October 13, 2024 by John Chrastka
The future of school librarianship requires strategic legislative action to safeguard these vital roles. This article outlines seven key legislative and policy proposals designed to protect and strengthen school libraries, ensuring equitable access to resources and intellectual freedom for all students.
April 29, 2024 by John Chrastka
As more students take advantage of dual enrollment programs during a time when more states are adopting restrictive laws about access, academic freedom, and the right to read, we need new policy-focused partnerships between high school and academic libraries that will support student success and maintain institutional integrity.
March 18, 2024 by John Chrastka
Parents play a crucial role in the ecosystem of school libraries. Their advocacy, support, and involvement are often key to securing the budget to maintain and expand library services. Engaging parents effectively means communicating the multifaceted value of the library not just to individual students but to the entire school community.
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March 10, 2024 by John Chrastka
Empower your school library advocacy through the power of social proofs. Discover how endorsements drive coalitions and funding success.
February 28, 2024 by John Chrastka
The culture, needs, and interests of schools, students, and faculty are always changing and evolving. Because of this, funding and budget allocation must be reexamined regularly. While budget reallocations can free up a lot of extra money from unnecessary spending, many worthwhile efforts are caught in the crossfire. Making annual (or even monthly) reports on […]
January 19, 2024 by John Chrastka
The EveryLibrary Institute NFP and Book Riot conducted a series of surveys in late 2023 to investigate parents’ perceptions of school libraries and school librarians in the United States. The surveys were comprehensive, covering a wide range of topics such as the importance of school librarians, access to books, parental involvement in education and reading, […]
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October 25, 2023 by Peter Bromberg
As we all know too well, communities across the country are seeing a huge spike in book challenges and bans in our school and public libraries. Censorship is on the rise, and libraries and librarians are being personally attacked, threatened, and fired, while libraries are seeing their funding threatened unless they remove books written by […]
October 11, 2023 by John Chrastka
What would the school library landscape look like if every state Department of Education prioritized a full-time staff role to champion the needs of school librarians and school library programs? Â According to our colleagues from the SLIDE project, only 13 states have full-time coordinators who support school librarians employed by their state departments of […]
September 20, 2023 by John Chrastka
Schools that have high-quality library programs and library staff benefit the entire student body. Student achievement improves when care and consideration is put into a library’s collection, staffing, and funding. A 2012 longitudinal literacy study completed by Dr. Stephen Krashen, an international linguistics scholar, and his colleagues Christy Lao, Sy-ying Lee, and Jeff McQuillan, looked […]
September 12, 2023 by John Chrastka
In light of the 2023 legislative session, state school library associations should consider reframing their legislative strategies and shift focus to the pre-session or intersession period as a way to engage electeds outside of the intensity of the regular session. Education policy and funding are largely set at the state level. State school library associations […]
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