Queen’s University education professor Don Klinger is available to talk about a report being released today that shows school boards are drastically cutting teacher-librarians to save money despite research that shows the benefits to students. This year, only 56% of elementary schools in Ontario have a teacher-librarian (eighty percent of them work part-time) and some schools have no libraries at all.

Dr. Klinger was involved in the studies cited in today’s report conducted by the group People for Education. His studies (done in 2006 and 2009) found schools with staffed libraries have higher student achievement and schools with teacher-librarians have students with more positive attitudes toward reading.

“It’s not surprising that when you’ve got engaged teacher-librarians, they’re going to engage the students more and the more they engage our children the better they learn. There are examples of school libraries that are the centre of education in schools and the librarians are educational leaders,” says Dr. Klinger. “The problem is school boards are making cuts for financial reasons without knowing what the educational implications are.”

Click here to read a copy of the People for Education report released today: http://www.peopleforeducation.com/schoollibraryreport2011.pdf

To arrange an interview, please contact communication officers Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or michael.onesi@queensu.ca or Christina Archibald at 613-533-2877 or Christina.Archibald@queensu.ca at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.

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