Evening star., 1961-03-26

Of the levels here is as follows:
The elementary level, besides
having no librarians, also has
few books, and few, if any, IL
brary rooms. Some of the
schools are serviced with fair
ly up-to-date books by parent
committees and various ritizenS
groups. This averages out to
about one-half a book per stu
dent. The national average is
as books. The number should
be 10, experts say, and any
thing below S is "subStandard."
Most school Jurisdictions in
nearby Maryland and Virginia,
incidentally, are at least at the
as national average. s.
In the District q pupil starts
a book in class and must leave
it. He never gets back to it, the
teachers say. Because he is not
inspired, he also is unlikely to
go to public library during his
out-of-School hours.
| Making matters worse, the
scheduling Of junior high class
es does not allow for a library
period. The student must make
use of already poor facilities
either before the day begins or
after it ends.
The junior highs also have
too few books, and most of
these are of poor quality and
out of date. There are 3l2
books available per pupil. The
national average is about s.
Junior highs of similar size
in Montgomery County have
two librarians and one library
aide each. The same is true in
Arlington. Both areas have
from 5 to 7 books per pupil,
most of them top rade. COM
pared to the 3l2 available to
District students.
Also, in Montgomery and
Arlington counties the students
make use of the books. Circu-
lation figures there run from
10 to 80 books per pupil per
year.
The Districts senior highs,
with one librarian each, have
about five books available for
each student. The exception is
the new Ballou High, which
has huge library room but
fewer than two books per pupil.
Most Of its shelves are empty.
Most of the books are on loan.
Officials report that fewer than
100 Of the volumes are owned
by the school.
Money Needed for Libraries
If you want good school IL
braries you have to spend
money. educators argue. The
District spends nothing at the
elementary level and an aver
age of 76 cents per pupil per
year at the junior, vocational
and senior high levels. BY con-
trast, Maryland spends $1s50
and Virginia about 50. Accord
ing to the American Associa-
ton of School Librarians, the
ideal would be 81 to Sc.
In addition, the % librarians
in the District are not required
to have educational back
grounds highly recommended"
by the National Education AS
sociation.
The District is trying. how
ever.
Recent hiring of the IL junior
high librarians is described by
Miss Nolen as "a small step
in the right direction"
Also, DR.. Hansen has set up
a pilot library program in the
experimental Amidon School.
The money. however, had to
come from private sources be-
cause he couldn't get it from
the legislators.
He also set up q standing
committee on school libraries,
headed by Miss Miriam Kauf-
man. This committee hopes to
come UP with a set OF reason
able standards" for District
school libraries. So far, there
is not even a set of standards.
So disturbed Is the Wash
ington Junior League that it
has made a gift Of $27,200 to
the District School Board so
something can be zone.
The league warned, however,
that the money would be forth
coming over a two-year period
and that after that someone
else would have to take over
hopefully, the Commissioners
and Congress.