The nonbinding QEM, established in 1999, calls for at least one half-time library media specialist and half-time support staff member in elementary schools, and one full-time certified library media specialist and one full-time support staffer in middle and high schools. It also specifies that minimum amounts ranging from $31 to $56 per student be allocated for books, periodicals, and other library materials.
“We’re trying to raise awareness about the problems that libraries face across the state, and we’re using the data we have available to do that,” State Librarian Jim Scheppke said in the December 6 Salem Statesman Journal.
The results of a 2001 Oregon Educational Media Association study indicated that state reading test scores were higher in schools with better-quality libraries.
Posted December 10, 2004.