The Book Bug: Happy National Library Week

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Happy National Library Week

I have been such a bad blogger. I haven't posted in several weeks. I had some fabulous posts planned (in my head) for National Library Week, but alas, they did not get written. I could give you a list of reasons why I have been absent from bloggyland, but they aren't very interesting. So here we are almost at the end of National Library Week and all I've got is this one little post, but perhaps if you stick with me, I will have something special to share at the end of this post.

I have been sharing fun trivia facts about public and school libraries all week during announcements at my school, so I figured it would be fun to share them on my blog, too. Some of these facts are not so much fun as they are depressing, but these are the facts.

98.7% of public libraries provide public access to the Internet.
Almost 89% of public libraries offer wireless Internet access.
59% of adults in the U.S. have public library cards.
Americans check out an average of more than eight books a year.
Americans spend $35.81 a year for the public library..about the average cost of one hardback book.

There are 80,100 public school libraries.
There are 1,820 public charter school libraries.
Students make over 1 billion visits to school library media centers each school year.
As of 2013, there were a reported 62,364 state-certified school librarians in U.S. public schools and 3,909 state-certified school librarians in U.S. private schools.
As of 2013, about 27% of American school libraries do not have a state-certified school librarian. This number may be higher now due to budget cuts.
In 15% of American public schools, the state-certified school librarian spends time in more than one school. This is becoming more and more common.
On average, there is one school librarian for every 953 students.
Family literacy activities are supported by 42% of public school libraries.
As of 2013, school libraries were spending an average of only $9.35 per child for books. This is about a half to a third the cost of a hardback book, which is around $19-$27.
Research shows that the highest achieving students attend schools with well-staffed and well-funded library media centers.

One fact I'd like to add is that National School Librarian Day is on April 4th. It fell on a Saturday this year. I am not sure why it wasn't moved back a day so that school librarians could celebrate at school, but it is something to note for the future. But just in case no one told you,

See what I did there? Told ya, I have been a bad blogger lately. But hopefully you buy into the "it's the thought that counts" philosophy. I really do mean it. I hope that you had a fabulous National School Librarian Day, even if you didn't know that is was National School Librarian Day. You probably don't hear it often enough, but all the hard work you do is appreciated. =)

Here are some sources of information about public and school libraries:

ALA's Quoteable Facts About America's Libraries (2012)

ALA Facts About School Libraries (2013)

LRS Infographic (2013)

Institute of Education Sciences

Library Research Service

Pew Research Center, 10 Facts About American and Public Libraries (2014)