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Abstract: Factors Impacting School Librarian Self-Efficacy in Fayette County Public Schools
Research has shown that the school librarian often occupies a unique and singular role in school settings. As such, their belief in their ability to master professional competencies is often self-referential and subject to negative influence from external organizational forces. This paper presents the initial phases of a Mixed-Methods Action Research study examining factors that impact the professional self-efficacy beliefs of one school district's school librarians as related to the 2018 AASL National School Library Standards School Librarian Framework.
While the library media specialists in the study's district can articulate personal perceptions of self-efficacy in relationship to their roles, those perceptions vary widely and are influenced by diverse factors often related to school-specific contexts. As such, conversations and professional learning at the district level often focus on general topics to enhance student learning, rather than domains specific to the craft of school librarianship. Coupled with this, school leaders may overlook the complexity of the school librarian’s role because of its singular nature. This leads to ambiguity around program evaluation and role perception. When combined, these circumstances perpetuate an environment that reflects a need for continued advocacy for the school librarian’s role as a key member of the instructional staff. A holistic, data-informed approach to these efforts, grounded in the AASL Standards and self-efficacy theory, can strengthen professional practice and support advocacy efforts.
A literature review focused on self-efficacy theory and school library research relating to role perception, organizational positioning, professional competencies, and job satisfaction anchors the diagnosis phase of this study. Informal conversations with stakeholders and a review of organizational data combine with the literature to refine a problem of practice. In this study's sequential Quan-Qual mixed methods design, a self-efficacy survey based on the 66 competencies included in the AASL National School Library Standards School Librarian framework was created, distributed, and informed the creation of a semi-structured interview protocol used to deepen understanding of the survey results. Data from both strands was then integrated to form meta-inferences that will shape a targeted intervention designed to improve school librarians' confidence in their professional abilities.
While the library media specialists in the study's district can articulate personal perceptions of self-efficacy in relationship to their roles, those perceptions vary widely and are influenced by diverse factors often related to school-specific contexts. As such, conversations and professional learning at the district level often focus on general topics to enhance student learning, rather than domains specific to the craft of school librarianship. Coupled with this, school leaders may overlook the complexity of the school librarian’s role because of its singular nature. This leads to ambiguity around program evaluation and role perception. When combined, these circumstances perpetuate an environment that reflects a need for continued advocacy for the school librarian’s role as a key member of the instructional staff. A holistic, data-informed approach to these efforts, grounded in the AASL Standards and self-efficacy theory, can strengthen professional practice and support advocacy efforts.
A literature review focused on self-efficacy theory and school library research relating to role perception, organizational positioning, professional competencies, and job satisfaction anchors the diagnosis phase of this study. Informal conversations with stakeholders and a review of organizational data combine with the literature to refine a problem of practice. In this study's sequential Quan-Qual mixed methods design, a self-efficacy survey based on the 66 competencies included in the AASL National School Library Standards School Librarian framework was created, distributed, and informed the creation of a semi-structured interview protocol used to deepen understanding of the survey results. Data from both strands was then integrated to form meta-inferences that will shape a targeted intervention designed to improve school librarians' confidence in their professional abilities.