Minnesota: Minneapolis Schools Prioritized Librarians. St. Paul is Cutting Them at the Elementary Level
From Star Tribune:
A year after Minneapolis Public Schools banked on the successful return of school librarians, St. Paul is headed into the coming year without licensed media specialists at the elementary level.
Librarians were among dozens of expert staffers to be cut as the state’s second-largest district wrestled with a projected $100 million-plus budget deficit in 2024-25.
The shift comes amid a statewide push to improve student literacy, and after the other urban district in the Twin Cities saw a sizable jump in library book circulation once it added librarians.
District officials point to a shift in strategy favoring the placement of librarians at the secondary level and the need, when times are tight, to have all district libraries be open and accessible, plus consistently staffed — in this case, with teaching assistants (TAs) or educational assistants in grades pre-K-5. The district will continue placing librarians in grades K-8 schools.
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
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