Today, the average copyright date for a nonfiction public school library book in Southern California is 1982. Some are much older. If there are current books in the library, there are often not enough to go around to all of the students. While the average number of books per student in elementary school libraries in the United States is 18, in the Los Angeles Unified School District it is seven. Many school libraries fall well below this level. Finally, California ranks 50th in librarians per pupil. To move up to 49th, 4,600 librarians would have to be hired. The Wonder of Reading believes that we can no longer tell students that reading is important: we have to prove it to them. We do this by renovating the library, training and placing volunteer reading partners, and filling the new library with $10,000 worth of sparkling new library books—books that will take students to faraway places, books that will provide accurate and current information, books that will always be a comforting friend. |
