She is seeking information about the numbers of school libraries without certified librarians, schools without libraries and school library closures due to testing. She would also like to hear from you if your library was closed for an excessive number of days for testing.
I believe that she is creating a survey for you to answer and she would like any interested party to contact her at
sarahdarerlittman@gmail.com
Here is the text of her email to CASL:
I’m a YA author but I also write political opinion columns for CTNewsJunkie.com and education policy is a major focus. I’m a passionate supporter of school libraries, and I’m working on a column about the importance of school libraries and librarians, after a rather disturbing conversation I had with Congressman Jim Himes.
I was wondering if CASL would be able to help me with the following information.
I’m trying to find statistics on how many of CT’s public schools (by elementary/middle/high school ) a) have functioning libraries with up to date, relevant material b) have a full time media specialist or c) a part-time media specialist
I’m also interested to find out how many days the libraries are unavailable due to standardized testing.
Is this information CASL might be able to help me with?
Even if I can’t get information for all CT schools, I’d be interested in learning as much information as I can.
Thanks in advance for advocating for School Libraries!
Shelley Stedman, MLS
Vice President
Connecticut Association of School Librarians