Education Week - March 29, 2023 - 4

How School Libraries Buy Books, Struggle for
Funds, and Confront Book Bans: An Explainer
By Mark Lieberman
Debates over school library books
that have overtaken school board
meetings across the country have
thrust a generally (and sometimes literally)
quiet corner of American public
schools into the political spotlight.
Hundreds of titles-including literary
works like Toni Morrison's The Bluest
Eye, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer,
the graphic novel Maus, and, more recently,
hundreds of picture books with
LGBTQ characters or protagonists of
color-have disappeared from school
shelves in districts across much of the
country over the past couple of years.
Librarians have faced verbal abuse,
online harassment, calls for criminal
charges, and death threats as parents
question their motives for building collections
with a focus on diversity and
inclusion.
Observers of these fights may not
realize that school librarians typically
have to follow rigorous processes for
acquiring new books, or that millions
of students attend schools without a
librarian at all. In fact, school libraries
have accounted for a shrinking portion
of school budgets over time, and
the job of school librarian (sometimes
known as media specialist) has become
less and less common.
Here's a look at how school librarians
and the libraries they oversee actually
work.
Librarians face 'arduous process' to
evaluate books.
Several recent campaigns in school
districts have implied or asserted that
books make their way into schools
under librarians' noses.
That couldn't be further from the
truth, librarians and experts say.
Most districts have detailed policies
governing their library collections,
in line with standards set by national
and state school library associations.
Those policies require librarians to undergo
several time-consuming steps
before purchasing a book.
They must read existing professional
reviews of potential new purchases
in peer-reviewed journals like
Booklist, School Library Journal, and
Horn Book. Sometimes they're required
to consult with advisory committees
that include teachers, administrators,
and parents.
" It's not like going on Amazon and
going, 'I'm going to go online shopping,' "
said Cathi Fuhrman, a librarian
for State College Area High School in
Pennsylvania who's worked in school
libraries for nearly three decades. " It's
an arduous process. "
On top of those procedures, librarians
typically see their role as being experts
on their collection. Many know
every single book in the catalog, and
regularly take time to examine collections
for gaps, out-of-date reference
materials, or resources that have become
worn out from heavy use. New
books are supposed to supplement the
existing collection and meet the needs
of a student or group of students.
Fuhrman and her librarian colleague
recently reviewed their school's
history and geography collection.
" It took us hours and hours over a
long period of time, teaching classes in
between, " she said. " Guess what-we
touched every single book, and we're
talking a couple thousand. "
Even high-profile, well-funded
initiatives to expand library collections
don't skip these steps. The Pitt
County schools in North Carolina, for
instance, recently surveyed students,
collected circulation reports for existing
books, and reviewed school demographics
in deciding how to spend
$600,000 in federal COVID relief
dollars to diversify library collections.
Many districts do allow librarians to
steer the purchasing process, because
they have the qualifications to do it.
Nearly every state requires school librarians
to have a teaching license, according
to the Every Library Institute.
More than 20 states require school
librarians to have a master's degree,
often in library science or school library
media. And more than half of
states require school librarians to pass
a Praxis exam.
" I believe that decisions are most effectively
made closest to the point of
consequence, " said Jordan Ely, chief
financial officer for the Gresham-Barlow
district in Oregon. " The media
specialist and the principals in those
schools, they know what students are
struggling with, what life looks like for
them. And frankly, what the kids want
to read. "
School libraries cobble together
money from a range of sources.
Some states provide direct funding
each year for school libraries. Wisconsin's
dedicated pot of funds for school
libraries supplied districts with nearly
$37 per student in 2020. Colorado
annually gives each district between
$3,500 and $4,000 for school library
expenses.
Others provide more sporadic forms
of financial support, like grant programs
to which districts can apply, or
funds that can be used for libraries as
well as curriculum materials and other
priorities.
Thirty-five states provide no direct
aid for school libraries, according to
researchers working on the federally
funded School Librarian Investigation-Decline
or Evolution, or SLIDE,
project. Instead, those school libraries
rely solely on state funds that can be
spent on anything, or on district funds
that can be allocated in a wide variety
of ways.
Some districts direct aid to each
school library. Some have policies that
require school buildings to invest some
of their discretionary funds in libraries.
4 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 29, 2023 | www.edweek.org
Others leave those decisions to individual
principals, which could mean
one school has a flourishing library
while another two miles away has no
access to new resources, or lacks a library
altogether.
In a nationally representative 2021
survey of school librarians by the
School Library Journal, 15 percent of
respondents said they had no budget
for the year to purchase new resources.
Even when districts do require
schools to invest in libraries, principals
don't always follow through. The Fort
Worth school district in Texas recently
implemented a requirement that
schools spend at least $8 per student
each year on library books, but some
schools have invested only a fraction
of that amount, according to the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram.
