The role of school district librarians has shifted over time, particularly as schools have become more reliant on various forms of technology and devices.
For education companies, school librarians can serve as important points of contact – particularly because their sphere of influence touches not only students and teachers, but also in many school systems, top-level administrators.
Four individuals working in school systems or supporting them spoke recently about the evolving responsibilities of librarians, including the part they play in implementing technology and making decisions about artificial intelligence in their school systems, at last month’s ISTE ed-tech conference in Denver.
The speakers were Bill Bass, innovation coordinator for the 17,000-student Parkway School District in Missouri; Carl Hooker, educational consultant for HookerTech LLC; Shannon McClintock-Miller, district teacher librarian in the 1,100-student Van Meter Community School District in Iowa; and Adam Phyall, director of professional learning and leadership at Future Ready Schools, an advocacy organization that promotes equitable access to education.
Their remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
How do you see the role of the school librarian continuing to evolve in the next decade?
Phyall: We need to talk about really ensuring that they are an important and integral part of teaching and learning. Studies show time after time, high-functioning library media centers are also schools that have high test scores, they have low disciplinary issues. So we need to make sure that we are elevating those places and those people, so that they feel empowered in our schools.
They’re not just a special or someplace they can send kids that are getting in trouble to go look at a book. We have to make sure we’re empowering those individuals as it relates to their space. So when we start having the conversations around emerging technology and AI, they are willing to come on as leaders in that space.
Bass: I think about the influence that librarians have on a community. As far as I’m concerned, they have more influence than probably anybody else in a specific building. Because every student that comes in there and visits that library is one of their kids.
They work with the principals, they work with administrators, they work with teachers, they work with students, and they work with families. Every single time they speak to and engage with one of those subsections, they are having influence. We have to recognize what that influence is, put them in positions of leadership, and recognize that librarians are leaders in every context, not just when it has to do with literacy and digital citizenship.
As far as I'm concerned, [librarians] have more influence than probably anybody else in a specific building.
Hooker: What does the next 10 years look like for a library? Let’s be honest, libraries are shrinking, physically. But the usage and what they actually need to be helping with is growing.
We need to figure out a way to create the position or amend the position in a way that’s not just about library media specialists, but it needs to be something greater than that. It needs to be in a central position. So how do we change it? How do we rebrand it?
McClintock-Miller: I realized that I needed to show up to my superintendent’s office and get a seat at the table. We’ve been 1-to-1 at Van Meter coming up on 17 years, and that would not have happened without the library. We have to find those people that can lead because they’re one of the most important roles within your school.
What best practices do you believe librarians, in coordination with teachers and others in school districts, need to establish around AI in classrooms?
McClintock-Miller: As a librarian, I have to say, just be part of the conversation. When AI first was getting talked about in schools and tools were being shared with our district, the first thing I did was show up in my superintendent’s office, and I said, “What are we going to do — to have a policy, to have these conversations, to not turn your back or be afraid of it, but to embrace it and all the great things that we have in these tools?”
One of the best things to do is to learn together, to embrace it, to help our kids — no matter what age they are — understand and use these amazing tools that we have. That could be your goal, regardless of what your role is within your school, is to go back and have these conversations because it’s not going away.
Phyall: The practice we need to put in place is ensuring that we include our parents in this discussion. We are almost in an echo chamber around AI. We know about it, somewhat. We’ve talked about it, somewhat. But do we think every single one of our parents know what AI is and how it could be utilized in the classroom?
Whatever practices we put in place, we need to ensure that parents are a part of that process because we need to do school with them, not to them. This is something that is changing the landscape of education. We want to ensure that all stakeholders have a seat at the table. Better yet, let’s kick the table over and build a brand new one with our families.
Hooker: Professional learning is a big part of this. Where are teachers on this? The majority of them have no idea what they’re getting into. Are you actually modeling it? Are you actually doing it?
And then being transparent about that process because that will filter down to the teachers, which also filters down with the kids when they’re transparent and how they’re using AI when the cheating conversation just disappears.
Bass: We also need to engage our students and really help them understand what do we actually want kids to do with technology [and ask how are we planning for] AI being part of that. And if we asked our kids that, would they say the same thing? Would they actually say that we do want them to use the technology when we block things from them? Are we demonizing technology because of the decisions we make because we want to be comfortable as adults?
We do these things to students all the time. We create policies, we create rules, we create opportunities, but we also need to listen to them and really understand where they’re coming from in order for us to make a decision.
What strategies can schools and libraries implement to address disparities in content, devices, and learning experiences for students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds?
Hooker: I have worked in both 98 percent low-economic schools and 98 percent non-low-economic schools. Both schools have devices, both schools have up-to-date technology for various reasons. They got their funding in different ways.
But when it came to how they’re being used, I was surprised at how vastly different it was. In one school where I was running the computer lab, the teacher said they don’t have time to play games; they need to learn math, so quit doing the fun stuff on the computer. And the other school where they’re doing great with their math scores, they said, “Invent some sort of entrepreneurial class where they get to design,” and all of a sudden you start to see a big difference between how technology is being used.
Join Us for EdWeek Market Brief's Fall In-Person Summit
Bass: Just keeping students at the center is not really enough. It’s about the experience that they have. It’s how we design our lessons. It’s how we design the experience so that they are going to understand whatever that concept is and not just go through a rote memorization.
The least interesting thing that we can do with technology is put kids in front of the screen and have them click through different screens to learn. The more interesting thing gets back to that creation and helping our teachers to design authentic, meaningful learning experiences that are going to be relevant for their everyday lives.
McClintock-Miller: It’s about how we are creating and designing and supporting all learners, no matter where they’re from, where they’re at, and helping our teachers understand that. It’s about kids being engaged and being able to have a voice no matter where they are.
And it’s helping our librarians to have those skills and those resources to be able to support our teachers. And making sure that our families understand the resources that we have in this learning experience, that we’re getting them to have those expectations for their teachers too.
