In many Australian schools, libraries are being starved of funding and run by unqualified staff. Some new schools are even being built without libraries.

Australian Children’s Laureate and best-selling author Morris Gleitzman is backing a new campaign that hopes to highlight these issues and educate people about the importance of school libraries.

“School libraries represent the best and worst of libraries,” he said.

"The best libraries welcome young minds and relate to those young minds on an individual basis... at the other end of the spectrum you have a cramped, dusty little space with some books where kids poke around.”

Libraries are starved of funds and bypassed by educators who think the internet replaces books, according to experts.

“The current challenge is that most schools are under-resourced, particularly in the state system," Mr Gleitzman said.

"It is tragically short-sighted when poor beleaguered principals, who have a difficult job of stretching their dollars, make the mistake of thinking the teacher librarian is not as important as a new science teacher or new sporting equipment."

Mr Gleitzman has visited 2000 schools during his career and said those that put literature at the centre of learning achieve excellent outcomes.

“Good stories connect with creative thinking, the development of empathy, resilience and research skills,” he said.

The Students Need School Libraries campaign is supported by seven Australian school library associations and encourages parents to ask about the resources at their child’s school library.

According to figures from the Australian Council for Educational Research, the number of teacher-librarians working in primary schools plummeted from 5600 in 2010 to 1300 in 2013.

School Library Association of Victoria executive officer Dr Susan La Marca said in an era of fake news, school libraries had become more important than ever before.

She said teacher librarians helped students use search engines, navigate the internet and separate fact from fiction.

“In a world where all sorts of information is flung at our children at a record speed, they need help to critically analyse it,” she said.

A Victorian Education Department spokesman said libraries were integral to teaching and learning and an essential tool for the development of children's research and literacy skills. He said every new school built in Victoria had a library space.

However, The Age understands that when Coburg High opened in 2015, it didn't contain a library. Only recently, following a change in the school's leadership, has it secured funding for a library which will be built in coming years.

Mazenod College in Mulgrave only employs qualified staff in its new library, which opened earlier this year and was funded by the school community.

It’s led by teacher librarian Camilla Elliott, who said it's her job to make the library inviting.

"If your library is dead and dingy and not an interesting place to be, then who would want to be there?" she said.

Students can nominate books they'd like the Catholic boys secondary school to purchase and Ms Elliott tailors texts to students' interests. For instance, if there's a reluctant reader who is passionate about fishing, she'll source non-fiction books about fishing.

The stock is constantly replenished, and Ms Elliott ensures all books are relevant.

"It’s a bit like the supermarket," she said. "If you have a product that is sitting there and not doing much, it needs to be promoted. If it is still not doing anything, it has to go."