The numbers of school libraries and librarians in Michigan have declined sharply over the past two decades, but two Michigan state senators have introduced bills they will hope will restore them.
State Senator Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) is one of them. He’s sponsoring bills that would require every Michigan school district to offer at least one accessible library, and that each be staffed by a certified school librarian.
Camilleri said he worked as a teacher at a Detroit charter school that didn’t have a library — and that’s the case for too many schools in the state. “Schools just have not had the ability to invest in library infrastructure,” he said. “A lot of it has come down to budget cuts.”
Camilleri said school libraries and librarians are a key element of the state’s larger effort to boost lagging student literacy skills and reading scores. “School librarians not only are there to help facilitate the library itself,” he said. “They are important teachers for students, as well as assisting the classroom teachers to navigate different literacy laws, expectations, and strategies.”
Camilleri said Michigan ranks 46th nationally for school library staffing. Currently, more than 90% of Michigan’s public schools lack a certified librarian, with only 567 full-time librarians for the state’s more than 1.3 million students last school year — a little more than four librarians for every 10,000 students — according to state data.
Camilleri said he knows restoring the state’s school libraries comes with a cost. But he pointed out that the last two state education budgets have included “historic” levels of funding, and pledged that as chairman of the School Aid Budget in the Senate, he would secure as much funding as possible to help districts rebuild their libraries. "We can't necessarily cover every cost all the time for every program, but my hope is to be able to support school librarians and school libraries to the best of my ability,” Camilleri said.
The school library legislation also includes a bill sponsored by Senator Rosemary Bayer (D-West Bloomfield) that requires a principal or other school administrator designate someone to supervise students in the library when no certified media specialist is present. The bills now move on to the Senate Education Committee.
“Librarians play a vital role in our education system,” Bayer said in a statement. “This legislation will ensure every student has access to the valuable services and information our school librarians provide. In today’s age of digital misinformation our librarians help students ascertain fact from fiction and the importance of checking sources. They are providing our students with skills they will use every day.”
