Potter-Thomas Elementary gets a Library!

Target has a program called the Target School Library Makeover, in which they spend $200,000 to renovate a few chosen school's libraries. One recent school was Potter-Thomas Elementary in North Philadelphia. Potter-Thomas's 400+ students received a brand new library, about 2,000 new books, and each student got 7 books to take home.This is a fantastic gift from Target!

But unlike Potter-Thomas, hundreds of schools in this district are still struggling to teach reading and writing, help their students attain literacy, and instill a love of learning without school libraries or librarians.

As we at Library Build know, and as Philly.com says, "In the late 1990s, a time of huge budget deficits, the school district began eliminating librarian positions and failed to replace those who retired or found other jobs." Now schools don't have librarians, and they don't have libraries.

In some ways the Philadelphia School District is trying: they allowed Target to help out Potter-Thomas, they are spending money on the Promise Academies to increase standards and resources at 6 under-performing schools, and they are working with the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences to provide students at Drexel's School of Information Science with scholarships.

Of course, even with these plans in motion there is still a lot of work to be done.

Here's the two articles about Potter-Thomas's new library!:
Excited for School Library

Happy Ending

No more books in 5 years?

Here we go again!

Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, was recently on CNN claiming that laptops containing digital books are better and more cost effective than physical books, and that physical books will be gone in 5 years. Hmmm....

First a sidenote, his nonprofit's goal is to ensure that every child in the world has a laptop. However, when I went on the webpage for One Laptop Per Child, it was very heavily focused on Africa - no surprise there. Not that children in Africa don't need or deserve laptops, but I'm tired of organizations claiming broad goals such as "all kids will have laptops!" and then not helping out US kids.

Anyway, will physical books be gone in 5 years?


I think I've already given my opinion on this one.


CNN: Will Physical Books be Gone in 5 Years?
One Laptop per Child - Negroponte's nonprofit

Quick Update

The past few weeks have been extraordinarily busy.

Briefly, in the past few weeks Library Build has:
1) Continued talks with a school in Philly that we hope will be our pilot school for Working Libraries and Library Fellows. Stay tuned for an official announcement, which we hope to make by the end of the month!

2)Met with community building/revitalization/organizing nonprofit organizations in Philly. One of the organizations believes that it can meet our need for office space - an extremely pressing need at the moment!

3) Begun applying for grants. Unfortunately, it take the IRS 100 days (according to their website) to update their electronic database which lists organizations who have 501c3 status. This means that we are still ineligible for the majority of grants (particularly corporate) since most grant-makers use this database as an initial verification step.

4) Secured a pro-bono auditor and have begun the audit process for last fiscal year (an important step in order to qualify for grant money).

5) Suffered catastrophic laptop failure which is currently being resolved. Fortunately, we have been diligent about creating backups to store both on and off-site but unfortunately, the failure hit us during a particularly vulnerable period.

Tonight we are going to a see Waiting for Superman (playing at the Ritz East in Old City) which is a documentary about the state of the American education system. Geoffrey Canada, probably the most innovative and successful educator in the US right now, features prominently. The movie also covers the charter school movement and the lottery admission systems used by charter schools - similar material covered in the movie we recently wrote about, The Lottery. Later this week, we will do a post on the movie.

Geoffrey Canada was on The Late Show last night - great opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges facing education right now.

Philadelphia Reads was featured prominently in the Inquirer yesterday as they face funding challenges for one of their literacy programs that provides books for teachers' classroom libraries. The program is based at MLK High. Read about it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20101011_Teachers__book_bank_in_danger_of_closing.html

A Whirlwind!

It seems like a common refrain at this point, but again I have been slow to post updates. Fortunately, that is not because there is nothing to talk about, but rather, because we have been extraordinarily busy!

In the past two weeks, we met with a potential school, met with a community development organization with whom we hope to partner, have come close to finishing our search for Library Build office space, began the process of our first audit (fun!) and have been working hard to identify the most promising sources of grant money.

Again, we expect to have multiple official major announcement by the end of the month! Stay tuned!

Library Build is Now a Tax Exempt Nonprofit Organization!

We found out today that the IRS has officially declared Library Build, Inc to be 501(c)(3) tax exempt! We are now fully recognized as a public charity.

We were shocked to receive the determination letter so soon, we had been warned that it might take as long as 8 months, but were hopeful that we would receive it before the end of 2010. To receive our letter and status in 2 months might be a record!

Please look forward to another official announcement coming from Library Build in the next few weeks!

