The Online School Librarian: Roles and Responsibilities

Abstract

Children across the United States of America are maturing in a media-saturated society. Unfortunately, this often results in poor content choices and evaluative skills. North American schools have attempted to address this problem through information literacy skills. One role key to teaching these skills is the role of the school librarian. Unfortunately, although much research is available on this role in traditional schools, little research was found on the school librarian’s role and responsibilities in a fully online school. In this study, two online school principals were interviewed regarding skills required to teach information literacy; who in their school was responsible for teaching these skills and how these skills were taught. Results indicate that although there is much potential for teaching information literacy in a fully online school, the reality often falls short due to a chopping up of school librarian duties into tasks assigned to several individuals.