When in Doubt Ask A Librarian - The Leaders of Digital Literacy

When it comes to digital literacy, librarians are leading the charge in higher ed. But I think this is rather unknown within institutions which may result in us losing them as an extremely valuable resource.

I used to have an outdated image of librarians (see picture to right), but it's changed and I can't apologize enough for being closed minded about the evolving role of librarians in the digital age.

At most schools and conferences, there's always a group of people excited, willing, and dedicated to learn about how to integrate the new tools into education. More often than not, this group is mostly librarians.

But my view is not shared by everyone as this teacher expressed in a debate over the need for librarians:

I know that in today's schools, there are tons of teachers who need help navigating a new digital landscape -- so "media specialists" are invaluable. But I think demand for these services will go down over time only because technology use will be embedded in the lives of young educators.

But technology is exponentially changing and I think it's a mistake to require teachers to be held responsible for being the sole source of digital literacy among everything else they do. Also just because you use the newest technologies as most students do, doesn't mean you know how to use them effectively as one teacher points out from the same debate:

In my experience, "younger" teachers don't necessarily understand the effective use of technology in schools any better than older teachers. They may have vastly more experience in social networking or playing with Blabberize, but in terms of higher-level knowledge acquisition, application and synthesis, not so much.

I used to think student affairs professionals were the ones on the forefront of digital literacy because of their closeness to the students, but my experience has been different and often times I'm met with resistance in many forms from lack of time to contextual confusion.

It's a matter of knowing about the tools and willingness to try them. Librarians know about the tools and try them. I think student affairs professionals should keep their local librarian on speed dial and ping them once in a while as an in house mentor of digital literacy.

Now when I attend conferences, I make it a point to seek out the librarians and attend the sessions they are hosting. Librarians are also active bloggers online, here is a list of some that I follow:


Hey Jude by Judy O’Connell

Librarian Philospher by Barry Bishop, Director of Libraries, Spring Branch ISD, Houston, TX

Library By Any Other Name by Vaughn Branom

Not So Distant Future by Carolyn Foote Westlake HS

PowerLibrarian by Janice Conger, Collegeville, PA

TechnoTuesday by Cathy Nelson

iLibrarian by Ellyssa Kroski, Reference Librarian for Columbia University and Information Consultant in NYC.

Comments

[Judy O'Connell]

I certainly appreciate your enthusiastic words about librarians. It's true, some of us can't help but be at the cutting edge of 'information change' in the digital world. How could we resist? Thanks for including me in your list - it's an honor to be noticed :-)

[Tom Krieglstein]

Hey Judy,

Thanks for stopping by, and now that you are here, I get to ask you some follow up questions :)

Do you personally want to stay up to date on new tools? Does your Job require it? Combo of both? What is being talked about at the library conferences in terms of staying up to date?

Thanks!

[VWB]

Honored to be included in your list and to have you talk about the value of librarians and what they can do in this fast-moving and ever-changing world of learning and information. YES, our image is quite different these days!

Am currently attending the Texas Library Conference and I plan on sharing your words with as many of the 7000+ librarians as I can!

[Cathy Nelson]

Wow what a great list to be included with! Librarians in the school setting are definitely the "go to" people in the building. My motto--If I can't answer the question, I will find someone who can. I feel a need to model today's tools for all the school environment too. I would hope that all school teacher-librarians feel the same. Thanks again for including me in your list. Now I'm checking out that blogroll.

[Tom Krieglstein]

Hey Cathy and VWB thanks for stopping by, now I get to ask you the same questions I asked Judy:

Do you personally want to stay up to date on new tools? Does your Job require it? Combo of both? What is being talked about at the library conferences in terms of staying up to date?

[Kevin Guidry]

I echo the positive comments and thoughts about librarians and their tech savvy. My last full-time position was in a merged IT/library organization and in many ways it was a really good fit between the two organizations and an enjoyable experience.

It's also worth noting that the upcoming NASPA technology program is inspired by and heavily based on Learning 2.0, a program initially put together and run by a library.

[Bob S. Awad]

Judy wrote two interesting things:

Also just because you use the newest technologies as most students do, doesn't mean you know how to use them effectively.

and

It's a matter of knowing about the tools and willingness to try them. Librarians know about the tools and try them.

In the two comments highlighted above, I sense some of the "media arrogance" that has made me turn my back on media specialists.

In every conversation that I've had with media folk, I hear, "Do you REALLY think you can know about the digital tools or media sources that are available as well as WE do?!"

or

"You CAN'T POSSIBLY teach children about digital literacy as well as we can."

