Schools closing libraries

Pew Trust - The number of school libraries and librarians has been dwindling for decades. Between the 1999-2000 and 2015-16 school years, the latest comprehensive figures available, the number of school librarians dropped 19%, according to a School Library Journal analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data.

Some school districts are closing school libraries, removing books or eliminating media specialist positions. In some states, many schools already lack school librarians: The New Jersey Herald reported as many as a fifth of all districts in the state did not have a certified school library media specialist on staff during the 2018-19 school year.

The California Department of Education reported that only about 9% of California schools have a credentialed teacher librarian, full or part-time. Most work in high schools.

In Michigan, 92% of schools don’t employ a full-time, certified librarian, according to the education news site Chalkbeat, and the number of school librarians in Michigan declined 73% between 2016 and 2020. Several studies, including one about Michigan, correlate higher reading scores on standardized tests with the availability of libraries and librarians