I am so depressed about the slash and burn decisions sweeping through schools right now – cutting library positions in droves.

I came home today to the welcome sight of my latest order from Amazon.  I am busy accumulating a personal library of books centered on bringing our schools into the 21st century – and  here were the latest installments.

The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need–and What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner

College & Career Ready: Helping All Students Succeed Beyond High School by David T. Conley

It didn’t take many of these “big idea” books for me to notice a huge omission – libraries.  So, the first thing I did (after enjoying the sight and smell of 2 new books of course) was to turn to the index of each book and see if libraries were mentioned.  ….. Disappointed yet again.

The challenge? Authors writing for library audiences via library publishers need to stop right now.  The wider education world needs to hear their voices.   A LIBRARIAN needs to write the next “big idea” book that races through the education world. A book with the library in the center as the change agent schools desperately need to make 21st Century Learning a reality in schools.  Now is the time.  21st Century Learning is OUR curriculum.  Maybe “Race to the Top” might be the incentive for moribund schools to get out of the 19th century and start teaching students in a way that will be useful for the 21st century work world.

Please pay special attention to the last video in this post – Core Curriculum/21st Century Learning/Race to the Top.  Schools CAN change.  It is not that scary.  It doesn’t mean throwing out teachers or teacher-librarians.  It doesn’t mean throwing out the curriculum.  It does means changing how students learn content…. by interacting with it, playing with it, discovering the connections between disciplines, learning to collaborate with each other, how to release their own untapped creativity. In short – make the library a learning laboratory where librarians and teachers from all disciplines work together with students to prepare for the future.

It is doable.   Inertia has made us vulnerable.  It’s time to change.  And it is time for the education world to realize that librarians (not just a library staffed by a clerk)  is ESSENTIAL to this new kind of learning.

So – my challenge?  There are some wonderful school library bloggers out there.  How about writing the next “big idea” book?  The one that will galvanize schools to launch an education revolution with their librarians front and center.  How about it Doug?  Kim?  Cathy?  Joyce?  And many others too numerous to mention. Who will publish the viral books, articles, videos that need to be seen and read by the rest of the education community?  The “big idea” that will make educators everywhere say – “Amazing.  We already have the answer to the big questions right here in our own buildings – the LIBRARIANS!”

And if  (God Forbid!) the librarians have been laid off – bring them back before it is too late!