Re: What about Victoria, BC library closure?

[Yvonne Rolston <yrolston@CLN.ETC.BC.CA>]

Hi everyone! Yes I woke up yesterday morning listening to CBC's
announcement that the Greater Victoria School Board had eliminated library
services to schools also!! I am a librarian at a Secondary School in
Victoria, and Chair of a School Board Committee to review our library
policy and regs, and we are in the process of restructuring services in our
district!!!! Strange how things happen.

Needless to say life has been very interesting in the last 24 hrs. I did
find out that CBC got it only half right, all elementary services have
been cut, but secondary services continue. However, I also understand that
if elementary schools dont have a music program to provide prep time for
classroom teachers, then the librarian will likely continue in order to
provide that "service". In other words, the teacher-librarians who have
worked really long and hard to convince their staffs that flexible
scheduling is the way to go, will be cut, and those who have been humming
along doing the old prep time thing will stay!!!

I dont know exactly how this will all pan out, and I dont know what impact
this decision will have on the work of our committee. However I requested
a sum of money from Ministry funds through the site development grants, to
proceed with a pilot called the "family of schools" project. We continue
to proceed with that starting in Jan of 1995.

IThe bottom line of course is that Victoria is utterly strangled
financially, I dont consider the decision to eliminate elementary
libraries as a philosophical one. I worry, of course that without a
speedy return of the elementary libraries that it will be too costly to
turn the ship around some time in the future.

It's so ironical that the Ministry of Education has been moving schools in
this Province in the direction of resource-based learning, at the same
time that libraries are closing.

We are all somewhere between shock and anger.

Yvonne Rolston
Lambrick Park Secondary School
Victoria B.C.
yrolston@cln.etc.bc.ca





On Thu, 7 Apr 1994, Carolynne Miller wrote:

> Is there anyone on the NET that has more information regarding the
> announcement of library closures in Victoria (BC) School District?  I heard
> a snippet of the news announcement on CBC yesterday morning but there
> was nothing on CTV last night.  Let us know more details.  The Kamloops
> District Teacher-librarians' Assoc. met yesterday and plans are in the works
> to write a letter to the Minister of Education. We might even personally
> take it down to his office as the Minister is the Kamloops area MLA.
>
> What a way to start the day
> Carolynne
> ****************************************************
> Carolynne Miller,  Teacher-Librarian, Sa-Hali Jr. Sec.
> 255 Arrowstone Drive, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 1P8  Canada
> e-mail: cmiller@cln.etc.bc.ca
> Phone: (604)374-0861   FAX:(604)374-0521