Diane Ravitch says schools need librarians!

Sometimes Diane Ravitch sounds like the only voice of reason rising out of heated debate over public education. Recently, I interviewed Ravitch for Salon about charters, vouchers, Big Data, Teach for America and her new book, Reign of Error.

Here's one section of the interview that didn't make it into the Salon piece -- Ravitch on school librarians:

DMO: Since I am a public school librarian, I do have to ask about libraries. A lot of people have lost faith in libraries and they say that everybody can just Google everything anyway and so we don't need libraries. You do think we need librarians, and I'm wondering why?

Diane Ravitch: Well, I've always been a supporter of librarians and libraries because I think that libraries are the place where you learn how to use information. You learn how to use information in the classroom, but librarians are skilled — and much more so than when I was in school — in teaching you how to access information and provide tremendous resources.

I love the idea that you can go into a library and I have to say I still like books, no matter how much technology I use, no matter how many times I go to the Internet. I think that some of the most important learning experiences for me personally came from browsing in the library and finding unexpected things, and you don't find too many unexpected things on the Internet – you find what you look for. In the library, you can find things you didn't know you were looking for.

I think libraries are important because librarians are skilled in technology – they don't just file books away, they teach kids how to use the technology and how to use it responsibly.

Measure L passes

I've heard from a few who know far more about public policy than I that Measure L was bad governance, but I'm still happy that people came out to vote for libraries.


An LA Weekly blog quotes Yes on Measure L chairwoman Lucy McCoy as saying, "Tonight was a vote for keeping our kids safe after school, for helping job seekers get back to work, for seniors looking for a warm place to read and for all the Library goers young and old.  Angelenos have sent a clear message that our libraries are a critical part of the fabric of our community."

This blog, written by Patrick Range McDonald, correctly states that the Los Angeles Times mostly stayed out of the fray, allowing hallowed Southern California library lovers to post op-eds and choosing not to support the measure. The Weekly, on the other hand, exposed the frightening city hall shenanigans that were poised to undermine the entire public library system with its fantastic cover story, "City of Airheads," a rallying cry for anyone who cares about public institutions.

It's pretty obvious that we need a rallying point for school libraries. The unions are too focused on classroom teachers to worry about librarians. If the teachers unions can't fight for school libraries, who can?