The lost opportunity of school libraries

A friend recently sent Jeff and I an article in the BBC about a report on school libraries in Britain. The School Library Commission released a report arguing that many schools waste the potential of their school libraries by: 1) not having library staff who have knowledge of children's literature (I would include Young Adult literature in that as well); 2) not having a clear designation within the school of who is in charge of the library; 3) not having library staff who routinely work with teachers to create holistic lessons and activities; and 4) not promoting the resources of their school libraries.

These are all issues that we at Library Build have been working to answer and plan for. A key compenent of our plan from day 1 has been that there needs to be multiple librarians who are the face of the library to teachers, administrators, parents, and most importantly to students; and that these librarians work closely with teachers to devise lesson plans and to create a cohesive learning environment within the school.

As the head of the School Library Commission stated, "[school libraries] have to be more than just places with books."

School libraries are an opportunity to provide the books, resources, and learning environments necessary for the success of our students.

Check out the article in the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11304759
Check out the British Literacy Trusts' site: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/policy/nlt_policy/school_library_commission

Why cant U teach me 2 read?

I recently finished a book by Beth Fertig, “Why cant U teach me 2 read?” about three students from New York City schools who sue the school district over “educational neglect” (or as its also sometimes called, “compensatory education”).  All three had been in the NYC public school system for the majority of their lives, and yet none of them had learned how to read (one had even graduated from high school!). Their stories also serve as a parallel to Fertig’s dissection of Mayor Bloomberg’s takeover of the school system, and his appointment of Joe Klein to be the Chancellor of NYC Schools in 2002.

            Yamilka, Alejandro, and Antonio all struggled early on in their lives with low comprehension problems – either as a result of their parents not speaking English fluently, or growing up impoverished. All three were regularly transferred between public schools (Yamilka was transferred between NYC schools 12 times). Once a school discovered the depth of the learning problems, most would rather transfer each one out than deal with the problem – because low performers pull down test scores (this is especially important now with No Child Left Behind, though as Fertig uncovers, schools in NYC are not allowed to transfer their students anymore). Because Yamilka, Alejandro, and Antonio each struggle they are also each in turn labeled as mentally disabled – an unfair label for kids who are just struggling to read, or who have minor learning disabilities.

Their stories bring up important questions. How does our public school system account for slow learners, or students with learning disabilities? Similarly, do school districts have an obligation to ensure that every student can read at a functional level?

Obviously, Library Build believes that with the right tools – libraries – combined with great schools, and great teachers, that all students can read. Ultimately there shouldn't be stories and books about kids who have to sue their public school districts in order to get intensive private tutoring to learn how to read.

There's a lot more in Fertig's book about different methods for teaching literacy as well as a long history and discussion about Klein's job as Chancellor of the NYC School District, so if you're interested, check it out!

Here’s a short interview with Beth Fertig about “Why cant U teach me 2 read?”: http://www.usatoday.com/LIFE/usaedition/2009-10-15-readbook15_VA_U.htm?csp=outbrain&csp=obnetwork

Here’s a short article on USA Today about one of the boys from the book: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-14-illiteracy_N.htm

Thoughts on Education and Equality

Currently, I am about half way done reading David McCullough's biography of John Adams. According to McCullough, Adams was a staunch advocate for public education. McCullough writes, "Finally and emphatically, he [Adams] urged the widest possible support for eduction." McCullough then quotes from Adams influential work,Thoughts on Government, "'Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant'" (103).

Adams had it right over 200 years ago. Education is a pillar of society and a great equalizer. As Adams argued, people are not born equal (Adams differed from Jefferson and others on this point - he understood that birth is a 'lottery' - rich, poor, 'lucky', 'unlucky'), but that people should be treated equally and given equal opportunity. McCullough writes on page 224 that, "He [Adams] did not believe all men were created equal, except in the eyes of God, but that all men, for all their many obvious differences, were born to equal rights." Adams felt that one of those rights ought to be to a public education - and in particular equal access to an education.

No matter what you think of the role, significance and responsibilities of teachers, parents, school administrators and students themselves - Don't all of our children deserve to have an equal opportunity to learn? Don't all of our children deserve access to the tools that will help them learn?

We strongly believe that all children deserve equal access to a quality education and we desperately want to help give every student the tools that will enable them to learn!

Camden Libraries

It seems to be a recurring theme: budget cuts leading to discontinued services. Unfortunately, in our area, this has greatly affected libraries. Recently, the City of Camden announced the closure of one of its three public libraries. The other two will be taken over by the County of Camden. The reason: Camden faces a $28 million budget deficit. Worst of all, this closure will affect those who can least afford it. The library to be closed is in an already declining neighborhood, called Fairview, which the Philadelphia Inquirer describes as a "low-income neighborhood." The library is a vital resource for the Freedom Charter School which is across the street and the many out-of-work neighborhood residents who do not have home internet access. Additionally, the Inquirer adds that, "After school and in summertime, the library is flooded with teenagers and children who use the library's books and computers for their schoolwork, or to check out web sites and e-mail their friends."

