Board Presentation for 12/3/04

K. Toop, YSD Library Coordinator

1.  Purpose for speaking today.

First of all, I would like to thank the School Board this morning for the opportunity to talk about the role of libraries and librarians in the Yakima community of learning.  Our purpose today is to begin a dialog that hopefully will continue when you visit our libraries in the future.  You'll find that we're happy to talk informally with you about our job and our libraries.

2.  Who are we? 

There are 11 elementary- and 6 secondary-certified librarians, as well as 4 teaching librarians in the Yakima School District.  Several district librarians are Spanish-speaking.  Many of us are "itinerants," in that we serve more than one building. Some of us started our teaching careers in school libraries, but many of us returned to college, after beginning teaching careers in other academic areas, to earn our library endorsement.  All of us have a deep love of our profession

3.  What do we do?

The librarian position is one that bridges several distinct roles.  We research, purchase and manage resource collections, including online resources, and we manage student and adult patrons who use those resources.   We serve students, parents, teachers and administrators, by providing books, periodicals, and audio/visual and Internet-sourced materials.  We provide library skills instruction, literacy promotion lessons and activities, and staff in-service opportunities.  We also participate in building and district-level committees. Many of us work with Parent Groups.  Some of us serve as Technology Resource Teachers and education association representatives. We attend local and State Library Media meetings and conferences--occasionally, Yakima librarians serve as presenters at such conferences.  We host the Book Review Council, a librarian-review study group, which draws school librarians from three local counties.

4.  What are the facilities we manage? 

We are a major library system.  Yakima School District libraries circulate 600,000 items a year, mostly books and magazines.  That is three times the 200,000 annual checkouts that circulate through the Yakima Valley Regional Library Main Branch.   While accomplishing this, we are spread among 13 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 2 high schools and the Discovery Lab School. 

5.  Opportunities specifically for families in the Yakima School District. 

Yakima librarians have specifically included families in our district by providing:

1.   Before- and After-school checkout opportunities (B/L and others).

2.   Newsletters sent home to create a home/school link (Gilbert).

3.   Extended hours with tutoring opportunities (Davis).

4.   Monthly Library nights that often serve over a hundred people, and include parents, students and staff (Roosevelt and others).

5.   Two homework-help websites available for Elementary and Secondary Internet users.

6.   WorldBookOnline, an online encyclopedia available to students and their families.  (WorldBookOnline has a Spanish language component "la Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos en Linea.")

7.   Conclusion.  Last spring the OSPI supported a survey of Washington State school libraries.  One solid conclusion from this survey was that quality school libraries could account for at least 3% of successful WASL achievement.  Among other things, this survey underlined the importance of a professionally trained and certified librarian in each school: a librarian trained as a teacher, and as a manager of children and adults, and, finally, as a manager of information resources.  .