Perceptions of school library workers study

A class study compared the various perceptions of what classified and support level persons in CA school libraries.  The results suggest that distinctions between professional and paraprofessional roles have become increasingly blurred, with paraprofessional staff frequently expected to perform complex information and instructional tasks without corresponding professional preparation or credentials. These findings raise concerns about the deprofessionalization of school librarianship and highlight the need for clearer differentiation of responsibilities, professional standards, and staffing models within California school libraries.

Harlan, Mary Ann (2026) "When Everyone Is a Librarian: Examining Job Titles and Responsibilities in California School Libraries," Learning Hub: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 11.
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/learning-hub/vol1/iss2/11

AI in school libraries report

A recent report examined K-12 teaching about AI. Some of the key recommendations are based more around how we assign and assess student work, rather than on AI as a specific technology. For example, the report suggested moving away from AI detectors or other adversarial approaches to assessment re-design and instead seeking more valid evidence of student understanding. 

Harris, C. et al. (2026). TeachingAbout.AI K-12 Field Report.  Teaching About. https://teachingabout.ai/report-for-the-k-12-field/

For Classroom Teachers

• Move from punishment to a restorative protocol for suspected AI misuse: conversation, redo opportunity, explicit teaching about the purpose of the assignment.
• Pilot Black Box Assessment in two or three units per grade band where the work has traditionally been a take-home product. Capture and credit the rough draft, the revision, and the rationale—not only the final paper.
• Use AI feedback as preparation for human feedback, not as a substitute. A chatbot can scaffold a first draft; only a teacher can tell a student what the work means and provide recognition.

For Principals and Instructional Leaders

• Reframe district planning documents from “AI policy” to “teaching and learning in an AI-mediated context.” The shift is not cosmetic; it changes what counts as a relevant solution and who needs to be in the room.
• Issue explicit, written permission from district leadership: this is the year we redesign. Specify what divergence is allowed, what evidence is requested, and what supports are available.
• Replace “AI ban” and “AI mandate” framings with explicit harm-reduction policies. Name the harms (engagement-driven design, parasocial bonding, deepfake abuse) and the mitigations.

For School Librarians

• Empower school librarians as in-house consultants on task redesign. Their co-teaching role across subject areas makes them well placed to coach colleagues through structural redesign one unit at a time.
• Use the LibraryReady.AI PreK–12 scope and sequence as a backbone. It is grade-banded, librarian-friendly, and built for exactly this work in all levels of classrooms.
• Treat school librarians as the in-district R&D unit. Their broad view across classrooms, their information-evaluation skills, and their relationship to the LibraryReady.AI scope and sequence make them ideal redesign partners.

Harris, C. et al. (2026). TeachingAbout.AI K-12 Field Report

Book Censorship and School Librarians' Role Research

A recent study examined how school librarians in a Texas school district are impacted by book censorship policies. This research found that book censorship has a detrimental effect on school librarians, both in their day-to-day work, and in plans for their future career and job satisfaction. The researchers acknowledge the small, localized sample size, and recommend future research in other areas, as well as qualitative research on the mental health and stress of school librarians with factors besides censorship and collection development.

Misty Schattle, M. & O’Connor, J. (2026). Books and Barriers: The Influence of Book Censorship on the Role of School Librarians, Their Self-Efficacy, and Well-Being. School Library Research, 29. https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/2026-06/schattleandoconnor.pdf  

Student Achievement and Teacher Librarians Study

“This study found that students were more likely to meet or exceed English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) standards when their schools had credentialed teacher librarians (TLs), TLs serving a single school, and school library staff who engaged in certain specific activities, including managing their library collections and supporting literacy teaching. With rare exceptions, relationships between library staffing levels and staff activities and ELA performance levels persisted regardless of the gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status of students.” (Lance & Gerrity). 

Lance, K., & Gerrity, C. (2025). Contributions of California teacher librarians to student achievement. Learning Hub, 1(2). https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/learning-hub/vol1/iss2/3/ 

School librarian self-censorship study

A recent study examined self-censorship of controversial topics in collection development. Articles can be accessed for free at www.ala.org/aasl/slr.

