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TRepresentatives Vernon Ehlers (R-3-MI) and Raul Grijalva (D-7-AZ) have introduced H. Res. 1222, which calls for the support of the goals and ideals of National Library Week April 11-17, 2010. This resolution commends the role that libraries play in today’s society, calling them “part of the American Dream” and “places for opportunity, education, self-help, and lifelong learning.”

“Whereas libraries, librarians, library workers, and supporters across the United States will celebrate **//National Library Week, April 11-17//**, **//2010//**: Now, therefore, be it //Resolved,// That the U.S. House of Representatives--

(1) supports the goals and ideals of National Library Week;

(2) encourages all residents to visit a library to take advantage of the wonderful library resources available, and to thank their librarians and library workers for making information accessible to all who walk through the library’s doors; and

(3) supports librarians’ efforts to ensure that all Americans can continue to access 21st century library services in school, public, academic, and special libraries.” Mar 25, 2010 - Introduced in House of Representatives.


 * // National Library Week //** brings to mind the fact that libraries play a vital role in seeing desire become reality. On a daily basis, certified teacher-librarians and paraprofessional staff guide students in acquiring and using skills to navigate the vast array of information in its many formats. Not only do studies show that there is a correlation between strong libraries and improved test scores, but experience verifies that without these 21st century skills, our graduates face failure in a future for which they are unprepared. Amphi has a very real investment in time and money in their school libraries, and that investment must not be allowed to deteriorate. Students from kindergarten to high school seniors need to be secure that they will have the resources and people to guide them into becoming educated and responsible adults with the knowledge and skills to face tough times.

We in turn want to assure this Board that we recognize that you have a very, very difficult job to do. There are no easy answers, but we are grateful that each of us has been given opportunity to learn and use libraries in our educational past. It is the hope that we will work together as a community to give today’s students the same opportunity.

It is our great pleasure to proclaim in honor of National Library Week: A LIBRARY FOR EVERY SCHOOL.

**//Whereas//** reading, writing, communicating and understanding information, in all of its audio and video forms - - texts, images, pictures, voices, music and other mediums - - can have, and are increasingly having enormous beneficial economical and social impacts, but ensuring that there is a library in every school is not high on the political agenda of countries, and


 * //Whereas//** both elected national level politicians and appointed government policy-makers, as well as individual school officials, are under the misguided assumption that establishing and operating a library in every school should be entirely under the authority and responsibility of local governments and local school officials instead of being considered a matter of national policy.


 * // Therefore, //** this Proclamation has been prepared by both international and major regional expert professional societies concerned with the role of libraries in society, and contains a set of key research findings, generally accepted principles being practiced by the library profession, and useful policy guidelines, which the signatories urge governments, the education sector, the media, and other elements of a society, to advocate, adopt and apply in appropriate ways in the context of their policies, programs, projects and public events, such as conferences and statements to the media.
 * 1) School Libraries Boost Student Achievement. This is not just a sound bite. There is irrefutable evidence to support the assertion. A 21st century school library is more than just a room filled with books. A state-of-the-art school library has a critical //function// in every school - - to support, engage and stimulate learning and development in this Second Millennium digital era in which we live, learn and work, and which many call the Global Information Society.
 * 2) Benefits and Values of School Libraries are Universal. Many studies have been undertaken by various institutions and organizations in all geographic regions of the world, but using admittedly different words, different points of emphasis and the research conducted in somewhat different contexts, nevertheless they all have, collectively, underscored the universality and commonality of the findings, conclusions and recommendations contained herein.
 * 3) Challenges of the Information Age. The 21st century is often characterized by experts and respected independent thinkers by advocating the efficacies of lifelong learning, distance education, and the incredible proliferation of digital mobile and hand-held media. But at the same time these experts and informed observers call attention to the challenge of coping with an Internet information tsunami that is gradually, but inexorably, drowning out even the best efforts of Google’s search engines, and emphasizing the need for professional libraries and information specialists (librarians) in schools to cope with these challenges.
 * 4) How School Libraries Help Learning. There is an inter-dependent relationship between information and communications literacy on the one hand (how to articulate information needs, search for it and retrieve it efficiently, understand and evaluate its authenticity and reliability, communicate it, and then use it to make decisions and solve problems) and school libraries on the other hand. They are inextricably intertwined, and school librarians around the world play a key partnership role with teachers and pedagogy experts enabling the integration of information and communication literacy into the school curriculum.
 * 5) The Digital Divide and the Haves and Have Nots. The so-called “Digital Divide,” and “the division of societies and social classes into haves and have nots,” both of which are by now clichés, are directly linked and rooted in the failure of governments to statutorily prescribe the need for a library in every school.
 * 6) Partnerships and Alliances. Information itself is becoming the strategic resource of the Information Age, and information resources - - their collection, their organization, their cataloging, their indexing, their dissemination, their communication, and most importantly their use - - have long been considered to be in the specialized domain of librarians, libraries and librarianship but librarians alone cannot do the job. Nor can teachers alone do the job. Nor can pedagogy specialists alone do the job. They all three must partner and form a “learning triumvirate alliance” within the context of knowing how to use libraries and information resources as integral parts of the learning process, including the use of social media networking approaches and tools.
 * 7) Budgetary Options is an Outmoded and Misguided Policy. It is not enough to simply allow national and local governments, school principals and school boards, in the name of “budgetary flexibility,” to establish school libraries “at their discretion.” That strategy and that policy, which arguably may have been effective and appropriate given the political, economic and social circumstances of the 20th century and before, is simply grossly inadequate and in the view of the signatories, is a very dangerous strategy and policy for countries to follow now.

**//In Conclusion,//** the role of a school librarian, operating in a modern multi-media library resource center, and equipped with the technical and paraprofessional skills, is absolutely crucial to the economic and social progress of every country.

Signed: **Advocates for Amphi Libraries**

Ron Nason Linda Billieros Nancy Bissell Pamela Gautier Lisa O'Meara Margie Mora Judy Schwartz Stephanie Andrews Mary Elder Amie Ryan Eileen Althouse Marygrace Salamon Sammye Davidson Marcia Joyce Kara Matthews Nancy Van Der Linden Elise van der Zee David Alzner Beth Malapanes Louis Brown Michelle Hoyos Jeannie Wager Donna Mann Rosemary Cahill Theresa Chavez Kathy Reilly Scott Reff