Teachers' perceptions on teacher and school librarian collaboration

Costa, Annie

Summary: Montiel-Overall and Jones’ study “Teacher and School Librarian Collaboration: A preliminary report of teachers’ perceptions about frequency and importance to student learning” indicates that teacher and school librarian collaboration is essential to teaching and student learning. 194 teachers participated in the study. “Teachers are more engaged with school librarians in the types of collaborative activities which are generally considered traditional practices than those considered high-level collaboration” (2005, p. 68).  School librarians help teachers by locating library resources and resources for lessons. But teachers do not perceive that “they frequently engage in collaborative endeavors, which school librarians consider to be integral to school librarians’ responsibilities” (2005, p. 68).   

Evaluation: I’m surprised with the findings.  It is interesting that teachers do not have the strong perception of teacher and school librarian partnership.  There should be more studies to investigate teacher perceptions as to why they do not frequently collaborate with school librarians that are essential to teaching and student learning. 

Montiel-Overall , P. & Jones, P. (2011, March). Teacher and School Librarian Collaboration: A Preliminary Report of Teachers' Perceptions about Frequency and Importance to Student Learning. Canadian Journal of Information & Library Sciences, 35(1), 49-76. Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=71930607&site=ehost-live