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Ever wonder where our school librarians have gone?
By JENNIFER COSTLEY
Once upon a me, not so long
ago, school libraries were staff ed
by school librarians. These magi-
cal people did more than help your
child check out books. They were
there to help your child navigate the
world of informa on — a world that
gets bigger and bigger every year. If
you’re like me, your fi rst introduc-
on to the Internet didn’t happen
on a smartphone; it happened in
your school library or media center.
I dis nctly remember my school
librarian teaching our American His-
tory class how to evaluate a website.
She taught us to trust the .govs and
.orgs and to look for authority when
taking a chance on anything .com.
Back then, I knew to stay away from
sites with an angelfi re or blogspot
in their address. This informa on
helped me get started in college,
where I again learned from our
university librarian how to ferret out
the bad info from the good.
Today’s Internet is bigger and
bolder than ever. Your kid very likely
gets their “news” from their social
media of choice. That’s all well and
good when your news is celebrity
gossip, but it gets tricky when it’s
me to write a school paper or,
heck, just be informed about the
world at large. Parents, can you tell
the diff erence between fake news
and the real deal? A recent poll by
the Pew Research Center deter-
mined that 64 percent of adults
were confused by fake news. These
are adults who, like my genera-
on, probably received librarian-led
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informa on literacy courses
throughout their educa-
on. If we are confused,
how do we expect our kids
to navigate the tremendous
amount of misinforma on
coming at them daily in a
constant stream?
Professionals are cur-
rently developing new
methods for teaching
informa on literacy. One
such strategy is the CARS
method, which teaches
kids to evaluate informa-
on based on Credibility,
Accuracy, Reasonableness
and Support. But while new
tools for evalua on are
being developed, the staff
to teach them con nues to
dwindle. School librarian jobs have
been on the decline for a number of
years now. Where are our cer fi ed
school librarians and media assis-
tants? Quite frankly, unemployed.
Budget cuts have resulted in cer -
fi ed librarians being replaced with
administra ve assistants. These
assistants are working hard to help
your kids but they don’t have all the
tools or educa on needed to do it.
Bo om line, our kids have ac-
cess to more informa on than they
know what to do with. There are
professionals out there trained to
teach informa on literacy and those
professionals belong in our schools.
It’s me that we demand their pres-
ence.
How to lend your support:
• Oregon House Bill 2586 requires
school districts to account for
strong school library programs
and those programs must
include informa on literacy
instruc on, as well as profes-
sionally managed school librar-
ies. Call your school district and
ask them what they are doing
to meet this goal. Every school
district must report their prog-
ress every three years; make
sure your district knows that you
are aware of this bill and you’re
tracking its progress. For more
informa on about how you can
help, visit the Oregon Library
Associa on’s website at www.
olaweb.org.
• Do more than pick up the
phone, heed the Oregon Asso-
cia on of School Libraries’ call to
ac on and a end a “Show up!
Speak up!” event in a loca on
near you. To learn how to get
involved, visit their website at
www.olaweb.org/oasl-home.
________
Jennifer Costley is Assistant Director
and Youth Services Librarian at the
Pendleton Public Library.