Budget cuts affect school library services

One of the most important parts of Sandy Streit’s job is helping students find their “passion book.”

It’s that book, Streit explained, that sparks a student’s love of reading. It might be a simple chapter book or it might be an entire series.

Helping students discover that book is one of the joys of Streit’s job as Edgerton School’s only full-time librarian.

“If you can win one student over ... it might be something that is a catalyst for reading for their whole life,” she said. “That one connection might light the fire, and they might become lifelong readers.”

Streit and the rest of Kalispell Public Schools’ libraries celebrated their role in helping students discover the joy of reading Wednesday during Montana Library Day.

The day, designated by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, was meant to give Montanans a snapshot of what a typical day looks like in a library, Russell School librarian Nancy Pensa said. Several local libraries, including those at Whitefish Middle School, Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s medical library and the Flathead County Library System, recognized Montana Library Day.

In preparation for the day, Streit asked Edgerton students to write down their favorite things about the library.

“My favorite thing is checking out crafty magazines to make crafts!” one student wrote.

Another student loved “finding the perfect book by Beverly Cleary.”

“I wish we had more library,” another wrote.

Library use at Kalispell’s schools has increased in recent years, Pensa said. Over the last three years, circulation — materials checked out and renewed — has increased 10.9 percent.

This year, just in the first two weeks of school, 7,294 items were checked out by Kalispell students and staff, according to Pensa’s data.

But today’s school libraries are more than just places to check out books. No longer tangential to the school, libraries are classrooms and technological hubs.

Librarians do more than help with the occasional research project or hard-to-find items; they are teacher librarians who follow state and federal curricula to teach students how to find, interpret and use information.

In Kalispell, those classes continue at each of the district’s five elementary schools even though staffing has changed this year.

To help balance a $603,000 deficit in this year’s elementary budget, district administrators opted to shuffle library personnel. Last year, each elementary school had its own full-time librarian. This year, librarians at most elementary schools work in more than one building.

Only Edgerton School has a full-time librarian — someone in the library all day, every day of the school week. Other libraries aren’t so lucky.

At some schools, the libraries are closed part of the day when the librarians are at other buildings. At Russell and Peterson, that means kids don’t have access to the library for part of the week.

The move saved an estimated $45,000 but cost the district in other ways. None of the elementary schools meet the state’s accreditation standards in library staffing.

According to state standards, Edgerton School, with its approximately 560 students, should have the equivalent of 1.5 full-time librarians. This year, it has 1.4 — Streit there full time and two other librarians each there twice a week.

The other elementary schools each should have the equivalent of one full-time librarian, but each of Kalispell’s libraries has the equivalent of 0.8.

Administrators knew when they decided to make the libraries short-staffed that the district’s accreditation would be impacted. But given the budget shortfall, the district didn’t have many alternatives, Superintendent Darlene Schottle said.

The district had to ask, “What is the optimum situation ... and what can we put in place to provide the best situation for students?” she said. “Sometimes we are not able to meet those [accreditation] standards.”

Kalispell Public Schools are failing to meet accreditation standards in other areas as well, Schottle said. The district is out of compliance in every one of its kindergarten classes, which, according to state standards, should have no more than 20 students.

When the district reports those deviations to the state, administrators will be asked how they plan to address those issues, Schottle said.

“We don’t have an answer. That actually comes along with budget planning for this year,” she said.

But the district might not find any answers while planning for next year’s budget; Kalispell Public Schools anticipates about a $2 million shortfall in 2011-12.

Not having a librarian at every school all week hasn’t impacted the classes librarians teach. Each grade level still has the same class time in the library it had last year, Pensa said.

What has changed, she said, is librarians’ ability to offer services on top of those classes.

Those services might simply be staffing the library so students can come in to do research or browse for something new to read. Librarians worry that special programs such as book fairs and author visits might also fall by the wayside.

“Either there is no money to set up [for those special programs] or we don’t have time because we’re moving from place to place,” Pensa said.

Even at Edgerton, there is too much for 1.4 librarians to do, Streit said.

“We just are not providing services as quickly as we would like to,” she said. “I’m behind because I don’t get as much done here.”

It would benefit the kids to have the libraries open full time again, Pensa said. “I think it’s so important kids have their libraries open and they have access to their teacher librarians.”

Streit agreed.

“The value is huge, not only within the library,” she said. “We want them to be lifelong readers. ... The more they read, the more they learn.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.