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Showing Book Burning Troglodytes the School Library Door [1]

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Date: 2022-12-24

The media’s fleeting interest in librarians speaking up is entirely free of any regard for librarians, kids or education. The staff and kids are simply the shark chum of the day or week, and the media have to have two sides where there is one or Sauron won’t feed them.

I wish to suggest that calling out book burning is v necessary but getting drawn into a media narrative about ‘grooming’ is not librarians’ most effective defence or attack. The No. 1 sticking point, and also opportunity, for librarians in schools is all about showing their academic worth, because most of those around them, including funders, are primarily concerned with academic performance. Where this has been looked there has been a lot of ‘inconclusive’ and recommending further studies that have previously involved using much the same methods and preconceptions repeatedly. This is open to being remedied as there may not be much evidence entirely specific to libraries in schools, but there is an abundance of evidence from education and child psychology available, which staff and parents find compelling. In addition, you can collect your own specifics on site. For example:

Being able to read before entering school is about as clear cut an indicator as we have of later academic performance. It would be very unusual to learn to read at home without access to books, so there is a very early and demonstrable connect between opportunities to read and later academic performance.

The current correlational studies and case studies are not the right kit for the job. Alternatively and for instance, arrange a research exercise across a year group within a subject area and run a scaled before and after not on the subject content, but on pupils’ confidence in applying key learning and research skills/ critical thinking to the project. Headteachers love it, as improving (academic) confidence is much win and those without great academic results match those reporting weak or missing skills, handily pinpointing where some easy fixes can be quickly applied. It’s not directly measuring causality in academic performance, but it readily translates into teachers’ understanding of multiple underlying causalities. (Along the way you’ve demonstrated that the library is a good place to develop such skills).

It's tricky for a librarian to reply to a school board specifically on academic performance and while many areas around general literacy skills are raised they often don’t touch academic performance directly for fear of having to give the staple response shown on the AASL site of ‘more studies’. Again there’s evidence if you go looking for it. If schools are providing pupils with the learning and research skills they need to work with subject content why are students arriving at university after 12 or so years of schooling immediately run through months of learning and research skills?

Once you start drawing on evidence across educational literature various other pieces fall into place in the eyes of staff and parents. For example, if kids from wealthier families with houses full of books, maps, art materials and games are consistently doing better academically, what might happen if we feedforward on access inside less wealthy or struggling families?

All in all, the more done to promote what a library contributes academically and in many other areas, the less time spent on the fake disputes the far right and sections of the media seek to promote for cash and giggles.

As for anyone wanting to ban a book, ‘great, we’re glad you care, in the interests of child protection we want to hear all about your concerns. Please fill out this [lengthy] Critical Incident Form with your reasons and evidence, one for each title, and indicate your preferred outcome from the Critical Containment Tick List. We have print or [the living hell of filling out a dodgy] PDF. Upon completion your CIF will be reviewed by pastoral care/ a senior member of staff. This will include careful consideration of your CCTL recommendation in line with the schools’ policies. A preliminary reply will be sent to your email within 30 days. God bless America!’

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/24/2143687/-Showing-Book-Burning-Troglodytes-the-School-Library-Door

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