Building a Collaborative School Library: The Impact of Staffing Roles

In some ways, school libraries have changed very little since the late-1800s setting of Barbara Cooney’s picture book Miss Rumphius, in which the main character works in a library “dusting books and keeping them from getting mixed up, and helping people find the ones they wanted.” (Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius, Viking Press, 1982.)

While these tasks remain priorities for school library personnel, today’s students need more. To help students think critically, make smart choices, and become savvy users and creators of information in the twenty-first century, schools need to up their game when it comes to staffing their libraries. Miss Rumphius is no longer enough.

All kinds of people work in school libraries, ranging from parent volunteers to entry-level paraprofessionals (often called library techs or clerks), credentialed teacher librarians, and professional library media specialists. These varied titles indicate pay scale, educational background, and professional expectations for the person in charge. And though you may assume that the “librarian” at the front desk has the appropriate training, education, and access that accompanies that title, what we find in the average school library is as varied as the skills, education, and positions just described.

Consider what happens on a daily basis in the average school library.

When we first walk into a school library, we usually notice the books. How did they get there? In our typical school library, the library staff of one purchased, organized, and now circulates them. That same person reads stories aloud to classes and then helps them find books to check out. In cases where libraries have online catalogs available, they might show students how to look for a book in the catalog. If they have time and energy left, they might put up book displays and bulletin boards to celebrate a season, holiday, or significant event.

That same individual oversees behaviors (even if it is not in their job description) while checking out books to twenty-five or thirty students at a time. Then, they send those kids back to the classroom with another class visit hard on their heels. Considering that up to six classes a day could be visiting the library back-to-back, it is quite likely that this is the most your school library is able to provide your students.

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If the library staff consists of a teacher librarian, a whole world of learning opens up for students. A teacher librarian can instruct classes on how to use the catalog and search online databases, coteach classes with faculty, provide professional development for their colleagues, and curate those book purchase lists.

But even with a teacher librarian at the helm, there isn’t enough time to do it all; a large percentage of school library staff across the country are part-time, and far too many school libraries are rarely open every day, all day, five days a week. As a result, libraries remain a place where students are sent for thirty minutes, maybe once a week, to hear a story and check out a book, often required to fulfill a school reading incentive program, while teachers use that time as a planning period.

In our roles as veteran school librarians and library consultants, as well as members of various school library associations and online library organizations, we’ve spoken with countless school library staff members and have seen directly that school library staffing comes in all sizes and makes a huge difference in student success. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios, examine the expectations for each, and then share our dream school library.

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1. Reality: “I am a newly hired library paraprofessional in charge of three elementary campuses. I am the only library person available for each school.”

Everyone misses out with this configuration.

This paraprofessional is pulled in a multitude of directions trying to set schedules, meet with classes, help teachers gather materials, and purchase books—for three different schools. Teachers miss having a coteacher for lessons related to research, literacy building, digital citizenship instruction, and other necessary twenty-first-century skills. There is no time to research what books to buy to support the curriculum or the diverse needs of the school community.

And because the library is not open all day, every day, students miss unlimited access to library resources and assistance, as well as the opportunity for free time in the library during breaks and lunch. The sanctuary offered by a school library is no longer available.

2. Reality: “I am a credentialed librarian working at two high school campuses. There are part-time assistants working in the library. I shift my time between the two.”

This arrangement gets closer to what works best for students and their teachers but is far from perfect. Students and teachers get an organized library with the help of a paraprofessional who can oversee the work of maintaining shelves and meeting with classes. However, it still does not provide full-time daily access for students to the reference librarian or the space itself and all it offers.

They also miss regular instruction in the library AND the classroom as the teacher librarian and classroom teacher coteach targeted lessons. What do teachers miss? Access to and opportunities for collaboration with a knowledgeable colleague.

3. Reality: “I am a full-time paraprofessional with a district librarian who supervises my library along with the rest of the district libraries.”

In this scenario, students have access to the library every day. The paraprofessional can provide instruction on how to find materials and use the catalog, as well as help with collection development. However, the district librarian is not on-site and performs mostly administrative duties, and students and teachers have little to no access to an instructional librarian and teaching partner.

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So, What Exactly Does Our Dream School Library Look Like?

Regardless of grade level, our dream school library is staffed with a full-time credentialed teacher librarian and at least one full-time paraprofessional, depending on school size and assigned duties. The paraprofessional oversees day-to-day operations—books purchased; materials circulated, shelved, and weeded; social times supervised; displays posted and changed regularly—to keep the library running smoothly. This allows the teacher librarian to craft the instructional scaffold for the teaching and learning of digital behavior, research skills, identification of misinformation, and more, all crucial for student success in today’s world.

Such a scaffold includes coteaching in classrooms and the library and providing schoolwide faculty professional development at point-of-need on a wide variety of information and media literacy topics. It adheres to a systematic collection development policy, addressing the ordering, weeding, organizing, and circulating of library materials, including books, ebooks, media, devices, and possibly textbook circulation. It offers fun, imaginative programming, outreach, student clubs, reading incentives, and reading support.

And, of course, this dream library welcomes students, faculty, and school community members daily into a warm, inviting space with different areas for different activities. It’s a place where students drop in at breaks and lunch, before and after school, to read, do homework, play games, socialize, collaborate on research projects with other students, or simply seek respite from the often chaotic and sometimes challenging school environment surrounding them.

What is the end result of this dream school library? The blooming of a schoolwide culture that celebrates literacy of all kinds, equitable access, civic participation, personal growth, and community connection—and did we mention higher student success rates?

What could be better than this?

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