A friend of mine recently posted a blog entry on why librarians should be in charge of technology in schools. In larger school districts I believe that Doug Johnson is right there needs to be a Chief Information Officer and that should be Librarian, with an Information Technology background.
Knowing that I've been bitten by the tech-bug you would think that I would agree with his assessment of the situation. While this may work in big school districts, I don't think it will work out well in the smaller school districts for three reasons.
#1 In a small school district the librarian's focus should be on 21st Century Skills.
While this includes digitial communication and the ethical use of information resources, a librarian needs to be able to focus on literacy. Literacy in this case in not just technology lingo. Literacy can mean the difference between students becoming skilled thinkers or Luddites.
#2 Technology demands need to be the center of someone's attention in the smaller school district.
If the librarian is attempting to teach, collaborate with other teachers on their curriculum needs or work on a special project with school administration while having to fix or fulfill all the technology needs in a school, their focus cannot be student centered. Technology is a demanding discipline that requires serious maintenance.
#3 Being a model for 21st Century Skills in a small district requires a certain amount of glamour.
Implementing and developing professional training for colleagues regarding new technology is a big part of being a role model. Running ethernet cables, setting up equipment, fixing fried motherboards, cleaning spilled coffee out of a keyboard is not glamorous nor does it provide people with a positive view of 21st Century Technology. Not to say that in a pinch, we can't do that. I have and will continue to pitch in when our tech department needs assistance.
Though I agree with my friend that this is where our bigger school districts need to go, I think the smaller school districts need to forge working partnerships with their technology oriented cohorts. Modeling student technology needs for the Information Technology department and helping them understand our pedagogical reasons for implementation of technology in education.
My two cents.
-AMA
Hi AMA,
ReplyDeleteI don't think I did good job of differentiating what part of "tech support" librarians should be in charge of. I certainly hope we keep technicians that fix things, install things and troubleshoot. I don't want librarians putting new toner cartridges in the printers any more than I want them re-shelving books.
But I will stand by my suggestions that we take responsibility for TEACHING, both students and staff, technology skills. Look how much overlap there are already is between IL and TL.
Always fun to see some disagreement!
Doug
Hi Doug,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful response to this blog post. I agree that librarians should be teaching both students and staff, technology skills. Overlap between TL and IL requires us to be well versed in both.
I read your post and loved it, as you always make a lot of sense. In this time of budget cuts, I can clearly see the small district superintendent reading your post and saying, "Why do we need both?"
Thanks for your support.
Best always,
AMA