Competency B
Compare the environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice.
Introduction
There are many different types of libraries and many variations of each one.
Each library reflects characteristics of their user community, making them more
diverse and dynamic. Four basic types of library organizations are most common: 1)
public libraries, 2) academic libraries, 3) school libraries or school library media centers,
and 4) special libraries. Special libraries include all libraries that are not public,
academic or school. Some categories of special libraries are corporate, organizational –
such as the Marines – and archives and special collections.
Public Libraries
Public libraries in the United States were established by law for the purpose of
serving the people and providing resources to read and borrow, free of charge, with the
intent to create a more informed citizenry. In addition to providing information, public
libraries entertain with programming and material selection geared toward the general
public. Public libraries are primarily funded with tax money, and materials are purchased
for the interest of all groups and individuals within their community. Public libraries
often have the support of the individuals, businesses, groups and governmental agencies
within the community. Libraries in turn support these entities at some level, creating an
important collaborative support system for all involved. Public libraries are the broadest
type of library in scope of organization.
Academic Libraries
Academic libraries serve the academic communities that include students, faculty
and interested parties who wish to purchase membership. The scope of an academic
library is narrower than a public library. Whereas in public libraries the librarians make
decisions on material and resource selection, in academic libraries,librarians make
decisions on material and resource selection based on consultation and input with
faculty. Many of the selections as materials are made to support coursework.
A university may have many libraries serving several, specialized academic
communities as part of one campus. Programming at academic libraries may include
bibliographic instruction and how to conduct research. Academic libraries nurture
higher intellectual thought.Research conducted at universities often leads to discoveries
that benefit society.
School Libraries
School libraries support the school community they are part of. In San Diego
County, there are two types of school libraries. The elementary school libraries serve as
a branch library of the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) who oversees
the purchase of materials for all subscriber schools within their jurisdiction. Middle
school and high school libraries generally serve a larger population and often have
credentialed library media specialists who function independently from other schools in
purchasing materials, yet maintain professional networks within the SDCOE service area.
Programming takes the form of a structured library time for elementary schools. In
middle and high schools, programming may be limited to instruction on doing research,
or structured time allotted for research. Library teachers and teachers may work
collaboratively, with the teacher presenting a specific topic and the librarian instructing in
how to do research on the topic.
Special Libraries
Special libraries serve very specific groups, in contrast with public libraries who
serve everyone, and academic and school libraries, who serve their school communities.
Law libraries, medical libraries, corporate libraries and archives are just a few of the
types of special libraries. Archives may contain resources such as a special collection by
a great artist/author whose family donated the work. To best showcase the items, they
must be organized in a meaningful way, and preserved using archival methods.
Professional Experience and Coursework
Through my professional work experience, I have worked in many diverse library
settings. My professional work experience has given me many opportunities to compare
the environments and organizational settings in which library and information
professionals practice. I worked at a small college where I helped in assembling and
maintaining the slides of works of art by notable photographers that professors used in
presentations. I also worked in adding to and maintaining the slide library for the college
art gallery, chronicling gallery exhibitions. I worked for the college many years ago
when slides were considered to be a better medium to archive than prints. Today the
images can be purchased digitally and maintained in digital collections. I understand that
in the future, today’s technology will again improve, and as a library professional, I have
the skills to more effectively adapt whatever library environment and organizational
setting I am working in to be consistent with these contemporary changes.
I worked in a small elementary school library for many years and moved it
physically more than once to a new and larger space, each time improving its
organization to make it more user friendly. Through visits and observations to other
school libraries, I would see what elements worked well in other small school libraries
and apply these elements to my own library. During my time there, the school added a
small middle school and high school, and the library was further adapted to accommodate
these additional grade levels. I also converted the manual check out system to a
computerized circulation system. I feel very knowledgeable about the issues that are
relevant to a small school library environment, both operationally and organizationally.
I currently work in a large public library that is considered to be on the cutting
edge of programming, services and material availability, and is well supported by
surrounding communities. To remain on the cutting edge, the library system looks at
changes in the industry to make determinations on how to best physically set up new and
refurbished library environments, and how to organize them. Changes to existing
environments and organizational settings are also considered. As library employees we
are made aware of these changes so that we can implement them at the operations level.
Each of my work experiences has contributed in a meaningful way to my studies
at San JoseStateUniversity, and has given me insight into the many types of library
environments and organizational settings. The library system I work in routinely offers
many types of interlibrary loans that include sharing resources with local universities and
other public library systems. A familiarity and knowledge of other types of libraries
has become essential in today’s library market. Through my work experienceI feel I
have developed the ability to compare and recognize the differences and similarities
between library environments and organizational settings, and will be able to apply this
understanding in adapting to work in any library environment and organizational
setting, to include making the necessary adjustments to incorporate changes to my own
library environment and organizational setting, when necessary.
