The Evolution of the School Library

By agkeller

  • New York Passes Law

    Law passed to allow school districts to use allotted tax monies to establish and maintain school libraries.

  • American Library Association (ALA) Created

    ALA was created by librarians, led by Melvil Dewey.

  • Law Passed for School Library Growth

    Melvil Dewey and Andrew Draper drafted this law that pioneered an effort to grow school libraries. A school district could receive no more that $500 per year for the purchase of library books.

  • NEA Creates Library Section

    The National Education Association created its Library Section

  • Comparable Salaries for Librarians

    New York's board of education adopted regulations that made salaries of qualified school librarians comparable to others.

  • National Council of Teachers of English School Library Report

    This report shed light on the inadequate conditions of school libraries.

  • "Certain report" is Officially Published

    ALA finally publishes the National Council of Teachers of English report on the inadequate conditions of the school library system.

  • Score Cards for School Libraries

    A set of standards that began concentrating on the programs or qualitative standards rather than on quantities of materials in school libraries.

  • The Library in the School

    Became the standard textbook on administering school library services.

  • Evaluative Criteria for the Evaluation of Secondary Schools

    Widely used numerical scoring for secondary schools including their libraries.

  • School Libraries for Today and Tomorrow

    Second set of school library standards is created.

  • State Standards Increase

    Increased state standards for certification were adopted that could only be met by attending a library school with complete library science program.

  • Period of Great Library Growth

    A new set of national standards developed by the American Association of School Librarians paved the way tremendous growth in school libraries.

  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    Made for millions of dollars to be spent developing school libraries.

  • Unified Media Programs

    Principles of learning that led educators to pursue new teaching strategies including widespread adoption of school library media centers.

  • Media Programs: District and School

    Documents that reaffirmed unified approaches to centralizing media services in schools.

  • Task Force Report

    Report of the study of the position of the library media center within the framework of a national cooperative network established an overriding rational for media programs.

  • White House Conference on Library and Information Science

    Focused attention on the future of all the nation's libraries including those in schools. Established a national library act.

  • Pico vs. Island Trees

    A case that gave library media specialists a little recourse to deal with censorship.

  • Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Programs

    Document written as guideline to foster quality school media programs.

  • DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Grant

    Schools receiving this grant agreed to employ full-time media specialists and to provide matching funds for collection development.

  • Information Power

    The standards for the role of the school library media specialist expanded to include instructional partners with flexible scheduling for collaboration between teachers and media specialists. This partnership was to create lifelong learners.

  • Rapid Technological Growth

    Internet access in the 90's increased along with the media centers number of computers.

  • Media Specialist Recruitment

    AASL Task Force set out to fill the positions of open media specialist positions within schools. This was viewed as a great need and positively increased the way people viewed media specialists and media centers.

  • Media Centers as Cornerstones of Children's Education

    Another White House conference that emphasized school libraries that strongly supported the idea that school media centers were the cornerstones of children's learning.

  • Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

    With the acknowledgement of increased student achievement tied to highly qualified media specialists in media centers books were written to support the new standards.