In the recently published “To Add or Not to Add: An Examination of Self‐Censoring Behaviors among School Librarians,” Jennifer Moore and Alissa Tudor present a study examining collection development and self-censorship amongst school librarians. The researchers collected data via surveys, and examined which controversial or frequently challenged topics school librarians chose not to collect. This research found that amongst controversial topics, there were high amounts of self-censorship around books that dealt with sexual content, abortion, and self-harm. Respondents who had never experienced book challenges in their school libraries expressed reluctance to include books that involved sexual content and LGBTQ themes or content

Moore, J., & Tudor, A. (2024). To Add or not to add: An examination of self‐censoring behaviors among school librarians. School Library Research. 

www.ala.org/aasl/slr

Teacher Librarian Collaboration during COVID-19 Study

 This phenomenological study explored and analyze six school librarians’ experience of changes in their professional roles during the pandemic. Three major themes emerged: the local context of the school librarians’ roles during the pandemic, the pandemic as an antagonist to the school librarians’ former and present roles, and the experience of tensions within the evolution of the school librarians’ roles.

The results suggested that the pandemic’s contributions to students’ learning loss present an ongoing, critical need for school librarians’ core value of positively impacting student achievement. Implications for school librarians are that they are strongly positioned to thrive during further evolutions of their roles as instructional settings continue to diversify.

Colvin, K., Croft, M. (2024). Indicators of Successful School Librarian and Teacher Collaboration: A Phenomenology. School Library Research, 27.

https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/colvin-et-al.pdf

School Librarians' Roles During COVID study

A recent study examied the ways that school librarians and librarianship shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during periods of virtual learning. The research team conducted interviews that illuminated the stories of school librarians during the COVID-19 pandemic and examined the concept of the pandemic as an antagonist to the role of librarians. The researchers noted that the “results of this study support the idea that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 can serve as a demarcation line in K–12 research,” and recommend that “future researchers in K–12 school librarianship will need to differentiate which side of the demarcation line is referenced regarding studies on professional roles, student achievement data, and/or experience. As school librarians must consider how to evolve their role to establish relevancy within emerging settings such as the K– 12 remote-synchronous learning environment, this capacity for an embedded role is present and offers a natural evolution.”

Wright, K., Koz, O., & Moore, J. (2024). The evolving roles of school librarians during the COVID-19 pandemic: A phenomenological study. School Library Research, 27. https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/wright-et-al.pdf 

Teacher librarian roles during COVID-19 study

 A recent study examined the nature and depth of school librarians’ involvement, in a position to “lead from the center,” a term used to describe the centrality of school librarians in school spaces, during the COVID-19 pandemic as schools moved from in-person to online contexts.

The research team used a qualitative design based on semi-structured focus groups, allowing researchers to examine participants’ perceptions of their involvement during the pandemic and their perception of the knowledge and skills in their job that could support teachers and students in online teaching and learning. The study found that school librarians’ involvement was not explicitly included in district/school initiatives; however, they voluntarily engaged in informal actions aligned with the CoP framework and worked independently outside district direction to support students and teachers.

The study concludes that schools/districts can and should include school librarians in planning for technology use in teaching and learning and position them as leaders in this work. Additionally, there is evidence that online teaching and learning competencies should be intentionally embedded in preparation programs.

Wake, d., Hu, H., & Shaw, Erin. (2022). School Librarians Leading from the Center in Online Learning Contexts: Informal Communities of Practice Creating Space for Connection and Collaboration. School Library Research. https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/pubs/slr/wake-hu-shaw.pdf

HS to College Readiness and Librarians Study

A statewide, multi-institutional research project explored the role of certified school librarians in providing resources and instruction to students and identifying equity issues among first-year college students’ preparation for college research. High school librarians impact students' college preparedness and ability to cite sources. 

Valenza, J., Berg, C., Bushby, R., Charles, L., Dalal, H., Dalyrmple, J., & Demspey, M. (2022). What’s in a Frame? Perspectives of high school librarians and first-year college students. College & Research Libraries News, 83(9), 393. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.83.9.393

Valenza, J., Dalal, H., Mohamad, G., Boyer, B., Berg, C., Charles, L., Bushby, R., Dempsey, M., Dalrymple, EJ., &Dziedzic-Elliott, E. (2022). First years’ information literacy Backpacks: What’s already packed or not packed? Journal of Academic Librarianship 48(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102566.

