By Carol Koechlin & Anita Brooks Kirkland
Schools Open – Schools Closed
In-School Classes – Blended Classes – Virtual Classes…
For a year now our worlds have been turned upside down on this roller coaster fall-out from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. With great admiration for our school library colleagues, we dedicate this issue in recognition of your perseverance over the past year. This issue is a testament to your agility and professionalism. It is also an opportunity to start looking to the future. When we can finally jump off this roller coaster, how can we take the lessons learned along that chaotic ride to make the LLC even better?
Inspiration for the Future
In its new report Education in a post-COVID world: Nine ideas for public action (2020), the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education – composed of thought leaders from the worlds of academia, science, government, business, and education – presents nine ideas for concrete actions today that will advance education tomorrow.
“We cannot return to the world as it was before.”
UNESCO, 2020
Nine Ideas for Concrete Action Today That Will Advance Education Tomorrow:
- Commit to strengthen education as a common good.
- Expand the definition of the right to education so that it addresses the importance of connectivity and access to knowledge and information.
- Value the teaching profession and teacher collaboration.
- Promote student, youth and children’s participation and rights.
- Protect the social spaces provided by schools as we transform education.
- Make free and open source technologies available to teachers and students.
- Ensure scientific literacy within the curriculum.
- Protect domestic and international financing of public education.
- Advance global solidarity to end current levels of inequality.
“Decisions made today in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic will have long term consequences for the future of education.”
UNESCO, 2020
What Decisions are Being Made about the Library Learning Commons in COVID Times?
That pandemic roller coaster has affected school libraries as much or more than other areas of the school. We have witnessed wonderful innovation as teacher-librarians “pivoted” practice into the virtual world. The past few issues of this journal lay testament to this. These innovations inspire the future.
In many other cases, school districts have closed libraries and re-assigned staff. As we start the long path of emerging from the pandemic, we are alarmed to see some of these ill-advised moves being formalized into permanent future cuts.
A Call for Activism
We are all very concerned about what the post-pandemic future may bring. School districts are making extraordinarily difficult decisions in the face of funding cuts and uncertainty. Despite the remarkable progress we’ve made in moving school libraries forward over the past decade, we remain the “low-hanging fruit” in this context.
If there was ever a time to be a library activist, it is now.
Let us take inspiration from UNESCO’s nine ideas. Clearly school library professionals can lead the way in implementing changes for the future. As we start to recover from the COVID roller coaster ride, let us work together to advocate for the future of the school library learning commons and our professional roles. We are DEFINITELY all on this new journey together.