School Librarian Influence on Junior High Girls’ Reading

My future interest of obtaining a master’s degree in library science led me to my interest in the influence that school librarians have on adolescent girls’ reading choices. Students looking for a good “leisure read” head to the most convenient place: the school library. I was interested to see if librarians influenced students’ reading choices through verbal suggestions or through the selection of novels that they ordered for the library. Keeping the popular literature choices of adolescent girls in mind, I was also interested in finding out if these influences were consciously or unconsciously gendered. While I suspected that the reading choices that junior high girls make are greatly influenced by several people including their parents, peers, and teachers, I wanted to find out how much of an influence school librarians have on junior high girls’ reading choices. I also wanted to know if these influences limit girls’ access to reading materials. More important, was my concern that these influences challenge girls’ abilities to critically analyze literature