The Influence of Teacher Librarians' Personal Attributes and Relationship with the School Community in Developing a School Library Programme

Abstract

The ability of teacher librarians worldwide to develop and maintain school library programmes has been severely constrained by a number of factors ranging from inadequate budgetary allocations, lack of support from principals and other key stakeholders such as Ministry of Education personnel. However, even with limited funding and support, some teacher librarians have used ingenious strategies to develop and maintain their library programmes. This literature review synthesizes international research obtained from peer-reviewed journals, theses and professional papers on the personal attributes that a teacher librarian should possess in order to influence the development of a school library programme and the types of relationships the teacher librarian need to have with key stakeholders to be successful. The literature examined spanned a time period mostly from 2000-2018. The literature review found that leadership, collaboration, communication and interpersonal skills were the dominant skills a teacher librarian should possess in order to develop and maintain a school library programme alongside a good relationship with the school community.