As with overall school funding, the
federal government contributes the
smallest share for school libraries.
Some districts use federal funds from
programs like Title I to supplement library
collections.
Some states fund school libraries
with help from a federal program
called the Library Services and Technology
Act (LSTA), which provides
money for libraries of all kinds, including
public libraries and university
collections. Oregon, for instance, devoted
$70,000 in LSTA funds in 2021
to grants for schools to expand library
collections with a focus on racial diversity.
Colorado accepted applications
from districts to use LSTA funds on
technology and other efforts to reach
students during the early days of the
pandemic.
More than 5 million students
attend schools without a librarian.
During the 2020-21 school year,
more than 10 percent of America's
public K-12 students-at least 5.6 million-attended
school districts that
don't employ any librarians to manage
the catalog and help students navigate
available resources, according to an
analysis of federal data by the SLIDE
project researchers. Those numbers
don't reflect students outside of those
districts but in individual schools that
lack librarians. Those numbers also
don't include any students in Illinois,
New York, or Utah because researchers
couldn't locate accurate figures for
those states.
Districts where a majority of students
are children of color, high-poverty
districts, rural districts, and small
districts were all more likely to have no
librarian, the SLIDE project found.
Only 10 states require public schools
to have librarians, and only six of those
specify staffing levels per number of students,
according to the SLIDE project.
And many states have no dedicated
state-level position that serves
school libraries. Having such a position
is important because it signals
to policymakers that libraries are important
and have systemic supports,
said Debra Kachel, an affiliate faculty
member at Antioch University Seattle
and director of the SLIDE project.
Thirteen states have a state employee
whose exclusive job is working
with or overseeing school libraries,
the SLIDE project found. Another 21
states employ someone who works
with school libraries as part of their
broader duties.
Seventeen states have no such official
focused on libraries either part- or
full-time.
School libraries form tiny piece of
education spending.
Libraries are fairly cheap for school
districts, all things considered.
On average, schools reflected in the
2021 School Library Journal survey
spent $11.35 per student on library
resources like books, digital media,
databases, digital devices, furniture,
and more. By comparison, the average
district annually spends $15,446
per student.
Districts buy individual books from
vendors as well as collections from
publishers. Hardcover books generally
cost between $18 and $27 each
last year, and paperback books cost between
$8.50 and $10 each, according
to data supplied to the School Library
Journal by book publishers Follett and
Baker & Taylor.
Last year, the 1,800-student Pittsgrove
district in New Jersey budgeted
roughly $10,000, or $5.55 per student,
of its $30 million operating budget
on library books. It spent roughly the
same amount on e-books and audiobooks.
" The
total amount spent on library
books from year to year is a minimal
part of our budget, " said Darren Harris,
the district's business administrator.
That's
become increasingly true in
recent decades.
The National Center for Education
Statistics in 2014 stopped collecting
nationwide data on school library
spending. But between 1999 and 2011,
per-pupil spending on library materials
dropped by nearly half, from $36.33
per student to $18.50 per student, according
to federal figures adjusted for
inflation. By contrast, total per-pupil
spending rose almost 15 percent in that
period, to $11,149 from $9,729.
Just like teachers, school librarians
spend their own money for work.
Collections from book fairs and
community donations are often essential
tools for librarians to raise
money to refresh collections or upgrade
supplies. Book fairs in schools
with large shares of low-income students
are less likely to generate substantial
revenue compared with book
fairs in higher-wealth communities.
And regardless of how well book
fairs do, it's commonplace for librarians
to invest hundreds of dollars of
their own money each year to keep
collections updated and provide
other necessary items for students.
Jenna Kammer, an associate professor
of library science at the University
of Central Missouri, talked to
dozens of school librarians for a 2020
study outlining their out-of-pocket
contributions to their libraries.
Nearly one-third said they spent
between $100 and $299 of their
money each year to expand their collections.
The upper end of that range
is $1 shy of the maximum amount for
which school librarians and other educators
can claim an annual federal
tax deduction.
Roughly 12 percent of respondents
said they spent $1,000 each year.
Less than 5 percent said they didn't
spend any of their own money.
In districts with more than 75
percent of students receiving free
and reduced-price meals, librarians
spent even more of their own money.
Roughly 17 percent spent more than
$1,000 a year, and close to 30 percent
invested between $500 and
$700.
Some librarians said they made
these investments because money
from their employers was tight. Others
told Kammer the cumbersome
process for getting reimbursed for
library spending wasn't worth the
hassle, or that their school or district
prohibited them from hosting fundraisers
on online platforms like GoFundMe.
The
median pay for school librarians
in 2021 was $61,640 per year, according
to the Bureau of Labor StatisiStock/Getty
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Education Week - March 29, 2023

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