School libraries are facing similar budgetary pressures. Libraries play a vital role in education and quality of life for all residents - rich, poor, Latino, Asian, etc. Sadly, when library doors close, however, it's low income Americans who suffer most as they are not as easily able to turn to alternative sources for books, computer and internet access and tutoring.

You can read about the Camden library closure here: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100907_Its_The_End_for_another_Camden_library.html

You can read about the Camden County library takeover here: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100809_Camden_libraries_win_reprieve.html

The Lottery

Last weekend Jeff and I watched the documentary “The Lottery” about the charter school movement. The title of the documentary refers to the fact that in order to be fair (as publicly funded schools), charters must have lotteries every year to determine incoming classes. In this way they cannot discriminate based on sex, gender, religion, learning needs or disabilities.


While the film never mentions libraries (though perhaps it should!), Library Build is dedicated to a general reform of America’s education system.

Here are some facts from the film:

Fact #1: The average black or Latino 12th grader reads at the same level as the average white 8th grader.

Fact #2: 58% of black fourth graders are functionally illiterate.

Fact # 3: The achievement gap between low income students and their higher income peers costs the US $500 billion a year.

Fact # 4: About 50% of students in low-income communities will not graduate from high school by the time they are 18.

Fact #5: 1 in every 8 black males between the ages of 25 and 29 is incarcerated.



Facts number 1 and 2 speak directly to why Library Build is dedicated to creating school libraries in America’s public schools. 58% of black fourth graders in this country are functionally illiterate – meaning they cannot read basic texts and cannot write legibly, and through our own research we know too that if a child cannot read by the time he or she is in the third grade, his or her chances of ever becoming literate plummet.

It’s obvious that schools of any kind – private, public, charter, Catholic, etc – need to provide their students with the resources necessary to learn, and we consider a library to be one of those main and most important resources.

Check out the website for the documentary at www.thelotteryfilm.com. We highly recommend seeing this documentary!

Updates

I apologize for my recent lack of posts! I will be finished with my post on the recent library developments in Camden soon.

In the meantime, we found out today that the PA Department of State sent one of our approved filings to a random PA citizen ("Sara Knowles" ??) as opposed to sending them back to us. This has cost us a two week delay in our regulatory filing process since we were waiting on this approval to move forward with some federal paperwork.

In other news, I will soon be adding the capability for our donors to sign up on our website to make timed contribution to support Library Build (weekly, monthly, yearly, etc). I am very excited about this because it will provide an excellent solution for supporters who want to both support us over the long haul and carefully manage their personal cash flow.

Well What About Digital Books?

After reading Callie's discussion of the digital book trend, I thought I would add my two cents. The questions in my mind are:

1) Are digital books a disruptive technology?
2) Do digital books make sense for Library Build's school libraries?

I think that question #1 is a very difficult question to answer. Two recent examples of disruptive technologies that come to mind are the replacement of film photography with digital photography and the replacement of CDs and DVDs by digital downloads. Both of these examples, as well as many other examples of disruptive technologies, have a few features in common. One is cost. The replacement technology's cost is substantially less than the technology being replaced once the cost curve has come down and the disruptive technology has matured a bit (Is this happening to solar energy right now?). Another feature in common among disruptive technologies is the high adoption rate with the exception of specialists. The disruptive technology goes through the usual stages of being adopted by innovators, then early adopters, early majority, late majority and finally laggards. By the end of this cycle all but specialists have taken up the new technology (think of music enthusiasts who still enjoy vinyl because of its unique characteristics or serious amateur and professional photographers who still use large format film due to the high quality images it is capable of producing). So will Kindles, E-Readers, Mini Netbooks and the like replace physical books? Well, the cost of these devices is coming down and it seems likely that many people are open to this technology. It definitely seems though that there will always be a sizable number of "specialists" who will prefer traditional bound books for aesthetic and other reasons.

There have been some recent articles regarding E-books, primarily focusing on digital borrowing rights and competition with the traditional publishing industry establishment. For instance, the NYT reported last year that the NY public library has about 18,000 digital books and they now devote about 1% of their annual book purchasing budget toward E-book purchases. But several publishers are reluctant. Some of the main publishing houses have refused to sell E-books to libraries for fear of eating into sales. You can read the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/books/15libraries.html

Additionally, I speculate that publishers fear that the E-book format will allow many authors to self publish. Without the need to actually print and distribute the book, authors only have to focus on editing and marketing, two tasks that don't necessarily require the traditional publishing industry.

