Keeping the Library Relevant When Your School Goes 1:1

This coming school year (2016-2017), my school's region was fortunate to be selected by our county to pilot a 1:1 rollout. This means that all 1300 of my 7th and 8th graders will be provided with a laptop to carry to all classes. With this kind of announcement, several emotions and questions most likely go through a librarian's brain. -Excitement: Hooray! Constant competition for computer labs is over! -Creativity/Wonder: How many possible opportunities does this create? The sky's the limit! -Hesitancy: Will the kids ever look up from them? -Uncertainty: How will this affect my current collaborations with my teachers? -Concern: Will I get need to get involved if something gets broken/goes missing? -Dread: How can I keep the library popular when they don't need our computers anymore? I think every single one of these emotions is fair game for the 1:1 arena. It's a lot of new possibilities, but also a lot of extra work and adjustment, not only for us as librarians, but also for teachers, who are used to the way they have taught for however many years (or even just a few years but are now settled into their rhythm). This is a big deal! This post is going to stick to answering question 6 in this list: How to keep the library popular in this very digital age.