Good literature always holds the promise of some type of secret or inquiry within the folds of its text. The same rings true for the school libraries which house the books.

Behind the silent stacks and the humming library computers, it turns out, is a coordinated School Library Systems program that serves as the literary engine for many districts.

While most people are unaware of it, this system helps keep school libraries running and technologically up-to-date.

For libraries in small rural schools or crowded city districts, these unified systems provide inter-library loans, technology training for librarians, databases, media, computerized Listservs connecting librarians, journal sharing and catalog management services that many schools and districts could not afford on their own.

"SLS serves as a lifeline to school libraries, providing shared educational materials, training and technology that staff and students are dependent on," said Andy Pallotta, NYSUT executive vice president.

But with all of the SLS's operating on pocket-sized budgets, pending cuts spell W-O-R-R-Y.

In Syracuse, for example, the SLS budget was cut from $153,999 in 2007-08 to $150,000 the following fiscal year. This year it's already been cut twice — to $132,701, said director Patricia Vilello. The money powers library programs for 35 public and five non-public schools.

The spinoff effect of these programs is powerful. SLS trains librarians to use new technology and the latest digital tools. Those librarians, in turn, train teachers, who can use the media to direct students with project-oriented lessons.

"Libraries are where you find instructional purposes for technology," said Vilello.

Despite this, state funding for libraries, including school library systems, has been cut four times in the past two years, with a fifth blow proposed in the 2010-11 Executive Budget.

"That cumulatively will reduce Library Aid by 18 percent, or $18 million since 2007," said Michael Borges, New York Library Association executive director. NYLA has a professional affiliation with NYSUT.

In addition to lobbying at the Capitol on behalf of NYSUT's own 2,000 member librarians, the statewide union supports lobbying efforts of NYLA's 4,000 members.

Noting the infusion of media into lessons and projects, Paige Jaeger, SLS director for 84 libraries under Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, said, "We at Library Systems are fostering this pedagogical change."

The technology surge, she notes, has morphed many librarians into "cybrarians," following the shift from "librarian" to "school library media specialist."

School Library Systems began as a series of pilot programs in 1979 before becoming a statewide mandate in 1985.

Across New York, about 43 system directors run SLS programs in city districts or serve groups of districts through Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.

Vilello, a member of the Syracuse Teachers Association and SLS director for 28 years, said libraries were "isolated" before the creation of SLS.

She paints a picture of how that has changed.

Her calendar this winter included a professional development workshop for 60 librarians from central New York schools on "Connecting Boys and Books." The national speaker was hired through a grant obtained by SLS to help steer boys back to reading to improve their overall education.

Also on the agenda: programs on purchasing electronic books; how to write curriculum on using Twitter in education; and using social networking sites as tools for education. A webinar brought librarians information on how to use the automation system for checking out books.

"It's been a way for us to make sure the entire city of Syracuse (schools) is moving in the same direction with information literacy and reading," Vilello said.

And best not to forget the basics: This SLS creates, maintains and provides access to 250,000 holdings for the city system.

Like other SLSs, it shares professional journals and magazines among libraries, helping them save money.

Each system seems to provide its own brand of learning to its librarians along with offerings of technology and training.

Maureen Southorn, K-12 librarian and Weedsport Teachers Association member in Cayuga County, said her SLS started a book club for professionals. First up is Born Digital, a book about how the millennial generation has different learning expectations than the Boomers and Gen Xers who may be teaching them.

All of the library systems have set up Listservs, providing librarians instant e-mail contact. Their questions range from best ways to respond to student queries, to "Where can Stillwater school librarian Amy Carpenter get 20 copies of The Hunger Games for the new student book club?"

"Within a couple of hours I had responses. I got 12-13 copies," said Carpenter, who uses the SLS through the WSWHE BOCES.

Librarians who have books to share send them out through BOCES bus drivers, saving postage.

While their cost-saving missions are clear, SLS state financing is not.

"They never completely funded it and then they started cutting back," said Vilello.

SLS relies on grants and contributions from school districts to make up budget gaps.

"We're cutting a budget that's never had fat," she said. "We're at a critical juncture here."

Needs are growing as money is shrinking.

The state Board of Regents is expressing increasing concerns. Regent Roger Tilles of Long Island spoke out at the board's February meeting on the need to "emphasize the use of school librarians" in piloting technology.

With so many new books to review, changing curriculum, new technology, electronic databases to maintain, and teachers to train, "Sometimes it's difficult to keep up," aid Carpenter, a grades 6-12 librarian and member of the small, rural Stillwater Teachers Association.

"Today I spent part of my day with a class making a short video about natural disasters. I was helping them use Microsoft Moviemaker, and how to edit it, for a midterm project. I took a workshop (from SLS) on Moviemaker the day before I taught the class!" she said.

Carpenter attends as many SLS workshops as she can, including summer professional development programs. She's learned how to teach teachers about Google Earth Lit Trips, where students can tour settings in books they are reading. A workshop on new young adult books gave her ways to integrate them into library and classroom.

"The primary goal of school libraries is to support classroom instruction, from literacy to calculus to global history," said Jaeger.

Since much of that learning has evolved into an electronic format, part of SLS's mission is to prepare librarians, who in turn prepare teachers, on informational literacy — knowing how to locate and use accurate, valid cyber sources. Ever heard of digital storytelling, Animoto for Educators, or Voicethread for Educators?

Students want "media-infested projects," Jaeger said. "This is a generation of students who want to be heard."

But the voice of the WSWHE BOCES School Library Systems keeps getting dimmed: This year a $256,000 budget with a staff of four was cut to $208,000, said Jaeger, noting the funding is back to a 1993 level.

Recent offerings to her colleagues from these small, rural libraries: Google Greats for Educators, inquiry-based learning, and how to weed and grow a school library collection.

She's helped arrange inter-library loans for foreign exchange students who want to read novels in their native language.

John Monahan, director of SLS for Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES, hosts monthly networking meetings before school for librarians in 18 component districts. He sets up after-school professional development workshops and coordinates the networking, technology and cataloging services.

Among concerns librarians bring to him are the constant need for new technology training, and the need for the library environment to change to accommodate new ways of learning. "Common areas," for example, encourage more collaboration among students.

He urges librarians to get the message out to parents about how much more is happening in today's school libraries.

The current Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES state SLS budget is $150,170 — including a mid-year reduction — a 12 percent drop from the prior year funding of $169,000.

"There are School Library Systems that are not meeting the staffing mandate due to lack of state funding," Monahan said.