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LIBRARY SERVICES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

More than 10.6 million pupils in school districts with 150 or more pupils are without the services of a centralized library, that is, a library administered as a unit, usually located in one place in the school building, and staffed and stocked to serve all teachers and pupils. The only service they have-if they have any— is from classroom collections, loan collections, bookmobiles, or a combination of these. Approximately 10 million of these pupils are in separate elementary schools, and approximately 490,000 are in combined elementary and secondary schools, very likely schools with small secondary departments.

At least some of the children now without good library services may soon have much better service. As small school districts are abolished and small schools are consolidated, they will be in larger schools with centralized libraries.

These facts, along with many others on bookstock, expenditures, number of libraries by type of school and size of district, are reported in "Public School Library Statistics, 1958-59," by Mary Helen Mahar and Doris C. Holladay (1960, 15 pp., OE-15020), free from the U.S. Office of Education, Washington 25, D.C. EMERY M. FOSTER,

Chief, Research and Surveys Section, Office of Education.

IN BOTH CHART AND TABLE BELOW: CENTRALIZED PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS ENROLLING 150 PUPILS AND OVER, 1958-59

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(Office estimates, based on a sample study of 839 of the 15,526 school districts. Percentages are based on unrounded figures]

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IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL LIBRARY STANDARDS THE SIZE OF THE TASK1

Vigorous efforts for implementation of the new national school library standards, as presented in "Standards for School Library Programs," are urgently needed in many States and local school systems of the United States. The new standards, prepared by the American Association of School Librarians and 20 educational and lay organizations, stress the quality of library service essential for all elementary and secondary schools. The quantitative recommendations are based on research in schools with good library service. Although some schools meet, or exceed the new standards, many thousands of schools over the country have substandard libraries, and thousands of others have no libraries at all. Since instructional programs need the resources and services of good school libraries, this inequality of school library services over the United States is of great concern to all educators.

The report of a recent statistical study of school libraries conducted by the Library Services Branch of the Office of Education, "Public School Library Statistics, 1958-59," contains evidence that there are marked differences between the new national standards and existing conditions in school libraries.

This study collected basic information on public school libraries and school librarians in school districts with enrollments of 150 and over, and its findings can be contrasted with some of the quantitative standards from "Standards for School Library Programs." (The quality of school library programs of service are not measured by the statistical survey, but the data may be considered an index of certain quantitative aspects of school libraries which affect_service.) Another report of a research study, "State Department of Education Responsibilities for School Libraries," also conducted by the Library Services Branch of the Office of Education, showed wide variation between recommendations in "Standards for School Library Programs" for school library supervision, and actual supervisory services available.

The new standards state: "All schools having 200 or more students need well-organized school libraries with functional programs of service directed by qualified personnel." In 1958-59, of a total of 82,222 schools, only about 50 percent had school libraries, and of approximately 34 million public school pupils included in the survey 10.6 million attended schools without libraries. The great majority of these pupils were in elementary schools. Thirty-four percent of approximately 60,000 elementary schools, 97 percent of 13,600 secondary schools, and 88 percent of 9,200 combined elementary-secondary schools had libraries. very basic need, therefore, for the implementation of the school library standards is to establish libraries in approximately 66 percent of our elementary schools, 3 percent of our secondary schools, and 12 percent of our combined elementary-secondary schools.

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The standards recommend 1 qualified librarian for each 300 students, for the first 900 students, and 1 librarian for each additional 400 students. According to the standards, for the 34 million pupils covered by the survey, public schools in 1958-59 should have had the services of about 112,000 school librarians. The statistical study found that there were only 19,000 public school librarians with 15 semester hours or more of library science, and about 10,000 with less than 15 semester hours. (Fifteen to eighteen semester hours of library science are generally regarded as minimum for the professional preparation of school librarian's.) Public school libraries in the United States in 1958-59, therefore, were staffed by only about 17 percent of the professional personnel essential for good school library service. This shortage was particularly acute at the elementary level, as evidenced by the ratios of qualified school librarians to pupils:

Elementary: 1 librarian to 4,261 pupils.

Secondary: 1 librarian to 888 pupils.

Combined elementary-secondary: 1 librarian to 1,125 pupils.
Total: 1 librarian to 1,740 pupils.

