Defining the Teacher Librarian (TL) 2.0?
Creating a singular, static definition for what a TL is may be as futile as being a rigid and immutable TL. Most all relevant literature points to any librarian that is stagnantly “shushing” students and not meeting the needs of an ever changing information landscape, is likely to be deemed irrelevant. Similar to the way we ask our students to be ready for the future by developing skills, the TL needs to be “evolutionary and revolutionary” in order to reshape students for the future (Cherinet, 2018). Skill based frameworks like the 4 C’s (collaboration, communication, thinking, and creativity) are excellent tools for meeting the demands of the 21st century as they demand responsibility, action, and reflection if undertaken correctly (Connors, 2017). However, a future ready librarian knows the context of their patrons and what their needs are also. If you have not recognised the needs for your community, Makerspaces and 3-D printers  alone, will not make you relevant. Likewise, understanding academic theory and trends is not enough. You need to model, reflect and improve upon what you are learning in order to foster education for the entire community, while finding your niche role in your circumstances. Perhaps Mark Ray, in his TED Talk on the subject, said it best: what can TLs do for you?

More solutions… less complaints
TLs 2.0 must convince policy makers of our worth, not by telling them what needs to be done, but showing them how TLs can get things done(Chun 2018; Ray 2016). Ray recalls a district-level budget which he suggested saving money by training TLs to become teacher trainers for a new digital initiative. By creating technology leaders in the building and aligning the TLs with district policy, they were seen as more valuable than just book keepers, rather as a solution to budget issues(2016). Chun echos this sentiment, noting that TLs in Vancouver are “helping to fill the gaps” by becoming experts in robotics, digital citizenship and multimedia instruction as teachers, and policy makers, are having difficulty initiating instruction(2018). Future proofing libraries will require TLs to be aware of trends in education, knowing educational theory, and being savvy enough to convince policy makers on how to include them.

References

Cherinet, Y. M. (2018). Blended skills and future roles of librarians. Library Management, 39(1/2), 93-105. doi: doi:10.1108/LM-02-2017-0015

Connors, K (2017) This is how to build your library of the future. Retrieved from: https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/08/07/build-library-future/

Chun, T. (2018). “Brave before perfect”: A new approach for future-ready librarians. Teacher Librarian, 45(5), 35-37.

Ray, M. (2016, June 16) Changing the conversation about Librarians [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=557&v=IniFUB7worY