Checklist for Upgrading School & Public Library Services for Youth
A State and Local Checklist
Upgraded school and public library services are essential for all American youth from infancy to age eighteen.
State and local areas differ in major issues, levels of library service, and strengths and weaknesses of school libraries and services to children and young adults in public libraries. Each state must develop priorities and potential legislation based on its specific issues and local needs, involving children, young adults, and their advocates in the process.
The checklist below was designed to help librarians assess specific gaps in meeting the needs of children and young adults in school and public libraries and to prepare for WHCLIS II. If the answer to any of the following questions (or parts of questions) was "no," the information was used to develop proposals for consideration by the delegates at state-level pre-White House Conferences. The checklist is still a useful assessment tool.
 Are all public schools required to have libraries and to have them staffed by certified school library media specialists?
Do all public libraries in your state have a program of service to children staffed by a professional children's librarian?
Do all public libraries in your state have a program of service for young adults up to age eighteen staffed by a professional young adult librarian?
Do librarians serving children and young adults in your state receive salaries comparable to salaries of other professional librarians? Do they have equal opportunities for career advancement?
Does your state have a network for sharing resources that will provide access for all citizens to the resources of school, public, and special libraries?
Are libraries placed accessibly in communities and funded adequately to provide convenient hours of service?</>
Do school and public library policies and practices adhere to the concepts of intellectual freedom and the American Library Association's (ALA) Library Bill of Rights?
Is there a state-level school library media consultant within the State Department of Education to provide leadership for school library programs in the state?
Are there state-level children's and young adult library consultants within the State Library Department to provide leadership for public library programs for children and young adults in the state?
Do all children and young adults, regardless of geographic location or physical disabilities, have equal access to the information resources of the state?
Do the collections of school libraries adequately support the schools' curricula?
Do the children's collections, young adult collections, and general collections in public libraries adequately meet the educational, recreational, and personal needs of all youth, regardless of race or national origin?
Do school and public library collections maintain a high level of currency by providing resources that have been published within the past three years, especially in subject areas such as science and health where currency is essential?
Do children and young adults in your state have free access to electronic databases?
Do all school and public libraries have fax machines to facilitate resource sharing? Do all school libraries have telephones?
Do all children and young adults have free access to computers in school and public libraries?
Does your state dedicate a percentage of state educational funds for school library media programs? Do school library media programs in your state receive money through P.L. 100-297 (the Hawkins, Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988)?
Has your state dedicated a percentage of the public library grant monies it administers to programs serving children and young adults? Has your state offered other incentives to libraries to develop services for children and young adults?
Does your state have certification requirements for school library media specialists for elementary through high school? Are they based on Information Power: Guidelines for School Library-Media Programs approved by the American Associa tion of School Librarians (AASL) and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) in 1988?
Do graduate library and educational programs in your state, accredited by the ALA or National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), offer courses that prepare librarians to serve children and young adults in public and school libraries? Is the preparation consistent with the competency standards published by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the competency standards published by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), and the guidelines published by AASL and AECT?
This checklist is taken from Kids Need Libraries prepared by Virginia H. Mathews, Judith G. Flum, and Karen A. Whitney on behalf of the three youth-serving divisions of the American Library Association: American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), and Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). It was to be used at all levels of activities relating to the second White House Conference on Library and Information Services, first published in School Library Journal, April, 1990.
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