21st Century Library Initiatives

21st Century Skills & Utah Libraries

2010 ULA Conference Presentation
Donna Jones Morris, State Librarian and Dr. Steve Matthews, USL Consultant
Friday, May 14, 2010, Dixie Center Auditorium

Session Overview:
The 21st Century Skills movement has been in progress for several years, both in education, and in libraries as Library 2.0. It seems undeniable that the 21st Century does require different skills, practices and thinking for individuals to be successful. If Utah libraries hope to be relevant in that future by helping its citizens keep pace with the global society and marketplace, and helping our youth and workforce be successful in that future, the discussion regarding how Utah libraries can become 21st Century Libraries needs to be held now and continuously until they are meeting the challenges.

21st Century Library Blog

This Blog is an online forum to share, learn, discuss and shape the future of Utah's libraries for the 21st Century. The forum addresses such issues as:

21st Century Library: What does it look like? How is it different from yesterday’s library? What does it offer? What role does it fill in the community? Who decides?
21st Century Librarianship: Is there a role for librarians in the 21st Century? What is it? How are we different from and similar to yesterday’s librarians? What do we do? What role do we fill in the library?
21st Century Librarian Skills: What skills do we need? How do we acquire the necessary skills?
21st Century Library Customers: Who are they? What do they need in library services?
What do they want in library services? How do we attract them into the library?

Library Consultant:

Steve Matthews
Rural Library Services Consultant
(801) 715-6722
smatthews@utah.gov

21st Century Librarianship Wiki

A wiki, in contrast to a blog, is intended to convey only the facts, without expressing opinions or making recommendations. It is intended to be an online encyclopedia of information.

This wiki article is still "under construction," but Board members are welcome to visit the site. It is being designed to serve as another forum to address the issues that distinguish 21st Century Librarianship from the traditional librarianship of the past two centuries. A second, but closely related purpose is to seek consensus on just what is 21st Century Librarianship by inviting comments.

It also addresses the very different information needs of three types of library users: digital natives, digital immigrants, and traditional customers.