um, uh, so our second panel will be led by national library leaders uh, ala president lessa polio lasada Uh, and of course kathy lester who you heard from earlier and kathy carol Uh, who will be discussing What specific achievable strategic actions should be taken at a federal and state level to address effectively At a policy level equity of access for all students to well funded school libraries staffed by certified school librarians I'm afraid a few would might drop that in the in the chat. Uh, this is again the first of of uh, Several series of symposium. So certainly we're not going to be able to answer that question In in greatest detail today, but we are going to start. Uh, so a quick introduction to our panelists So, uh, lessa kanani apua polio lasada is an adult services assistant manager At the palos verde's library district rolling hills the states california and the 22 23 president of the american library association She recently completed the term as an ala executive board member and was also elected a counselor large for three terms She is an active member of the 1876 club the association for library services for children core The public library association the rainbow round table the social responsibilities round table And the sustainability round table. So I I see that we have a future in a a similar insomniac Than myself as well She's also a member of several ala professional affiliates including the asian pacific american library association apala the black caucus american library Association the chinese american libraries association the american union library association And the national association to promote library information services the latinos to the spanish speaking reforma She also has been a member of ala for over 13 years Kathy carol. So Kathy carol was the 2021 a asl president She is a school librarian at west hood west wood high Science school at in blithe wood south carolina She served as the ala spectrum advisory committee From 2018 to 2020 and is serving as an ala counselor at large She also served on the national board for professional teaching standards library media specialist standards committee in 2010 and the national board for professional teaching standard teacher Leadership competency framework committee in 2013. Kathy was awarded the ala spectrum scholarship in 2007 And she is a national board certified teacher and then kathy lester, of course, who was our keynote speaker of earlier so Going back to the big bodacious question What specific achievable strategic actions should be taken at federal and state levels to address effectively? At a policy level equity of access for all students to well funded school library staff by a certified school librarian Now and I think Alessa has asked To go after Kathy Kathy and Kathy So let me let me start with Either Kathy lester or Kathy carol on your thoughts and certainly this is just a discussion. So I can go first if you want I know that initially you asked What can lis educators do to help? and I kind of brainstorm some ideas where Building relationships with state education departments And helping work with them to strengthen the guidelines and requirements for school librarians within your state because every state is so different right now um Also, I feel like there is a perception of administrators That don't understand the leadership role and the partnership and what school librarians can do for them um, and I'd mentioned in the chat, but I do feel like Especially in states that Where the numbers have declined so much that there are administrators now in positions that have never experienced an effective school library So they don't have that experience. So if um, you could build relationships somehow with Education departments within your universities to help reach out And try to present to those administrator groups What school librarians can do to help partner to achieve educational goals? And build a positive school climate I know that asl has a playlist of videos that Could be used in those with our School library leadership collaborative. We've developed a set of videos that talk where administrators are talking about What school librarians can do to help them reach their educational goals in their districts? I have So Just joining in the advocacy for support for school libraries At the government level as well And then I also feel like A part of the educational preparation for school librarians needs to train them How to be leaders and advocates as well Even if it's just for their own program And hopefully they'll become more involved in their states and things like that. Well And then I mentioned earlier about the shortage of school librarians. Um, so I do feel like we need support Committing to help fulfilling this shortage And I liked um Karen talked about that partnership with districts Where they partner with certain districts school districts To have teachers come to their programs To add that school library certification That might be one way Maybe if that model could be expanded to other programs as well. I know it's something that Wayne state university in michigan has been Trying to do as well But maybe that would um help I've got other ideas too, but I want to Let Kathy and lisa talk a little bit too Okay, well, thank you Kathy for that and thank you for that question I find it ironic that school librarians are one of the few Professions where when we advocate for ourselves, it's perceived as being self-serving As if we're all trying to protect our jobs When it's a common fact that there was a shortage We're not trying to just be self-serving. We're not it's not self-preservation It is about our learners. It's about our learning communities And I think that's something we have to continually remind people of I'm speaking on behalf of those who do not have a voice I'm speaking on behalf of my profession and incoming professionals So I think we need to take that conversation off the table immediately And say i'm doing this for the betterment of And I also think this is a very complicated nuanced topic, but I think we need to start small. We need to start with our homegrown grassroots advocates and that for school librarians would be our parents It would be our Administrators and as Kathy referenced asl has a cohort our second cohort of