Thanks for all the responses. I wasn't expecting to create a HIT for
this, but a few asked, so here goes. I did not do any research into
state or accreditation requirements - so any gaps in this info are
because no one from that area responded!
First, the obvious: Yes, the two librarian school is based on size.
Second, the unfortunate reality: Just because it's in the requirements,
doesn't mean individual districts and schools do it.
If you want the final word, the best answer given was... "it depends!"
Here's what I gathered. Hopefully it is helpful!
Ron Wagner
Teacher-Librarian
Felida Elementary School
Vancouver, WA
ron.wagner@vansd.org
SACS accreditation governs the number in the southeast.
Look at:
http://www.sacscasi.org/region/standards/SACS_CASI_K-12_Standards_InternetVer.pdf
Scroll down to page 7 and look at the 'Library or Media Specialst' section.
It gives the break-out per student population.
The student population also makes a difference as to whether or not the
librarian(s) have an aide,
and for what part of the school day.
Some schools go above the minimums, but not very many.
* *
*California*
I work at a private grades 6-12 school. I am full time and there is also
a .6 librarian (LMT/MLIS). We have no aide. The school down the street
(also private) is grades K-12, has three librarians (one for each grade
level) plus one aide. Some other private schools in our area have
similar staffing, some have just one librarian. I don't know of any
local CA schools with two librarians, but we are talking CA here - the
state with the fewest LMTs per student in the country!
*Canada** (no Province given)*
We had two for about 3 years until the government stripped our contract.
It was in contract that there had to be 1 teacher-librarian for every
712 kids.
* *
*Connecticut*
Our school has about 1600 sutdents but the other high school in the
district with about 1400 students also has 2 librarians. I believe
NEASC, our regional accrediting body suggests one librarian for every
1000 kids so, technically we could do with 1.5 librarians. I am in CT. I
also worked for a year in NY in a school with a population of 3000 and
there were 2 librarians at that school as well. There are several
schools here in CT with over 1000 kids where there is more than one
librarian. They are all high schools.
* *
*Florida*
I live in Florida and according to SACS which is the Southern
Association Credited of Schools- (not sure if that is the correct title)
if a school has more than 650 students then 2 librarians are needed.
However, I have only seen it at the High School level.
* *
*Georgia*
In Georgia a school is entitled for funding for two librarians when the
student population reaches 1,000. In this county each high school has
two librarians and a parapro. Thanks goodness at the middle school level
we have full time parapros. When our middle schools reached 1,000 they
didn’t get a second librarian, but usually they are below 900.
* *
*Idaho*
We only have one librarian per school here, but this is a fairly small
town of 35,000. In areas where the schools are bigger, there are often
two librarians.
*Illinois*
I work in a high school -- of 2400 students -- outside of Chicago. I
find it very common at the high school level (in our area) to find 2
librarians. Certainly our numbers justify it. I imagine you will find it
true of many large high schools today. Unfortunately, we don't often see
dual librarians at the lower levels. We have one 900+ student population
elementary school in our district with only one PARAPRO (not even a
certified librarian) and one part time aide.
*Nebraska*
I'm not exactly sure on the numbers but I think once a school reaches
700 students, they get 2 full-time librarians here. If they are between
500-700 (or something like that), they get a part-time librarian who is
called a travel librarian. Travel librarians are usually full-time
employees who work at 2-3 different schools as a part-time staff member.
My school only has about 270 students so I am the only librarian there.
We do cover teacher plan time plus get plan time of our own so they have
to staff our schools that way or teachers and librarians wouldn't get
their contracted plan time.
*New Jersey*
I will be the second librarian at the school I am starting at in the
fall. I'm also not sure how common that is, but I can tell you that the
school has about 1500 students in grades preK, 2-5. With a fixed
schedule there would be no way for one librarian to handle all those
classes.
* *
*New York*
In New York State, secondary schools (7-12) are required to have one
librarian for every 1000 students. So many middle and high schools have
two librarians.
We have two librarians in elementary school. There are over 1000
students in the school and both librarians are on the rotation to
provide teacher prep. That is the only reason there are two of us here.
*North Carolina*
I know that they are actually becoming more common here in North
Carolina. School populations are growing faster than they can build new
schools. So they add trailers to make new classrooms and double up
everywhere else they can.
* *
I am one of two librarians in a middle school of 800 students.
* *
*Ohio*
We are a 1200 student plus building of grades second thru fifth grade.
We have two librarians. There are other two librarian programs in the
Ohio but it is usually in a large high school setting.
*Oklahoma*
ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
210:35-5-71. Staffing
The school shall provide staffing for the media program through one of
the following arrangements:
(1) OPTION A.
ENROLLMENT QUALIFIED SPECIALIST REQUIRED
Fewer than 300 At least a half-time certified library media specialist
(librarian)
300 to 499 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) or a half-time
certified library media specialist (librarian) and a full-time library
assistant
500-999 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and a half-time
library assistant
(2) OPTION B.