As for my second question, do digital books make sense for Library Build, the answer, at least for now, is a firm, "No!". Among other reasons, digital books require expensive readers (which require maintenance) and thus far digital copyright and borrowing privileges have not been sorted out. What may make sense for a suburban high school district that already has a laptop program (think Lower Merion) may not make sense in elementary schools in Philadelphia where schools receive only about half the funding per student as their suburban counterparts and where our focus is on students who are not yet in high school. This certainly does not mean that kids in Philadelphia don't deserve the luxuries that some suburban kids receive (regardless of what one thinks about the value of a laptop program) - quite the contrary - I argue that if we believe that every woman/man is created equal, then shouldn't every kid in the United States get the same school learning resources and thereby chance to succeed in life? Unfortunately, Philadelphia does not, and for the foreseeable future, will not have the funds to implement a laptop program or purchase E-readers. Nor do I think that a laptop program (in Philly or the suburbs) is appropriate for elementary and middle school kids (do we really want or need our 5-year-olds addicted to the internet or middle school kids surfing the internet in the middle of class?). The best way to spend nonprofit and precious school district resources is not on laptops so that elementary school kids can have E-books. We must put resources into traditional libraries to serve elementary and middle school students. We must give them access to the resources they need in order to learn and be able to achieve at the same level as their peers in Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties.

There is a lot of potential for digital books to both eat into the traditional market for paperbacks and to enable and enhance the learning process. This does not mean that this is the right solution for Library Build. In the meantime, however, it will be an interesting trend to watch. We will certainly be keeping an eye on it and constantly re-evaluating our position as times change.

Website is Up!!!

Finally!!! I have finished the first version of the new website! Please take a few minutes to check it out and let me know if you see any errors, have any problems or have a comment in general.

Updates

I am excited that I can safely say that Library Build's new website will debut sometime this week. It will have tons of information on Library Build, including our two flagship programs, Working Libraries and Library Fellows.

I have been working on a couple of posts for the blog, which I will also hopefully be able to put up this week.

Jeff

Well what about digital books?

Today, I have asked Callie to discuss her views on digital or e-books since this is a topic that comes up frequently in our discussions.

Well what about digital books?
Callie Hammond

Every time we mention that we are starting a nonprofit to create and support school libraries, 9 out of 10 times the return question is: "Well, what about digital books?"

It's a question that I personally find annoying, aside from my work with Library Build. I love books. I like their smell, their feel, their pages, you name it. I do not ever want to look at a screen 15 hours a day. I'm already on the computer too much as it is! Reading, holding, and finding a book is a personal experience, and to me, computers and their screens are simply impersonal.

Yesterday, Amazon.com announced that in the past 3 months they have sold more e-books than hardcover books. What bothers me about that statement is that it leaves out paperback books. More people buy paperbacks than hardcovers anyway - I (usually) try to wait until books I want are in paperback because they are so much cheaper.

The second part of rebuffing the Amazon.com statement is that the print industry is still churning out the hardcovers while e-books are still only a small part of the industry. Wired.com had this to say:


"The overall e-book market is still a 90-pound weakling next to the Asiatic elephant of print publishing. According to a report from Publisher’s Weekly last year, hardback sales were projected to be about $4.4 billion in 2009 (including both adult and children’s titles), while paperbacks were expected to generate $5.1 billion in revenue, audiobooks $218 million, and e-books just $81 million — less than 1 percent of the print equivalents. That’s not even counting textbooks, Bibles and professional books — with those included, Publisher’s Weekly estimated the overall book market at $35 billion in 2009."

Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/07/amazon-more-e-books-than-hardcovers/#ixzz0uQdP9IDl

Also, as Cnet.com points out, alot of those e-books on Amazon are from self-published authors who list their works for 99 cents and get a few people to buy. Obviously those people are better served by e-books (just as most people are better served by online blogging than publishing their own books). So how many of those people are eating in to the e-books market?

So how does this affect school libraries?

The general argument is always that kids today like computers and digital books so much that making everything digital will increase kids' enthusiasm, and thus, their literacy. But thats not so. Ralph Raab wrote an article for "American Libraries" entitled "Books and Literacy in the Digital Era" in which he argued the following:

"According to Todd Oppenheimer in his book The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom, and How Learning Can Be Saved, from the early 1990s through the first part of this century, school districts across the country spent billions of dollars promoting computer-based learning, promising that computers would engage students in a way that books could not. A school district in Union City, California, spent $37 million to buy computer equipment and software—and paid for it by cutting science equipment and field trips. An elementary school in Los Angeles dropped its music program in order to hire a “technology manager.” But we need to ask ourselves: After nearly two decades of this philosophy, have we seen a rise in literacy? The answer, sadly, is no—or at the very least, not nearly enough to justify what we have lost in the process."

