Librarians: Bridges to College Readiness

Abstract

Teacher librarians often have to show their value in order to continue to provide their services, so being able to demonstrate how they help prepare students to be college-ready would reinforce the importance of professionally-led school libraries. This situation led to the research question: what relationship exists between the presence of a high school teacher librarian and freshmen college students’ academic success? To answer this question, this study examined five years of a large comprehensive university’s freshmen data about their course load, their first semester GPA, and characteristics of the high school from which they graduated. Findings revealed the impact of the high school librarian and students’ economic status.