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The accelerated integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across K–12 education demands that school librarians evolve into critical AI leaders. This international, mixed-methods exploratory study investigated the AI literacy, confidence, and readiness of 319 school librarians from over 50 countries, seeking to map their preparedness. Quantitative findings revealed intermediate AI literacy, yet instructional confidence and readiness remained constrained. Strong correlations existed between AI familiarity, literacy, and confidence (r=.75 to .77,p<.01). Crucially, statistical analysis identified that formal library and information science educational qualification was the only demographic factor significantly predicting higher AI literacy. Qualitative thematic analysis showed that this limited readiness is driven by four structural barriers: institutional and policy constraints; educator attitudes and knowledge gaps; time, resource, and professional development limitations; and student misuse and academic integrity. Drawing on this synthesis, the study validates and extends the AI Leadership Framework (Hossain, 2025b) as a developmental model for professional growth. The results mandate targeted policy reforms within LIS education and institutional support to empower school librarians—and potentially other educators— to lead the preparation of future citizens for an AI-augmented world.