school leader The school leader collaborative and those are administrators principles superintendents who've been nominated by their school librarians Who already have an interest in and support school librarians? but just need to have a deeper understanding And also to collaborate on a more meaningful and intentional level with member leaders In order to be better advocates because they already have the heart for advocacy. They already support But they need to understand they need to possess a toolkit to do so more effectively. This is our second cohort. We have Leaders from across the country who are working with us and who are going forth They're spreading the word with their colleagues They're speaking on our behalf locally and nationally and so I think we have to grow our own We for whatever reason cannot be the only voice And so we have to prepare other people and as I said, we're going to start small and we start at our base level and then we're going to Take advantage of the very rich ecosystem that we have and we're going to reach out and we're going to talk to Our state department of education members and I have an embarrassment of riches of having the university of south carolina's LIS program right in my backyard i'm in south carolina And so I have all of those resources some may not have that advantage But i'm taking advantage of what I have And dr. Gavigan and the others are such rich resources and such strong advocates But also I think we again we cannot wait until it's an election We cannot wait until it's a dire situation, which it is now We have to be very persistent and consistent with our dialogue with lawmakers Because it's because our goal is to have language included on a federal level But we have to make sure that we have representation on a state level And the way we conduct those Goals is by Relationships and I think everything just comes down to relationships. We have to invite them in we have to let them See what we do for some reason everyone understands what a teacher does But everyone seems to be perplexed about what a school librarian does And so therefore we have to show the gains that are going to be made When you have a qualified certified librarian in the building that research Continually indicates the growth And so therefore we really have to focus on the data people love data And fortunately we have the data to prove that this is not a luxury but a requirement This is a necessity and again as Kathy stated earlier in her previous wonderful keynote She showed how oftentimes those who suffer and I will use the word suffer greatly And to the greatest extent are those who are our most vulnerable Those without the access without resources and therefore We definitely have to advocate for them and then we saw that grasp of how I am in A section of the country that understands The benefits of having a school librarian, but there are other regions and during my term unfortunately I was privy to so many stories and information About how it was not deemed appropriate and just very quickly a very short anecdote Of one principal wanted to close a school And then he offhandedly said well the the students can just go to the public library And the librarian had to remind him we don't have a public library This is it and I'm working for free after hours So other people can come into the library And it was just said in such an offhanded manner and I'm sure the intention was not ill But it was given in a way as if of course this is accessible Of course this is a given and I think we have to show people that we don't safeguard what we have now. It's not a given Then it can quickly it can quickly become a memory in many parts of our country Thank you, kathy uh lesa Thank you, anthony and thank you for for kathy and kathy going first I always differ to all matters of school librarians to my asl presidents Because while I am representing libraries nationally, they are the experts on school libraries I always learned so much from listening to them both and so from kind of my big picture, you know perspective For me, it's organizing organizing organizing, right? Our school librarians cannot do it alone And so us who are in other areas of libraries public libraries academic libraries special libraries Have to be able to support but even larger than just within the lis field We have to look to what kathy referred to earlier as the full library ecosystem Right. And so what the library ecosystem is is that interconnected network of all types of libraries library workers volunteers associations community members Families k through 20 learners. I'm just going to go through the list to make sure we're hitting everyone College and university communities local state and federal legislatures and government offices We're also talking businesses nonprofits Everyone within our community as part of our library ecosystem And so we have to be able to tap into those resources in our advocacy fight Because our wonderful school library advocates know exactly the wonderful things they do But until everybody else as folks have said all day can recognize You know what those benefits are and that they are not cost. They are benefits to our learners They are benefits to our society Then that is when we will be able to do that true advocacy And so some of the tools that we have to able to be able to support that advocacy within ala You know is through our public policy and advocacy office Through aasl those tools and resources are not just for very specific You know legislative items they can be expanded into that grassroots organizing going to the school library board Writing letters to your school board writing letters to your board of education To be able to support what is happening whether or not you have a child in the district Right. I don't have children in the district But what happens at the elementary you know the k through 12 level absolutely affects my daily life as a community member And so if we can tap into those community members who can help support I think that those are some of the really tangible things that we'll be able to do Kathy lester also shared with me before and i'll drop these links into the chat the ala state legislative kit That has some of these tools on how to talk to folks how to write letters and support As well as the