Bloomington High School North librarian Kathy Loser gives a tour of the library to freshmen at the school. The mural was created by two students in 1994 and represents six genres of literature. David Snodgress | Herald-Times
Call them media specialists or librarians: some parents of MCCSC students feel there aren’t enough to go around, and they worry that the role of librarians in schools is declining due to budget pressures.
“I feel like the librarian job should be protected,” said Jenny Robinson, a parent of one student at Rogers Elementary School and another at University Elementary. Robinson would like to see the Monroe County Community School Corp. board prioritize librarians and make sure there’s room in the budget for them.
MCCSC employs both full-time media specialists and media assistants throughout the district. The full-time media specialists/librarians hold teaching licenses; media assistants are hourly support staff.
Robinson remembers last summer when more than a dozen parents spoke at a school board meeting to express support for librarians after the meeting’s original agenda listed the creation of a library and information assistant position. The agenda item was removed before the meeting, but parents voiced concerns to the board anyway about a reduction of licensed librarians.
With the introduction of the International Baccalaureate program at three schools in the district, Robinson fears media specialists will have more demands on their time and less contact with students in the library. As a result, she intends to remind the board of the importance of librarians at their meeting Tuesday.
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