However, an option like the Kindle or the Nook could inspire kids to read more than they already are (aka, if they are already literate). But this argument does not lend itself to creating an entire digital library without books, magazines, research journals, etc. As Raab states, "since copyright issues will most likely never be resolved, people will always need to find a physical book on a physical shelf. Also, not every book can be digitized; there have been different versions of books throughout history, and permission will never be granted by every institution to digitize those editions. The works of William Shakespeare are an example: They have been changed and modified through successive editions over the last 500 years. We will never see every version of his works on Google."


So. Yes, people, digital books and e-books are cool. But they will never replace tangible books, nor should impersonal digital libraries replace tangible (and personal) school libraries.

- Callie

Mind Trust and other applications

Today, Library Build, Inc threw its hat in to the ring for the Mind Trust Fellowship. Mind Trust is a nonprofit which promotes education reform and education nonprofits (and only education nonprofits in the USA!) with salaries, stipends, and support. It's a fantastic fellowship, and we are crossing our fingers.

We're also eyeing the Echoing Green Fellowship coming up in September. We applied last year and didn't make it through to the next round, but maybe this year we can make more of a statement.

Today, we are visiting with our lawyers to discuss our 501(c)3 application, and will hopefully be well on our way to sending it in to the IRS!

Inspiration for Education Reform

Library Build, Inc is focused on libraries and librarians, but we are also dedicated to overall education reform for all of America's public school students.

People like Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone are particularly inspiring. The charter school in the Harlem Children's Zone (Promise Academy) has seen awesome results including 100% of 3rd graders scoring at or above grade level in math, and 93% of 3rd graders scoring at or above grade level in reading (2009).

Here's a recent video of Canada talking about how Harlem Children's Zone has been successful and what needs to change in the current public school system: Get Schooled.

The best part about recent education reform is the media coverage that has been following these inspiring entrepreneurs. Within the next few months a new documentary is coming out about the charter school movement: "Waiting for Superman". You can check out the trailer for it here: Charter Hope.


Check out this video which discusses just why we need to reform our school systems: Stop the drop-out factories.

Early literacy and libraries

The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently published a report entitled “Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of the Third Grade Matters” about, well, why being able to read by the fourth grade matters.

Essentially, research has shown that if students are not able to read well (at a fourth grade level) between the ages of 8 to 9, their chances of learning how to read critically decrease every year.

This is especially a problem among children from low-income families. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported that “in 2009, 83% of children from low-income families – and 85% of low-income students who attend high-poverty schools – failed to reach the ‘proficient’ level in reading.” (The “proficient” level is determined and measured by the NAEP and essentially means that a student reads at grade level or better and has high reading comprehension.) Not being able to read pretty much guarantees failure in school, which leads most students to become frustrated, lost, and to eventually drop out.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation argues in their report that children who are not given “high-quality learning opportunities beginning at birth and continuing in school and during out-of-school time” are at a disadvantage as compared to children whose parents read to them as infants, teach them to read before and during kindergarten, and who place their children in high-impact summer and after-school programs.

The organization Jumpstart agrees with the Annie E. Casey Foundation in their recent report, “America’s Early Childhood Literacy Gap,” and states that children from low-income families who enter school “without basic early literacy skills” (unlike their affluent peers) may never catch up. Basic literacy skills at that young of an age include having heard stories, discussing stories and story structure with parents, increased language development from hearing stories, etc. But more than 37% of American children “arrive at kindergarten without the skills necessary for lifetime learning.”

When these children are then sent to low-performing and low-resource schools, the divide among children is magnified. Thus, it becomes absolutely necessary that these children be taught how to read by the fourth grade – that they catch up to their affluent peers (who have the luxury of better schools).

But without libraries and librarians to offer books, how will these children learn not only how to read, but to love reading? Libraries are an equalizer because they offer all people the same resources for free. If all students in Philadelphia had the exact same school libraries as students in the suburbs, they would have a better shot at competing, at catching up, at equal educations.

This is why Library Build, Inc’s job is important, and why we believe that the power of a library will truly be able to make an impact on America’s youth.


Sources:

Annie E. Casey Foundation, A Kids Count Special Report. Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters. www.aecf.org

Burkam, D., & Lee, V. Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School. 2002.

Jumpstart. “America’s Early Childhood Literacy Gap.” 2009.

