What Strong School Librarians Do

The following checklist is an easy way for parents and other stakeholders to see what the school library SHOULD be providing to EVERY student in HISD. This sentence is also a live link to download the PDF.

Click here to download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xrk18Kf8RJGK7g4n1rioTrLP4BCPJ6Ya/view?usp=sharing

BEST School Library Practices
American Assn of School Librarians

Definition of an Effective School Library Program 
Appropriate Staffing for School Libraries 
Instructional Role of the School Librarian 
Role of the School Library Program ​
School Librarian's Role in Reading

Texas School Library Standards and Guidelines ​

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is directed to develop school library standards in Section 33.021, Texas Education Code: Voluntary standards for school library services, other than collection development (13 TAC §4.1), and Mandatory standards for school library collection development (13 TAC §4.2).

Voluntary School Library Program Standards (PDF) were revised and adopted by the Commission on March 9, 2018. The revised standards establish guidelines for school library programs at five levels: distinguished, accomplished, proficient, developing, and improvement needed.

“Every single study out there has shown that having a librarian in the school increases academic performance and standardized test scores. Why are we not putting MORE librarians in the schools rather than less?”
(Huffington Post, August 26, 2013)

​Schools without libraries are missing an important component in the literacy program; these schools do not have a trained, passionate teacher to offer students a breadth of options they will enjoy to read as well as to teach them how to locate whatever information they may need, whether for academic assignments or for personal interest.

The booklet linked below is from 2018, but describes in more detail the services and expertise that certified library staff offer.
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Certified School Librarians are teachers with additional training and credentials that make them experts in supporting literacy and research for K-12 students. 

​Teachers who are assigned to staff libraries have only some of these same skills, but can learn more on the job if they are interested.

Booklet version - print double-sided to hand to administrators. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nzMHZ1KqrCcpxk3SuQeiafy_8wQMNDnqsf0CpAI-Lbg/edit?usp=sharing The pages ARE in the correct order to print in a single fold booklet.

Full page version - to read on computer https://docs.google.com/document/d/1achVcfzvr9jhc-NRI19guJ0J68aiIo5stqDhbvHlfmU/edit?usp=sharing