California Education Code section 18100 requires that school districts either provide their own library services or contract with another public agency for such services:

The governing board of each school district shall provide school library services for the pupils and teachers of the district by establishing and maintaining school libraries or by contractual arrangements with another public agency. 

You may also wish to review Education Code sections 18103, 18130, 18134, and 18136.

While ideal practices for staffing public school library media centers would include the employment of a credentialed library media teacher in every library, these regulations recognize that this is often unfeasible under current circumstances.  The following library media center staffing practices would comply with the regulations.

  • Small School Districts may form a consortium with other districts of similar size to employ a single credentialed teacher librarian to perform those duties identified in the first paragraph of 80053(b) requiring possession of the credential, including but not limited to the selection of library materials, coordinating library programs and developing procedures for management of library services.  Another option is for each small district to employ a district-level credentialed library media teacher (or a small number of such individuals) to perform those duties requiring possession of the credential.  Other library media center duties, which include most day-to-day activities, may be performed by non-credentialed staff who have been trained by a credentialed library media teacher as described in section 80053(b)(2).
  • Larger School Districts may employ the number of credentialed teacher librarians necessary to perform those duties identified in the first paragraph of section 80053(b) requiring possession of the credential.  Other library media center duties, which include most day-to-day activities, may be performed by non-credentialed staff who have been trained by a credentialed library media teacher as described in section 80053(b)(2).
  • Contracting with Public Library: Education Code §18100 allows the governing board of a school district to provide school library services by contracting with a public library for the services. Education Code §18130 gives districts the authority to enter into an annual contract for the provision of school library services with their local county public library. In most cases, the contracting of public school library services with the local county library occurs in rural and remote areas of the state, particularly when there are joint-use facilities within a public library. If the district contracts for services with the local county public library in accordance with Education Code §18130, the librarians employed with the local county public library do not need to hold a Teacher Librarian Services credential. 

 

Updated December 30, 2021