Library leader urges more media specialists, cites big circulation gains at Cedar Creek

Claudia Burville, the district media specialist, told the St. Francis Area Schools board the district has made measurable progress modernizing its library collections and boosting student circulation, but secondary libraries remain underfunded.

“I’m Claudia Burville, the media specialist at Cedar Creek Elementary,” Burville said, describing a year in which inventories and targeted weeding reduced the district’s collection from about 78,000 to 75,000 items and raised the median copyright year of holdings toward the 21st century. She said the high school inventory remains incomplete and will be a priority next year.

Burville credited several specific steps with increasing student borrowing. East Bethel completed a Follett Collection Refresh (a $2,250 investment) to guide a five-year replenishment plan. Cedar Creek removed checkout limits and ran incentive programs such as a bookmark contest; Cedar Creek recorded roughly 33,000 checkouts for the year (about 50 books per student) and the contest alone generated about 1,490 additional checkouts.

The report called attention to uneven funding: elementary libraries receive PTO and book-fair support while the middle school and high school operate with far smaller budgets (the middle school’s library budget was reported at about $1,000 and the high school budget at $0). Burville illustrated potential remedies including district-allocated per-pupil library funds and grant opportunities such as the Laura Bush grant for collection replenishment.

On instruction, Burville recommended expanding media-literacy and digital-citizenship lessons. She said the district could move to weekly 45-minute blocks with a full-time library media specialist at each elementary school and add a secondary-level specialist to collaborate on curriculum, research skills and a high-school library advisory committee.

Board members praised the work and asked clarifying questions about how age-of-materials was calculated (Burville said the metric is copyright year) and who runs middle-school book fairs. Burville said the middle-school fair is typically a separate fundraiser and not run directly by the library.

The board did not take action on the staffing or funding proposals; Burville said she will pursue grant opportunities and continue developing curriculum resources and a draft handbook of common library practices for the district.