Technology Leadership Role of School Librarians

As technology becomes more and more a part of our daily life, the role of the school librarian is shifting away from simply connecting students to resources to a campus resource for integrating technology into education. Students need not only to know how to use the technology, but are also able to synthesize and use the information. Librarians have the opportunity, and some would say, responsibility, for assuming the role of technology teacher and leader. School librarians have the opportunity to lead the school community into the integrating and understanding of how technology can be used not just in a library or technology lab, but also in the general curriculum

As students are being presented with ever increasing amounts of electronic information in the form of email, blogs, websites and more, teachers need to be both  familiar and comfortable with the same information that their students have. Some schools have the funding to have computers or laptops in many classrooms, but even those schools which are not able to afford that amount of technology usually do have some sort of lab in the library. School librarians are therefore often seen as leaders in school technology and can be a part of training teachers in new technologies. Many teachers need assistance in navigating the dizzying amount of available technology, and the librarians can support this learning.

There are sometimes barriers to school librarians assuming technology leadership roles. These can usually be categorized as:

·      Interpersonal issues

·      Institutional structures

·      Time constraints

·      Intellectual and  social differences

Institutional support should ideally be given to librarians in the form of staff meeting time, funding,  training in technology teaching and the ability to incorporate technology learning and teaching into their daily responsibilities.  Fostering a relationship between librarians, administrators and teachers that encourages trust and respect will go a long way in supporting school librarians in their roles as technology leaders.

Johnston, Melissa P. (2012, April 19). School Librarians as Technolgoy Integration Leaders: Enablers and Barriers to Leadership Enactment. EducationWorld. Retrieved July 7 2013, from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol15/SLR_School_Librarians_as_Technology_Integration_Leaders_V15.pdf