“Are Librarians Still Important?”

Last week, The Scholastic Administrator Web site posted an article authored by Kate Rix, a freelance writer from San Francisco, entitled “Are Librarians Still Important?” The article gives examples of school librarians serving in the instructional partner and proclaims that credentialed school librarians can be “another instructional leader in the building and a go-to resource for the principal.”

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3757441

What I especially appreciate about this article is that it is targeted to school administrators, and it is not written by a school librarian! While Scholastic can hardly be considered an unbiased source, it does help our profession tremendously when non-librarians advocate for the instructional partner and leadership roles of state-certified school librarians.

I have had the opportunity to speak to several preservice school administrator classes at Texas Woman’s University. These graduate students have been overwhelmingly positive about information related to the potential of school librarians to impact student learning outcomes and to facilitate job-embedded professional development as they work with teachers in instructional partnerships. These principals-to-be immediately see the value of having a co-instructional leader to help them meet their academic goals for their schools.

In the Scholastic Administrator article, former AASL president Ann Martin and current library director in the Henrico County School District notes it is up to librarians to show classroom teacher colleagues what is possible when teachers and librarians team up for instruction. Likewise, we must show principals as well and document the positive impact on achievement that results from coteaching.

How do you show others that instructional partnerships are win-win-win propositions for students, educators, and administrators?

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About Judi Moreillon

Judi Moreillon, M.L.S, Ph.D., has served as a school librarian at every instructional level. In addition, she has been a classroom teacher, literacy coach, and district-level librarian mentor. Judi has taught preservice school librarians since 1995. She taught courses in instructional partnerships and school librarian leadership, multimedia resources and services, children’s and young adult literature, and storytelling. Her research agenda focuses on the professional development of school librarians for the leadership and instructional partner roles. Judi just completed editing and contributing to Core Values in School Librarianship: Responding with Commitment and Courage (Libraries Unlimited 2021). She has published four other professional books including Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018). (See the book study on this blog.) Judi earned the American Library Association's 2019 Scholastic Library Publishing Award.

5 thoughts on ““Are Librarians Still Important?”

  1. I was really excited to see this article as well. It’s nice to hear that there is appreciation of librarians from an administrators standpoint and how our role can positively affect students of all ages. I liked the suggestions that they offered to administrators on how to get more use out of librarians. I think that in our profession, it’s essential to “market” ourselves and show all educational stakeholders what we can do to improve student success.

  2. I love the line in the Scholastic article about a funny thing happening on the way to extinction! As a new librarian student, it’s a bit daunting to learn of the perils related to school librarianship, but this article really shows the way to the future! Great blog post!

  3. I aslo appreciate that this article is directed toward administrators. Great way to get the information across!

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