These figures show that another basic need in the implementation of the school library standards is the recruitment and professional preparation of many thousands of school librarians. The Office of Education estimates that

1 "School Activities and the Library." American Library Association, 1961. By Mary Helen Mahar, Specialist for School and Children's Libraries, Library Services Branch, Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington 25, D.C.

there will be about 38 million pupils in public schools and over 6 million more in nonpublic schools in 1961-62, for whom over 146,000 qualified school librarians will be needed, if standards are to be met.

The standards for size of book collections are: Minimum size of the collections in schools having 200 to 999 students, 6,000 to 10,000 books; 1,000 or more students, 10 books per student. The standard "10 books per pupil" can be compared with the data of the survey:

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These ratios of books per pupil in centralized libraries indicate that only about 50 percent of the book stock recommended by the standards is available in centralized school libraries. Recent emphasis on the use of many materials in elementary and secondary education has caused greatly increased demands on school libraries. In many schools, the libraries are inadequate to meet the needs of teachers and pupils both in the kinds and quantity of materials required. Meager resources in subject areas discourage teachers from including library materials in teaching, and, as a result, little use is made of these limited school library collections. Because rich and varied resources of materials are essential for a school library to be of real service to instruction, school boards and administrators should give particular attention to achieving the standard for size of school library collections.

The national standards for annual expenditures for regular library books are, in schools having 200 to 249 students, at least $1,000 to $1,500. In schools having 250 or more students, at least $4 to $6 per student. (These figures do not include encyclopedias, unabridged dictionaries, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, or professional materials for teachers.) Expenditures per pupil for books in the centralized libraries of the school of the 1958-59 survey, as compared with the standards, are as follows:

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A number of public schools throughout the country noted for strong programs of instruction are meeting, or exceeding, the quantitative standard for annual expenditures for library books, but, as evidenced by the average expenditures per pupil, most schools are spending far below the national standard. Communities and school boards interested in achieving excellent schools should be informed of these facts.

An important chapter of "Standards for School Library Programs" deals with school library supervisors. The standards recommend at least two school library supervisors in every State department of education, and "the services and facilities for school library supervision" in school systems having 5 to 7 or more schools with enrollments of 200 or more students. The status study, "State Department of Education Responsibilities for School Libraries," showed that only a little more than 50 percent of the State departments of education employed school library supervisors, and that some States have very few or no school library supervisors for local school districts. Since State and local school library supervisors, in cooperation with curriculum directors, can effectively relate library materials to instructional programs, there is great need for extending school library supervision. The lack of State and local school library super

vision in some States and school districts certainly has direct bearing on the differences between national standards and existing conditions in school li. braries. School library service depends not only on the personnel, resources, quarters, and support for libraries made available in our schools, but on the leadership provided by State and local boards of education for developing school library programs of genuine value to education.

In every local school and school system, administrators, librarians, and teachers should evaluate existing school library services according to the new standards, and formulate plans for reaching, by gradual steps, the quality of school library programs recommended by these standards.

How Do THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND THE SCHOOL LIBRARY SUPPLEMENT AND COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER IN PROVIDING SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND YOUNG ADULTS? 1

Mary Helen Mahar, specialist for school and children's libraries, Library Services Branch, Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

If you have reviewed the literature on public library-public school relationships, you know that the same principles on this subject have been enunciated many times, and supported by both school and public librarians, school administrators, and public library boards of trustees, in publications, policy statements, and official committee reports of State and national organizations. Nevertheless, this relationship and its ramifications remain persistent issues. As with all principles, practice takes time to catch up, and new problems arise which revive the need for renewed discussion and exploration of the principles. As a starting point, let us consider a new policy statement which briefly states these accepted principles in relation to current problems in school and public library relationships. This policy statement was developed by the Committee on School Library Services of the Study Commission, Council of Chief State School Officers. The study commission is composed of designated representatives from State departments of education, and is concerned with developing policy statements in various areas of State department of education responsibilities. The policy statement was approved and published by the Council of Chief State School Officers. It is written from the point of view of the State department of education, and does not attempt to define responsibilities of State library agencies. However, it is a useful summary statement:

"The State department of education should develop cooperative relationships with public libraries:

"State departments of education and State library agencies, especially when legally separate organizations, have been troubled by contradictions in philosophy concerning service to school libraries and have expressed the need for clear principles in this area of administration.

