In a recent article on librarians as leaders which I wrote for TCEA’s Tech Edge magazine, I was puzzling over the issues related to librarians as leaders in schools, particularly their role as technology leaders and how they can ideally work as part of a team with the school technology staff.
The skills demanded of librarians for the last decade, particularly, overlap and complement the skills of instructional technologists, but developing a relationship of mutual respect is sometimes a challenge. I sometimes find myself frustrated by my hybrid role–longing not to”just”be relegated to the role of librarian, but envisioning the modern librarian as “something more”–wanting librarians to be thought of as just another facet of instructional technology expertise. (Thus, my technolibrarian moniker on twitter). We bring a great deal to the table, which is partially what I explore in the article, but are we equal partners at the “tech table” in discussions about purchases or filtering, for example; discussions that could draw on our expertise? I hear frustration expressed by many librarians in these areas.
As a librarian, I’d rather not be relegated to a “second class” technology citizen and appreciate it when my own expertise is valued for the unique elements that I can bring to the table to help teachers and students. I appreciate when it’s respected that I know what is needed to align our library services with the 21st century learning literacies we are trying to teach. But again, for librarians, that is often not the case. Librarians frequently have to fight and scrap their way into using technology–begging permission to use a tool or purchase a technology item, or facing battles against web filters when they try to blog or use sites for instruction.
What I would hope for, and outline in the article, are ways that technologists and librarians can ideally function as a team, there to help students and teachers. A team which is innovative, mutually respectful and forward thinking–who can collaborate with teachers on assignments together and provide students and teachers with the best instruction available.
Libraries are rapidly evolving, and librarians have to be able to embrace that change. But as the role and functionality of libraries change, the interpretation of what the domain of librarian is needs to evolve too. How to get there–that is the question. It’s time for some collaborative conversations on the partnerships that we can build within our professions, between our professional organizations who too often work in isolation, and within our own buildings to bring better service to our students. These are difficult questions to work out, and our answers are constantly evolving. But I”m curious -what models are you seeing in your own states and districts that are working?
One piece of good news in my district is that the office of Library Services is the evaluation point for any videos that teachers request to be unblocked for use in the classroom. Our video server is new to the district this year,so this is a new situation here. I think that, while it is regrettable that teachers aren’t trusted to make professional decisions about curricular content such as this without central review, at least the central review is done by an educator and librarian.
The best model I have ever seen put the librarian and the tech specialist for the building in the same space…with different offices of course. New libraries need to be designed so that there are several types of “librarians” in the space to fulfill of the needs of faculty and students. I would even have a college corner librarian whose job it was to help students with information literacy pertaining to this aspect of student life their junior and senior year. This could be a full time job if done right for one of the librarians in the space. Our spaces right now divide all of this out and never the twain shall meet. We never see our tech specialist since they are down the hall in another part of the building. Building libraries that hod the vision of what libraries have the capacity to do would be a start. In this day of fiscal responsibility, this model would actually be one that would save money, increase instruction and collaboration that would best benefit staff and students.
Revised 2nd draft:
The best model I have ever seen put the librarian and the tech specialist for the building in the same space…with different offices of course. New libraries need to be designed so there are several types of “librarians” in the space fulfilling the needs of faculty and students. I would even have a college corner librarian whose job it is to help students with information literacy and technology skills pertaining to this aspect of student life their junior and senior year. This could be a full time job if done right for one of the librarians/tech people in the space. Our spaces right now divide all of this out and never the twain shall meet. We never see our tech specialist since they are down the hall in another part of the building and collaboration is minimal if nonexistent. Building libraries that hold the vision of what libraries can do (which is vast and involves all areas of a student’s life) would create a space that included ongoing and dynamic collaboration not only with the tech specialist but with counselors and other staff where intersection would bring a richer more cohesive environment for the students and staff.
In this day of fiscal responsibility, this model would actually be one that would save money, increase instruction and collaboration that would best benefit staff and students.
Suzanne