Blogger Children and Technology Committee

Bridging Technology and the Middle School Library

This past year, I had the opportunity to attend the annual NYSAIS Education and Information Technology Conference (NEIT) for New York Independent School Librarians and Technologists. During the conference, I realized that while there is some understanding of what connects librarians and technologists (it is one conference after all), I work in a unique learning environment that genuinely sees my position as a bridge between the two roles. With my “technologist” hat on at the conference, I connected with technology integrators and EdTech professionals who often feel frustrated by confusion around their job descriptions, a lack of awareness in schools on how best to utilize a tech integrator’s unique skill set, and requests from administration to start teaching skills beyond what we think of as technology integration. Substitute “technology integrator” for “school librarian” and these frustrations might start to sound familiar. Most surprisingly, I was often the only educator with…