Almost every OUSD school has a library now. But it will take more money to keep them running

Four years ago, fewer than half of Oakland Unified School District campuses had a functioning library. Today, most campuses have opened their libraries, giving 95% of OUSD students access to library services with a dedicated staff person and a dynamic book collection. 

A lot of things had to change to accomplish this, but the key, say OUSD leaders, was the passage of a parcel tax by Oakland voters in 2008. Over the last several years, Measure G has raised millions of dollars to help support school libraries, after years of austerity that saw library positions slashed and bookshelves collecting dust. 

However, while progress has been made to reopen libraries and get them staffed, district librarians say there’s still work ahead to maintain these spaces and integrate them into the school community, and that costs money.

“Measure G revenues are not expanding at the same rate as costs. As we’ve opened up more libraries, then that money is spread out over more sites,” said Jeannie Bruland, OUSD’s district library liaison and middle school literacy coordinator. “Moving forward, our biggest challenge is keeping collections that are up to date and relevant to students. New books come out every year, and while there are books kids want to read over and over again, and want to read for years to come, maintaining a collection takes funding.”

When a library is reopened that hasn’t been in operation for years, the book collection is old, and library staff are tasked with weeding out books that are outdated or irrelevant and replacing them. But there’s not much money in school budgets for library books, so staff turn to fundraising, through the PTA or sites like Donors Choose, and grants from organizations like the Oakland Literacy Coalition. 

Through its school library partnerships program, the literacy coalition provides book-buying grants to Oakland schools. Last year, the “Elaine Wells Books Kids Want to Read” program raised $90,000 for 43 schools for more than 5,100 new books, largely supported by Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. 

But library supporters say relying on philanthropy isn’t sustainable.

“I see gaps in funding, and there’s just a limited amount that philanthropy can do. There really needs to be an investment at the district level and at the state level to uplift school libraries,” said Leigh Carroll, the library partnerships program coordinator at the Oakland Literacy Coalition. 

That means more emphasis on advocacy and uplifting the importance of school libraries so there are more investments at higher levels, said Cassie Perham, one of the co-executive directors of the Oakland Literacy Coalition.

Letting students pick books to fill shelves

With additional funding from the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, Lockwood STEAM Elementary library technician Rebecca Edwards was able to carry out a project she’d been wanting to do for years: Using SORA, the district’s app for e-books, Edwards had her fourth and fifth graders pick out which books they most wanted to have physical copies of in the library, and she was able to order them. 

“Learning how to read is an extremely important thing that we want all of our students to be able to do, but they also need to be able to see themselves as readers and they will never do that if they’re not allowed to independently choose books that they want to read,” Edwards told The Oaklandside. “The biggest part of the library mission in schools is making sure that we continue to value that free and independent reading culture.”

Curating a book collection also means providing a diverse selection of books that reflect OUSD students and families. As a librarian at a dual immersion school, Edwards makes sure to include Spanish-language books and puts them on display. Creating a space that students want to spend time in encourages students to come to the library on their own, and it can serve as a safe space.

During Ramadan, some Muslim students have chosen to come to the Lockwood STEAM library during lunch, where Edwards set aside a selection of books written in Arabic or by Muslim authors. School librarians also often serve as student club advisors and offer the library as a meeting space. 

While the recent push in OUSD has been to hire a library technician at every school, there’s an emerging focus on teacher librarians—those with a teaching credential and a master’s degree in library science who can manage the library and instruct a class. OUSD’s teacher librarians work with classroom teachers to create book lists for class projects, teach lessons on digital citizenship and information literacy, and help students build up their research skills, which are especially important for older students.

“They’re about to go out in the world and make a lot of information-based decisions, about college, paying for college, and where you should live. They need to be able to navigate the information landscape as it exists today,” said Samantha Solomon, the teacher librarian for the Calvin Simmons Library at Life Academy and United for Success Academy. Solomon is one of three teacher librarians across the district.

Last year’s teacher strike resulted in a contract with provisions to hire four new teacher librarians at four high schools in OUSD—the first such requirement in a contract. However, hiring can be challenging since these positions require two credentials. District library staff are hopeful that they can encourage existing teachers to pursue the teacher librarian credential. 

“We have some school sites, especially at the high school level, that have had closed libraries for a long time. So the challenge for a teacher librarian to step into that role is to build a library culture, create relationships with staff, and create relationships with students,” said Samia Khattab, a teacher librarian at Franklin Elementary. “Our teachers everywhere already have a lot on their plates.”

Most importantly, libraries have implications for student literacy, Khattab said. Research shows that schools with staffed libraries have higher student achievement scores, better reading skills, and positive impacts on graduation rates. A goal in OUSD is to produce strong readers by third grade, and staffed libraries help contribute to that goal by supporting students’ independent reading skills, Khattab said. 

“There’s a love and a joy that comes from having a welcoming, beautiful space filled with the Dog Mans, Wimpy Kids, and other books that are reflective of the student population,” she added. “The investment pays off.”