According to CILIP, an estimated 30% of the school librarian workforce has been lost.
School libraries are not a statutory requirement, and the letter shares figures from one split-site state secondary, which since 2014 has lost its school librarians.
In 2014, between September and November, when the school had a full-time librarian on each site, 1508 books were loaned to children.
Over the same period in 2017, when the school had no librarians at all, children borrowed just 48 books.
“These figures represent a 97% decline in books issued to children at that school to support their learning and development,” the letter states.
It is the case that children are not receiving the support and encouragement they need in order to become readers.”.
The bestselling author Matt Haig, one of the letter’s signatories, said that “the lack of support for school libraries is silly and short-sighted”. »