My View
A Bronze Bullet We Already Have: School Libraries
BY ANDREW MAXEY/School Administrator, November 2020

WE WERE A GOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT. We loved students and worked hard to serve them. But they were not readers. They didn’t read when they didn’t have to nor read well when they were tested. We were typical of school districts everywhere.

Then a new superintendent brought what he called a “laser-like focus on literacy.” One result was a transformation of the role of the school librarian. Librarians (and libraries) were restored to the heart of each school and began helping lead the work to lift student literacy, which is clearly improving. Our shared commitment to real, sustainable change has made that evolution possible.

A few practices and different ways of thinking have surfaced as key to this important new role for librarians.

»Understand the other side of reading. Reading instruction is important, but it’s just one side of the literacy coin. Study the way reading works in the brain. Study the essential role reading plays outside instructional contexts. How-to matters. Doing matters too. There is no tension between reading instruction and reading engagement as they are complementary parts of a single process. So restore the balance. Focus on reading instruction and self-directed reading, valuing both. Make it normal for kids to read all the time. Help them grow into strong, self-directed readers.

»Listen to the experts. View librarians as leaders, as literacy experts. Require each school to include the librarian on its leadership team and in the complex work of pursuing improved outcomes for student learning. Librarians should lead all work related to developing and maintaining a culture of reading within a school. The status of and expectations for the librarian have changed in our district, and the evidence suggests we are better for it.

»Build literacy teams. Our instructional coaches and school librarians engaged in joint, yearlong professional learning to develop an increased understanding of each others’ role and the research that supports both sides of literacy. The process culminated in the collaborative development of school-level plans to create and nurture a culture of literacy. They are stronger together.

»Frame access as a matter of equity. For many students, factors beyond their control deny them access to books. But they are in your building every day. All students deserve regular access to high-quality, relevant, high-interest books. If you don’t give it to them, they won’t have it. We know that becoming a strong reader depends on a volume of reading engagement born from self-motivation. Simply, our students need strong libraries and deserve to have them. Make that a priority.

»Develop strong partnerships. This work is difficult to do alone. Our relationships with the public library, a university literacy center and community organizations have blossomed. We have adopted and strengthened relationships with digital book vendors who support our mission of elevating reading engagement among students. Every student in the district now can access the entirety of the public library’s digital juvenile and young adult collection, even if they do not hold a library card. Find the organizations seeking to improve literacy in your community and collaborate to amplify your impact.

Illiteracy Weapon

Unfortunately, there are not scores of education leaders advocating vigorously for school libraries. Why not become such an advocate? The national data on student learning suggest what we are doing is not working for our students. Surely a call to create schools filled with students obsessed about reading all the time will be utterly uncontroversial.

That is exactly the culture our district is aiming for. They are not a panacea, but libraries and the highly skilled literacy experts who run them are a weapon against both illiteracy and aliteracy. We must not ignore them any longer.

ANDREW MAXEY is director of strategic initiatives in the Tuscaloosa City Schools in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Twitter: @ezigbo_