Through my coursework at San JoseStateUniversity I became familiar with the
legal resources available and learned how to use law libraries through my Law Resources
class. In Government Information Resources, I visited my local Federal Deposit Library
Program library, located at a large academic library, to conduct research on government
resources. For both of these classes, I worked with pay-for databases and became
familiar with the internet resources available for both topics. In Archives and
Manuscripts I visited several special collections. I learned how special collections differ
from a traditional library in content, presentation and organization of content, and
maintenance and preservation of content. In Archives and Manuscripts, I also became
familiar with digital collections of larger organizations, such as universities and entities
such as the Library of Congress.
Through all of my experiences, I learned that although the basic organizational
settingmay vary in different library environments, all libraries share the commonalities
of being centered around satisfying the information needs of their patrons by performing
the following functions: collection development and material selection, material
acquisition, making information available through various means, conservation and
preservation of materials, programming., and instructing people in how to use the
library and conduct research.
In my coursework at San JoseStateUniversity, I hadthe opportunity to compare
library environments and organizational settings in three classes. In my Information and
Society class, I compared the types of school librarians within one school district, and
looked at the roles and responsibilities of each, also considering the level of education
required for each type of library and other factors. In my Instructional Design for
Information Professionals class, I compared three school library environments and
organizational settings throughconducting interviews with the school librarians. In my
Reference class, I observed and compared reference librariansconducting reference work
in two branch libraries within the same public library system.
Demonstrative Works
To demonstrate my understanding of Competency B and my ability to apply that
understanding, I have selected three works.
The first piece of evidence demonstrating my understanding of Competency B is
from my Reference class, entitled,Librarian Reference Interview Observations. In this
work I compare and contrast reference observations at two branch libraries of the same
public library system. In both observations I was focused on the interaction between the
librarian and the client, the questions asked, and how the librarian found the information.
The biggest difference between the libraries was that one reference desk was very busy in
a large library with numerous resources, and the other was slow, in a small library with
limited resources. All reference librarians handled the reference questions in much the
same structured way. Only the personal delivery differed. In the small library, materials
sought were often not available and had to be requested or the patron had to drive to
another library to get them. One reason I feel the differences between the two libraries
was not striking is that with the internet and online catalogs, finding resources has
become more seamless between libraries. Libraries may differ in character, environment
and organizational setting, but they are still a structured institution with more similarities
than differences.
The second piece of evidence is from my Information and Society class entitled,
Valuing the Library Professional. As I worked in a small school library during part of
my coursework at San JoseStateUniversity, I focused on the school library setting to
draw from in exploring and applying various concepts for research papers. For this class
I wrote a paper that compared and contrasted elementary school libraries, and middle and
high school libraries. School libraries, middle school and high school libraries
are very similar in structure and organization. A major difference between the two is
that library technicians are hired to run school libraries, and library media specialists are
hired to run middle and high school libraries. As more education is required to be a
library media specialist, a professional level position, schools tend to hire the library
technicians who are required to have only a high school education to run the smaller
school libraries. Budgetary concerns are a primary factor in not having skilled
library professionals at all of the schools. In one school district that I am aware of,
library technicians successfully filed a grievance with their district, demonstrating that
their roles and responsibilities are similar enough to those of the professionals to warrant
equal compensation and benefits, if they meet the education requirement. Now, to work
in an elementary library in this school district, education beyond a bachelor’s degree in a
qualified Library Science Program is required. Through my Information and Society
class, I understand that even though the students at small libraries have similar
information needs as students at high school and middle school libraries, a compromise
was made due to financial considerations, to have less skilled people staffing the library.
I feel that management and teachers are often unaware of the benefits of having skilled
library professionals working in their libraries, and more efforts need to be made to close
this gap and the budgetary gap to achieve a higher level of expertise in the library to
support education in the schools.
The third piece of evidence demonstrating competence of Competency B, is from
my Instructional Design for Information Professionals class, where I interviewed three
librarians in small school libraries in different school districts. The work is entitled,
Interviews with Three Librarians. The purpose of the paper was to determine which
category the librarian fit into: Stage One, where the librarian helps the student locate
materials; Stage Two, where the librarian learns ahead of time what the teacher is
studying and gears library time toward working to satisfy information needs in a pre-
determined context; and Stage Three, where the librarian works collaboratively with the
teacher to create a lesson plan to complement the teacher’s lesson plan. The interviews
are included and provide insight into the differences and similarities within three similar
library environments. Through this work I feel I have further demonstrated competency
in being able to compare the environments and organizational settings in which library
and information professionals practice.
Conclusion
Through my coursework at San JoseStateUniversity and my professional work
experience, I feel I have demonstrated being able to recognize the core library values
and skills, and have the ability to transfer these values and skills to any library setting.
Libraries all use the same core functions of organizing materials so they are retrievable,
answering reference questions, using good communications skills, and providing
information on how to use library equipment and resources to do research. Libraries may
have their own unique environments and organizational settings, but the core functions
remain the same. Through my work I have compared the environments and
organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice, and have
achieved a level of understanding so that I can work effectively in any library setting in
the future.
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