Blog Post 4: Technology Leadership Role of School Librarians

The benefits of technology in education are limitless and the role of the librarian is essential for school wide digital understanding and information literacy skills. Students should gain technology skills in the classroom in order to access academic information and function in the modern business environment. The amount of information available through the internet and databases continues to grow and students need to both access that information and contain the knowledge to determine what data is reliable. The American Association of School Librarians (2007) states that librarians must “create products that apply to authentic, real-world contexts” in order to meet the standards for a 21st century learner. When librarians collaborate with teachers to form lessons with technology integration like class Wiki pages, students gain digital knowledge and confidence as well as develop a comfort in collaborative projects. A key component in helping children develop as digital learners is to remain an active figure throughout library activities. Kuhlthau (2010) states that “Guided inquiry is planned, targeted, supervised intervention throughout the inquiry process” (p. 2). By designing library lessons and activities to fit subject based curriculum and real world skills, student actively engage in the proceedings and request additional information. Because, students are aware of the importance of technology they have a high level of interest in learning new skills, this helps encourage subject interest as well. Dweck (2009) found that “Students with a growth mindset seek out learning, develop deeper learning strategies, and strive for an honest assessment of their weaknesses so that they can work to remedy them” (p. 8). Students want to learn and they value technology skills that will benefit them in their current studies as well as in life. Planning activities to captivate student interest and serve as life long learning tools, ensures that students will absorb more information and enjoy the process of learning. The school librarian should help teachers integrate technology in both the classroom and the library to better prepare students for necessary life skills.

References
American Library Association. (2007). Retrieved from      http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/context/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_LearningStandards.pdf

Dweck, C. (2009). Who will the 21st century learners be?. Knowledge Quest, 38(2), 8-9.

Kuhlthau, C. (2010). Guided inquiry: school libraries in the 21st century. School Libraries Worldwide, 16(1), 1-12.