Now, I suppose that some of this attitude comes from constantly being one step away from having your position cut----You almost have to proselytize all the time, don't you? If you don't make a case for why you matter, you're gone.

But I can tell you that it turns me off every time that I hear about "The Almighty Media Lady" who somehow holds the keys to literary greatness because I honestly CAN completely live without a media specialist.

I think the contention that I'd argue with the most is the suggestion that media specialists somehow know how to use technology better than classroom teachers.

In my experience, that's one of the biggest weaknesses of media specialists. While they may understand what technology tools are available, they often struggle to translate those tools into classroom practice.

One media specialist I worked with a few years back completely dismissed Blackboard as a useless learning tool that our school didn't need to be concerned with.

Considering that it's one of the cornerstone tools used by hundreds of school districts and colleges to promote e-learning opportunities, I can accurately say that she didn't have a clue, can't I?

Or is it safe to say that she couldn't see the classroom applications for the tool because she didn't work in a classroom?

Are media specialist valuable contributors to schools?

Probably in most places.

But to suggest (as you do in the two quotes spotlighted above) that teachers don't know what tools are available----or how to use them effectively----and that media specialists do is kind of insulting to those of us who still work in the classroom, don't you think?

[Del Suggs]

There is a terrific new documentary that just premiered titled "The Hollywood Librarian" that you might want to see. My good friend (and music producer) Pete Winter worked on the sound design and much of the videography. It's deals with the image of librarians as portrayed in popular film, and includes interviews with Ray Bradbury.

Technology is alway problematic. When I was in graduate school in Instructional Design, we had foreign students from developing nations who were deep into (obsessed, really) computer-based instruction. Unfortunately, they completed their degrees and returned to countries without computers in the schools.

I always felt like it was a disservice to them to emphasize the modern technology to them. They would have been better served to study more effective ways to use traditional media for their classrooms. In the same way, it's a challenge in this country to see different levels of technological competence (and confidence) in schools. Speaking last weekend at the Texas Jr. College SGA Convention, I learned that many of those schools had blocks on FaceBook and MySpace. We all know that is the primary mode of communication between modern college students.

[Tom Krieglstein]

@Bob

I completely agree with you that media arrogance is unhealthy and damaging to the culture of an institution. If your media specialist treats you that way on your campus then I would have the same feelings of frustration and anger as you sound like you do in your comment.

My experience over many schools (I work with colleges/universities) has been the complete opposite. The "Almighty Media Lady" is often times either male or female who opens them self up to understanding, listening, and appreciating each person's role at the institution, not to protect their job, but because they know it will help them help one more child who crosses their path.

I would extend the notion of arrogance being unhealthy at an institution beyond just the librarians and say that to achieve the philosophy of "learning reconsidered", every role at the institution has to open their doors and collaborate as much as possible. There is a reason each role specializes in what they do and to truly understand another role would require another 4-6 years of schooling.

I am definitively not saying that teachers don't know how to use the tools, I am saying that if teachers don't want to work yet another unpaid hour on a sunday afternoon to keep up with the latest technology out there among everything else they are already required to do, then walk over to the library and have lunch with a librarian, who often times, are more than wiling to share what they know, though it doesn't seem so in your case.

[Carolyn Foote]

As my colleagues have said, what an honor to be on this list!

I think that media specialists are often curriculum leaders on their campus because they support students and staff from every area of campus.

And I think that is partly why what you are writing about is so important--that when a librarian becomes a technology leader on their campus, they have tremendous impact and ability to support teachers.

As one of the commenters mentioned, that isn't always the case, but I think more and more you see librarians embracing that role, because I think we see how powerful these tools can be in supporting learning goals of our teachers.

I see my role as that both of a leader and a support person for the curriculum.

So to answer your question above (which you haven't asked me yet, but I am guessing you would!)--

I personally WANT to keep up with what's new. That's what I like about my job--always something new to learn and share. But I also see it as part of my job responsibility.

I want to provide our students(via the teachers) engaging, well-thought out, information-literate types of lessons and research assignments.

So keeping up is part of my job in order to help support that.

Thanks again for the interesting conversation here :)

[Cathy Nelson]

Funny you ask does the job require me to stay up on new tools? That is funny b/c mostly my job (in the k12 arena) filters or blocks them. Still I feel the need to personally be up on the tools. It allows me to better serve patrons of the library--learners of all ages and non degrees or degrees. :)

[Janice Conger]

Thanks so much for supporting librarians and for the honor of being included in your list. :-)