WA residents, please
sign our PETITION

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Will school libraries become a part of the
dialog on funding basic education?

Help save school libraries and make 21st century skills a priority.

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Our first design is based on an original photograph by Edwin S. Loyola and matches our website. Thanks Edwin!

Welcome to the home of the WCSLit

Champions for School Libraries and Information Technology

3 Moms sat around a kitchen table this past November, wondering if anything could be done about the fact that school library lights are being turned off, the average date of copyright in Washington school libraries is 1983, and that a two-tiered system of services exists - some children are developing 21st Century information literacy while others are relegated to an antiquated system of check-in and check-out.

Our mission is to communicate the message that Washington voters and industry leaders believe information technology and well-funded libraries are fundamental to 21st century education. The Coalition is working for a future where every public school or small district in Washington State is served by a full-time, certified teacher-librarian who manages a fully-funded library and technology resource collection, giving students from across the state the same access to technology, the same chance for literacy, and the same opportunity to receive a world-class education.

In just four months, this grassroots effort secured $4 million dollars for emergency bridge funding in a supplemental budget year. This money will disappear after one year.

What can you do?

1. A Joint Task Force has been charged with revising the 1977 definition of basic education and recommending new funding formulas. Ask them to upgrade WA education policy to: revise the basic education act to include information literacy and technology skills; fund a full-time certified teacher librarian in every library; and provide a sufficient material allocation to place Washington state in the top 10% of the nation. Please ask them to commit to the funding, code, and standards that meet a 21st century education.

2. Help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures on our online petition (to date, 5,700 +). The more signatures we have, the more 'constituency' we build; the stronger the constituency, the stronger the potential for change. We will be asking the Governor, the legislature, and the Joint Task Force to listen to the voices of the people of Washington. Please provide every child in our state with the
education needed for 21st century success and equity for every child.

Who else believes this is important?

Thousands of Washington citizens and leaders believe that funding school libraries and information technology is not a luxury but a necessity for basic 21st century education. Click here to see who they are.

Internationally known information literacy expert, Dr. Michael Eisenberg, confirms the crucial need for teacher-librarians in all school libraries. Click here to listen to a 3 minute MP3.

A substantial body of research conducted over twenty years shows why funding school libraries is a smart investment.

'I believe keeping an active library and librarian in the public schools is as important as any other primary education role. We must teach our children to do research and explore on their own. What better resource is there than a library and librarian to provide a safe and positive environment for discovery of interests and gifts of knowledge. Our competitive advantage in the United States is clearly our ability to be creative and inventive of new technologies, new business processes, new music, new fashion, new dance, new ways of looking at old things... It is in our culture and we cannot lose this ability. Research and Development is our Thing! Libraries plant and nourish this seed in our children.'

Jon Copeland
CEO - Inland Imaging Business Associates

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