Constructing the Role of School Librarians in the 21st Century Workforce: Implications of NSF-Funded DataONE for K-12 Librarianship

This study will: 1. Uncover the characteristics of the emerging 21st Century workforce reflected in the literature associated with an NSF data infrastructure project (DataOne). 2. Compare those characteristics to the roles and responsibilities of school librarians articulated by their professional associations. 3. Compare those characteristics to the roles and responsibilities of school librarians articulated by education guidelines generally. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the role of school librarianship in STEM education, particularly project-based learning, as well as to the broader scientific apparatus. It provides insight about how developments in K-12 education relate to scientific data infrastructure development. As knowledge workers, school librarians can play pivotal roles in STEM teaching and learning in ways that connect educational developments with the expectations of a science-based workforce (Subramaniam, Ahn, Fleishmann, and Druin 2012).