One educator supporting every grade and every subject, year after year.

A School Librarian is not just a person in a room full of books. They hold a master's degree, a state teaching certificate and a year-long school residency. They have six distinct roles in the school which include working with every student, in every grade, year after year — up to six years in an elementary school.

Their teaching reaches every subject in the building. They plan alongside classroom teachers to bring reading, research and information literacy into ELA, math, science, social studies, the arts, world languages, computer science and career readiness. That is why their work shows up across the whole school, not just in the library.

Explore the six roles. Tap a slice of the wheel or any role below to see what it means for students.

The Widening Gap

Reading for pleasure, school librarian staffing & teen smartphone ownership, 2010–2024

Points mark actual survey/data years; the dotted line has only two measured points.

2012: Reading Peaked, Smartphones in the Majority 50,300 27% 14.2% 39,450 23% 95% Reading for fun, age 13: 27% → 14% School librarians (U.S.): 50,300 → 39,450 Teens who own a smartphone: 23% → 95% 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024

New Jersey has cut more than 30% of its school librarian positions since 2011. Over the same years, 98% of 15-year-olds now own a smartphone, and districts poured much of $190bn in pandemic relief funding into classroom technology instead.

Reading: NAEP Long-Term Trend, age 13, “reads for fun almost every day,” nationsreportcard.gov. Librarians: NCES Common Core of Data, Digest of Education Statistics Table 213.10. Teen smartphone ownership: Pew Research Center surveys of U.S. teens — 23% figure is ages 12–17 (2011); 95% figure is ages 13–17 (2022–2024). NJ figures: NJASL district data; 98% teen figure: OECD PISA.