International studies have found a concerning fall in literacy rates among Australian children. In this context, it was greatly disappointing to see that the Catholic schools of the Newcastle Maitland Diocese are prepared to eliminate many teacher-librarian positions in their schools. I strongly endorse the well-expressed views outlined in Katarina Farrell's letter ("Hunter's teacher-librarians are not expendable", Letters, 10/9).
The ability to discriminate between information of value and information that is misleading or deliberately, blatantly wrong (information literacy) is more important than ever. Helping children become discerning information users - with information literacy programs - or one-on-one assistance is a key role of the teacher-librarians. Information overload is common to us all, and teacher-librarians help students to find the information of worth among the mass of AI 'slop'.
