Tech survey reveals vast inequities in our nation’s libraries

“My school is up-to-date with technology,” writes a Florida librarian in response to our latest technology survey. “Our school embraces technology and strives to use more,” says a North Carolina librarian. “We are cutting edge!” adds an Arizona high school librarian.

It’s great that some school libraries are thriving despite the recession. They have the necessary hardware, are able to integrate tools and digital content into the curriculum, can teach students to use technology to organize and analyze information, and have the support of their administrators.

However, these schools are more the exception than the rule. The responses to our technology survey (see “Things Are Changing. Fast.” ) reveal a far more troubling portrait of technology in school libraries, one in which there are deep inequities.

Librarians had ample opportunities to respond to our open-ended questions, especially when we asked them to reflect on how they used technology in their media centers. Responses ranged from a lack of time to take advantage of technology (what else is new?) to the challenges of working with filters, but three prominent themes emerged.

“We have many homeless families living in shelters or with other family members, many transient students, no PTO or other fund-raising groups. We need to be provided with current technology so our students will not be left further behind, but we do not have the funding, ” writes a Chicago K–8 librarian. A new librarian in Tennessee writes, “I was shocked… by the technological divide I have found in this poor rural county.” And a Texas elementary school librarian says, “One of the values of ebooks is that students can access them from home…. Unfortunately, the majority of our students do not have Internet access or a computer at home.”

People’s eyes glaze over when we talk about the digital divide today, but how else do you describe the situation in these urban and rural school libraries that have never had an infusion of technology, and expect that they never will? And where few students can access the Internet from home? The only federal program that helps alleviate some of this inequity, Improving Literacy Through School Libraries, won’t be funded in FY2011—for the first time in a decade. It’s now up to the Department of Education to determine funds for school libraries.

The second issue that jumped out is the digital slide. “Our sole technology comes from COWS (computers-on-wheels) and they are about eight years old… are completely out of date, and frequently are not running properly. Because of this, I lack the resources to teach,” writes a Washington librarian. Stories such as these—technology that’s worn out, possibly never to be replaced—are all too common. The technology gains that school libraries have made in the past decade are often unraveling as an out-of-order sign falls over many library computer monitors.

The final theme I’ll call the digital tide. It’s when technology funding flows through a school, leaving new laptops and interactive whiteboards in its wake. But the tide stops short of the library door. “Any funding that the school does get goes to the classrooms first; therefore, the library gets very little,” laments a librarian in Texas. This lack of administrative vision is in spite of librarians who have clearly shown their leadership in developing students’ information skills.

Underfunding technology doesn’t make it harder for librarians to do their jobs—it makes it impossible. Just take a look at the American Association of School Librarians’ Standards for the 21st-Century Learner—technology is woven throughout. The technology education that school librarians provide is unique, and uniquely important. And it’s the right of every child in this country—not just the few lucky ones.

Brian Kenney Editor-in-Chief bkenney@mediasourceinc.com