Legislation Introduced to Boost Librarian Recruitment

-- Library Journal, 04/18/2007

Yesterday, on National Library Workers Day, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) introduced the Librarian Incentive to Boost Recruitment and Retention in Areas of Need (LIBRARIAN) Act, which would cancel repayment of Perkins student loans (which are awarded "to undergraduate and graduate students with exceptional financial need") for full-time librarians with a master's degree in library science. If librarians work full time in low-income areas, they could qualify for complete loan forgiveness. The American Library Association, in a news release, noted that some 25 percent of school libraries in the country lack a state certified library media specialist on staff, and many in the field are approaching retirement.

"Librarians play an essential role in our schools and public libraries and help to foster a lifelong love of reading in our young people," said Reed, LJ's 2002 Politician of the Year. "With a shortage of librarians across the country and with many more set to retire, we must urgently encourage more people to enter the library science field and work to retain valuable librarians who are already serving our communities," Cochran stated. Similar language was part of the Higher Education Amendments of 2005, which was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee but didn't go farther. Reed, a member of the committee, will push for its adoption this year.