What is a Technology Librarian?

“Technology Librarian” is a position I’ve been coming across more and more frequently in the recent past.  As someone who has focused on reference librarianship, I was less than familiar what exactly a technology librarian was.  I assumed it was a librarian made of technology (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: The conception of the technology librarian.

Finally curiosity got the best of me and I looked up some job descriptions of a technology librarian as well as qualifications.  From my general understanding, technology librarians are not made of technology (I know, I was disappointed too). 

My preliminary search on job descriptions suggests that a technology librarian is closely related or interchangeable with automation librarian.  They are generally responsible for the automated systems, including designing, implementing, and integrating automation and communication systems.  They develop or oversee the implementation of policies and procedures for computer use, including training staff and evaluating their performance.  They may also collect and interpret statistics and reports. 

Technology librarians have to stay current on technological news!  How?  Well, my search has not led me that far yet.  As we know, technology evolves so frequently that I can only imagine a technology librarian having a network more complicated than the webs of all of the spiders hiding in my cupboard.   

A qualified technology librarian can communicate well and train others.  They have an understanding of library and technological jargon.  They are innovate and motivated to use technology to further library goals.  They have the ability to multitask with multiple priorities.  They have skills with a multitude of servers and software.