Just a Room Full of Books

Thanks to Doug Johnson for pointing out this article on the MEMO list. It comes from BeyondChron, San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily.

School Beat: A Library Without a Librarian is Just a Room Full of Books by Ren Volpe‚ Mar. 02‚ 2006.

The article deplores the state of school media centers in San Francisco. Not too hard for me to believe, as when we lived in California school my son was in a kindergarten class of 40 and school support left much to be desired.

It would be easy to dismiss the article as the state of affairs in California. However, many of the examples sound familiar to situations in Minnesota. However, I must say, that the 44 schools I participate in service to who are Online Libraries on the SELCO Integrated Library System are doing substantially better than most others in the region, and definitely better than in San Francisco. It follows that schools willing to make the investment in belonging to the regional library automation system have made the commitment to library service for their students which include providing a certified media specialist and better than average collection.