Philadelphia School Libraries: A Story of Resuscitation

Those who attended Masterman in middle school may remember Library Science classes with Ms. Kearney, in which they learned about the Dewey Decimal system and perhaps received a dramatic reading of The Tailypo: A Ghost Story. One of the lessons Ms. Keaarney teaches her students is the value of Masterman’s school library: “[School libraries are] a place to prepare you to be a lifelong learner… a person who can find information for yourself and analyze information and also what is true for you.” For many years, only four other schools in the School District of Philadelphia have had a fully functioning library run by a certified librarian: Central High School, James R. Lowell Elementary School, Penn Alexander Middle School, and South Philadelphia High School, and three of these librarians serve only part-time. This summer, the school district began working to bring libraries to more schools across the district by hiring a new library director and offering a grant to revive school libraries across the district. 

Standardizing the benefits school libraries give to schools like Masterman requires capable leadership at the district level. Accordingly, the district hired Jean Darnell as its library director only a few months ago. Known as the “Awaken Librarian,” Darnell hails from Texas, where she worked as a school librarian until she lost her job by advocating for The Hate U Give, which administrators had censored due to perceived anti-police sentiment. Libraries provided Darnell with the help she needed at some of the most difficult times in her life, and she believes they should be the “heart” of every school. Darnell is asking teachers with library certifications to return as school librarians and building up her budget to guarantee school librarians proper pay. In addition, she needs money to clean out libraries, set up policies and procedures, and digitize catalogs. While Darnell’s experience is promising, Ms. Kearney believes this will be a “Sisyphean” task, especially since the librarians who were cut from their positions would be afraid to give up the security of being in the classroom; being a school librarian affords little security: “I started in the school district in 1991,” Ms. Kearney said, “and every single year I was afraid I was going to lose my job.”  

The district’s $149,120 grant owes itself largely to the Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Libraries (PARSL), a grassroots organization working to raise the funds needed to bring back school libraries, particularly for students in underserved communities. Currently, they are advocating for Pennsylvania to require all state public schools to have a library and a certified librarian. While this call for new legislation has yet to be answered, PARSL and the school district did earn a federal grant, funded by the U.S. Institute of Library Services and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program. The district and PARSL will use this grant to recruit and train new librarians and restore school libraries. They will also examine efforts to build up libraries in school districts in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Washington D.C.. Far from benefitting Philadelphia alone, the program the district devises will become a model for school districts across the nation.

School libraries are integral to literacy. According to a national study published by Antioch University in Seattle in 2023, schools with libraries run by certified librarians have higher achievement and graduation rates. This effect is the most impactful in underserved communities, such as the many struggling neighborhoods with similarly struggling schools across Philadelphia. The district is battling major struggles with literacy: according to the 2023-24 STAR assessment, only thirty-one percent of students scored at or above the benchmark, a statistic that puts the absence of libraries in many public schools in the limelight. Through these recent efforts to restore school libraries, the Philadelphia School District is taking the necessary steps to ensure that all its students have a strong opportunity for success.