The Case of the Missing School Librarians

This week (National Library Week), students at a Bloomington-area elementary school are putting on a productive of a play they created: The Case of the Missing Librarian. The play is a direct response to the recent news that the Monroe County Community School Corporation, due to budgetary concerns, decided to reduce the district-wide school librarianship duties to one. That's right.

One. Single. Librarian.

Sad, yes? But not too sad, if it's an isolated phenomenon? I mean, this can't possibly be going on all over the place, can it?

Think again.

The bottom line is, more and more students in American schools are going to be without the additional academic and literacy support that they need in order to succeed in life. School libraries supplement the school education, and school librarians provide instruction in vital information literacy skills that classroom teachers are often not prepared to teach. We need to solve this case of missing school librarians, and quickly.