Lack of librarians

Re “Information Inundation Imperils Our Children,” (Nov. 30): David Shaw hits the nail right on the head when he bemoans that students in today’s schools are not learning how to analyze and handle information to be better able to make good decisions. He further describes questions that should be asked of all media, and then says that tight budgets prevent the hiring of teacher to teach these “media literacy” classes.

What he fails to mention is that the people who already have the expertise to teach “media literacy” currently exist: They are the school librarians, whose job it is to teach “information literacy,” which, to my mind, means exactly the same thing.

School librarians collaborate with classroom teachers, and instruct them and their students in using not only the Internet but print resources as well, to find the answers to their questions, and to help them complete assignments by analyzing, selecting and using information in all curricular areas. If there were a credentialed school librarian in every school, “media literacy” would be taught at all grade levels on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, most school districts in California, LAUSD included, evidently do not see this as a priority, and therefore do not hire school librarians in all K-12 schools. If parents agree that this is a priority, they might want to start demanding that this deplorable situation be remedied as soon as possible.

Sandy Schuckett

Los Angeles

Sandy Schuckett is the California School Library Assn. liaison to the California Teachers Assn.