The Books by the Numbers

First, I apologize for taking such a long vacation from posting. Today, I am going to discuss the variations found in defining a "school library" and how this affects statistics.

Even when statistics exist, there are often inconsistencies. Furthermore, I am sure that many of you have heard of, if not read, the infamous work by Darrell Huff, "How to Lie With Statistics." Not to say that anyone is lying. There is, of course, the thorny question of, "What constitutes a library?" This depends on who you ask. The Philadelphia School District does not define what a library is on its website. Meanwhile, the American Library Association, which is the preeminent association of librarians, para-professionals, library students, and anyone interested in libraries, defines libraries this way:

"The mission of the library program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. This mission is accomplished:
-by providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats;
-by providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas; and,
-by working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the needs of individual students."
("Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs," ALA 1988).

The New Jersey Library Association defines a school library as one which strives "to prepare students to become effective and efficient users of resources, ideas, information, and other intellectual properties" (www.NJLA.org).

The US National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences defines a school library as one which is, "provided with adequate resources to provide up-to-date print and non-print materials in all school library/media centers," and that "every school library be staffed by a highly qualified, state certified school library media specialist." (www.nclis.org, or "School Libraries Work!", 2008).

Meanwhile, the National Center for Education Statistics (housed in the US Department of Education) states that a "Library media center" (as defined in a phrase used throughout the 2007–08 Schools and Staffing Survey) is any of the following: "library, media center, resource center, information center, instructional material center, learning resource center, or some other name." This can be further broken down into centralized or decentralized, defined as, "one area in one building," or, "collections or services available in more than one location on a campus or in another building," respectively.

Obviously, there are a lot of definitions out there! But how does one define "adequate," "highly qualified," or "effective users of information"?

At Library Build, we chose to take a more qualitative definition of a school library by defining a functional library as:
"A working library is one which provides twelve to fifteen books per student, access to newspapers and academic journals, quiet study space, multimedia resources, book clubs, and research classes. Libraries in America’s public schools are important because they give all students equal access to knowledge, books, and literacy programs." (Library Build, Inc).


The Bottom Line

In the Philadelphia School District in 2009, 131 elementary schools out of a total of 208 had no library (Malloy, "Staffing in the Philadelphia Public School Libraries By Regional Areas," 2009). The study however does not define what a "school library" is, or when a library in the Philadelphia School District is considered functional. Thus, while the study acknowledges that 63% of Philadelphia's elementary schools do not have libraries, the number is almost certainly higher considering that in the case a "library" might consist of 100 books, or even, a teacher's personal collection of 20 to 30 classroom books.

In the United States, as a whole, in the 2006-2007 school year, there were 98,793 public schools (Fast Facts. IES: Institute of Education Sciences. National Center of Education Statistics. US Department of Education.) Out of these 98,793, only 76,807 had a library, though the quality or functionality of these libraries is unclear (AASL Advocacy Toolkit: The School Library Media Specialist. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/toolkits/schoollibrary.cfm) Thus, more than 23% of America’s public schools do not even have a basic library for students to access.
Of those 76,807 public schools that have some semblance of a library, 25% do not have a certified librarian, and 14% only have a part time librarian.

Statistics vary (sometimes greatly) by use of source, especially for the US. These variations most likely occur because the term, "school library" has not yet been officially defined. It's not quite clear who should set the definition though; but the Department of Education, the American Library Association, or the American Association of School Librarians should all certainly be in the forefront of formalizing such a definition.

The Books by the Numbers

This is the introduction to a series of posts that will examine the statistics and facts surrounding the state of libraries and literacy in both Philadelphia and the nation as a whole. I intend to give readers a sense of the environment that surrounds the challenges and work that Library Build does. Occasionally (particularly today) I will go beyond the facts to examine the attitudes that Americans hold with respect to these issues.

Two evenings ago, our local Fox News affiliate, Fox 29, did an expose-styled report on the costs of Philadelphia’s Free Library – with the catchy title, “Is the Free Library Really So Free?”

Well of course the Free Library is not free, just like public education is not really free. We all pay taxes so that everyone can enjoy a basic standard of living, and that is supposed to include a basic standard of education – of which a library is a basic necessity.

Fox Philly’s report stated that the Free Library’s 54 branches cost the City of Philadelphia a total of $33 million a year. The question posed by the report was: Should the City of Philadelphia be spending $33 million a year on libraries given the current budget crisis and public debt situation?