"The following principles apply:

"(a) The school library serves the school, and the public library serves the community. Teachers and pupils are members of both the school and the community.

"(b) Public library service including service from State, regional, county, and community libraries-may supplement but never supplant the school library. Service which replaces the library impedes the development of school libraries to the detriment of service to teachers and pupils and tends to separate library materials from instructional programs.

"(c) The school has the primary responsibility for instruction and guidance of children and youth in the community in the use of libraries. The program of library instruction, directed by the school librarians, has the broad purposes of teaching library skills adaptable to all types of libraries and for encouraging pupils to use libraries for continuing self-education. School librarians, teachers, and public librarians should cooperate in planning instructional programs in the use of libraries for educational and recreational purposes.

1 Paper from "Proceedings of the Eighth Institute on Public Library Management: Public Library-Public School Relationship," Wisconsin Free Library Commission, Madison, Feb. 27, 1961.

"(d) Cooperative planning in the selection and utilization of materials for children and young people is the responsibility of school administrators, teachers, school librarians, public librarians, and other community leaders concerned with youth.

"These principles apply in urban and rural communities and to both elementary and secondary schools. In urban and other nonrural communities, the recent tremendous increase in the number of students using the resources of community libraries has pointed to the need for cooperative planning by school, college, and public library administrators concerning library services to students within the same geographic areas. In rural communities, school boards, administrators, and school librarians are moving toward the development of school library service from intermediate units under the administration of boards of education.

"State library extension agencies, primarily concerned with public libraries, have gradually withdrawn direct service to schools as their programs have matured and as boards of education have become able to support and administer school libraries. In some States with undeveloped school library programs, direct service from State library extension agencies to schools still exists. However, in these States, the principles of school and public library relations should be applied as soon as possible, and the full responsibility for State-level services to school libraries should be assumed by State departments of education."

Before we discuss these principles in terms of the complementary and supplementary functions of school libraries and public libraries, let us review briefly the basic reasons for renewed concern with school and public library relationships:

1. New emphasis in teaching methods on the use of many materials, particularly in the areas of science, mathematics, and foreign languages, but in all subject areas;

2. The inability of school libraries-many of them substandard in resources to meet these new demands;

3. The shortage of professional personnel for both school and public libraries to serve rapidly increasing school and community populations;

4. The lack of communication between librarians and governing boards of schools, and public libraries.

The first principle of the policy statement needs examination to point up complementary functions of school and public libraries in providing services for children and youth: "The school library serves the school, and the public library serves the community. Teachers and pupils are members of both the school and the community." Broadly speaking, the school library and the public library serve the educational needs of the schools and the community. When students enter the public library, they do not divest themselves of their status as school pupils; the fact that they are community members entering a community educational institution does not automatically change their interest in fulfilling school assignments. It would be very convenient if we could separate curriculumstimulated requests for library service from other types of motivation in the use of libraries, but curriculum includes not only the three R's and factual information but the reading of modern poetry, fiction, and biographies, acquiring understanding of the problems of modern society, the study of art and art forms, the development of interest and competence in recreational pursuits-like reading, photography, painting, music, and, in general, the education of each child to his full potential. To separate the functions of types of libraries by curricular and noncurricular needs, therefore, is a dubious distinction, and leads only to further confusion. We might solve the problem by simply making school libraries so well stocked and open for such long hours that students would never need to use the public library, but we have acknowledged generally these basic purposes of the school: "Teaching library skills adaptable to all types of libraries and encouraging pupils to use libraries for continuing self-education." What is the basis, therefore, on which we establish the complementary functions of school and public libraries?

First of all, as a library profession, we must acknowledge the fact that the primary responsibility for service to school pupils rests with the school and the school library, and then, as a profession, work with school boards to make it possible for school libraries to meet these responsibilities. The implementation of the new ALA standards for school libraries, in Standards for School Library Programs, needs the support of the whole library profession, just as we expect the whole library profession to lend support to standards for public libraries.

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