Teaching Tech in Libraries

This week a couple of different articles on Teaching Technology in libraries caught my eye. One article was about Helping Veterans through teaching them technology skills. Another article talked about helping patrons who require Assistive Technologies. Both articles addressed the technological education needs that libraries fill in the community. Adam Szczepaniak, deputy New Jersey state librarian and director of the Talking Book and Braille Center says, “Public libraries are learning centers for new technology.” This can be true in both public and academic library settings.


These articles made me think of additional ways that the library I work in can augment student services and prepare students for life after college by teaching various technologies, some of which are already being implemented in other academic and public libraries. For example, it would not be difficult to arrange short workshops on using Money Management technologies. That could include budgeting software such as You Need a Budget (YNAB), savings apps like Acorns, coupon apps like Ibotta, or the various rate calculators on sites such as BankRate.com. These are practical and useful technologies that libraries can participate in educating our patrons about.