Political Quotes

“When I was growing up in East St. Louis, I spent hours reading about faraway places, exciting adventures, and historic figures and events. I spent countless hours in the library discovering wonderful stories and developed a lifelong love of reading. Now imagine going to school where the library is dark and uninviting, and where there is no librarian in sight. These conditions are real. I have visited schools in my home State of Illinois and seen libraries that show their years of neglect. The dire circumstances that face some of these school libraries are not due to lack of concern by school officials. School leaders are working with limited budgets and unforgiving performance standards. School libraries were once one of the central features of our school, but are now one of the first programs to be cut. In Cairo, IL, there is no money available for new books. The superintendent told me that his school libraries would have no books at all if it were not for the donations from the local community. In Collinsville, school libraries had science books so outdated they were published before man landed on the moon. We cannot expect our students to compete in today's global economy unless we provide them with the tools that they need to succeed. Many studies have demonstrated the strong link between high-quality school libraries and student achievement, both in the classroom and on standardized tests.”