The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) and EveryLibrary are partnering on an energetic advocacy campaign to retain and restore school librarian positions in Pennsylvania schools, especially in Philadelphia. On January 24, they hosted a “Rally to Restore Philadelphia School Librarians“ in front of the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) Administration Building, at 440 N. Broad Street in Philadelphia. 

On the webpage for their campaign, they note that Pennsylvania “now ranks sixth in the list of states that have lost the most school librarians since 2010,” citing my March 2018 School Library Journal article, School Librarian, Where Art Thou?

On the page for their Philadelphia campaign, they note that “research over the last 20 years in many states, including Pennsylvania, shows that students who have access to school libraries with full-time certified teacher librarians (CTLs) demonstrate higher academic achievement, including higher test scores, regardless of their socioeconomic status.” That claim is credited to the most comprehensive summary of school library impact research by my colleagues and me as well as others, School Library Research Summarized, by Debra E. Kachel and her students at Mansfield University (2013).