Teacher Librarian Expenses during COVID study

A recent study collected exploratory data on perspectives, details, and artifacts related to how school librarians used personal funds to purchase school-related items during the pandemic. The researcher found that "school librarians used their own money to meet student needs, to get what was needed quickly and conveniently, to obtain items for which they were not allowed to spend school money, and to avoid dealing with time-consuming purchasing and reimbursement processes—if reimbursement was even an option. School librarians also spent their own money because library budgets were eliminated, reduced, or frozen during the pandemic. Findings also showed for those school librarians spending their own money, that the most money was by those who worked in rural areas with a higher proportion of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch."

Kammer, J., Atkins, C. & Burress, R. (2022). "The Personal Cost of Small Budgets & Underfunded Libraries: Out-of-Pocket Spending by School Librarians during COVID-19." School Library Research, 25.  https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/pubs/slr/kammer-atkins-burress.pdf

Libarian-Teacher Co-Instruction Study

A recent three-year study examined how school librarians and classroom teachers co-teach to facilitate learner-centered instruction, including inquiry and maker learning. The research team found that that co-teaching occurred through co-planning prior to and throughout the units. School librarians reported to have used various instructional methods such as scaffolding, modeling, mentoring, and coaching. Classroom teachers reported to have brought differing expertise as the content-area experts. The co-teaching relationships evolved over time, and the findings suggest school librarian-classroom teacher co-teaching significantly facilitates learner-centered instruction in schools. 

Koh, K., Ge, X., & Prytrlls, J. (2022). Librarian-Teacher Co-Teaching and the Role of School Librarians in Facilitating Inquiry and Maker Learning. School Library Research. www.ala.org/aasl/slr

Decline in School Librarians study

 Communication from Stephen Krashen <skrashen@gmail.com>: Jul 24 02:12PM -0700

Studies have shown that the presence of a credentialed school librarian results in better reading & writing (e.g. Kachel and Lance, 2013). But according to a recently released report (the SLIDE report; **Lance and Kachel, 2021)**, the number of school librarians fell 20% during the last ten years. In 2009-10, there were 939 students per school librarian, but by 2018-19, it had increased to 1,199 to 1.*

*The usual explanation was that the decrease in school librarians was because of budget, but the SLIDE report **found “no clear relationship between staffing and funding. **Of great interest: ** Nationwide, the number of school administrators increased during this time (**Instructional
Coordinators, by almost 34%; District Administrators, more than 16%, School Administrators, more than 15%.)*
 
*Most disturbing: **Librarians are less likely to be found in smaller, rural, and poorly funded districts that serve more students in poverty, that serve mostly non-white and Hispanic students, and English Language acquirers. In other words, everybody’s not losing their librarians—mostly
those who depend on libraries the most. *
 
*Impact of school librarian: https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/
<https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/>*
 
*The SLIDE report: Lance, K. C., & Kachel, D. E. (2021, July). Perspectives on school librarian employment in the United States, 2009-10 to 2018-19. SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution? https://libslide.org/publications/perspectives. *

Teacher librarians and social media learning networks study

New research examines activities, motives, and barriers associated with social media learning. Results of an online questionnaire recorded perspectives on personalized learning networks. Results were categorized by media type (self-published content, curated content, microblogs, discussion forums, and social networks) and by user role (Passerby, Lurker, Networker, Content Creator, and Community Leader).

Cates, M. (2021). Social Media to Survive and Thrive: School Librarians Describe Online Professional Learning. School Library Research.

http://www.ala.org/aasl/slr

Teacher librarians' activities during COVID-19 report

 The American Association of School Librarians released its final survey in a series of snapshot surveys measuring the state of school libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses to the latest survey indicate that a majority of school librarians have seen an increase in responsibilities during the 2020–2021 school year, with 75% of respondents reporting they are doing more technology troubleshooting and nearly 86% reporting they are doing more ebook promotion in their districts.

