Not So Distant Future

Texas school libraries have been agonizingly hard hit in the budget crisis in Texas, losing staff across the state. A few days ago, I created this map to help chart some of the losses in Texas in the hopes of bringing attention to the overall impact on students in our state.

In 24 hours, over 55 districts had posted losses–losses of campus librarians, library clerks and assistants, and losses of district library positions; many more have been added to the list since then.
View A state without librarians in a larger map

We all know how vital librarians are to the instructional process in our schools–they work hand in hand with teachers, teach information literacy, connect students with literature, incorporate new technologies into the school’s curriculum, and much more. We know that the presence of school librarians significantly affect achievement scores. (see previous post)

Yet this map belies that, a fact that I shared in my recent testimony to the House education committee on HB 1505. (Blog post to come on that).

If you know of library cuts in your local area, please add them to the map, and help keep publicizing the story of how the state budget is impacting libraries specifically. Let’s help preserve those services for our students.

postscript:  another blog highlighting the map