Proposed cuts in teacher-librarian positions across 58 Catholic schools pose a big question. What happens to school libraries if the teacher-librarians who lead them disappear? And what happens to the students at those schools?
According to a letter distributed to Catholic primary schools in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese about proposed staff restructuring in 2027, 58 teacher-librarians could be redeployed to other curriculum areas, with library assistants or student support officers potentially taking responsibility for school libraries.
The changes could affect more than 21,000 students across 45 primary schools, 11 secondary schools, and two K-12 schools.
In 2025, Australian students recorded their worst-ever results in national digital literacy testing, 10.8 per cent of Australian Year 3 students were categorised as "Needs Additional Support" in NAPLAN Reading.
School libraries cannot replace systematic classroom reading instruction. But teacher-librarians can connect students with rich literature, support reading, develop research skills and work alongside classroom teachers to build information literacy across the curriculum.
And this is the point that risks getting lost in the staffing debate: replacing a teacher-librarian is not simply replacing one employee with another. It changes what a school library can do.
The International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) has raised concerns about the continuing loss of qualified teacher-librarian positions in Australian schools, while the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Australian Coalition for School Libraries (ACSL) and the Australian Coalition for School Libraries (ACSL) have also expressed concerns about the proposed reductions.
At a time when Australian schools are under pressure to improve literacy, students are also navigating an information environment their teachers could never have imagined. The Australian Curriculum recognises digital literacy as a general capability. Students need to find, identify, evaluate and critically analyse information in both digital and physical formats - skills that are increasingly important in a complex information environment.
A teacher-librarian is not just a person who looks after books. The stereotype is familiar: a quiet room, rows of books, a librarian behind a desk checking them in and out.
That is not contemporary teacher-librarianship. In Australia, teacher-librarians combine a recognised teaching qualification with a qualification in library and information science. They are dual-qualified specialist educators with expertise in literacy, literature, information and digital literacy. Teacher-librarians collaborate with classroom teachers and proactively share their specialist knowledge of literature to design innovative learning experiences across curriculum areas. They advocate reading for pleasure and build reading cultures in schools.
Library assistants also make an invaluable contribution. They manage borrowing, resources, displays and other tasks that keep libraries functioning.
But the roles are not interchangeable.
A library assistant cannot simply be expected to replace the educational expertise of a qualified teacher librarian any more than a classroom teacher could be replaced by an administrative officer.
So why, at precisely the time these skills matter most, are some schools reducing access to the specialists trained to teach them?
The proposed changes have not appeared in isolation.
School library staffing across Australia is already under strain.
Early results from a 2026 nationwide doctoral study at the University of Notre Dame Australia found that 15.7 per cent of non-library-staff respondents reported that their schools had no paid library staff. This suggests that staff may assume responsibilities beyond their qualifications and pay level.
The 2024 Australian School Library Survey found that 52 per cent of surveyed school libraries reported inadequate staffing.
This creates a "postcode lottery": some students have access to well-resourced libraries staffed by qualified professionals, while others have limited staffing and resources - or no paid library staff at all.
That is not simply a library management issue. It is an issue of educational equity.
A school library is more than a room full of books. We need to stop asking whether a school library can operate without a teacher-librarian. Of course it can.
The more important question is: what kind of library will it be?
Contemporary school libraries can be dynamic learning spaces where students read, investigate, create, and develop interests beyond the curriculum. They can support social, emotional, and educational development while providing an engaging, safe learning environment promoting student wellbeing.
But a room full of books does not create those opportunities by itself. People do.
A teacher-librarian with sufficient time can work alongside classroom teachers to select physical and digital resources, plan innovative lessons and assessment tasks, teach research skills and help students develop critical and ethical approaches to information.
This means decisions about teacher-librarian staffing are teaching and learning decisions - not simply library-management decisions.
Perhaps the strongest argument for school libraries comes not from their past, but from the future.
Students have more information at their fingertips than any previous generation.
The problem is no longer simply finding information. It is knowing what to trust amid a daily deluge of information. OECD research emphasises the importance of media literacy and empowering students to be responsible digital citizens.
Is the source credible? Is the information accurate? Has the image been manipulated? Is an AI-generated answer reliable? What information requires attribution?
These are no longer niche questions for researchers or librarians. They are everyday questions for students.
As artificial intelligence advances and misinformation becomes harder to recognise, the ability to evaluate information, identify bias, assess credibility and use information ethically becomes increasingly important.
