Technology's Role in Libraries Today

By Daniela Ruiz

Jean Agra, a librarian since 2018 at a San Jose elementary and middle school named “Shirakawa” talks about all the joys and struggles that comes with being a librarian in these times where technology is in between kids and libraries.

Agra previously attended San Jose City College and then transferred to San Jose State to finish her major in liberal arts. A typical day at Shirakawa for her results in her reading books to children. 

Agra: “A typical day looks like, I do read out louds to the primary grades and for all the classes I check in and check out books”.

She says it's very busy and fulfilling being a school librarian. She even works on doing the school book fair where she inspires students to purchase books to benefit their reading skills. 

But for her the most important thing is being in a school community where everyone has diverse backgrounds and where everyone  shares their different cultures. She explains how everyone is just so respectful with each other despite the different backgrounds.

Agra: “Being able to see the diverse community of students that we have in our community”

But one of the most worrying things that we have always had in the back of our minds is, what is going to happen to libraries now that almost everyone uses technology to read books? Agra thinks that it could be quite damaging since some students may not be reading correctly and absorbing the information correctly. Agra thinks that it's better to have a physical book that you can just use better to get all the necessary information thoroughly.

Agra: “If the students are not aware of how to research correctly and know the information, it would be damaging for them” “I'd like to see students being more engaged in reading rather than being on their devices so i'd like to see more reading programs for the kids to be more active with their reading” 

I decided to try and also seek a different voice and opinion to see what they think technology might be doing to our libraries. I interviewed Jenny Vang from our Tully Branch library in San Jose where she has been for the past 6 years. 

Vang explains that she doesn't mind technology nowadays. Sometimes she has a love/hate relationship with it since it can be very helpful. She explains that she has heard about how libraries may one day disaapper.

Vang: “i've heard talks about it for years now, I hope that it never happens because it provides a lot of useful services  and resources for the community  and especially for families that come''

In hope of this never happening she explains what we can do to encourage more kids to visit these resourceful libraries

Vang: “We should do more outreach, talk to more people, advertise so that people would be happy to come to us, not only for books and dvds but to talk about the  programs and resources” 

But she also thinks that technology like computers and phones are very helpful to a lot of people and that she's happy that kids are reading using technology since it could end up being the same thing.

Vang: “I’m happy as long as they're reading, it doesn't matter what format.”

Overall, these two librarians explain their two different perspectives on how technology is affecting many of our libraries whether it is positively and negatively. But in the end we end up learning that as long as youre reading in some way or another, it's beneficial. But we also need to remember about the various resources that these libraries have besides books and that it all may be gone one day if we don’t appreciate it enough.