MichiganRadio

Schools Tighten Budgets, Layoff Librarians ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - School districts from Wyandotte to Battle Creek will see their libraries short staffed this fall. Roughly 15 percent of school librarians have been pink-slipped.

There used to be more than 2,000 school librarians in the state. Today, there are about 750.

Tim Staal heads up the state's association for school librarians, the Michigan Association for Media in Education. He says as school districts deal with shrinking budgets, some of the first jobs to go are librarians.

Staal says that trend worries him, especially in this digital age:

"You know, anybody can do a Google search and get two million hits, but they need the skills to know, oh this is a good hit, and this is not a good hit. You know, that kind of thing. And that's what librarians bring to the table."

Staal says if a school district decides to staff its library with a volunteer, that person can only check books out; they are not legally allowed to teach.

Contact Jennifer Guerra at guerraj@umich.edu

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