School librarians are being axed from all 23 of North Lanarkshire’s secondary schools in a budget-saving measure.
More than 2000 people have already signed an online petition against the decision, including award-winning local author Damian Barr; and the professional association for Scottish librarians has written to councillors asking that they “urgently reverse” the decision, saying it will “severely damage the quality of education” offered to pupils.
Council officials say the 17 impacted staff members are being offered redeployment or voluntary redundancy, and that the cost-cutting plans – confirmed in the final days of the academic year – were originally agreed in the authority’s 2020 budget.
The online community petition opposing the removal of school librarians says the policy is “an assault on our young people reaching their potential” and highlights the importance of libraries as “a safe space for many vulnerable children”.
It states: “Reading for pleasure is directly correlated with increasing academic attainment. Literacy is the bedrock of success and our school librarians are the keystones.
“Meteoric inflation is hitting all our purses and buying books is a luxury very few can continue to afford [when] many working families are already being driven to food and uniform banks. We need to close the poverty gap but this will rip a hole you could drive a bus through.”
Among those supporting the petition is author Damian Barr – who was previously involved in the successful campaign to save Newarthill library and who tweeted: “I wouldn’t be a writer now if it wasn’t for the library and the librarian.
“My school library was a sanctuary. Our librarian was inspiring and I read my way through the shelves.”
The presenter of BBC show The Big Scottish Book Club added: “School libraries and librarians add so much to the learning experience and environment. They are not a ‘nice to have’ – they are as essential as teachers, cleaners and admin staff.”
Representatives of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) are “deeply concerned” by the move, which is to save £657,000, saying: “Libraries should be the central resource of the school.”
Organisation head Sean McNamara said: “We believe that removing school librarian posts will severely damage the quality of education as well as undermine efforts nationally to improve literacy rates and attainment.
“Evidence shows this could damage attainment levels and parents should be extremely concerned. To also be talking about book vending machines in the same week is deeply insulting to skilled staff.”
Mr McNamara added: “We accept that this cut was taken by the previous administration, but for the new councillors to continue to push it through is an extremely short-sighted and counter-productive step, and we urge them to review.”
The cut was included in North Lanarkshire’s budget two years ago, described only in the papers as a “review [of] the secondary school library operating model to secure alignment opportunities from the insourcing of cultural services” and was intended to save £419,000 in 2021-2022 and then a further £238,000 by next March.
It was included all three sets of financial proposals tabled by the Labour, SNP and Conservative groups as the authority agreed nearly £40 million in cuts for the three years up to April 2023.
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “The council agreed to remove 23 full-time equivalent library resource manager posts from secondary schools [in] the budget process in February 2020, as part of a move to integrate existing library services across schools and wider communities.
“Implementation was delayed by the pandemic, but in March a review group was set up involving teaching and non-teaching staff and trade unions [and] has consulted with pupils, teachers and headteachers and developed a plan to ensure the new model operates effectively and schools are prepared for new ways of working.
“Meetings have taken place with affected staff, who will be offered a range of options including voluntary redundancy and redeployment. There are currently six vacancies in the service so this will involve 17 members of staff.”
The local authority stated that its “integrated service will provide wider access to library resources for young people across North Lanarkshire”, and adds: “The council is committed to continuing to deliver a high-quality library service across its schools.”
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