School Libraries and Librarians

Just a note from Orca in the midst of our wonderful month of guest blog entries. We couldn’t pass this one up! National School Library Day was this Monday, and in the BC Legislative Assembly, MLA David Cubberley of Saanich South advocated for full time school librarians:

“Today is National School Library Day, a time to honour the role libraries play on the road to literacy and lifelong learning, to honour those whose calling it is to engage young readers. It’s also a time to ask whether, for the sake of literacy and the love of reading, we can’t do more to put a physical library with a skilled librarian within reach of every child in B.C. — not a 0.2 or 0.4 librarian, not a clerk to handle the book returns, but a living, breathing, full-time teacher-librarian.”

Hear hear! School librarians can make a big difference to young readers, whether they’re reluctant or eager. David Cubberley has the right idea; there should be youth librarians around to help every child in BC—every child in Canada—improve their literacy skills and get the chance to read many wonderful books.

(You can read the full text of Cubberley’s speech in the official transcripts of the legislative session.)