The School Librarian’s Role in Writing Instruction: Research, Perceptions, and Practice

The degree to which librarians are actively involved in developing the writing skills of students has primarily been studied in academic libraries (Bronshteyn and Baladad 2006, “Librarians as Writing Instructors: Using Paraphrasing Exercises to Teach Beginning Information Literacy Students.” 32 (5):533–536; King 2012, “Essentials of Basic Writing Pedagogy for Librarians.” 18:55–66. Accessed March 20, 2016. doi:10.1080/02783915.2012.700211; Smith 2001, “Keeping Track: Librarians, Composition Instructors, and Student Writers Use the Research Journal.” 18:21–28) and has rarely been researched in terms of K-12 settings either in the United States or internationally. This paper examines the ways in which school library programs and school librarians contribute to the writing skills of K-12 students in South Carolina in the United States. A selective analysis of the findings is presented from Phase II of the South Carolina Association of School Librarian’s (SCASL) 2014 School Library Impact Study, conducted by Keith Curry Lance and the RSL Research Group. The extent to which school librarians perceive their role in the teaching of writing in K-12 schools is examined, along with the perceptions of administrators and teachers. The results indicated that school librarians are less likely than other educators to assess their teaching of writing as excellent. Rather, administrators and teachers valued school librarians’ contributions to the teaching of writing standards more than librarians did. In addition, the paper presents a review of the literature pertaining to the school librarian’s contributions to the teaching of writing skills and offers suggestions for applying the findings of this research to practice.