Anecdotally we know the impoverished state of school libraries – Parents United for Public Education has been campaigning on this issue since our inception. For most schools, on the ropes with budget cuts for years on end, librarians were considered one of the earliest disposable positions. After all when choosing between a librarian and a grade teacher for 33 kids, not a whole lot of schools hesitate about chopping the librarian.

Although high schools for the most part, had enough general funds to cover library positions, the cruel irony is that it’s the elementary schools that saw the most dramatic losses – ironic because it’s these students for whom access to books and literacy skills can most actively impact and remediate struggling readers.

Earlier this month, the Association of Philadelphia School Librarians posted for the first time in years, a full accounting of the number of full-time librarians in schools (fourth bullet that says "School library staffing by region with maps").

Out of 281 public schools, there are 77 full-time librarians, 31 of which are in the high schools. At the elementary level, when literacy skills are most likely to increase the fastest, more than three-quarters and possibly as high as 80% lack a full-time librarian.

On the Free Library website, you can click on the various branches and observe which schools they formally serve. My research shows that the 11 library branches slated for closure serve about 47 public schools. Here's the breakdown:

• only a quarter of these 47 schools (12 to be exact) have full time librarians;

• an additional four schools are able to pay for part-time positions of either a library assistant or part-time librarian;

• of the 35 elementary schools that are served by the library branches slated for closure, only four had a full-time librarian and one had a part-time librarian on staff.

• That means more than 85% of elementary schools served by the targeted closings have no library staff at all.

And let’s not forget that these numbers were yet another factor that Siobhan Riordan and the City forgot to factor into their decision-making:

The lawsuit also claims that Reardon was not aware that most public schools in the city don't house libraries.

Of the claim, she said: "If you're asking me if I knew school for school if they had libraries, then no.

"Most of the high schools have libraries, but as you go down to the elementary schools, it's a different situation."

A different situation indeed.

Consider the specific impact on the various schools in the region, like the South region, which would be impacted by the closing of the Fumo and Queens Memorial branches:

According to APSL, of the seven schools directly served by the library branches in this region, not a single one has a staff librarian, full or part-time. Those schools are:

Alcorn Elementary
Fell Elementary
A.S. Jenks Elementary
Key Elementary
McDaniel Elementary
W.G. Smith Elementary
E.M. Stanton Elementary

The Fishtown and Eastwick branches serve eight public schools, not a single one of which has a staff librarian.

The situation is worse if you factor in the charter schools served by these branches. Only a fraction of charter schools are large enough to be able to afford a library staff position (not to mention to also have the luxury of space to have a library). As charters expand, the dependence of schools on libraries increases.

As a former Philadelphia public school teacher myself, I know that even if schools have libraries it doesn’t mean they keep them up. Numerous schools have cut back on book purchases. One school said their library hadn’t ordered a single new periodical in almost a decade due to budget difficulties.

There’s no such thing as free money as we know. And as the City is tallying up the revenues from what they hope to be library and pool closings (more on this later), it’s important to remember that it’s the children in the School District who will be bearing the cost.