Cutbacks to force school libraries closures

[ms_atoz]

Libraries shelved as school boards look for cutbacks
May 16, 2011

Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER

 

Are school boards throwing the book at their libraries?
 
After years of cutbacks to staff and hours at school libraries, at least one board has now shelved them.
 
In a controversial decision — which even some students are protesting — the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board has laid off all but four of its library technicians and is dismantling all its libraries.
 
It has started to divvy up the library books in its elementary schools and distribute them to individual classrooms instead.
 
 Read more at the original link: http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/991716--libraries-shelved-as-school-boards-look-for-cutbacks

 

Ontario school library staffing down: report
Staffing in eastern, northern Ontario below average
 
CBC News

Posted: May 16, 2011 9:27 AM ET

Last Updated: May 16, 2011 8:44 PM ET

Staffing at school libraries across the province is declining, a trend that could affect children's ability to think critically about information, according to a report released by an education advocacy group.
 
The report by the group People for Education found 56 per cent of Ontario elementary schools in 2010 have at least one full- or part-time teacher-librarian, an accredited teacher who has library training. That's down from 80 per cent in the 1997/1998 school year, according to the report, which was released Monday morning.
 
Meanwhile, 66 per cent of secondary schools across the province have at least one teacher-librarian, down from 78 per cent in 2000/2001, when the group first started tracking data for high schools.

Read more at the original link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/05/16/ontario-school-libraries549.html