Call to Action: Show your Support for East Renfrewshire School Librarians
Category: Blog, Campaigning for Libraries, News, SLG Scotland
CILIPS are very concerned by East Renfrewshire Council’s proposed budget savings for 2023-2026, which include removing funding for ‘school-based librarian staff’.
In the words of the savings proposal itself, we believe this would ‘have a very serious negative impact on the quality of learning and teaching, attainment, achievement, wellbeing, pupil support [and] equity’ and we have written to East Renfrewshire Council to highlight this.
We are also concerned about the proposal’s mention of future changes being considered to East Renfrewshire’s public libraries, where ‘temporary or permanent closure of some facilities could be considered’. As demonstrated in our substantial collection of evidence banks, public libraries are essential to literacy, physical and mental wellbeing, inclusivity, sustainability, reducing social isolation, tackling misinformation and supporting the local economy.
The Evidence
- An extensive, growing body of evidence highlights the contribution of school librarians to improved exam scores and achievement, and their role in creating a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment where all pupils have equal and equitable access to curriculum related learning resources.
- The National Strategy for School Libraries, Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools, which is currently being implemented in Scotland, states on numerous occasions the important role school librarians have in educational settings.
- School librarians are trained and skilled members of school staff, and what they provide can not be adequately replaced by using teachers, pupils or public library staff to support school library services.
- Specifically in East Renfrewshire schools, librarians have delivered the East Renfrewshire Teen Book Award to over 300 pupils, supported students with literacy and ESOL needs via reading interventions, run eco groups, arranged visits to book festivals and events, delivered evening literacy events and supported World Book Day. They have also carried out transition work with primary schools, curated class collections, supported or made funding bids and run mindfulness groups.
- ‘The Library… is a refuge, / A tiny island, A light of hope, / In a sea of churning hate…’ Talented young poet and S1 pupil Scarlett turned to verse to express how much her school library means to her and her peers – read her full poem on Twitter.
- Acclaimed Scottish authors like Peter May have spoken out against East Renfrewshire’s proposal, expressing how ‘horrified’ they are after having ‘benefited enormously from having a vibrant and well-managed school library’ when growing up in East Renfrewshire.
- An ongoing campaign against similar action by North Lanarkshire Council has also had widespread support from all over Scotland, including from award winning authors Damian Barr, Kerry Hudson and Theresa Breslin O.B.E., as well as from Scottish Book Trust, The Daily Record and Scotland on Sunday. A petition to save the Council’s school librarians has now reached 40,000 signatures.
- East Renfrewshire note that ‘a priority’ for local residents is ‘tackling climate change’ and we have gathered significant evidence showing that library professionals are essential to climate action, with school librarians creating and maintaining up-to-date environmental book collections, promoting climate literacy and local environmental consciousness, encouraging recycling and reduced plastic use, tackling misinformation and providing a reliable source of evidence-based information about the climate crisis that cannot be replicated for young people elsewhere.
- The savings option ‘Reduction in Devolved School Management Budgets involving other staff groups and budgets’ under which the removal of school librarians is being considered would, even if implemented in its entirety, represent only 0.9% of East Renfrewshire’s stated total expenditure for education.
How to Help
- Fill in the consultation survey before 9th December (you can save your answers and return to them as often as you wish before submitting).
- For question 2. ‘Looking at the savings proposals again on p4 of Budget Brief 3, do you have any specific concerns or any suggestions to limit their impact?’ we recommend including as much of the evidence above as you can, emphasising the severely detrimental impact on East Renfrewshire’s children and young people if school librarians were removed.
- For question 4. ‘Looking at the savings proposals again on p7 of Budget Brief 3, do you have any specific concerns or any suggestions to limit their impact?’, we also suggest highlighting the essential value of East Renfrewshire’s public libraries and public library staff, who as noted above are essential to literacy, physical and mental health, reducing social isolation, promoting inclusivity, supporting the local economy and much more.
- Use East Renfrewshire’s Budget Simulator Tool to reassert how much you value professional librarians. Under ‘Education – Including East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure’ you will see that reductions in funding to either school librarians or public library services cause ‘education standards to fall, [an] increasing equity gap [and a] significant impact on services’.
- Spread the word about the consultation on social media and ensure that everyone you know in East Renfrewshire is given the chance to share their views about why school librarians and public library services matter to them.