adverse legislation kit Because we have so much adverse legislation coming up around book bans around school libraries around funding You know, these are really serious things that are just impacting what this persistent issue of the need for school librarians has been And so i'll share those links in the chat But just so that we have those as resources also to make sure that we're tapping into and sharing those with everyone on the broader level Because it is only through that unified messaging that I think we can really achieve what we need to in the school library level wonderfully said lester There i was ready to jump out of my chair So let me uh, let me ask you a few uh questions. So again, I apologize in advance for not getting these to you with more advanced warning, but I also wanted to just again Uh, leverage all of the expertise and experience here to get on the record some things that we might be able to share in our advocacy work In the future. So let me ask you, um I guess a loaded question So some school libraries are run by parents Some are run by teachers without a school library credential in your opinion What's the specific differences on why a credential is so important? You know, maybe i'll start with kathy carol. Uh, your thoughts on just some of the specifics Uh, you know, if we were if we were using your edited video for a superintendent or principal What would you say? Well, unfortunately, this is a reality. It's not just some I don't know some fictitious scenario And we do have so many well intentioned but not well prepared people out there trying to To to work and to create a library program And it is necessary to have the credentials. I think they're very few professions Where we would think okay a person with a big heart and an interest Can go in and do a good job that will be equal to the person who's trained and certified I just i'm not quite sure where that came from I think it's almost a compliment to us that we make it seem so effortless And what we do And the contributions that we make that people think that almost anyone can do it but I think we're educated Many of us have advanced degrees in this area for a reason because it is a craft it is a profession that Takes critical thinking that there's a skill set There's information that's needed to be acquired before you can do it successfully and Someone can manage a space But to make it an innovative creative aspirational space it takes someone with the credentials And so I applaud anyone who is filling a space that otherwise would be empty But that should not be satisfactory That should be worst-case scenario And I think we're Doing a disservice to all of our learning communities and our and our students our kids When we don't have the best qualified people in those spaces Thank you. Kathy. Uh, Kathy or lesa um, I shared in the chat Um a visual guideline document. It was actually developed by dorka's hand and a group of school librarians in Houston, Texas And when I saw it I reached out to her and got permission to michiganize it because they used a little bit terminology About their school districts and such than we did But I feel like it's really an excellent resource. It really shows What a school librarian is prepared To do and how they serve their students compared to what a You know paraprofessional or parent volunteer or even classroom teachers can do They don't have the same preparation that we do In terms of being able to curate resources teach information literacy skills all of the things that are really so important to what we do um I feel like one time I remember I was at a michigan school improvement conference Presenting about school librarians and the important work that we do and there were some administrators in The audience and their question was well, how do I train my paraprofessional to do that work? And I said, well, they need to go to library school and get the degree. I mean they want um, you know, there's so much there had been so much pressure on education um budgets that they were trying to basically Get the same work out of someone who they could pay a lot less. I think and I think that's even coming to the forefront now and with the book banning and book challenges That in these areas where they don't have a certified school librarian curating those resources and understanding Selection policies reconsideration policies those districts now are like and not in very good shape in terms of being able to um so You know, I think in florida the law is now Requiring that they have a certified school librarian selecting the resources So in spite of all the bad stuff going on there, um, you know There might be a chance to use this Really really negative time to try to also spotlight and highlight The positives of what we do And how what we do is so important and the training that we receive is really important To the work that we do and how we support our students Thank you. Kathy lesa So I I come from a school district that my library is in that's a fairly affluent community However, we only have certified school librarians at the high school level And so what happened a couple of weeks ago was because of the the book challenges and all of the issues that we've seen Our young readers librarians reached out to the school district to kind of give like a two hour run down to the volunteers to the library aides to be able to help them understand what their actual roles are And I will tell you that um the manager who put together the training said that of course two hours Was just touching the surface a lot of these folks were not prepared for the book challenges that will likely be coming their way from parents you know during um During the height of the pandemic we had a number of parents come to us as as the public library to ask for help in how to Um Challenge some of the books in their school libraries because they were outdated because there weren't policies attached to them And so I think that you know what I see firsthand is one again a disservice to the students Because they don't have individuals who are trained in collection development to be able to curate the resources that they need They don't have folks who have the time Also to be able to dedicate that one-on-one time with them It's come in check out a book leave But the books