School library media specialists (SLMSs) often struggle with assuming leadership roles. Discrepancies existed in perceptions of SLMSs of their leadership preparedness, their opportunities to exert leadership, and their assumption of leadership roles. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the perceptions of SLMSs toward the role of instructional leadership and to examine the extent to which they practiced instructional leadership. The study was designed to determine if there were differences between SLMSs perceptions of the importance of their leadership roles and their opportunities to practice those roles. The conceptual framework of the study was constructivist leadership principles and theory. A nonexperimental survey research strategy was used to explore SLMSs perceptions concerning the importance and practice of their leadership roles. A paired sample t test was used to examine the possible differences between importance and practice. The results of the study indicated that SLMSs perceived all of the leadership roles to be more important than they were able to carry out in practice and that supportive administrators were the most essential factor in providing SLMSs the opportunity to practice and expand their roles as instructional leaders. Implications for social change include enhancing SLM instructional leadership roles in their local settings, which can thereby impact local literacy improvements.