Key points:
When I was a kid, my dad never let me shop at the Scholastic Book Fair. The avid reader in me didn't really care that I saw the Book Fair as competition for our family business and an unnecessary purchase. I just wanted the new Baby-Sitters Club book! However, this is not a “woe is me” story. Growing up, I had more than my share of books in my home library and my mom took us to the public library regularly. And just because my family didn't support the book fair fundraiser, they found different ways to contribute to my elementary school.
A generation later, I know I won't force my son Holden to boycott the book fair because I know how important it is for schools to supplement their funding through fundraising activities. In a recent market study, librarians said they receive about $10 per student to spend on books. To better meet the needs of their school communities, they host fundraisers and partner with nonprofit organizations with the goal of adding up to an additional $5 per student. Of that study, an anonymous Michigan librarian said, “We lost our budget during COVID because we were remote for so long. The solution I found is that now a big part of my job is fundraising.”
Headlines since 2020 have highlighted ESSER Funding's federal investment in schools. In a nation where an unprecedented amount of funding was awarded to public schools across the country, why is fundraising still necessary?
Many districts initially used pandemic relief dollars on PPE to get students back in classrooms, then transitioned to large capital projects like HVAC and improving school safety. A second anonymous librarian, this time in New Jersey, explained: “My school received a significant amount of ESSER funding, but the funds intended (by my district) for libraries ended up being used for other purposes, such as air purifiers and other things.” infrastructure and technology. .”
When I asked William Schaller, an information literacy specialist in Houston, how he used ESSER dollars to replace lost print books when schools closed during the pandemic and students went home, he said, “A lot of our materials were lost. when the students were at home. learning or walked away from our school.” He added, “We will continue to advocate for school libraries to be included in our school district budgets, sharing the positive impact libraries have on our students. We will continue to write grants that will hopefully be funded by literacy supporters in the community, and we will advocate and promote all the powerful literacy events that will take place in the heart of our school, the library! You can never have too many relevant, new and inclusive books in the library.”
As ESSER funds expire at the end of this year, districts like Schaller, which previously used pandemic relief funds on book purchases, are finding new ways to ensure continued investment in reading materials, because, given ESSER scores, readings reported on the nation's report card, no principal or superintendent wants to be seen as investing less in books.
But as with any operation, the expiration of ESSER funding will force districts to do more with less. John Chrastka, CEO of Every Library, explains: “The costs of running and maintaining a library have increased since the pandemic and show no signs of slowing down. After ESSER, schools will have to rethink how they operate, but administrators and principals should not be allowed to balance the budget by cutting libraries and librarians, given the value they bring to the community.”
Meredith Hill of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction encourages district leaders to take a hard look at how they allocate their budget money after the pandemic and to continue making reading materials a priority. “The importance of funding school libraries during the upcoming ESSER funding expiration cannot be overstated,” Hill said. “District-level decision makers must prioritize continued annual funding for school libraries to maximize the impact that certified school librarians can have on every student and teacher in the district. Failing to provide that reliable annual budget and asking school librarians to seek their own funding through grants, book fairs, or other funding sources leads to greater inequalities in the services and resources available to staff and students in different schools within from the same district. “This is contrary to the philosophy of equitable access that underlies the foundation of library service.”
However, school librarians recognize that fundraising is now simply part of their job description and that it has never been more important to demonstrate and advocate for the value that libraries and librarians bring to the education system. “Schools with well-funded school libraries, up-to-date collections, and certified school library coordinators can boost student learning in high-impact ways,” Hill said. “These include providing curriculum-aligned resources, collaborating on technology-rich research and projects with teachers, sparking student curiosity and problem-solving with the Makerspace, guiding the ethical implementation of ai, and creating a culture throughout school and a lifelong love of reading. “
Being well funded may require work and creativity on the part of the librarian, but it can be achieved through effective community partnerships, a cornerstone of the Future Ready Libraries Framework. Schaller relies on several funding sources outside of district appropriations. “Grant writing is another wonderful way for libraries to collect diverse titles,” Schaller said. “Our school has received grants from author James Patterson and Scholastic Book Clubs to help introduce more books into our schools, ensuring literacy for our readers. DonorsChoose is a quick way our library has been able to write material-specific projects. Donors can select projects that inspire them by searching for keywords, such as “library books” or “STEM,” and donate them to schools across the country. Through DonorsChoose, our library received grants for books in November about voting and the importance of elections, many Spanish translations of popular titles for our Spanish Books section of the library, and even CBS' Young Sheldon has funded projects STEM and makerspace for our library’s hands-on learning area!”
Johnna Gregory, a librarian at Trinity Lakes Elementary School in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD in Texas, recently put community partnerships to work to include the “fair” in their book fair. Each of the 650 students on campus had the opportunity to choose TWO books to take home for free. To make the book fair “fair,” Gregory solicited donations from the community, the PTA, and board members; she took advantage of book sales from vendors; and she used her for-profit book fair rewards to purchase the books, so that each student left with a book in each hand.
Whether the funds come from city taxes, state or federal appropriations, grants, physical book fairs, electronic fairsBake sales, DonorsChoose, corporate partnerships, or a combination of all of them, access to books changes lives, and that's an investment none of us can afford not to make.
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