A disappearing breed

NPR recently posted a depressing article about the loss of librarians in Chicago's more than 600 public schools. As the districts are facing tough financial choices, more and more librarians are being reassigned from libraries to classrooms. Illinois does not require library instruction, so schools won't face any political or financial repercussions for not having a librarian, but instructors worry that schoolchildren will miss out on learning vital research skills (and, y'know, developing a love of reading).

Amusingly, my high school reassigned my American Lit teacher to the library, clearly because she was being a little too honest about the students' actual abilities. When more than half her class was (deservedly) failing, my school decided she'd be better off handling a subject without actual grades.