Well, $33 million isn’t so much when compared to the city’s other expenses. In 2004 the new Citizens Bank Park was opened for the Philadelphia Phillies – and the city of Philadelphia paid for half of the costs of construction. That comes to $229 million. In 2000, Philadelphia agreed to chip in nearly $100 million for the Eagle’s new Lincoln Financial Field.

This year, once again, the Welcome America Fourth of July celebrations, including a parade and two fireworks shows, will be taking place over eleven days. The state of Pennsylvania refused its annual gift of $500,000 to $1 million to the parade, citing that there was no money in the state budget. But that leaves the city of Philadelphia to pay for the rest: “The [Philadelphia] administration later reassessed its decision, and it concluded it should in fact financially support Welcome America because ‘all eyes are on our city on the Fourth of July to see how America's birthplace is celebrating America's birthday,’ [Philadelphia city spokesman] Oliver said. ‘That's no small thing’.”

Is it a small thing that in the birthplace of America there is a 50% drop out rate among high school students?

This isn’t to say that events like parades, celebrations, or sports games should be cut from the budget. But if our local news media wants to talk about cutting access to a basic of American life – the library – shouldn’t we also discuss how much the city is spending on entertainment? Sure entertainment increases quality of life in Philadelphia. But education and literacy increases that quality of life more than tenfold over entertainment. Without an education, and without literacy, we doom students to a life of uncertainty and almost assuredly, poverty.

Oh, and as for the argument made in the report that, "Libraries aren't in the Constitution and therefore shouldn't be publicly funded," well, neither can public fire departments, public garbage collection, public parking garages, or, of course, NFL stadiums be found in the Constitution...

“Welcome America to get City Services Gratis” http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100610_Welcome_America_to_get_city_services_gratis.html#ixzz0sRMq3cFp

“Is the Free Library Really so Free?” http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/is-the-free-library-really-so-.-.-.free%3F

Citizens Bank Park Stats: http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/nl/CitizensBankPark.htm

Lincoln Financial Field Stats: http://www.billhance.com/football/Linc/LincMainPage.htm

Where is Library Build Today (Yesterday)? Part 2

Quite literally – In Harrisburg! Yesterday, I attended a Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organization (PANO) training session on nonprofit accounting and budgeting. It was an excellent opportunity to compare some of our accounting processes to other nonprofits and to talk about some of the best practices for the budgeting process.

***

But back to where have come from and where we are going.

In late winter, we began to recruit a board of directors and solicit meetings with various local leaders to gather support for Library Build. We had a very positive response from posting the board positions on a popular nonprofit informational website. As we talked to potential board members we realized that we had attracted some extremely qualified board members that have a wide array of skills – something we felt was important to balance our relative newness to managing a nonprofit. Meanwhile, a few of our contacts at Penn were able to help us gather support and finish the first version of our business plan. Several of these meetings allowed us to recruit members for our Board of Advisors which serves as a support and advice network.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, this week, we are finalizing our 501c3 application, otherwise known as Form 1023. With a problem-free application, the IRS generally approves application in about 3 months. Once we receive our approval, fundraising becomes much easier as both individual donors and grantmakers are much more willing to fund nonprofits that have completed the approval process.

This fall, as last year, we will enter various funding and business plan competitions as the season for competitions generally coincides with the academic year. We are also currently seeking a first school to partner with in Philadelphia. By pre-selecting a school, we hope to illuatrate their need to prospective donors and to also raise support and money in the neighborhood where the school is located.

By the end of the year, our tentative goals are to both raise enough money to actually begin renovations and to have started that work. (I say “tentative” because we are still working to approve our strategic plan which will determine both our fundraising and operating goals.) The first library will serve as a pilot project which we plan to use as a showcase to donors to help raise additional funds for future libraries and to begin the Library Fellows program. At the same time that we begin renovations, we will also be working to design the training program for Library Fellows and recruiting our first class of Fellows. It is likely that the care needed to properly develop this program will mean that at least one or two libraries will be renovated before we can place Fellows in them.

Throughout this entire process we will be working to ensure that our operations are sound – that we continue to develop the infrastructure needed to sustain an ongoing organization. This involves improving upon things already in place such as our website, accounting systems and internal controls and also implementing systems and ideas for the future such as an annual campaign, human resource policies and other groundwork for the future.

Next time, I plan to delve into the statistics that represent the state of school libraries in both Philadelphia and the US as a nation.

Where is Library Build Today? Part 1

This week, I have been diligently working on Library Build's 501c3, or, tax exemption application. Basically, this involves showing the IRS that Library Build will attract a healthy level of financial support from the general public and that we intend to solely serve the public interest - in other words, we are not a private foundation or a for-profit corporation. After we submit the application, we will hopefully receive an advance ruling that will give us 5 years to prove that we have met these qualifications. However, this is simply the latest mile in what I can only describe as a marathon that must be finished before even the first book can be purchased for a deserving school. Today I will begin to describe what we have done up until this point and where we are today.

