Foolhardy administrators and politicians with little notion of the weakness of the Internet have been cutting book budgets, eliminating the jobs of thousands of librarians and replacing them with aides, computer teachers or technicians. In some extreme cases, the school library is padlocked most of the week and opened only a few hours now and again to allow for the circulation of books. Where leaders don't protect the library and information literacy programs, the networking bandwagon is seriously damaging the knowledge resources available to our young. In some places the pressures to network schools are so intense that priorities are severely skewed in order to find the funding for equipment. The hardware effort drains resources away from essential school programs and often leaves the school or district without the funding to provide a robust professional development program or sufficient technical support.
Networks arrive with enormous appetites for dollars and staff time.
Mythology reminds us that the youth of Athens were fed to the Minotaur until Theseus found a way to slay the beast. While many of us can build the case for the proper installation of networks to support information literacy and the development of stronger readers, writers, thinkers, it is unthinkable to reduce funding commitments to books, libraries, and librarians. These resources should be key partners in any program to show our students how to reason, solve problems and conduct research. Staffing - Minimum of 1 certified school library media specialist and 1 support staff. Provides for Information Literacy through Integration of Skills - Library should have a program of information literacy skills that teachers, administrators and parents know about.