I was drawn to a quote from Sarah Franklin in the Rayome article:

“Innovation is accelerating so quickly in our current business ecosystem that a massive gap lies between the number of tech jobs available and the number of skilled workers who can actually fill these positions.”  

In a library, we’re responsible for not only the materials we provide for children, but are often a resource for other professionals.  In my city, we have IT staff and technicians.  We have people whose job it is to help teachers manage lessons with technology.  We have those people, but they’re not always accessible.  Instead, our librarians and Computer Lab teachers are commonly called.  “Can you fix this?” “How do you…?”  “Where do I find…?”  It may come from the fact that the technology (chromebooks, power cords, document cameras, etc.) are housed in the library due to cataloging.  

Most of the time I have to say no or offer someone else’s contact.  But the fact is, the more we use technology in classrooms, the more librarians will be relied upon as masters of things with cords, as well as things with words.  

According to the EdTech article by Burroughs, “Clunky microfiche readers, research databases, computers, 3D printers — all made their school debuts in the library. However, research shows research shows that between 2009 and 2019, the number of K–12 librarians fell by almost 20 percent.”  

As a kid, I remember using a computer in the library before we had one in the classroom, and certainly before my family had one at home.  There was a little pen that you ran across the book’s barcode to log it in to your account.  It makes sense to introduce technology into libraries – it has an 

impact on the entire school, without the expense of supplying each classroom.  The issue I take is fearing that with the increase in emphasizing technology, are we on a path to removing the physical books from libraries?  In ten years, losing 20 percent of librarians implies the positions have been eliminated or transitioned to be more technology-centered.  So, like others, librarians have to be ready to adapt and adjust to new demands. 

Rayome proffered 10 ideas for keeping in touch with technology, two of which make the most sense: set aside time to practice, and to work on personal projects.  

In the time of this course, I’ve been able to use much of what we’ve practiced in my part time job, helping with advertising and marketing.  It’s something that is useful to work on my skills, and is also interesting.  Getting lost in the blog posts on Hack Library School, I came across a blog where the writer was concerned their library degrees wouldn’t help them find job: their demands were too specific and their 30 plus applications had gone nowhere (Stoehr, 2022).  Technology skills can provide a bag of tricks to which I can return to improve my skill set and make myself more marketable.


In short, I’ve bookmarked Hack Library School (and counted myself grateful that I already have a job).  I’m working on a list of my favorite resources we’ve worked with this summer.  And I plan on finding those little (and big) opportunities to keep working with new forms of technology.

Resources:

Burroughs, A. (2022, July 8). Tech-Savvy school librarians provide value to modern learners: Librarians’ unique expertise helps schools adopt and integrate technology for teaching and learning. EdTech Magazine. https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2022/07/tech-savvy-school-librarians-provide-value-modern-learners 

DeNisco Rayome, A. (2017, September 7). 10 ways that IT pros and developers can keep their tech skills up to date. Tech Republic. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-ways-that-it-pros-and-developers-can-keep-their-tech-skills-up-to-date/  

Stoehr, C. (2022, May 18). A library job may not happen for me [web log]. Hack Library School. https://hacklibraryschool.com/2022/05/18/a-library-job-may-not-happen-for-me/