Creating the Library of Tomorrow from the Ground Up

Creating the Library of Tomorrow from the Ground Up by Laurie Putnam

A great article that talks about the philosophy behind the curriculum at the new Dutch LibrarySchool.

I was first intrigued by the fact that Dutch librarian training takes place at the undergrad level and that this program is the first of its kind at the graduate level.  Personally, I’ve always thought that having a four year undergrad program instead of a one year graduate program would give more credibility to the profession as well as give students a broader set of skills to leverage both in libraries and non-library settings. 

More importantly, however, I was fascinated by the four ideological buckets the school is using to guide the curriculum.  I think these buckets speak to why librarians can be so helpful in so many different environments.  In my own situation and from what I hear from colleagues at other companies, a major problem seem to be that non-library employers don’t understand the skill set librarians bring or how to leverage it.  They’re hung up on librarians as people who manage libraries.  And that’s understandable because that’s what we’ve done for the past hundred years. 

I’ve tried for a very long time to articulate why my background as a librarian gives me an edge over the other 25,000 analysts at The Company.  But this program seems to finally define it: 

It’s the knowledge of the intersections and ability to meld skills in technology, organization, culture and society in delivering contextual information that makes librarians powerful.

This ideology makes librarians more cross-functionally relevant in both traditional and non-traditional setting.  Of course I’m biased, but this is particularly valuable for those of who are mercenaries in non-traditional settings.  Because let’s face it: It’s not like the amount of jobs in traditional settings is growing. 

Libraries and librarians will always be around in some form, and I think this new ideological mix creates a new form of librarian that allows us to continue to be relevant.  I’d argue the LibrarySchool is not building the library of the tomorrow, but the librarian of tomorrow.