ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Why Libraries and Librarians are so Frequently Undervalued

Updated on February 21, 2015
Rosie writes profile image

Rosie is a library media specialist. An avid reader and life-long learner, she enjoys sharing her knowledge and expertise in many areas.

Source

The Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians Are Undervalued

It is true that librarians are often overlooked and undervalued. I have seen it for myself in the elementary schools I have taught in. The same scenario replays again and again. Teachers planning together and struggling to come up with resources and ideas to meet school district student goals, while never reaching out to the librarian for help.

Frequently funds for libraries and librarians are cut and this is caused by a few different things. The first one being that the importance of the library is never brought up in teacher training. Teachers become consumed in their work and never think to look to the library for assistance. The point is that librarians need to be actively communicating with teachers and administrators, providing relevant information and resources, assistance and collaborative opportunities to them often.

In addition, the progress made by librarians in improving student achievement is easily overlooked by administrators as it is harder to define by them. Librarians are also “isolated”, working by themselves and during times of the day when teachers and administrators are in social settings. This means librarians have to keep evidence of their impact on student achievement and have to make time to be seen which can be a challenge.

Librarians are to blame somewhat for their being viewed as dispensable by teachers and administrators. They often show one another all of their ideas and successes, but do not share these things with the school community. As librarians, we have an enormous task before us that we cannot ignore.

Ways Librarians Can Create Awareness

According to Gary N. Hartzell, a former school administrator, there are three major ways to turn the tides in the perception of the school librarian. First is building and maintaining positive relationships with administrators and teachers who are leaders in the school. These people will support the librarian and hopefully have their back when they are not there. They will know how important the librarian’s position in the school is and will want to support them. To achieve this, I think it is essential for the librarian to be present at meetings, providing effective input, and offering assistance without being asked. It is also important to provide beneficial student activities where student achievement is easily observed. Activities such as Battle of the Books, Accelerated Reader, author events and book clubs show vast reading improvement among a school population.

Another way Hartzell suggests is by writing articles and making presentations for audiences other than librarians. Librarians share ideas all the time, but often fail to tell anyone else about their successes. I think by making this change, librarians can have a huge impact on the way others think.

Lastly, Hartzell says that librarians not only need to be part of supporting organizations, but need to be active in their organizations to make an impact in the way librarians are viewed. Participating in presentations, being a part of lobbying activities and writing grant proposals are just a few ways to make their ideas heard. It is clear that librarians need to be vocal to make changes happen.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)