School Libraries Cultivate Digital Literacy 

By Tanya Roscorla

As school libraries lose funding and staff, they're looking for ways to help people understand what they do and how it impacts student learning.

And in an age where digital literacy and information access skills reign, the librarian plays an important role, said Mary Barbee, coordinator of media services and technology training at Gwinnett County Public Schools in Suwanee, Ga. Each school in the district has certified librarians and paraprofessionals in the media center.

“We are fortunate to be in a district that values media centers and media programs and the role of a professional educator as a media specialist,” she said.

In Georgia, library staff members work with teachers to mix digital literacy into the curriculum.

Digital literacy skills

But librarians struggle to define digital literacy.

In the white paper Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, professor Renee Hobbs from Temple University mentions skills that show digital and media literacy, including accessing information, solving problems, working collaboratively, communicating effectively, and analyzing data and evidence.

When the American Library Association asked public libraries what kinds of digital literacy training they provided, the survey answers varied greatly, said Marijke Visser, assistant director of the Office for Information Technology Policy within the association.

“So that is telling us that in the library community, we’re still trying to figure out exactly what digital literacy means,” she said.

Librarians want to help students and the general public become information literate so they can evaluate resources, she said.

5 digital literacy challenges (and how to overcome them)

But before they can teach students how to evaluate information, libraries have to overcome these five challenges.

1. Access to technology

The technology landscape changes rapidly, ...

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