Libraries have a long and interesting history in this country. Most of us know
Ben Franklin and a group of his contemporaries established the first public library in Philadelphia in 1731 that could truly be called a lending library. And many of us know that Thomas Jefferson donated the books that inaugurated the Library of Congress, but ask the average American when and where the first school libraries began and the answer is likely to be, “I don't know.” School libraries, while pretty well entrenched in many modern school districts today, have not always been the standard.
Early colonial schools were usually one room, but they did have books. The teacher often bought the books themselves or they were given to the school by the families of the children who attended the classes. The Bible was usually present along with some early literature and Franklin's ideas were applied by the Penn Charter School in 1744, but the school library we know today was still many years away.
The watershed year for libraries in the United States is 1876. According to several sources, most notably, the ALA many important events took place that year. The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education published a report, Public Libraries in theUnited States of America, Their History, Condition and Management, Library Journal was first published, and Melvin Dewey publishes his master work, Dewey decimal classification. Also, that year Melvin Dewey, Justin Winsor, and William Frederick Poole helped establish the American Library Association. Another noted development was Charles Cutter's statement on the status of cataloging and his creation of a standard. The next few years saw more changes in the way libraries were viewed. (Falcon)
Melvin Dewey started what is commonly called the first school library at Columbia University. In Dewey first annual report he wrote, “Anything and everything that increases his knowledge of books will be directly valuable to the librarian, but the time can be much better spent after some instruction, and the list of the best books to read in this field is deferred.”
(http://www.libr.org/rory/wbm2.html) He was devoted to creating a standard for professional librarians. To which he established many of the standards we still use today.
A few years later in 1890 the first statewide organization was formed, New York Library Association or NYLA for short. This help lead to the 1892 legislation in New York that developed a model for school libraries. Four years later the National Education Association caught up with New York and created its own library section. (Falcon)
The first half of the Twentieth century saw an increasing awareness of the importance of having libraries that focused on the curriculum the public schools were teaching. Although the secondary schools were slower to have their own libraries, elementary schools often had classroom collections which eventually became the core of forming a library in a central location within the school building. Of course at that time many of the rural schools were still only one room which made the books accessible to all the students. While Philadelphia, New York and Boston were in the forefront, other states were soon to follow. Nineteen hundred and four saw the first school library in Virginia and more state soon followed. A few years later in 1914 the ALA recognized the importance of school libraries and added a School Library division.
It was around this time, in 1918, that the first set of school library standards or guidelines was published, Standard Library Organization and Equipment for Secondary Schools of Different Sizes, by the National Education Association. (NEA) This report made recommendations for the proper way to equip and arrange the school library. Some of its recommendations included: (for the facility)
- Be a distinct location separate from the study hall
- Accommodate at any time 5 to 10 percent of the total daily attendance of the school
(with at least 25 square feet per reader)
- Be used exclusively for library use and not used for meetings that in any way interfere with the students
- Not be converted into a study hall or place for supervised study
- Have an adjoining workroom equipped with running water and ample storage space
- Have an adorning library classroom to serve as a model classroom for visual instruction
- Have on or more committee rooms where students may work in groups upon classroom assignments(Gann;CLOE, 1920 12-16)
These recommendations, know as the Certain Standards, (named after Chairman Charles Certain) created a standard that the public schools of the time tried to strive towards. While, like today, these standards were not always met, it gave school administrators a goal and suggested the importance of creating a place that would be conductive to learning and teaching. The Certain Standards was very specific in the role of the librarian, also. It outlines his or her professional qualifications and requirements, salary, and responsibilities. The report is also emphatic that the librarian is not there to serve as the clerical staff for any other department within the school. (Gann) Two years later the ALA adopted the report and it became the guidelines for establishing school libraries at that time. After that school libraries and librarianship became an established part of society. Many books were written on the subject including, The Elementary School Library by William King, 1929, and The Library in the School and The Program for School Library Service by Lucille Fargo in 1930. Soon after that the depression hit and not much changed in the field of school libraries. Daily existence had become a struggle and the focus of society shifted away from feeding the mind towards feeding the body. With the exception of the first library bill of rights, which spelled out the library patron's right to privacy, being issued in 1939 things remained fairly stagnant until after World War II?
