JACKSON HS LIBRARY BOOKS AGING

JACKSON, Mo. -- For the past two weeks, Jackson High School librarian Dreda McElrath has surveyed her inventory to decide which books to keep and which ones to pitch.

Down came a copy of Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea," in which pages were torn and the binder was worn thin from use by several generations of students. A volume of poetry by Robert Frost was next, because it looked more like loose-leaf paper shoved into a tattered binder than a library book available for checkout.

Language arts teacher Joyce Theiss saw the tossed books last week and attached little notes to several book covers. The notes indicated she wanted the items.

"Throwing away Frost -- sacrilege!" Theiss wrote on one yellow slip.

The task of tossing books, performed each summer as McElrath completes a report on library holdings for the state, is one of her least favorite chores. But the old books in the district's oldest library are falling apart and taking up space.

Tax hike would help

School officials hope voters will consider library improvements when they go to the polls Aug. 7. The school district is requesting a 25-cent tax increase to provide additional operating funds for increased transportation, utilities, staff salaries and other operating expenses. If approved, about $400,000 would be set aside over the next three years to purchase new books and computer equipment for libraries in all 10 schools. A simple majority is required to pass the measure.

There are more than 12,000 books in the high school library, but the numbers don't mean much in the state's eyes. Books that have a copyright date more than 12 years old won't meet a group of standards developed five years ago by the state education department.

McElrath's report, submitted this week, indicates the high school library won't meet minimum state standards in several areas, including audio-visual equipment and nonfiction books.

For example, only 37 percent of the high school's nonfiction books could be counted this year because of their age. A 70 percent level is considered acceptable by state standards.

"I get so frustrated when a student comes in for a book and is all excited and then I have to tell them we don't have it," said McElrath. "I don't think a lot of people realize how much books -- especially reference books -- cost us."

"We've been doing what we could in the past with the limited resources we were able to put aside," said schools superintendent Ron Anderson. "We recognize the need to meet those standards and are committed to setting the money aside."

Newer libraries OK

Jackson Middle School and South Elementary School both opened during the 1990s and have no problems meeting state standards because they are stocked largely with newer materials.

But the high school library, along with those at the junior high school and West Lane Elementary, are the oldest in the district, and librarians often are not able to count a good portion of their holdings toward meeting state standards.

The standards for library media centers were established after a three-year study indicated school libraries don't meet student needs when books and other resource materials are old or not relevant to the trends of the time.

Career interests, hobbies and government are constantly changing, and libraries are expected to keep in step with the times, McElrath said. Besides, students always choose a newer book over an older one, even if the books have the same information.

But new books aren't cheap, and McElrath has gotten by on the same budget for 15 of her 16 years in the district.

"Everybody has access to the library and what's in here," McElrath said. "There are so many things we want to do and would like to do, but they all cost."

New fiction books cost just over $50 each to purchase, and that amount is tripled for most nonfiction and reference books. That makes buying sufficient amounts of new books to keep up with student demand and state standards difficult.

Changing standards

Lisa Walters, a library media and technology consultant for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said standards regarding library holdings have been around for the past quarter century but were rewritten between 1993 and 1996 to reflect the newly recognized need for quality as well as quantity in library holdings.

"We got into a nasty habit of not being so careful of being current as much as keeping things so we had a magic number to meet a standard," Walters said. "If it's just sitting there so they can count it, that's not a reason to keep it."

While there are no punishments for not meeting the standards, it can affect accreditation if libraries are allowed to become too dated.

Walters said most schools have created plans for improving library holdings. The need was proven by two recent studies that drew a correlation between student achievement and well-stocked libraries with dedicated staff.

"We've been promoting that information, and that's gone a long way in getting the improvements," she said. "We've heard a lot of reports that budgets have increased pretty well everywhere."

Such was the case at Cape Girardeau Central High School's library, which resembled Jackson's several years ago. The library has flourished, mainly because of successful grant-writing and donations from the public, which helped librarian Julia Jorgensen update her holdings.

