History of American School Libraries

Ryan Karijolich, Konstantinos Palas, & Steven Kaszynski

Summary of School LibrariesSchool libraries exist to serve

students, teachers, and the educational goals of the schools.

Manage a centralized collection of diverse learning resourcesDevelopment of information literacy skills

Their development has had a long history in the United States, one that has involved

Public schools Public libraries Governors State legislatures State departments of education State library agencies The National Education Association (NEA) The American Library Association (ALA) Private foundations

Libraries at Large: Tradition, Innovation, and the National Interest. Edited by Douglas M Knight and E. Shepley Nourse. New York: RR Bowker Co., 1969. pg 89.

Historical ContextFew publically supported schools in America during colonial & early republican period

Largely agrarian society, rudimentary education sufficient for developing efficient manual labor forceLimited individual wealth and low literacy rates – no librariesFew public schools in New York and Massachusetts, no compulsory attendance laws

1820-1830s Demographic changes

Immigration and population increase leads shifts from rural to urban societyRise of cities and new technologies like the railroad, printing press, and telegraph create new opportunities open in commerce, business, industry, logistics, engineering, etc.

Several prominent Americans interested in promoting public education

New occupations create need for better educated workforce“Civilizing” America: number of prominent Americans move abroad to study European society

Many interested in European methods of educating the young

Americans developed their own educational systems based on their studies abroad

Belief that teaching reading and providing reading material important for America’s future

Rationale behind building libraries in schools

School Libraries 1830-1876

Period of Legislation

School Libraries 1830-1876: LegislationNew York

1827: Governor De Witt Clinton recommended to State Legislature to act in promoting the development of a better common school system

Proposed building a small library of books in every school house

1835: Legislature acts on recommendation to become first state to provide funds to build school libraries

School districts could levy tax to begin a library, $10 increase each succeeding year

1839: Federal funds meant for education appropriated to build school libraries

55K of fund put aside for 3 years

Cecil, Henry and Willard Heaps, School Library Service in the United States. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1940, pg 44.

School Libraries in New York

1841: 422,459 volumes

1842: 620,125 volumes

1853: 1,604,210 volumes

Cecil, Henry and Willard Heaps, School Library Service in the United States. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1940, pg 44.

School Libraries 1830-1876: LegislationMassachusetts

1837: State Secretary of Education Horace Mann influences passage of school library law Mann: Teaching reading is the

principle purpose of education and a supply of books to promote activity essential; meant for poor as well as rich

Districts “raise and expend $30 for one year”; $10 succeeding year

1842: Resolution passed appropriating additional $15 to each school district for building libraries

Cecil, Henry and Willard Heaps, School Library Service in the United States. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1940, pg 44.

School Libraries in Massachusetts

1841: est. 10,000 volumes

1842: est. 33K-40K volumes

1849: 91,539 volumes

By 1876, total of nineteen states have legislation on books appropriating funds to development of school libraries

Cecil, Henry and Willard Heaps, School Library Service in the United States. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1940, pg 44.

Failures: School Libraries 1830-1876

Defects in original legislationLoophole allowed money appropriated for books spent on teachers’ salaries: period of decline in book volume

Lack of State AdministrationNo guidance in collection development; reports from 1860s find majority of books better suited for adult readers than for students

Lack of Trained PersonnelMoney allocated for books, not for their administration or maintenance

Conclusions 1830-1876

By 1880s, school libraries were poorly maintained, poorly stocked, underused, and did not promote the educational needs of students, teachers, or the school

However: Laws established precedent Belief that schools deserved libraries

Belief that taxes could be appropriated to build them

School Libraries 1876-1920Professionalization and Cooperation

1876: Starting Point for Modern Library Movement

Creation of the American Library Association (ALA)

Government publishes Public Libraries in the United States of America

Publicized need for libraries and served as basis for future library development“Deplores” fact that libraries were not serving children below the ages of fourteenLibrary leaders begin emphasizing the importance of service to young people; movement to revamp school libraries

American School Libraries: 1880-1920

• Cooperation between Public and School Libraries– 1876: Charles Francis Adams propagated the highly popular idea to encourage

increased participation between school and public libraries; – For the remainder of the century, public librarians play key role in developing and

maintaining collections found in school libraries

• Renewal of Legislation to Develop School Libraries– 1892: New York legislature passes legislation appropriating funds to buy approved

library books• Collections Management: Books needed to be approved by the State Department

of Public Instruction• Approved books: reference books, supplementary reading books, books related to

curriculum, and pedagogical books for teachers

• Development of Professional Associations and Relationships: ALA and NEA– 1896: Under recommendation of ALA, the National Education

Association creates a School Library Section• Problem: Continued administration problems within school libraries• Purpose: Creation of a group that will assist in forming policies for future school

library growth• ALA appoints committee to cooperate with this section of NEA

– 1914: ALA forms School Library Section• Holds its first national meeting the following year

Four Types of High School Libraries1880-1920

• “A separate library housed in the high school building, supported by school funds and administered by the board of education and supervised by a teacher or a trained librarian for the exclusive use of HS students and teachers.– Most common type by the end of this period

• A central public school library housed in a senior high school but organized for all of the schools in the city, usually under the supervision of a trained librarian, with a smaller branch library in each of the public schools.– Public School Library of Columbus, OH: 80K Volumes, supplying books to 49 elementary

schools, six high schools

• A public library branch housed in a high school-or a collection of books loaned by the public library to the school for a definite period of time-under the supervision of a teacher or a public library assistant.

