“When a library is staffed by a professional, it becomes the most far-reaching service in the school, nurturing the rich and poor, the literate and those learning to be literate, the athlete, the musician, the class clown and the class artist. The school library is often a gathering place and safe haven for students. It is a service for which every person on campus benefits. […] Library programs need the public’s support now more than ever. We cannot afford to lose the academic enrichment that a library brings to a school community. Please urge your congressional representatives to restore the federal budget for libraries in the coming year. Restored funding would go to improving literacy through school libraries, a Department of Education program to update books, materials and other important school library programs. Let’s choose to be a literate society.”

Pam Muñoz Ryan