She had plenty of opportunities to take on higher-paying jobs. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Garrison earned her teaching credentials and taught for many years at public schools — qualifications above and beyond the job requirements for a library technician.
But, she explains, Farallone View has a special place in her heart: It’s the school within walking distance of her house, and it’s where her children learned to read.
 Farallone View Elementary School library tech Marilyn Garrison checks out books for students who have to stand on a step in order to better reach her desk. |
Garrison plans to retire in June. She might not be alone — all the other librarians in the Cabrillo Unified School District might be forced to leave right along with her.
School libraries, at Farallone View and all other Cabrillo Unified schools, are at risk of being cut as the district board begins its painful budget season. School board members say they have to prepare for $2.5 million in cuts. They have indicated they intend to keep those cuts out of the classroom whenever possible. That means ancillary services and administrative staff — including athletics, office personnel, custodians and library employees — are at risk.
Garrison says she can’t envision what a campus library would be like without some type of librarian. Would that mean parent volunteers take over, she asked, or would teachers have to monitor and maintain the library themselves?
“I don’t know what would happen to the library,” she said. “It’s hard to say ‘save my job’ when there’s so many school employees at risk … but having a library with a librarian, that’s really important too.”
Not just important, it’s also the law. California education code states that all schools must provide and maintain a library for students and teachers.
But that’s about as specific as the state law gets, and many school districts are now interpreting it as having no mandate to actually staff their school libraries, explained Barbara Jeffus, a library consultant with the state Department of Education.
This year, Jeffus expects many school districts to send pink slips to their library employees as they find alternative ways to keep their libraries open.
“Schools are trying to keep services available but cutting back on the cost of it,” Jeffus said. “Right now, libraries are endangered statewide.”
Many districts plan to keep their libraries open by splitting one librarian among multiple campuses, or having teachers trade off library duties, which Jeffus believes will ultimately hurt education.
“It splinters the school staff, so they won’t be effective anywhere,” she said.
Ken Haycock, director of the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University, agreed there was a direct link between school libraries and their education quality.
“At one time, California had good libraries and good student achievement,” he said. “Now our libraries rank 46th out of the 50 states, just like student achievement.”
Cabrillo is already sharing one library technician between Hatch and El Granada elementary schools. Cunha Intermediate School has a newly constructed library, but only one part-time library technician. Half Moon Bay High School has the only certified librarian in the district.
Under a district list of possible budget cuts, all library staff could be laid off at a savings of about $134,000. So far, the district has not specified how its libraries would be maintained without any staff.
Superintendent Rob Gaskill declined to comment on the possible library cuts, noting the district has not confirmed its final list of budget cuts. District leaders are hoping voters in June will support a parcel tax measure that would provide funding to prevent the worst cuts. But even with a tax initiative, the district will need to make about $1 million in reductions, meaning libraries still might be threatened.
At Farallone View, first-grade teacher Annie Blair said she didn’t know what she’d do if the campus lost its library technician. Watching her class as Garrison read a picture book to them, Blair guessed that most library duties could fall onto teachers like herself.
“I can’t imagine 22 teachers all sharing one computer for checking out books,” Blair said. “The time it would take me to locate books would be during my lunch, on top of everything else.”
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