The new library at the Veterans' Memorial School in Saugus looksperfect. Strategically placed near the school's entrance, it is meantto be the center of student life. Light pours in through toweringwindows. A patio invites outdoor reading in warm weather. Slickblond wood tables and chairs beckon.
But one key element is missing from the image - a full-time,professional librarian.
After spending $12.4 million to rebuild the school and create thelibrary, Veterans' Memorial cannot afford to hire one. And, despite$75,000 spent on 10,000 new books - chosen without a librarian'sexpertise - the new shelves remain mostly empty.
Across the state, public school libraries are struggling, facingwhat librarians insist is a crisis that threatens to undermine thevery academic skills education reform hoped to build up. There is nostate mandate to fund libraries, so many remain neglected - andsuperintendents readily admit they will take the biggest hit inbudget crunches like the current one.
"We have had to make some choices, not good choices, to get to thebottom line," said Charlotte Sciola, Saugus's assistant schoolsuperintendent.
Funding shortages are keeping Massachusetts near the bottom ofstate-by-state rankings of school libraries. Even as Laura Bushpushes a national $10 million initiative to recruit a new generationof librarians, Bridgewater State College may shut down its libraryscience program because it is so underenrolled.
Interest in the job is lagging, said Ronald Cromwell, dean ofBridgewater State College's school of education, one of the state'smain public teacher training schools. At most, five graduates a yearenroll in the library science program, and it's hard to find facultyto teach the subject.
Research published in this month's issue of American Librariesmagazine shows that based on 1990 Census data, 57 percent ofprofessional librarians (including those in schools and in publiclibraries) will reach retirement age between 2005 and 2019.
Adding to the litany of woes: Book collections in many librariesare so old that man is depicted as still thinking about going to themoon and African-Americans remain Negroes. Also, librarians say,technology threatens to undermine the teaching of informationgathering, because some see librarians and books as less importantnow that the Internet's reach is so wide.
In a survey last year on superintendents' perceptions oflibraries, James Baughman, head of Simmons College Graduate School ofLibrary and Information Science, found that nearly all of the 171superintendents who responded agreed that every student should haveaccess to a good library program. But libraries were ranked fifth ona scale of 5 of what is important to a school district's budget.Class size was number one.
Ending up last on the list is the reason the 800-memberMassachusetts School Library Media Association has startedaggressively lobbying legislators. The group is pushing a bill thatwould mandate a certain amount of money per child in each districtfor library materials, as well as legislation that would add wordingto the state's 1993 Education Reform Law, saying librarians areessential and thus entitled to funding.
The overarching problem, say librarians and parents, is a lack ofunderstanding of the job and the place. Many people still have a1950s view of librarians as people who simply check out books, saidJoan Gallagher, the group's past president and legislative liaison.
These days, a good librarian, who is certified through the stateDepartment of Education, has a master's degree and is a teachingpartner with the classroom teacher, said Gallagher. She is rebuildingSomerville public school libraries with $215,000 after years ofstagnant funding.
Gallagher and other librarians acknowledged the bad timing amidstbudget cuts, but "we have to educate policy makers," she said.
And they say they have plenty of stories statewide of troubleunfolding in public school libraries.
Northampton elementary schools no longer have a librarian becausethe current one took a job elsewhere and district officials say theycan't afford to replace her. Three librarians in Hanover are beinglet go because of an $800,000 shortfall. Framingham is cutting twolibrarian positions, leaving one librarian to take care of 12elementary and middle schools and 6,500 students.
At Winthrop High School, a Proposition 2 1/2 override is finallyproviding money for new computers, furniture, and materials for thelibrary, but it will be a long climb up after many years of neglect.The antiquated card catalog system needs to be computerized. Oldbooks have been weeded out, but the average copyright date is stillaround 1960.
Library media specialist Rosemary McCarthy knows she faces a toughchallenge: Many teachers have stopped relying on the library becausethe presence of a school librarian has been sporadic over the years.And the few students who drift in to use the computers - ones thatwere going to be discarded before the former librarian drove toWashington, D.C., to rescue them from the Library of Congress - thinkthe library is fine.
"That's not good," said McCarthy. "You know how when you're poor,you don't know it?"
At the Shoemaker Elementary School in Lynn, media specialistBarbara Camann has learned to be resourceful. Once a month, she holdsice cream sales in the cafeteria to raise money to supplement the$2,000 allocated annually to buy books and materials. Through sheerwill and creativity she has fashioned a program that many librarian/media specialists talk about.
"I could sit and read books all day long and check out books andsay `good-bye kids.' That would be a lot easier," said Camann.However, "I'm very passionate about school libraries."
In Framingham, some parents have written letters and spoken outagainst the cutbacks to libraries.
"I'm very upset," said Melanie Goddard, whose child is in sixthgrade in Framingham. "The librarians are an integral part of thecurriculum."
But the outcry likely won't change anything. Framingham has toultimately cut $5 million from the school budget and seek an overrideof Proposition 2 1/2 in June, said Superintendent Mark Smith.
It is not that he does not understand the significance oflibrarians, said Smith. When he came to Framingham in 1996, heunsuccessfully tried to get money allocated for elementary schoollibrarians for three years straight.
"I see their role as teachers. That's what they should be," saidSmith. But in Framingham that role had lapsed into mainly anadministrative one that will now be eliminated. "We consideredcutting social workers, school nurses, literary teachers," he notes."It's a Hobson's choice."
Reality hurts, admits Sciola, the Saugus assistant superintendent."Our kids' research skills probably won't be at quite the same levelas other communities with a stronger economic base," she said.
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