Should we throw away all the books ignored by middle grades students? The average copyright date of books in Indiana middle grades school libraries is about 1980. This means that half of the books were written during or before the 1980s. Why are so many of these books over 25 years of age? Would it be better to provide students with access only to state of the art computers? If school libraries were filled with new books, would students still ignore them?
There is clear evidence that Indiana’s middle grades students do indeed read current, appealing, high-interest and useful books. Schools that are serious about increasing their students’ reading skills know that the solution to libraries crammed with ignored books is to purchase new ones and systematically weed out the books that just sit on the shelves gathering dust. It is common knowledge among school library media specialists that books over ten years old that have not been checked out in the past year should be removed from the collection along with ones that are not of lasting quality.
The now defunct School Library Printed Materials Grant provided funds for new books to all Indiana school corporations. The average number of books circulated per student in Indiana school libraries jumped from 33.8 in 1997 to 43.5 in 2002 for a 28.7 percent increase. When the state and matching funding stopped, circulation decreased. As indicated above, books last for 10 years, so the decrease is gradual; but the number of books circulated per student dropped to 40.1 in 2004 for a decrease of 24.9 percent compared to 2002 and to 32.7 for a decrease of 34.3 percent in 2006 compared to 2002.
How much should we spend on books for our school libraries? The recommended number is two books per student per year. At the present time, Indiana schools are buying on average less that one-half book per student per year. As a result, most of the books are more than ten years old.
The following is the formula to follow for purchasing new school library books:
Number of students times the current cost of school library books times two equals the number of books to be purchased each year. For example, 500 students x $20 x 2 = $20,000. With the addition of the 1,000 new books, 1,000 unused, old books should be
discarded.
If we look at schools that place a high priority on middle grades reading, we see that they offer 0480 reading classes for all students and provide school libraries with resources needed for independent reading. These middle grades schools have libraries with copies of the current Young Hoosier Book Award books, the Indiana Library Federation’s readaloud books, high interest/low vocabulary books for struggling readers, current bestsellers for young adolescents, newspapers, and magazines of interest to boys and girls. Reading teachers systematically schedule their classes to meet in the school library where students are involved in activities which include booktalks, information gathering about new books, recognition events concerning participation in programs such as the Young Hoosier Book Award, and last but not least, browsing and checking out books and other print materials.
Students who are avid readers benefit from school libraries that provide them with current, appealing, high-interest, and useful books. Excellent school libraries are absolutely essential if we are to ensure that all middle grades students have access to the reading resources that will help them gain the level of reading achievement vital to success in high school and beyond. Commitment to building up the best school libraries must be at the heart of any comprehensive plan for improving reading achievement. Our goal must be to develop and nurture independent reading that will endure for a lifetime.