December 04, 2005
What do St. John’s University, television talk-show host Regis
Philbin, and New York’s inner city parochial schools have in
common? They’re all helping school libraries professionalize—Regis
Philbin, by donating generously to his alma mater, Our Lady of
Solace in the Bronx; St. John’s, by partnering with the Archdiocese
of New York’s Library Connections program, which is helping 32
parochial schools in Manhattan and the Bronx revitalize their
libraries.
St. John’s master’s in library science (MLS)
degree program is being made available at no charge to
qualified library teachers whose schools have been accepted into
the program. The University waives half of the tuition, while the
Archdiocese’s Library Connection program subsidizes the other half.
The
Division of Library and Information Science at St. John’s runs
all its classes in the evening, says
Associate Professor Nancy Becker, so that degree candidates who
work during the day may attend. Currently, four library teachers
who work in Library Connections schools are MLS candidates at St.
John’s, and five have completed their MLS degrees since the program
was launched in 2000.
Professor Becker sits on the Library Connections advisory board
and coordinates St. John’s participation in the program, from
underwriting partial tuition to mentoring librarians in member
schools. She is proud of the St. John’s MLS students, and of the
Library and Information Science Division graduates who are active
in the program. She requires students to help “weed” library
collections of out-of-date materials at participating parochial
schools as the service-learning component of her course,
“Collection and Development of Knowledge Resources.”
“The inner city Catholic schools do a phenomenal job,” she says,
“but they need help upgrading their libraries. They have limited
resources, and have to keep their tuition in line since they serve
largely minority students, many of whom come from single-parent
homes.”
Our Work Ties into the Vincentian
Mission
“The work that we do ties into the Vincentian mission. My
students usually work one or two Saturdays—when the children aren’t
around—to weed the school library collections. Every student says
doing hands-on work provides an entirely different experience they
couldn’t have anticipated. Each school is also assigned a mentor
who advises the school about acquiring materials. Many of the
mentors are St. John’s MLS graduates who are experienced school
librarians. ”
Kathy Riecks ’04MLS is the administrative director for Library
Connections at the Archdiocese of New York. She works on training
schools on automation and instructs them on fundraising, which is
something she should know about since she’s helped to bring in 4.6
million in grant money from private foundations. “We’re in year six
of a nine-year program,” she says. “We need a total of 6.1 million.
The Archdiocese is extremely grateful to St. John’s for
underwriting half of the program’s MLS candidates’ tuition.”
(Grants support the rest of their tuition.)
“We don’t do a lot of construction to upgrade the libraries but
we do allocate funds for furniture, paint and library materials,
and to make the library premises more child- friendly.”
The program is an offshoot of the Archdiocese of New York’s
Patron’s Program, through which major donors “adopt” a parochial
school in Manhattan, the Bronx or Staten Island, renovating the
school and upgrading materials.
Regis Philbin Contributes to New Rooftop
Library at Bronx School
Television celebrity Regis Philbin contributed towards the
renovation of the Bronx elementary school he attended, Our Lady of
Solace, which built a new rooftop library by combining several
smaller rooms into one large space. “Regis attended our opening
ceremony and showed photos of the library on his TV show, ‘Live
with Regis and Kelly,’ says Maureen Moffit ’05MLS, who’s the
librarian at the school. She received her master’s in library
science at St. John’s through the Library Connections program.
“I really enjoyed the time I spent at St. John’s,” she says. “I
was able to complete my degree in two years while working full
time.” Moffit was a teacher at this Library
Connections-participating school when her principal asked her if
she wanted to become the school librarian, and made her aware of
the opportunity to get her MLS degree tuition-free at St.
John’s.
“The Library Connections Program trained me in how to
update our library,” says Moffit, “and has underwritten the cost of
most of our materials. We now have more than 3,000 books and 16
computers for a school of 268 students, 70 of whom have become
school library volunteers. They love the library and make good use
of it. We have expanded our community outreach and extended our
hours because we’re located in an area—the Morris Park section of
the Bronx—that doesn’t have a library.”
Moffit says that the school is in year three of the four-year
Library Connections Program. “The professional development
component of the program is teaching me how to do our own
fundraising,” she adds. “Of course, we also hope that Regis
[Philbin] will remember us!”
“The public doesn’t realize that library teachers run many
elementary school libraries in New York State,” says Professor
Elizabeth B. Pollicino, associate director of St. John’s Division
of Library and Information Science. “Only high schools are required
to employ a librarian with a master’s in library science.”
St. John’s is helping librarians at Library Connections
schools upgrade their credentials. The master’s in library science
is available at both the Queens and Oakdale (Long
Island) campuses. About 15-18 percent of students choose the school
librarian specialty, says Professor Pollicino, out of a total
enrollment of 80 students.