School Library Musings: A Day in the Life of a School Library (Part 3)

In our last two posts in this series, we highlighted two school libraries—one an elementary school, the other a high school; one staffed with a full-time library tech, the other fully staffed with a credentialed teacher-librarian supported by a clerk. Amazing things are happening in both places. After reading these posts, it’s pretty clear that a well-run library at any level offers a much greater array of services than the average person imagines, including the following:

• Creating and maintaining an open, inviting learning space
• Keeping a collection engaging, current, and informative
• Interacting with students through activities, instruction, and day-to-day support
• Circulating library books, textbooks, and other materials through a maintained database
• Monitoring children at recess or when they need a break from their regular classrooms

Astonishingly, people don’t really see these things when they look at a school library; they just think it's a fun job to get to share books with kids all day.

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Some people might acknowledge that the services of a teacher-librarian at a high school could be important since students might need help with the frequent research projects assigned, plus teachers can always use support.

Others argue that an elementary school doesn’t need the services of a (more expensive) teacher-librarian because, after all, the point of any elementary school library personnel (if they think about it at all) is simply to read books aloud to classes, help students find books to satisfy their reading program requirements, and check them out to students—none of which requires higher education.

But take a look at what we see happening in an understaffed library:

Libraries are open only a few hours a week, or closed before and after school and during lunch—the only times students can benefit from library services on their own. Formal instruction in information literacy (or better yet, an integrated K–12 library curriculum) is spotty or nonexistent, in an era when student success, maybe even their lives, depends on being digitally literate.

And paraprofessionals are expected to perform tasks they have neither the training nor the educational qualifications to do—from building a library collection or responding to book challenges to overseeing students with possible behavioral problems—thereby putting themselves and the school at risk.

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On the other hand, Part 2 of our series shows the magic that happens with a full-time library team of a teacher-librarian (TL) and a clerk in place. While the clerk handles tasks such as textbook and library circulation, book repair, displays, overdue notices, materials purchases, and database maintenance, the TL is freed up to provide that essential library literacy instruction. Students learn how to navigate both the library and the internet, use an index (think: book indexes as well as Google), develop a research question, determine whether a website is reliable, stay safe online, and even choose a good book.

The TL can also provide research and reference services to administration, and assist in leading professional development for faculty on teaching strategies related to technology (think AI), information literacy, inquiry strategies, and more.

A TL with the time to organize events and activities that support student growth is providing students with the opportunities to participate in engaging, real-life activities, including focused panel discussions, author interviews, “maker days,” and even annual comic conventions! With the support of staff, a TL can consistently provide the direct instruction for which they alone hold a credential.

The fact that Nathan can rely upon Yvonne allows him to be available for students, teachers, and administrators to provide support, leadership, and instruction. By having two adults in the library, everyone on campus has access to high-quality instruction and materials. And the library doesn’t close during the school day when the library staff has yard duty.

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Both our highlighted libraries serve as de facto drop-in, one-on-one support centers for their schools. What additional roles does a TL/clerk library team assume that would otherwise have to be filled by a classroom aide or a specialized professional? And what do overall cost savings look like with a TL/clerk team in place versus individual personnel hired to perform all those additional roles? The economics of not hiring librarians is not as clear-cut as some budget-minded administrators might argue.

In fact, once you start looking closely at the issue, even in strictly economic terms, the concept of a two-person library team makes more and more sense. And yet, we recently learned that the paraprofessional position at Nathan’s high school has been cut for the 2026–27 school year. Imagine how this will impact library services not only at his high school but also at the other elementary schools that rely on his assistance as the Librarian of Record.

Hundreds of studies conducted worldwide since the early 2000s show definitively that the presence of a library team raises test scores. If test results were the sole issue (and if administrators actually read the studies), there might be more teacher-librarians running school libraries at every level. And as a result, school communities would see more than just higher test scores. They would produce graduates who are more informed and better prepared for the next stage of their lives.

A school library is, in fact, “the room where it happens” — where students go to get information and inspiration, collaborate on projects, find a book to read, gather their thoughts, plan events, meet friends, and explore or expand on new ideas they learned in class. The library holds materials accessible to all students, as well as curriculum-aligned materials for faculty that are more often than not new to the classroom teacher. The library is, in fact, the largest classroom in any school; it would behoove school administrators to acknowledge this and start hiring teacher-librarians, supported by clerks, to run them.

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