ENROLLMENT QUALIFIED SPECIALIST REQUIRED
Fewer than 300 At least one-fifth time certified library media
specialist (librarian) and a full-time
library assistant
300 to 499 At least a half-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and a full-time
library assistant
500 + At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and a half-time
library assistant (92)
46 Oklahoma State Department of Education
Accreditation Standards
Oklahoma State Department of Education
Accreditation Standards
ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR MIDDLE LEVEL SCHOOLS
210:35-7-61. Staffing
Staffing for the media program shall be provided through one of the
following arrangements:
ENROLLMENT QUALIFIED SPECIALISTS REQUIRED
Fewer than 300 At least a half-time certified library media specialist
(librarian)
300 to 499 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) or a half-time
library media specialist (librarian) and a full-time library assistant
500 to 999 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and a half-time
assistant
1000 to 1499 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and one fulltime
library assistant
1500 plus At least two full-time certified library media specialists
(librarians) (92)
Oklahoma State Department of Education
Accreditation Standards
ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
210:35-9-71. Staffing
The school shall provide staffing for the library media program through
one of the following
arrangements:
ENROLLMENT QUALIFIED SPECIALISTS REQUIRED
Fewer than 300 At least a half-time certified library media specialist
(librarian)
300 to 499 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) or a half-time
library media specialist (librarian) and a full-time library assistant
500 to 999 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and a half-time library assistant
1000 to 1499 At least one full-time certified library media specialist
(librarian) and one fulltime library assistant
1500 plus At least two full-time certified library media specialists
(librarians) (92)
I am a two librarian media center. In Oklahoma, it's definitely NOT on
the way out!
*Pennsylvania*
I'm one of two elementary librarians at a 1,500+ K-4 school. We also
have a full time aide and a dozen dedicated parent volunteers.
* **Rhode Island*
I can't speak for any other state, but in Rhode Island, high schools of
more than 1000 students are supposed to have two librarians. Doesn't
necessarily
happen of course.
* **South Carolina*
It's state-specific. In South Carolina, 1000 students in a high school
gets you two librarians and an aide; I know of large schools that have
three plus clerks. I am in a school of 1550 with two librarians and one
clerk. It's based on SACS standards and South Carolina Dept. Ed. guidelines.
http://www.sacscasi.org/region/standards/index.html
http://ed.sc.gov/agency/offices/tech/ms/lms/LMCManagement.html
*Tennessee*
I live in E. Tennessee and have about 4 different school systems within
an area of about 30 miles (we're on the border between 3 counties and
have some city districts that are separate from the counties in which
the city lies). Here the trend seems to be to have 2 full-time
librarians at the high school level. Middle and elementary schools have
one full-time librarian and one part-time assistant.. I have been told
that this depends on the number of students enrolled. At the high school
I interned at, the population was about 2400 (they also had 2 full-time
assistants who also had other duties along with the library, but were
based in the library). My city high school has two full-time librarians
and one full-time assistant/secretary; however there is talk that when
the assistant retires, they may not get to re-fill that position. This
high school has around 1600 students.
The state of TN requires two librarians if the school has over a certain
number of students. At the moment I am not sure of the cutoff, but it is
something around 1000. We have 1500+.
*Texas*
I've been in two private schools in Texas and both had 2 (or more)
librarians in one grade / level building. Both schools had 1100
students (or less) enrolled and both schools had an elementary and
high school level library building / collection with at least two
librarians working in each building.
Although this is an example of a private school situation, I don't see
this much in the public school.
Don't know the cutoff point, but our high school of 3800 students has
two. The state standards for excellent call for three!
In my district in the Dallas, Texas area, we only have two librarians at
the high school level where the number of students is 2000+. We used to
have aides at all other levels, but they were removed four years ago
when the district experienced a significant financial hit due to sending
money to the state to more adequately fund education.
Here in Texas we have statewide guidelines, but each school district
makes its own decisions about librarians. In my school district (Spring
ISD), there are no provisions for a second librarian at the
elementarylevel. At the secondary level, a .5 professional position
(librarian)is added when the student population reaches 1500, and a full
positionis added at 2000, a third at 3000, etc. Because a bond issue
failed in our district 2 years ago, delaying the opening of more
schools, we now have a couple of elementary schools with over 1000
students (lots of portable buildings), two middle schools over 1500 and
two high schools over 3000 (with a 3rd high school opening in August to
help reduce those numbers). Each campus also has at least one library
aide (including the elementary schools). More than one aide is the
exception rather than the rule.
*Virginia*
In Virginia secondary schools should have a second librarian added when
the school reaches 1000 students. This is part of the state standards.
In the division I work in some of the secondary schools do not have 1000
students but do have 2 librarians. There are currently two secondary
schools with 1.5 librarians who are at 830 students enrollment. I am
hopeful that all secondary will have 2 full-time librarians by 2008.
*Washington *
My daughter's elementary school (900 students and built to house 900)
has two full-time librarians. Two of the three high schools have two
full-time librarians. The third high school has 1.6 FTE. All these
schools are in the Northshore School District here in Washington. There
are other schools in our area that have more than one librarian, but
unfortunately my district isn't one of them.
>From WLMA’s website:
6.13 The library media program is directed by a certified library media
specialist.
a. Library staff in schools of *fewer than 250 students *need not be
certified, but are under the direction of a certified library media
specialist.
b. Schools with an *enrollment between 250 and 500 students *have a
full-time certified library media specialist.
c. Schools with more than *500 students *have a full-time library media
specialist and have additional library media personnel.
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