• A school library housed in a high school, supervised by a teacher and organized to serve the community as a public library after school hours.”

Libraries at Large: Tradition, Innovation, and the National Interest. Edited by Douglas M Knight and E. Shepley Nourse. New York: RR Bowker Co., 1969. pg 90.

Cecil, Henry and Willard Heaps, School Library Service in the United States. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1940, pg 60.

American School Libraries

1920-1965

1920’s

Decade of Reform in Public Education

Change in Standards

• The NEA (National Education Association) and ALA (American Library Association) appointed a joint committee headed by Charles Certain to study the condition of school libraries and develop standards for them.

Charles Certain's Reports

• First report focused on High Schools. (1920)

• Second report focused on elementary schools. (1920)

Conclusion

• The reports were published in 1925 and concluded that both elementary and High School Libraries were seriously deficient!

Standards set

• The standards set by Certain’s Committee described the library as an “integral part of daily life of the school”.

• What standards you ask?

Certain Standards

• Emphasized on the centrality of “materials of instruction”

• Emphasized a centralized collection.

• Emphasized library instruction as a duty of school libraries.

• Emphasized the integral character of the school library within the total setting of school life.

Significance

• These proposed the first national standards for school libraries

1923The Association for Educational Communications

and Technology (AECT) was founded.

•Professional association of educators and others improving instruction through technology.

•Technology is a process.

•Technology is learners and their relationship to the people, events, places, and things through which they learn.

1924•Elinor Whitney and Bertha Mahony founded The Horn Book Magazine.

•First magazine exclusively devoted to children’s books and reading.

John DeweyJohn Dewey (1859-1952) believed that learning was active and schooling unnecessarily long and restrictive.  His idea was that children came to school to do things and live in a community, which gave them real, guided experience,s which fostered their capacity to contribute to society.

John Dewey and the progressive education movement

• A child’s growth and development, rather than subject matter, should be the central focus of the school.

• Education should involve children learning through a variety of experiences and exploring a variety of subjects.

• Children learn best when they are exploring subjects of interest to them.

• Schools should be a social experience that teaches children how to be self-directed.

1930’s

• More reform and various texts and documents focused the attention on school libraries.

1945• ALA publishes

School Libraries for Today and Tomorrow, Functions, and Standards, the first national standards for both elementary and secondary school library programs.

Prepared by the Committees on

Post-War Planning of the ALA.

• Participation in curriculum studies and development

• Membership on teacher committees, both local and state

• Preparation of bibliographies for all reading levels and subject interests

• Planned instruction in the use of materials

• Cooperative guidance in development of good study habits

• Assistance in remedial programs, especially those related to study and reading skills

• Stimulation and assistance in group and individual investigation.

1951

• ALA adopts Standard for Accreditation, which moves the first professional degree in librarianship to the master’s level.

• American Association of School Librarians (AASL) becomes a division of the ALA. The mission of the American Association of School Librarians is to advocate excellence, facilitate change, and develop leaders in the school library media field.

1954

School Library Journal was added to the professional periodical Library Journal.

1957The Soviet Union launched the first earth satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed. Tremendous social pressure was placed upon schools to upgrade the quality of instruction in these areas.

1960's• The 1960’s began a

period of tremendous growth in school library programs nationally. New standards, an influx of federal funding and the Knapp School Libraries Project were very influential in promoting the development of school library collections.

1963

• The American Library Association used funds provided by the Knapp Foundation to set up a program which had great national impact on selling the need for quality media programs to the public.

• Set up model media centers throughout the country.

• Funded the School Library Manpower Project (1968-1974) which developed library job descriptions.

• Set up six model library science education programs at Arizona State, Auburn, Mankato State, Millersville State, University of Denver and University of Michigan.

EASA & ESEA

• 1965: Congress passes Elementary and Secondary Schools Act (Title I)

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title II)

1970s

• 1970: School Library Manpower Project

• 1972: Virginia adopts the first Virginia Standards of Quality

• 1972: School Library Media Quarterly published

• 1974: School Library Journal published separately from Library Journal

1970s

• Media Programs District and School published

• 1979: White House Conference on Library and Information Service

1980s

• 1981: Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA)

• 1986: White House Conference on Library & Information Service

• 1988: Information Power

1980s

• Microcomputer technology

• Reference materials on CD-ROM

• Consortia

1990s

• 1991: White House Conference on Library and Information Services

• World Wide Web

• Information Power (1998)

• Library Power

The New Millennium

• 2001: Reed-Cochran Bill

• 2002: No Child Left Behind

• 2002: Laura Bush White House Conference

• 2007: SKILLs Act