In September, Callie began her field placement as a University of Pennsylvania social work student at a North Philadelphia primary school. She immediately noticed two things at the school: 1) No playground 2) No Library. Neither 1) nor 2) is entirely true however. As for the playground, there was a slab of asphalt outside that the kids were allowed to run around on - every now and then. As for the library, well, there were about 300 books and there were exactly 3 computers. The school's enrollment is more than 750 students. The 'library' was overseen by a quite crotchety staffer who refused to let students actually check out the books. And those 3 computers? Callie never actually saw one turned on, let alone actually being used by a student. The saddest part is, this school is actually considered as having a library in the statistics provided by the Philadelphia School District and in national surveys, such as those conducted yearly by the Department of Education.

The purpose of my narrative is not to assign blame, malign the school district or call for changes in city or national leadership - there is time for that later as appropriate. The purpose is to help folks understand that basic resources are lacking in our schools. Our children do not have the opportunity to graduate, enter the workforce or educate their own children. These noble goals are simply unattainable if a child can not read. If we both want and expect our children to read and succeed, we must provide the resources necessary for them to learn. This starts with books, computers and teaching capacity.

* * *

After a couple of months of research into what or who could provide this particular school in North Philadelphia with some library resources, we came up short. We found a few nonprofits that provide books, others that train teachers, and some that offer computer equipment, but none that would provide a long term sustainable increase in resources that the school needed. Beyond this school, our research revealed the staggering number of Philadelphia schools without even the library resources of this school - some 63% have no library at all, according to District statistics. Thus the contemplation surrounding the formation of Library Build began. We began to work on developing a complete business plan that we could use to apply for funding, recruit support, and ensure our plans would have the best chance for success.

By December, Callie and I had decided to officially begin Library Build - there was just no other way to get the job done. We filed Articles of Incorporation in Pennsylvania and incorporated as a nonprofit. Soon, we had obtained an Employer Identification Number from the IRS, opened a corporate bank account and obtained a Post Office box. Meanwhile, we applied to various competitions that promised both funding and recognition (the latter of course helps with raising even more money). In February, we had some success with the Harvard Pitch for Change competition and enjoyed traveling to Boston to compete and pitch our idea to a wide audience.

Next time, I will discuss how we managed to recruit a fantastic board with a wide array of talents, what has happened recently and what our plans are for the rest of the year.

The First (Official) Day!

I have decided to start this blog to track our progress, share thoughts on Library Build and school libraries in general and give updates to our supporters. Over the first few weeks of this blog, I hope to give readers a sense of why I am working on Library Build, who Library Build is helping, and the challenges that face both those that we serve and our organization. I will also be addressing some common suggestions and critiques that we receive and delving into the rationale of why we believe so strongly in our model and how we will be measuring our results and refining our model.

For those who don't already know, Library Build is a nonprofit that provides working libraries to America's public schools so that all children will have access to books, media resources, research programs and to dedicated librarians. Library Build was founded by our CEO (and my wife), Callie Hammond last December. It is the result of the realization that very few nonprofits are trying to give students the literary, media and teaching resources that are so sorely lacking in both Philadelphia and the United States as a whole. Library Build is unique because we believe that a holistic approach is key to providing libraries to students. In order to obtain the largest benefit from the books, e-resources and media equipment that we provide to school libraries, we will also train Library Fellows to work in our libraries as full time, certified librarians. Library Fellows are recent college graduates who are responsible for managing the library, working with teachers to maximize library utilization, teaching students basic research and computer skills, and creating enrichment and after school programs for students. By providing both the resources and the teaching capacity, we hope to maximize the benefit to students.

In Philadelphia alone, 131 of 208 elementary and middle schools (63%) do not have libraries or a certified librarian. 23% of public schools in the US as a whole do not have a library. 23%. Almost one quarter. One more time - almost one quarter of US public school children do not have access to a basic school library. These statistics shock many people that we talk to. Most recall having a library in their elementary, middle and high school while growing up. Yet this is clearly not the case today. Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons that I will elaborate on in the coming posts, children today simply do not have access to some of the most basic tools of learning. Frequently the children lacking these resources already face the hurdles of poverty, broken homes and parents who are too overburdened before they even arrive at school. It is these children that we hope to help - by giving them the resources that we hope will inspire them and make it simply possible for them to learn to love to read.

More in the next few days!

Library Build's Website (Still largely a work in progress at this point): www.librarybuild.org