Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 1/23/2008 2:05:00 PM
Three Spokane, WA, moms who are working to improve funding for school libraries have scored some heavyweight help for their upcoming library summit: American Library Association (ALA) President Loriene Roy and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) President Sara Kelly Johns have both committed to travel to Olympia, WA, to speak at the February 1 event.
That morning, librarians and their supporters will gather to affirm “a vision” for 21st-century library media programs in Washington and set an action plan, says Susan McBurney, co-chair of the Washington Coalition for School Libraries and Information Technology (WCSLit).
During an afternoon session, lawmakers will be invited to discuss proposed legislation that WCSLit organizers hope will institute funding for school libraries at the state level and offer supplemental public funding for budgetary shortfalls affecting specific school libraries, says McBurney. Currently, school libraries in Washington are funded locally.
A rally of librarians, parents, and children is also expected that day, outside the summit meeting place—a building adjoining the state legislative campus in Olympia, McBurney adds. Also scheduled to speak is Gary Hartzell, a professor emeritus of educational administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a member of the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries advisory board. Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet, president of Antioch University in Seattle, and Michael Eisenberg, founding dean of the University of Washington School of Information are expected to participate as well.
The goal is for the “community of Washington folks who have been working on this issue to take stock and look ahead to the future and [create] a vision and a plan for how to bring library media programs to the place we all want them to be,” McBurney says.
McBurney and other mothers in the coalition testified last month before the state legislature’s Basic Education Finance Joint Task Force about the importance of school libraries. The task force is drawing up educational recommendations for the fall.