are also from the early 2000s, you know if we're if we're pretty lucky And so providing them with these resources then falls to other arenas who are not actually trained Also to be providing the training that comes with an mlis And so I just really want to undergird that I think the main difference is when We have certified school librarians who have that training We can point to that one book challenges arise. We can point to that when people say well Why do we need it? We have folks who have that big heart and who really want it But we have to say that is not enough because we have to demonstrate our expertise That we have in providing the tools to your children to be competent to be literate To be able to have all of the that access to information that they need to be full members of society Which of course, I think is also probably part of the issue Right because we are trying to build a critical thinking society of individuals who can figure things out for themselves And that is part of the struggle here I think and the disempowerment of school libraries is to take away that power from the individuals to be able to make those Decisions for themselves and think for themselves So, yeah Thank you. Lessa. I'll vote for you again, too um, so two quick questions So the first one is this again it goes back to my original point about social the social economic divide So even in libraries that have certified teacher librarians oftentimes the budget is driven through fundraising um, what are your thoughts on Uh, kind of the different doing that through parents in particular And maybe the social economic divide that's created when that is the primary mechanism for a budget Now throw it to the cathes first Well, I can talk to that because I have experienced it I'm in a school district where we do have a certified school librarian in every school And that isn't normal in michigan, but it is true in my district But my specific school has the highest number of Free and reduced lunch students. So it has the highest level of poverty um out of the five middle schools And so when we The district gave us a tiny little budget. I have like 200 a year and so we're expected to raise money for that Through book fairs through other fundraising activities, but yet I I land up raising the least amount if I rely on some of those parent funded activities because of the socio-economic makeup So I have done other things, you know, I've written other grants. I've you know, but not all You know It's it's tiring To do that and it's hard to maintain that So We've been advocating as a group in our district to try to get more money from our district And fortunately we have been able to do that, but I do feel also like This might be one of those equity issues that There are states that have at least some level of state funding that goes to their school libraries for school library resources And I feel like that would be really important to help With that, you know, economic division To provide that for all schools else Thank you, Kathy, you know, I'm gonna ask Kathy of course to speak to this but I'll I'll this before you do Imagine a field where you do not have a budget to do what you're expected to do It's it's just mind-boggling. But anyway, Kathy go ahead Well, I'd like to echo what Kathy said. I've had years where I had officially had a zero budget year What was expected to move the program forward? And I too spent time writing grants looking for other sources of revenue and sometimes when I reflect on that I think it's just really evident of a much larger societal problem of where we put our money And where we think it is optional And to whom it has the most adverse effects And what is the long lasting ramifications? And that's for another day But I just don't think it's a coincidence that oftentimes the library The school library has the zero budget or a miniscule budget And even if the school is having financial problems Oftentimes there are other activities or other areas that are funded And so I've spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to look for for the funding and I think again It affects certain groups More so than others and they are the groups That need the support they need the funding But oftentimes is a site based or district based And I think it is to their detriment and I feel like as if I'm As if I'm repeating myself, but I see that all of these issues Oftentimes direct our most vulnerable The most because if they're coming from an affluent neighborhood or area There's probably plenty of funding or if there's not it can be supplemented from outside sources fairly easily And this is not the case in many areas So I am as Kathy said, I am fortunate to be in an area where we have certified School librarians in most of our schools and also throughout our state But the funding again is typically site based. It is a problem and it is an ongoing concern But we are a resource for group and we do what we can I would love to make that more To include that more in conversations to make it equitable across the board Thank you, Kathy. Lessa Both the Kathy said it perfectly I mean, it is an equity issue that sees libraries as a cost rather than a benefit and relies on Making literacy a an ad rather than what the core of what it all should be So I cannot add anything more to their personal stories there Thank you, Lessa So the final question really goes back to LAS education So Jackie and others of course had mentioned the fact that they're being asked to do things that Really remove their ability to do what they really are supposed to be doing And to be candid Oftentimes there seems to be a disconnect even at the university level in terms of say Principal preparation and understanding the role of school libraries. So general question How do we address this disconnect that seems to be occurring both at the school level? So a scenario I am a school librarian whose principal doesn't seem to understand What I do or what I'm supposed to do and then at the university level Any thoughts on how we address that with our own colleagues because to be honest I am part of the problem if I'm not educating the College of Education and feels Strongly that that they are providing Or we're supporting Education so that they understand What a school library can do for them. So