Is your library going Future Ready too?

Modern librarians can take charge in making their schools Future Ready

Ed note: This is the first in a series of columns from digital library expert Mark Ray discussing the changing role of librarians and the Future Ready Schools initiative.

During the past year, more than 1900 superintendents have signed the Future Ready Pledge, part of a broadly-defined initiative to promote digital transformation in American schools. Superintendents across the nation are signing on the dotted line with a commitment to promote and support digital ways of teaching, learning, and leading. As the Future Ready Schools project enters its second year, districts are seeking to operationalize innovation from the classroom to the central office.

My district, Vancouver Public Schools in WA, is among a growing number of districts that have identified teacher librarians as partners to provide the necessary leadership to help schools make future readiness more than just a promise.

Working collaboratively with other Future Ready districts—including Lincoln, NE, Washington D.C., and Mooresville Graded School District in N.C.—Vancouver has been part of a national team sponsored by the Follett Project Connect advocacy initiative. A team of district library leaders has developed a simple framework which builds on the Future Ready Schools initiative to identify what makes for a Future Ready library. This framework is based on a simple question: What do students (and teachers) need to be future ready?

Next page: How librarians are leading the charge