By Susan Grant-Suttie
For some reason, there are administrators that believe we no longer need an old fashioned library. Remember those square or rectangular bound leather hard covered items with papers inside them and inked words atop the paper? Yes, old fashioned books. I have seen and heard some head shaking reasons as to why we no longer have them in our schools, or if we do have a room called ‘the library’ it is almost a shame to give them the same title. I totally disagree, we do need them in our schools. Why are our school libraries not a main focus of our schools anymore. The computers cannot do everything.
While in my last year of university, a group of us did a project on censored books. What we discovered was ridiculous and outrageous. We learned about books being burned or banned because ‘Little Red Riding Hood showed a picture of a bottle of wine in her basket on the way to grandma’s house.’ We read that the book called, I Have To Go by Robert Munsch and it was banned because ‘the boy was alone with his grandfather and both were using the bathroom at the same time.’ From what I am aware of regarding the male culture, that is how they handle it – they do not have private urinals with doors, but a shared wall with open stalls and at best a half wall between them. The list went on and on and my heart sank as we read out the list of banned books in North America. Such an attitude can shrink any library, if not the mind of the student, if alternative opinions, cultures, lifestyles, or knowledge are not allowed in the schools.
Later that University year when I was in Japan, I was at Sapporo Junior High School as a practising teacher slowly finishing off my practicum. The principal walked me through the school and the classroom had walls with the upper half being windows so I could see into the rooms. I was so excited when I saw the computer room. I asked to go in.
We walked in and I almost choked on the dust. It was obvious that no one had been in this room since the late 1980s. I back out quickly.
“We have the best computers but we have no programs to make them work,” he concluded and shut the door behind me.
The next door to the left was the library. I asked if I could go in and look at their books. He obliged and opened the door with his large silver key. The jangling of the large key ring made me think that maybe we might be in for the same scenario. I walked up to the books and noticed that there were both English and Japanese books on the shelves. I also noticed that not a single book in their regular size classroom of a library had been moved. There was dust between the books and the edge of the shelf where they sat on.
“Where is your librarian? Why does no one take the books out to read?”
“We expect all our teachers to advise our students what they need to know,” he said in a quiet voice.
I will never forget that comment. From there he encouraged me to return to the hallways to walk me to the various classrooms I would have to teach in. I felt rather sad about the loss of book learning that day.
At a school posting in Calgary I was so pleased to be working towards being the best teacher I could be. I planned a library period for my kindergarten class (a life time ago) and discovered the library was the size of a large office or a mid-sized storage room. There may have been a total of two shelves of English books for my wee one’s level. I shrugged it off saying the school was rather new and still collecting their books. Later that school moved and the next room was a double size classroom for the library, a near empty library as they were not used to having so much space. I went to a public library and requested all of their discarded books and personally scrutinised all the books for grades k-9. I made sure every single book was appropriate, still within the usable standard for the students, and all subject areas were included. When I finally loaded the back of my truck to bring it to the school, I drove past some other libraries. The public libraries were huge, but too far from our school to visit. The other school libraries I was aware of were at times an entire wing of the school with meeting tables and study carols, and computers, and white boards ready for use. Here I was hoping that my personally chosen 600 previously discarded books were sufficient. I valued books and the whole sense of the library so much that I thought of it as the beginning of something beautiful that we were building. It was just the beginning I told myself. I watched as the library never grew, in fact, it shrunk again with many of the books ending up in the basement of the school. There was no one sustaining the growth of the library.
I have also heard about the burning of books by administrators because they did not agree with the content. They wanted those books permanently inaccessible. These books were under the category of religiously incorrect, culturally inappropriate, ‘giving the wrong ideas to our youth’ or even in the wrong language. Fahrenheit 451 was what came to mind. Down in the United States of America, I am hearing about banning any books that discuss the ‘Critical Race Theory’. One of our greatest hopes is that our children will learn how to have critical thinking. I am not in favour of having a library whose scales tip to inappropriate books, but on the other hand, it would be advantageous to have opposing views available so your students can compare on any issue. What does it model to our youth if we burn books?
Why are libraries and books, in particular, so important? Libraries are not just the compository of books. In the past I saw the space used in so many ways that the library was the heart of the school. I saw chess club competitions happen at lunch time, my eldest daughter during elementary school learned the ethic of volunteering in the library, after school staff meetings happened there on far more comfortable chairs, district wide workshops happened in the library, it was also a safe place for the student to escape – still under the eye of the school but able to take a moment to themselves. Parent teacher interviews happened there. School wide bake sales / book sales / movie afternoons happened in the library. One-on-one time between students and educational aids happened in the library. Group work using their computers happened there. The library should be the heart of the school.
And the books, my heart drops to think of deleting books from our student’s world. Books are able to keep our students on track without the side bars of interruptions that happen on the internet. For many students it appears that words in print would hold longer in the memory than words on screens. Furthermore, books are organised in a way that encourages the reader to notice the same path of understanding as so many other books. For example, the glossary is always in the same place, so is the index, and the blurb about the book, as well there may be a picture to represent the book. These are clues or supports which some readers require. They are easy to find, easier than searching the screen page to find out how to pronounce a word, or discover what the text is about considering the competing images at the side. A book is easier to carry with you and remembering your spot is as easy as slipping a paper between the sheets. It is much harder (and if printed not eco friendly) to remember the web address where that treasure trove of information was. The internet is made to pull the reader off course to what their algorithm determines is to their best diverted interest. Now imagine someone who has a learning difficulty trying to stay on task. Computer information is far reaching but the discipline to stay on task is daunting.
Computers are also a very socially dividing economic place marker. The financially poor who have to choose between buying a computer or paying that month’s rent is not fair to the child. Furthermore, many families do not have printers, the library in the school can offer a printer and protect the student’s pride – at a cost most times. Having a computer for home accessibility is for the have-families, not the have-not-families. Having a library accessible is a socially equal service. Not all students can easily access the public library but they can equally and easily access a school library.
Most of all, books help students become self-sufficient readers and researchers. Where I see the world in the future is one where we should offer our best to our colleagues. We should always be able to remember the name of the book and the author and recommend it to our friends and co-workers. Rarely is it when someone says, “Why don’t you read Oliver Twist online?” I still can’t see myself snuggling up with my computer in bed with a cup of tea to read Charles Dickens from a screen.
And to me, for the love of books, there is nothing like opening the binding and sniffing the age of the cream coloured pages and feeling the texture of paper before my eyes rest on the first word. I am there with the author in my first breath.
Dear Administrators – support school libraries – it is the heart of civilisation.
