Blended Librarianship—20 Years Later

Abstract

In 2004, Steven J. Bell and John Shank introduced the term blended librarian to describe an emerging skill set of academic librarians in teaching and learning roles as a combination of “the traditional skill set of librarianship with the information technologist’s hardware/software skills, and the instructional or educational designer’s ability to apply technology appropriately in the teaching-learning process” (p. 373). Several years later, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) officially recognized instructional design skills as a core proficiency for instructional librarians in the Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators (ALA, 2008). Yet, alongside the ACRL’s shift from information literacy standards to framework came a parallel shift from the proficiencies for instruction librarians to its revision, entitled Roles and Strengths of Teaching Librarians (ALA, 2017). The Roles and Strengths of Teaching Librarians remains intentionally vague, which may make it difficult for library students and practicing professionals to determine exactly what knowledge, skills, and abilities encompass the formal competencies of instructional designers. Drawing on standards from the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (2012), this paper defines the competencies of instructional design and technology and outlines the specific areas of content and pedagogical knowledge that teaching librarians in the instructional designer role will find most relevant.

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