LA Unified reopens all district
libraries — but forgets about the books
LA School Report: 8.04.2016 by Mike Szymanski
For the first time since some school libraries were
shuttered during budget cuts in 2008, all of the LA Unified school libraries will
be back up and running when school starts again on August 16.
But according to the latest district estimates,
the majority of students across Los Angeles will still be forced to rely on
under-stocked library collections filled with outdated materials.
District numbers show that the average age of a
book in a LAUSD library is now more than 20 years old, and that the
books-per-student ratio is a shocking 35 percent below the state average. Even
more dire: Most district schools have only a minimal budget to spend on
bridging this gap—if they have any additional library funds at all. READ MORE @
Little support for California’s
public libraries
Sent to the Los Angeles Daily News, August 4.
Krashen: 8.04.2016
Julie Beth Todaro and Audrey Church are right when
they argue that "Shelving LAUSD’s school librarians would widen the learning
gap," (August 3). Making the situation worse is data
showing that California's public libraries are not well-supported.
California cities captured seven of the bottom ten
places in the public library category of the recent (2015) "America's Most
Literate Cities report." The report analyzes data from 77 cities with
populations of 250,000 and above, and is based on number of branch libraries,
holdings, circulation and staffing.
The bottom ten:
68. Los Angeles
69. Anaheim
72. Bakersfield
73. Sacramento
74. Chula Vista
75. Stockton
77. Santa Ana
Study after study has confirmed that library
quality and professional library staffing are directly related to reading
achievement. More access to books,
combined with helpful librarians, means more reading, and more reading means
higher levels of reading achievement.
No wonder reading achievement is low in
California.
Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus
University of Southern California
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