In a pandemic, many of the school libraries reinvented themselves to become classrooms and thus accommodate classes with a lower ratio. Books in boxes, stacked, were relegated to a closet while in times of safety distance and bubble groups. Many centers promoted online reading and even the lending of books became digital and has remained there… However, for researchers this trend should not mean a reduction in reading on paper and they are committed to the revitalization of a physical school library, to which they attribute multiple benefits for the educational community. This is how Gemma Lluch, professor at the University of Valencia and one of the promoters of the “Manifesto in favor of school libraries and access to reading on paper” explains it, a text that warns about how its disuse harms the development of the youngest .
“Eliminating school libraries is a serious mistake,” says the Manifesto promoted by Lluch. “There is confusion between the school library and books and it is much more than a space with four walls and shelvesâ€, explains the teacher. A few days ago, encouraged by data such as the PIRLS reading comprehension report, a group of researchers exchanged several emails and were encouraged to produce a text that already has the support of 203 researchers and academics.
Promoted by Lluch and by Ladislao Salmerón, also a UV professor, it was published last week with a good reception. “We have been opportune. Above all, we wanted to give an alert because poor reading comprehension endangers democracyâ€, says Lluch.
In the text they claim their “crucial role in the democratization of knowledge” and warn of the drop in the number of school libraries in recent years, focusing on the Balearic Islands and Catalonia.
Figures from the Ministry of Education show that between the 2015-16 and 2019-20 academic years there has been a reduction in school libraries in schools. If before there were 86.9% of centers with a library in operation, the latest statistics show how the percentage has fallen to 81.8%. The point made by the Manifesto on the Balearic Islands and Catalonia is due to a greater drop: the former has gone from having 71.9% of centers with a school library to 54.8%. In Catalonia, it has gone from 78.1% of libraries in operation in the 2015-16 academic year to 56.8% between 2019-20.
Likewise, the Ministry has been evaluating in reports by communities the activity to promote these services and reading in their educational plans, a reality that for Gemma Lluch has good examples in Galicia, Extremadura, Asturias and Andalusia.
“They are models of good practices, there they organize reading clubs, radio, prepare newspapers, theater… The library is a space in which the different subjects and the different educational levels interact in different reading practices, where what is most works is informational competenceâ€, details the specialist. In the Valencian Community, she adds, they had begun “to work well” in this regard.
In the Valencian Community the figures are closer to the average but are still below. The portrait left by the figures shows that libraries grew by almost one and a half points: if in 2015-16 78.1% of schools had a library in operation, four years later the percentage stood at 79. ,5%.
Likewise, the commitment to ‘screening’ that Sweden already regrets has resulted in the creation of the Valencian Network of online school libraries, whose pilot program began a year ago with the participation of 12 educational centers in Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, of various educational levels (IES, CEIP and CRA) and from different regions of the Valencian Community. Already in January of this year, the first phase of the pilot began in the centers of Castellón.
These are the latest data published, although the Ministry has been evaluating in reports by autonomous communities the activity to promote these services and to promote reading in their educational plans. A technical cooperation committee for school libraries has evaluated the educational projects, which even has an edition of awards for the most outstanding library projects during the year.
In the last report of the Commission referring to the Valencian Community (2021) it is highlighted that currently the actions related to the revitalization of school libraries are mainly concentrated on the continuity of the Library Revitalization Program with financial aid. On this reality, in the Valencian Community, 49.9% of the centers have a specific allocation in their budget for the school library, although there is a great difference between public and private centers, since the former are 54.7% of the total while that the private ones are 34.3%.
