The roles of the person who works in a school library, as well as their title - librarian, teacher-librarian, library teacher, library media specialist, school librarian, library media teacher - have undergone countless revisions since the first official school libraries opened their doors in the early 1900s. Although school library media specialists (LMSs) have struggled to negotiate their identities in public K12 education for decades, this "identity crisis" seems to have reached a critical point due to changes in U.S. learning environments brought about by federal legislation, the implementation of standards-based teaching, the emphasis on standardized criterion referenced testing, and the proliferation and ubiquitous use of computers and the Internet as information sources. Although teacher identity has been thoroughly studied, the ways in which LMSs describe themselves in their professional role and how their identities change from pre-service to in-service are rarely investigated. Using Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain’s (1998) theory of identity and their concept of figured worlds as a framework, this study explores how four novice LMSs negotiated the identities made available to them in the figured worlds of their public K12 school environments. The following questions guided the study: 1. How do novice library media specialists describe their professional identities? a. How does personal history inform the construction of professional identity of novice library media specialists? b. How do novice library media specialists negotiate identity within the figured worlds of public K12 schools? The four participants were first year LMSs recruited from a large urban school district in the southeastern United States. Data collection took place over the course of the 2011-2012 school year and included in-depth interviews, document analysis, journal responses, and observations. Findings indicate that the figured worlds in which novice library media practitioners begin their careers are often shaped by the experiences that faculty, administrators, and students have had with previous LMSs and bear significant influence on the identities afforded new LMSs as well as their own experiences with LMSs prior to their preparation programs.

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School impact media studies indicate that a well-staffed and funded school library media program with a certified school library media specialist (SLMS) positively correlates with increased student achievement. SLMS must have a shared understanding of their roles and responsibilities to positively impact student success. In an effort to determine prior knowledge and differentiated learning objectives, the method of certification is critical for planning professional development. This dissertation presents a multi-method investigation of differences between Alternatively Certified (AC) and Traditionally Certified (TC) SLMS as it relates to their perceptions of collaboration, leadership and technology described in Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (1998). The overall findings were used to generate recommendations for SLMS professional development. Of 2350 total SLMS in Florida, 161 AC and 318 TC SLMS responded to an online job task analysis. The strength of association between method of certification and perceptions of job tasks under the three themes (collaboration, leadership, and technology) were compared using statistical analysis (i.e. variance, standard deviation, t-tests, chi-square tests, and ANOVA). Longitudinal comparisons were made between this study and baselines studies from 1996 and 2006. There were no significant differences between AC and TC overall perceptions of collaboration, leadership and technology as indicated by the job task analysis survey. Two tasks within collaboration and technology themes had large significant differences in AC and TC responses. TC SLMS were more likely to "Assist students and/or teachers with general references services (e.g., answer reference questions)" and to "Evaluate the adequacy and suitability of facilities, equipment, materials, and services with regard to their impact on learning outcomes." TC SLMS were significantly more familiar with IP2, made more attempts to implement IP2, and attended more in-services on IP2. Observations and interviews with two AC and two TC SLMS triangulated the survey data and explored questions related to professional development. Interview participants advocated for content developed by other SLMS and mentorship training. SLMS asserted that professional development should include school and county protocols, evaluation tools and methods, relevant and accessible technologies (i.e. school and district software, Student Information System, Library Databases Standards such as CORE Curriculum). The SLMS indicated a preference for the following professional development methods: SLMS designed and implemented professional development; formal and informal SLMS sharing; differentiation and options to opt-out based on prior experiences and expertise; relevant and accessible technology training; and mentorship. These findings inform ways to effectively recruit, train, certify, and differentiate instruction in SLMS programs and professional development courses. Furthermore, our qualitative findings indicate a need to examine the impact of reduced budgets on school library media programs. Future studies should investigate the impact of increased numbers of non-certified SLMS and cuts to library staff on student achievement and K-12 learning communities. While this study counted the total number of non-certified SLMS in addition to the AC and TC SLMS, results from the sample of non-certified SLMS collected during the job task analysis were not analyzed because it was too small for comparison or generalizability.

Studies conducted in numerous states by various researchers demonstrate that library media specialists who take an active role in the instructional process positively impact student achievement in their schools. Principals are the instructional leaders of their schools, yet the research indicates that they are not knowledgeable regarding the role of the library media specialist. This study explored Virginia elementary school principals' perceptions of the instructional role of the library media specialist, the effect of library schedule on these perceptions, and the origin of these perceptions. Principals who responded to the study strongly endorsed the role of library media specialist as teacher of information literacy skills and as instructional partner. There was no statistically significant difference in perceptions based on the type of library schedule in place—fixed, flexible, or mixed/combination. Respondents indicated that they learn about the instructional role of the library media specialist from library media specialists with whom they work, either in their current positions as principals or through their previous experiences as classroom teachers. Principals form their views based on both negative and positive interactions with library media specialists and base their expectations of their current and future library media specialists on these prior experiences and expectations. This finding indicates that school library media specialist preparation programs should prepare their graduates to positively present their key instructional role and that training in this area should be provided for those library media specialists already in the field. Another key finding was that principals place primary responsibility for initiation of collaboration at both the individual teacher and the school level with the library media specialist. Further research is warranted to explore how principals facilitate full implementation of the instructional role of the library media specialist in their schools.

In 1988 Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs (IP1) was published. Ten years later an updated version, Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (IP2) was released. The purpose of this study was to determine if school library media specialists' perceptions had changed since 1996 and if respondents' familiarity with IP2 was a factor in the development of those perceptions. Further, 37 items that were clustered based on the three primary threads of collaboration, leadership and technology developed in IP2 were used to assess changes in perceptions. An electronic survey was developed and disseminated to the population of school library media specialists in Florida. A total of 454 completed surveys were received; representing a 17% return rate. The results of the current survey were then compared to a 1996 job task analysis study. Analysis of the results showed that 60% of the respondents had never attended an in-service on IP2. Statistically significant changes in perceptions about the importance of those 37 job tasks resurveyed were also identified. Changes were identified in 10 of the 14 collaboration items, 12 of the 13 leadership items and 9 of the 10 technology items. Changes in perception were also found for tasks that the respondents considered not a part of job. For the 37 job tasks, there were 11 statistically significant positive changes and two statistically significant negative changes. The environmental variable that correlated with the largest number of the 37 job tasks related to the principal making encouraging comments to classroom teachers about using the resources of the school library media center in the planning of their curriculum units. This variable correlated significantly with 24 of the 37 job tasks. The study revealed a need for additional research in the leadership roles and traits of the school library media specialist. Further, additional research related to the effect of administrative support could inform the profession in its efforts to solidify the school library media program as an integral part of the instructional program.