AASL. (2021). Final school library snapshot survey results. KnowledgeQuest.

https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/final-school-library-snapshot-survey-results/

School Librarian Research Compendium

New York State compiled research studies about school librarians, classified by the prior AASL standards.
Cohen, S., et al. (2019). Roles of the school librarian. Albany, NY: NE Comprehensive Center.
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/slssap/ncc-roles-brief.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0e_07mjkUDNL-XiQJ6GtW7gTaMNamZeQlvk9_5NHa-bcrR1dik8KF_xko

High-Quality School Librarians Research

New research examines the question, "how do we define a high-quality school librarian?" The researchers explores research about high-quality teachers and how it can inform studies investigating school librarians' impact on student outcomes.
Kimmel, S. et al. (2019).  The Preparation and Certification of School Librarians: Using Causal Educational Research about Teacher Characteristics to Probe Facets of Effectiveness.
School Library Research. 
http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/pubs/slr/vol22/SLR_PreparationandCertification_V22.pdf

Teacher / Librarian Collaboration

New research examines classroom teachers' perceptions of their own openness to change and collaborating with school librarians in the context of information literacy instruction. Classroom teachers indicated a belief that teaching information literacy skills was the role of both school librarians and teachers. However, grading and teaching content were the role of the teacher. Collaboration usually consisted of dividing up the lesson rather than working together on standards, planning and assessment. Implementing change is facilitated through surveys and faculty/department meeting discussion.

Crary, S. (2019). Secondary Teacher Perceptions and Openness to Change Regarding Instruction in Information Literacy Skills. School Library Research, 22. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/pubs/slr/vol22/SLR_SecondaryTeacherPerceptions_V22.pdf

Teacher librarian decline in positions study

American schools—particularly those serving black and Latino students—have seen a precipitous drop in their school librarians since the Great Recession. The nation’s public school districts have lost 20 percent of their librarians and media specialists since 2000, from more than 54,000 to less than 44,000 in 2015, according to an Education Week Research Center analysis of federal data. Many districts lost librarians even as student populations grew by 7 percent nationwide. The most dramatic drop came after the 2008 recession, and the federal data suggests that cash-strapped districts may have shifted from library services to other support staff. Over the same period when school librarians’ ranks dropped, schools nationwide saw an 11 percent increase in counselors, a 19 percent increase in instructional aides, and a 28 percent increase in school administrators.
Separate analyses by National Education Association researchers Andy Coons and Stacey Pelika in 2016 and by Debra Kachel of Antioch University Seattle and Keith Curry Lance of the RSL Research Group, writing in the School Library Journal earlier this year, likewise have found gaps in school library staffing over time.
Sparks, S., & Harwin, A. (2018). Schools see steep drop in librarians. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/16/schools-see-steep-drop-in-librarians-new.html

American schools—particularly those serving black and Latino students—have seen a precipitous drop in their school librarians since the Great Recession.The nation’s public school districts have lost 20 percent of their librarians and media specialists since 2000, from more than 54,000 to less than 44,000 in 2015. Many districts lost librarians even as student populations grew by 7 percent nationwide. The most dramatic drop came after the 2008 recession, and the federal data suggests that cash-strapped districts may have shifted from library services to other support staff. Over the same period when school librarians’ ranks dropped, schools nationwide saw an 11 percent increase in counselors, a 19 percent increase in instructional aides, and a 28 percent increase in school administrators.
Separate analyses by National Education Association researchers Andy Coons and Stacey Pelika in 2016 and by Debra Kachel and Keith Curry Lance of the RSL Research Group, writing in the School Library Journal earlier this year, likewise have found gaps in school library staffing over time.
Sparks, S., & Harwin, A. (2018). Number of librarians plummets in schools, data find.  Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/07/18/where-are-the-school-librarians.html

STEM OERs study

This study outlines the significance of studying pressing issues related to use of digital resources in the K–12 environment, and uses the Quadratic Usage Framework of K–12 technology adoption to contextualize the results of a qualitative synthesis of published research. Many traditional issues relating to educators’ access, skill, policy, and motivation to use digital learning resources emerged clearly from the body of literature.

Luetkemeyer, Jennifer, and Marcia Mardis. “Applying the Quadratic Usage Framework to Research on K–12 STEM Digital Learning Resources.” School Libraries Research, 19.
http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol19/SLR_K-12STEMDigitalLearningResources_V19.pdf