Teacher-librarians, who have specialist training and credentials, play a critical role in
developing student literacy, supporting teachers’ classroom programs, and making the library
the technological hub of the school. The teacher-librarian is most effective when working in
partnership with the classroom teacher. Too often, teacher-librarians are used to provide
preparation time, which doesn’t support the partnership model.
The ETFO literature review reports that “teacher-librarians appear to positively impact student
achievement and success.” Ontario research shows that grade 3 and 6 students in schools with
teacher-librarians are more likely to report that they enjoy reading. It demonstrates a
correlation between elementary student literacy achievement and support from trained library
staff.
The status of teacher-librarians is monitored through the annual reports of the Ontario nonprofit
organization People for Education. Its 2015 annual report iii states that 60 per cent of
elementary schools have a full- or part-time teacher-librarian, 40 per cent have no teacher-librarian,
and 8 per cent don’t have either a teacher-librarian or library technician.

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