Here we go again - libraries and budget challenges

For over 40 years, I fought and helped others fight a persistant battle - strong library programs vs district budget cuts. Due to COVID related challenges, this year seems especially dire for many school districts - and school libraries - as evidenced by both newspaper articles and personal emails to me from concerned librarians.

One of the reasons I took a job in 1984 with the ARAMCO schools in Saudi Arabia was that the small rural district in which I was  junior-shigh librarian was reducing its secondary library staff - due to a budget shortfall. West Branch (IA) was going from a full time high school librarian and half time junior high librarian to a single librarian who would be responsible for both buildings - despite having built a brand new school and state-of-the-art school library the prior year. A year after taking the job in Saudi, the library supervisor position for the schools was cut. The camp in which I was serving as the school librarian closed the following year, so the school and its library was being moth balled as well. And jobs were tight when I came back to the U.S. in 1989. I was beginning to think I may be a library jinx!

For the 23 years I supervised the libraries in the Mankato Schools, rarely a year went by without having to defend library budgets. Happily, the program grew throughout my tenure there - but it was always a conscious effort and librarians added to their plate of responsibilities each year. Especially in the area of technology integration and teach PD for teachers. In my 5 years with Burnsville, I did not have much success in rebuilding the elementary library program which was already run by paras. I did manage to get a district-wide materials budget and a professional library supervisor in place, creating more district-wide equity of access to all students in the distrct. But again, each year I was part of a process that looked at budget cutting and library programming was always on the table.

Over the years, I tried to share strategies that seemed to help me not just protect, but grow, school library programs. In general, these included 1) having a voice in the decsion-making process by serving on committees, 2) building voices of advocacy from parents and teachers, 3) understanding the district's budgeting processes, and 4) actually having a clearly described  budget and program to support. I have no clue if any of this advice helped a single program.

In retirement, I have purposely stepped away from offering my "wisdom" to others in my profession, expecting that younger, smarter, more energetic, and more effective library advocates will step forward to guide the profession. That they will be able to accomplish something I never could - find a fool-proof method for protecting students from library budget cuts. 

I look forward to seeing their efforts and genuinely wish them success.

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For what it's worth, a few selected articles and columns from ancient history on the topic. All my writings can be found on my website..

 Articles

• Budgeting for Lean Mean Times, MultiMedia Schools Nov/Dec 1995
• Minnesota Can’t Afford to Skimp on School Libraries Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 7 1994
• Politics of Money for the School Library Media Professional Minnesota Media, Fall 1994
• Results of a Survey on Library Media Professional Staffing Cuts. np. September 2002
• Shy Person’s Guide to Lobbying, Minnesota Media, 2007
• Using Planning and Reporting to Build Program Support The Book Report, May 1992
• When Your Job is on the Line [MEMO’s Strategies for Assisting Library Media Specialists Whose Positions are in Jeopardy] Minnesota Media, 2004 and Library Media Connection, Feb 2005

Head for the Edge columns

• Rules of Advocacy, March/April 2012
• The Power of Parents, November 2006
• Whose Voices Are Most Powerful? November/December 2004
• No Principal Left Behind, March 2003 
• Advisory Advice, October 1997

BFTP: Teachers who can be replaced by a computer should be

I remember 1981.

I was a 1/2 time language arts teacher and a 1/2 time librarian for a 150 student junior high in rural Iowa. And 1981 was the year I got my first computer in the library - an Apple II. I used it with (as memory serves), AppleWriter and the MECC Gradebook. The principal used VisiCalc to calculate teacher salary proposals during teacher negotiations. The kids played Oregon Trail, Lemonade Stand, and Eamon after school. An inauspicious beginning to a career dominated by technology.

Professor Smith's prediction in the article above that computers in the classroom would kill literacy has not come true. His prediction that computers would replace teachers has not come true. (Although I still like to say that teachers who can be replaced by computers, should be.)

Today the same Cassandra-like warnings can be heard about computerized learning systems and AI and robots. I'd say the same thing: if what you do can be done by any one of these technologies, they should replace you.

As an educator, you are hired for your judgement, your passion, and especially your compassion.

Original post 9/5/18

I don't want the government to tell ME what to do

But it's OK for government to tell YOU what to do.

A too-common response to the regulations imposed on individuals to slow the spread of the COVID19 virus is: "“The government” shouldn't be telling me what to do!" It's my "right" not to wear a mask (or wear it below my nose), get a vaccination, distance, avoid big gatherings, etc.

I sort of get it. I don't like government telling me I HAVE to wear a seat belt, I HAVE to obey a speed limit, I CAN'T shoot firecrackers (in MN, anyway), I HAVE to pick up my dog's poop, I HAVE to drive a car that meets safety standards, I HAVE to send my children to school, etc.

“Government” is, of course, shorthand for any type of authority. The city tells me what kind of garbage containers I must use. The county zoning board won’t let me build a hog confinement operation in my backyard. My homeowners association dictates the color siding I can put on my house. The church tells me who I should or should not sleep with. Parents and teachers have behavioral expectations to which even very young children object. 

The rules of society as enforced by “the government” can seem over blown. I remember my disappointment the last time I visited Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills and found jumping from the rocks near the swimming beach was forbidden, having fond memories of doing so on earlier trips and wanting to share that experience with my grandsons. Not being able to climb the grand pyramid at Chichen Itza diminished the experience when revisiting. Not being able to buy recreational marijuana in Minnesota feels very parental. And hey, shouldn't I be a good enough judge of knowing when I've had too much to drink to drive a car?

For most rational people, regulations like getting a vaccination or wearing a seat belt are unnecessary. Don't "good people'' just always pick up their dog poop? Don't all caring parents send their kids to school? Doesn't everyone who believes in science wear a mask in public places? 

I often think of the old quote from Plato "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." Would Plato (and should I) look at a person who drives over the speed limit a "bad" person? How about the old fart at the gym who wears his mask below his nose? The Minnesotan who buys pot off the street? The dad who doesn't put his kid in a child seat? The biker without a helmet?

The difference to me between "good" people and "bad" people is if they consider the impact their choices have on others. I would not fuss at all if someone wants to get plastered and go for a drive - if no one else were on the road. I'd have no problem with letting dogs poop where they may - if neighbors did not have to look at it or smell it and toddlers were not tempted to see how it tastes. A person who chooses to potentially contract COVID19 by not wearing a mask or getting a shot should have that option - except that decision makes it more likely others may contract the virus as well.

Difficult times like these bring these sorts of hard questions to mind, and writing about them helps me personally sort through, if not answers, at least strategies for clarifying them. While I am disappointed that I will not be able to have my hog lot just outside my backdoor, overall, I am happy that that “the government” tells YOU what to do.