Bad News At The Library

One Sad Story says The Springfield School District’s elementary schools began the 2002-03 school year with no librarians or library assistants, positions that were eliminated when nearly $10 million in budget cuts were made last spring.

That has left 2 that still do not allow children into their libraries.

An unrelated, but sad Story says Nearly eight weeks into the school year, hundreds of students remain unable to check out books from some elementary school libraries in St. Louis. This, thanks to a “change over to computer systems.” They say With quality libraries critical to improving student achievement, many school libraries in other districts have gone through automation without skipping a beat.

Librarians say they lack the staff, money, qualified volunteers and time to do the work any faster.