Computer technology

The new state benchmarks also reflect the importance of resource equipment like computer workstations, resource materials stored on CD-ROM's, and Internet-accessible computers to library usage.

Aaron Kaiser, who serves as media technician for Jackson High School, said efforts to update computer technology have amounted to little more than taking hand-me-downs from other classrooms. Kaiser will work most of the summer setting up the 2-year-old computers recently inherited from another department.

The new equipment is better than what was in the library previously, but Kaiser said it doesn't easily accommodate newer software and takes a beating because there aren't enough computers to meet student demand.

Audio-visual materials and computer software and equipment, which came into popular use as resources for library users over the past decade, are similarly uncounted by the state if they are too old.

"Every year technology degrades a lot faster than any consumer product on Earth," he said. "The more you use a computer and the harder you push it, the more it's going to degrade."

Even so, the technology is valuable to librarians and users because computers make it easier to store large amounts of resource information in a small amount of space. Students can find research for projects using special CD-ROM's or the Internet, and multimedia presentations can be prepared during school hours by students who don't have computers in their home.

"We want to give everybody an equal opportunity to do the same thing," said Kaiser. "

Until there is more money available, McElrath said she will continue working to keep what items she has in good repair. Old books will be taped, rebound or otherwise repaired until "the pages just won't stay in anymore," and the worst cases will be tossed out or given away.

"It' not that we're not using them, we've just got some old things," she said. "It all takes money. I see it as a librarian. I see it as a parent.".

SOME STATE STANDARDS FOR LIBRARIES

Missouri school librarians are required to report library holdings annually to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to determine if the libraries meet state standards for updated materials.

Standards for fiction and nonfiction books are based on building enrollment. Items may not be counted if the copyright is over 12 years old, and no more than five copies of a single title may be used to meet standards.

Some of the standards:

Periodical collections

Minimum standards in each of the following levels:

Newspapers

PreK-6: One local coverage and one state or national coverage; may be in print or electronic format.

Middle/Junior High: One local coverage and one state or national coverage; may be in print or electronic format.

High schools: One local coverage, one state and one national/international coverage; may be in print or electronic format.

Indexes

PreK-6: One multiperiodical index, may be in print or electronic format.

Middle/Junior High: One multiperiodical index, may be in print or electronic format.

High schools: One multiperiodical index; may be in print or electronic format.

Workstations

PreK-6: One workstation accessible to students in the library media center.

Middle/Junior High: Three networked workstations accessible to students in the library media center.

High schools: Five networked workstations accessible to students in the library media center.

Visual and tactile resources

(Videocassettes, films, slides, etc.)

All schools: 0.5 countable titles per student. No fewer than 250 titles

Electronic resources

(Electronic circulation and catalog systems, full/partial text CD-ROMs, the Internet, etc.)

The basic electronic environment must:

* Include an electronic catalog and circulation system to facilitate efficient information retrieval and media center management;

* Encompass local area networks and wide area networks;

* Provide a sufficient number of workstations for students to readily access information;

* Enable students and faculty, using a variety of resources and equipment, to creatively design, produce and evaluate products such as multimedia, visual and audio presentations.

Professional collections

(Books, videos and other items)

Minimum standards are for one countable title for every three certified staff members. No fewer than 30 countable titles.

Journals/periodicals

Minimum standards are for one title for every 10 certified staff members. No fewer than 10 countable titles.

Facilities space requirements

For reading/reference area:

1-300 enrollment, minimum 1,800 square feet.

301-plus enrollment, 6 square feet times enrollment

(State accreditation requires seating, in chairs, for a minimum of two classes based on the average class size in the building.)

For ancillary areas (office, workroom, storage, conference rooms and production facilities):

1-300 enrollment, 600 square feet.

300-plus enrollment, 6 square feet times enrollment times one-third.

Source: Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education Web site.