The Problem with Shortened Library Special

This is my first full year as a library para-educator at a school in northern Illinois.  Our school district, in an effort to comply with the states requirements for physical education has cut our grade school library special time from 40 minutes to 20 minutes a week.  
All our grade school librarians were very concerned about this shortened library special time, but after living it for over half a year, I have found more reasons to express concerns.  Here are the reasons why we need 40 minutes for library special!

1. No Time to Find books:  Most of our class sizes are 18-36 students each.  Since the librarian must check these students out, he or she has NO time to help students find a book.  Some times a student doesn't know what they want to read, sometimes they cannot see the call number, or they need books for reports in class.  There is no time in library special for this help!
2. No Time to Read Aloud:  I actually read books on days I have parent volunteers in the library, but there are always 6-10 students who are still looking for books and checking out while I read.  These students are disappointed to miss the books or miss checking out to hear the books.  They should not have to make a choice between the two options!
3. No Time for Teaching basic Library skills!  To teach students to use our online catalog, I use Chrome books.  If I cover how to use the catalog in a 20 minute special, students cannot check out that day, because their is no time and no librarian at the check out desk.  And children need the call number lessons several time over the year, and over non-fiction and fiction categories, not to mention where to find these items in the library.
4. No Time to Get to know readers and their preferences!  I would love to get to know every child's favorite genre, author, and books, but there is no time for discussing and showing them more of their favorites when we are struggling to check out.
5. No Time for the students to develop good library browsing habits.  When I was a child, my family visited the library once a week and we had an hour on our own to find books.  I learned to find my favorite genre:  fiction and wandered the stacks, pulling books and reading covers.  I found book displays, and browsed the card catalog for more books by the same author, or on the same subject.  A 20 minute special does not allow children to develop any skills for making good selections that will lead to a good book match and more reading!
6. No Time to create a love of reading and libraries!  How can we create love for a room they are rushed through and they only have time to view things they always check out.
7. No Time to find variety!  Some of the things I have done to prep for our shortened library special, is to pull books and put them out on our work tables, I have added more labeling to our shelves for popular series with graphics so these books are easy to find, but because their is no browsing time, students will choose their favorites over and over, or favorites of their peers and not try books and authors new to them.  I find I focus on promoting series books, so I know once a child is engaged they will have ideas for their next book, but what about all the great books with no sequels!?
8. No time for checkout!  If you noticed the length of the library special and the class size, you will notice we have less than a minute for our students just to check out.  Without the help of volunteers I am unable to check out every child and must  ask them to leave their books and student ids in a pile and then bring the books to them later.  Even on days with volunteers, we are often, both checking students out in order to have them leave with their books.
9. No time to prioritize reading TOO!  Reading is one of the most critical skills your child needs to succeed in life, so finding them books that create a love for reading is critical too!  
10. We are the ONLY library some of these students have as some of our populations is NOT in incorporated areas of the city.  These students deserve a rich library experience!

I know our teachers are striving to meet common core goals and they have no time to give, but the school district must find a way to give library special more time.  Let's create a love of, and culture of reading!  Please consider asking our schools for more library special time for your child!