but let me stop. Let me start with the cathes How do we improve that disconnect and that education? Well, I've been fortunate to work with a asl school leader collaborative for the last two years and I'm currently working with the second cohort And it's been hugely beneficial in that it showed me the thinking of our school leaders And where perhaps this disconnect would would happen where it would occur And I think a lot of times it's just it derives from Sometimes a previously bad experience And they carry that over into current situations or it's just really a lack of understanding and I think regardless it comes to communication and it's also It cannot be an isolation I think it's going to be important and that's what I try to do is just to incorporate school leadership Throughout the fabric of the programming of our activities of what we do And so therefore it's not some foreign concept and it's not just for special occasions But it's just an open invitation To see what we do to see what we create to see how we contribute Not just with our students, but with our whole faculty and staff And so I think once we it's determined and seen that we're a part of the fabric Of the success of our programming and our school Then I think that makes the conversations easier and the disconnects and the misunderstandings start to Slowly dissipate and as far as university is concerned again I don't think i'm that person to ask because i'm in south carolina with the university of south carolina And I could not ask for a stronger program producing better colleagues And they have a true understanding and We have conversations and i've been on the advisory board for the college for For a few years and they listen and we talk and they There's no presumption. They ask questions. They're receptive to feedback So I know that's not the case for everyone And I know there are perhaps some programs that need To have a tweak or what have you but i've been very fortunate And again, I think The best we all can do is just to try to communicate with others Thank you, kathy um I can say in michigan we created what we call an administrator toolkit and the toolkit basically We developed it in With the michigan department of ed so it says it's a michigan department of ed toolkit But of course we have a new superintendent now. So I might have to be updating it, but um It basically talks about the what why how of school libraries that Administrators can use and it links to some videos and things like that and um And I know that wane state is also aware of that toolkit and I believe that It's been and we've shared it with You know the different organizations the administrator different administrator groups and things like that So maybe something like that if there is a disconnect to Some type of tool connect and since education still seems to be like a local control thing You know, I could share what we did in michigan, but it would have to be like You know, like I michiganized things other And you know states would probably have to do the similar thing In their district. So I think something like that Might be helpful to help with that disconnect Um I do think like the model school library program and again in michigan The library of michigan has a model school library program But it I think is smaller. Maybe we have one model school library every year And I was the model school library in the 2018 2019 school year and we Invite Different, you know anyone to come visit that library and that year that I was the model school library I went around and presented at a different at administrator conferences at you know, the school improvement conference at a bunch of different conferences Um a little bit to again dispel that myth But as you saw my graph is it enough it's It's turned the tide, but there's still a lot of of work that needs to be done so Thank you. Kathy definitely would be great if you could share that I think it would be very useful and we can like you said in the bridge customize it by state So, but thank you Elisa and the only thing that I will add is In the words of the great diane chen school librarian of tennessee is that there should be a school librarian at every single table So if you are an lis educator You're an administrator and you look around and you don't see a school librarian at that table You need to go find yourself one And if you are a school librarian and you see a table that you are not at you need to go pull up your own chair And give yourself a seat at that table It's funny you mentioned that lisa I have heard that uh, we certainly are not as present as we should be at some of the non-library conferences Right, it's like isti for example, uh, and so yeah, I think that that's a great a great point So unfortunately, we are nearing the end of our time. Um, Definitely, let's make sure we document any questions that aren't answered Um, uh, santa, do you want to say a few words and I've just got a few parting words at the end there so I was so busy reading comments. This was the immensely valuable. I shared a couple of my needs at the beginning what I would like to learn from and I see that There is the Evolution information that I still need to process. Uh, the only thing I can say thank you to all everybody on the panels all the Participants everybody who shared their questions and comments and I'm definitely looking forward to the next two meetings Thanks to anthony 2 for really spearheading this event. Thank you santa. Thanks for all your support Special thanks, of course everybody for your time and attention. Obviously all the panelists Let's give them a a round of applause or emotional emoticon or Um in discussions with a asl and ala This is the first of a three part or maybe more series on school libraries The next two will be sponsored directly by asl and collaboration with the iSchools and of course many others Um, we just want to help. Uh, we want to exclusively thank everyone again for their time and commitment I want to thank afredo Afkantar our our marvelous Zoom administrator And again, this is our first symposium and we look forward to working together with all of you to make school libraries stronger A full recording and transcript will be made available soon And I thank you all very much for joining us today and have a wonderful day