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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.

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Blog Post 3: Technology Implementations Strategies

In my search to optimize technology use in the library to support school curriculum and advance student skills I came upon Dr. Michael Hough’s (2011) article Libraries as iCenters: helping schools. In the article Dr. Hough suggest a new view to the school library as a whole. He encourages librarians to view themselves as the chief information officer (CIO) of the school. He states that the end goal of education is to ensure that students are prepared to join the workforce. However, due to technology demands on society students need more technology training and education needs to be revamped to accommodate these changes.

Some key points in his article include: the necessity for libraries to be the technology hub of the school, current trends in information and communication technologies, and the significance of those trends for school libraries.

There are many advantages of the library being the technology hub of the school. First, in order for students to fully understand the digital learning environment trained adult supervision is key to building proper information retrieval skills. Second, the library must be better equipped than home environments to provide comprehensive training to students and one area in the school should head the technology department. Finally, with such rapid growth in technology and a wide variety of faculty experience in technology, librarians must keep teachers up to date and comfortable with all digital applications.

The progression of technology use in the business world establishes a higher need for information and communication technology training to be geared toward future uses for students. Students will need to access digital services in the library 24/7 just as they would in the workforce. Students will also face barriers in technology without instruction on information literacy and digital citizenship. It is essential for students to differentiate between relevant and unreliable information on the web.

What does this mean for the school library? It means the library must grow with technology and society. Libraries are no longer limited to physical objects and the librarians must assert themselves as technology leaders that promote the library. Library resources must reflect current trends in society and become the school technology base. Students should have all digital resources available to them in the library.

In today’s library environment, information literacy and digital citizenship are top priorities. I believe those skills should be shared will all students and the lessons should be continually be updated. I would incorporate class lessons that allow students to engage in both technical applications for research and Web 2.0 tools that address their social interest to promote better digital practices. Another idea is to collaborate with teachers to create class assignments that teach digital skills, but create mock business situations or contests to strengthen student understand without straying from curriculum.
References

Hough, M. (2011). Libraries as iCentres: helping schools. Access (10300155), 25(1), 5-9.