School librarians: the often-overlooked influencers of educational technology

The role of the school librarian It has changed over time, especially as schools have become more reliant on different technologies and devices.

School librarians can serve as important liaisons for the education enterprise, especially since their sphere of influence extends not only to students and teachers but also to top-level administrators in many school systems.

Four people who work in or support school systems recently spoke about the evolving responsibilities of librarians, including their role in technology adoption and decision-making about artificial intelligence. At last month’s ISTE Educational Technology Conference, In Denver.

The speaker will be Bill Bass, innovation coordinator for the 17,000-student Parkway School District. Carl Hooker, an education consultant with HookerTech LLC, and Shannon McClintock-Miller, district librarian for the 1,100-student Van Meter Community School District in Missouri Adam Fiole, director of professional education and leadership for the state of Iowa and Future Ready SchoolsAn advocacy organization that promotes equitable access to education.

Their remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.

How do you think the role of the school librarian will evolve over the next decade?

Fior: We need to have conversations to ensure that library media centers are an important and integral part of teaching and learning. Research has repeatedly shown that well-functioning library media centers are schools that have higher test scores and less disciplinary infractions. Therefore, we need to elevate the status of library media centers and library media centers and make them feel empowered in our schools.

Libraries aren’t just special places to send troubled kids to look at books. We need to make sure we’re empowering the individuals who are relevant to that space, so that when we start having conversations around emerging technology and AI, they’re willing to participate as leaders in that space.

base: I think about the impact that librarians have on their communities, and as far as I know, librarians have more impact than anybody else in a particular building because every student that comes into the library and visits that library is a librarian’s child.

They work with principals, administrators, teachers, students, families. Every time they talk and engage with any of these subsections, they have an impact. We need to recognize what that impact is and put them in positions of leadership and recognize that librarians are leaders, not just when it comes to literacy and digital citizenship, but in all contexts.

HookerWhat does the next 10 years look like for libraries? Let’s be honest, libraries are physically shrinking. But library usage and what libraries actually need to support is growing.

We need to figure out how to create or revise a role that’s not just about library media specialists, but about something more. It needs to be front and center. So how do we change it? How do we rebrand it?

McClintock Miller: I realized I needed to go into the superintendent’s office and be part of the discussion. Van Meter has been doing 1:1 for almost 17 years now, and we couldn’t do it without the library. We need to find people who can provide leadership, because leadership is one of the most important roles in a school.

What best practices do you think librarians should be working with teachers and others in their districts to establish regarding AI in the classroom?

McClintock Miller: As a librarian, I have to say we should just be part of the conversation. When AI first started being talked about in schools and the tools were being shared in our district, the first thing I did was go to the superintendent’s office and ask, “What should we do? Create policies, have these conversations, and embrace AI and all the great things that are in these tools, rather than turn away or be afraid?”

One of the best ways is to learn together, embrace, and help kids of all ages understand and use these amazing tools that we have. Regardless of your role within the school, maybe it’s your goal to go back and have these conversations, because it’s not going to go away.

Fiar: What we need to do is bring parents into this discussion. We’re almost in an echo chamber when it comes to AI. We know something about it. We’ve talked about it to some degree. But do we think that every single one of our parents knows what AI is and how it can be used in the classroom?

Whatever practices we implement, we need to make sure parents are part of the process, because we don’t need to educate parents, we need to educate with parents. This is changing the face of education. We want to give all stakeholders a seat at the table. Or better yet, kick the table away and build a new one with families.

Hooker: Professional learning is a big part of this. Where are your teachers at in this regard? Most of them have no idea what they’re getting into. Are you actually modeling it? Are you actually doing it?

And you have to be transparent about that process, because that gets transmitted to the teachers, that gets transmitted to the kids, and once the kids are transparent and know how you’re using AI, the conversations about cheating just go away.

base: We need to engage our students and really get them to understand what we want them to do with technology. [and ask how are we planning for] AI is part of it. And if we asked our kids, would they say the same thing? Would they say that we really want them to use technology when we’re blocking things? Are we demonizing technology because of decisions we make as adults to be comfortable?

We do this with students all the time: we make policies and rules and create opportunities, but we also need to listen to students and really understand their positions in order to make decisions.

What strategies can schools and libraries implement to address disparities in content, devices, and learning experiences for students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds?

Hooker: I’ve worked in both schools that are 98% low-income and 98% non-low-income. Both schools have devices and are adopting the latest technology for different reasons. They are funded in different ways.

But when it came to how they were actually using it, I was surprised at the difference. In one school where I was running a computer lab, the teachers said, “We don’t have time to play games. We need to learn math, so stop doing fun things on the computer.” Meanwhile, in another school where the students were doing really well in math, they said, “Let’s invent some kind of entrepreneurship class where you learn design,” and suddenly we saw a huge difference in how technology was being used.

base: It’s not enough to just put the student at the center. It’s about what experience the student has. That’s how we design the lessons. How we design the experience so that the student understands the concept, not just memorizes it.

The least interesting thing we can do with technology is to sit kids in front of a screen and have them click through different screens to learn. What’s more interesting is to get back to creating it and help teachers design authentic, meaningful learning experiences that are relevant to everyday life.

McClintock Miller: It’s about creating, designing, supporting, and helping teachers understand that for all learners, no matter where they come from or where they are. It’s about giving kids a voice and participation wherever they are.

And we’re helping our librarians equip themselves with the skills and resources to support teachers, and we’re helping families understand the resources available to them in this learning experience and ensure they have similar expectations of teachers.