This is a segment from WCCO News and CBS Minnesota, covering the decline of school libraries since the COVID-19 Pandemic began in 2020. It references the SLIDE Project, which stands for The School Librarian Investigation-Decline or Evolution? Project. According to their website, libslide.org, this project was conducted from September 2020 through August 2023 to “determine patterns in the continuing, national decline in school librarian positions and how school districts decide to staff library, learning resources, and instructional technology programs”. According to SLIDE, in the 2020-21 school year, 30% of public school districts did not have any librarian at any of their schools(Ellis & Lance, 30).
However, this lack of librarians is not new. In fact, the number of school librarians has been on a decline for a while. In a presentation, Keith Curry Lance, the principal investigator of SLIDE, showed that the number of school librarians dropped from 50,300 in 2010-11 to a low of 39,099 in 2020-21. While there was a slight jump up in 2021-22, the numbers are still much lower than ten years prior. In fact, in 2015 Debra E. Kachel, who went on to become the project director for SLIDE, wrote an article for The Conversation lamenting the decline in the number of school libraries and school librarians, despite studies showing that their presence has a positive impact on students’ reading and writing scores.
SLIDE’s website has a number of resources showing the results of their investigation. This includes fully accessible papers that show their methodology and results, links to news articles, infographics and videos, and presentations by the investigators. You can even compare data between school districts or view profiles for each state. Now that the disparities in school librarians has been measured and documented, it will be even easier to do the work to encourage school administrators to put their students’ literacy first and look to hire new school librarians.
However, this lack of librarians is not new. In fact, the number of school librarians has been on a decline for a while. In a presentation, Keith Curry Lance, the principal investigator of SLIDE, showed that the number of school librarians dropped from 50,300 in 2010-11 to a low of 39,099 in 2020-21. While there was a slight jump up in 2021-22, the numbers are still much lower than ten years prior. In fact, in 2015 Debra E. Kachel, who went on to become the project director for SLIDE, wrote an article for The Conversation lamenting the decline in the number of school libraries and school librarians, despite studies showing that their presence has a positive impact on students’ reading and writing scores.
SLIDE’s website has a number of resources showing the results of their investigation. This includes fully accessible papers that show their methodology and results, links to news articles, infographics and videos, and presentations by the investigators. You can even compare data between school districts or view profiles for each state. Now that the disparities in school librarians has been measured and documented, it will be even easier to do the work to encourage school administrators to put their students’ literacy first and look to hire new school librarians.
Works Cited:
Ellis, Deeth & Keith Curry Lance. “Schools Without Librarians: First School- Level Data on the Post-COVID Era.” The School Librarian Investigation - Decline or Evolution?, February 2024. Link.Kachel, Debra E. “The calamity of the disappearing school libraries.” The Conversation, July 13, 2015. The Conversation US, Inc. Link.
Lance, Keith Curry. “School Librarians: Status as of 2021-22”, ALA Connect Live, Our Brave Communities: Embracing School Librarians, 25 May 2023. Link.
"School librarians on the decline nationwide as position evolves." Youtube, uploaded by WCCO - CBS Minnesota, 6 November, 2023. Link.
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