Teacher and librarian perceptions of the elementary library media specialist's role

The purpose of the study was to examine attitudes of elementary librarians toward their job responsibilities as compared to teachers' perceptions of the librarian's job responsibilities. The population consisted of 15 librarians and 94 teachers in grades one through six. The teachers were employed in the same school system as the librarians. The librarians were members of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and were employed by the public school system of Missouri. The data were obtained through a questionnaire. The population identified tasks they indicated "should be" performed and tasks performed. Tasks were placed into five areas: management, bookkeeping, teaching, mechanical, and other.;Findings revealed that teachers believed librarians should be more involved in duties outside the library. Librarians indicated they performed more tasks than the teachers perceived librarians performed. The librarians also concluded there were many tasks they should perform but did not.