I’m not a NextGen librarian though I am often in the market for jobs, the same as they are. I’ve been thinking a lot about library schools increasing their acceptance rates at the same time as available jobs are seriously dwindling. Andrea and I were chatting about this on the way back from the library tour.
“Do you think you should be able to go through library school nowadays without knowing how to use a computer?”
“No.”
I’m not even sure who said what. I feel that the profession has enough experienced and able librarians who may not be tech savvy. The shift in the profession is leading us towards more and more technological solutions to library problems. I don’t think everyone has to be a systems librarian, but everyone should be able to competently troubleshoot a public PC and/or use their own computer for basic office and reference tasks at a bare minimum. The next step is letting the NextGens — or anyone who wants to really — really apply these skills to the workplace environment.