The Role of School Librarians and Subject Teachers in Information Literacy Education

Information literacy education is one of objectives of school curriculum in Japan. School Librarians are expected to play an instructional role in the inquiry learning. Library instructions which have been worked on for many years cover all phases of inquiry learning such as planning, retrieving, processing, creating, sharing and evaluating. It includes various types of knowledge, skills, intellect, and attitudes. However, the results of interviewing 11 school librarians and 14 subject teachers have revealed that librarians actually teach no more than a portion of the contents that fall under the library instruction. The content primarily taught by librarians, and most subject teachers expected librarians to teach, is the traditional information skills, such as locating Information, using books, taking notes and showing references. School librarians should reconsider their expertise on information literacy education and share more responsibility with teachers to improve student learning.