Core Competency B -- organizational settings

“Core Competency B — describe and compare the organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice.”

When I tell people I am a librarian, I invariably get the same frustrating response:  “Really? Aren’t libraries going to disappear in a few years? Isn’t everything online now?” I always respond proudly that, no of course libraries aren’t going anywhere; libraries and librarians are here to stay because we remain on the cutting edge of technology. I always explain that, yes, you can “google” cookies for yourself, but it takes a librarian to find the sites which help you figure out that elusive “secret” ingredient that made your grandmother’s snickerdoodles the best you ever tasted. It takes a librarian or an archivist to create a finding aid which will allow your high school senior to research to find that one bit of information that will make the difference between an A or a B on that history term paper.

I also explain that librarians serve many different roles. It is about more than just checking books or DVDs in and out of a library or helping patrons use the public computers to check their e-mail. There are many settings in which these professionals work. As part of a collection development class, I created a Powerpoint presentation which illustrates some of the roles librarians and other information professionals may play in various settings (see B_Evidence_1).

Public libraries serve the communities of which they are a part. Their collections should reflect the unique flavor of the community, however diverse the population. Their collections should be built based on their community values and taste. This is a precedent founded by the Carnegie libraries. When Andrew Carnegie donated the money to build the library buildings, he left the collection building to the communities themselves so that the materials would indeed reflect each community’s literary taste and information needs.

The Academic Library’s primary purpose is to support the curriculum of the institution to which it is attached. Its constituents are the students, faculty, staff, and sometimes members of the outlying community in which the institution is located. The goal is student success.

School libraries help prepare students to live and learn in a world of information. The mission of school libraries is to ensure that students and staff are able to use ideas and information. The libraries provide access to materials in all formats. It helps increase students' interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas.

Research shows that a school library with the right staffing, funding, and a rich collection of books has a positive impact on students. 

In special libraries, it depends on the institution to which the library is attached. That may be a corporation, a law library in a university’s law school, a music library attached to an orchestra or ballet company, a medical library, or a prison library. For example, when I was I the Navy, I was assigned to the Base Library which was located in the chaplain’s office. It was a small library and it was the 1980s, so there was no OPAC. My duties included typing up the index cards for the card catalog when we received new or donated materials. I typed and applied the pockets and cards we used to circulate materials. It was also my responsibility to order and maintain the integrity of testing materials for those service members attached to the command who were trying to advance in rank.

In addition to the more traditional roles as outlined above and as an example of how librarians remain relevant in the face of ever-advancing technology, librarians may now play yet another role as educator. I wrote a paper describing Mass Open Online Courses and the role of the librarian, not only in providing support for students seeking to educate themselves with this tool, but in negotiating licenses for copyrighted materials or assisting MOOC developers in selecting open content or public domain materials and/or even assist with developing the courses themselves (see B_Evidence_2).

There is also the leadership aspect. Librarians are management; we are supervisors, responsible for library staff members and for ensuring that the library functions as it should and also outreach to the community and beyond. This can be daunting, as I discovered when I completed a scenario in which I was to empty my fictitious in-basket before flying overseas to give a speech. All this activity had a time limit as the speech was originally to be given by someone who suddenly died and could not be rescheduled (see B_Evidence_3).

My interpretation of this competency is versatility. In my reading on the subject and my work in the field, I have found some consistencies in the roles filled by information professionals:

1)      Public service, the “public” meaning whichever community to which the institution is attached, whether it is a public library serving the community, an academic library attached to a university or community college, a school library or media center supporting the curriculum of the school, an archive or museum which preserves records and artefacts, or a special library which serves the needs of a corporation, a law firm, hospital, or other institution.

2)      Intellectual Freedom, which means that we assist information seekers to find and access what they need.

3)      Preservation of the media on or in which the information located, whether analog or digital

No matter in which setting the librarian or information specialist works, these are the primary objectives of the profession. By being versatile and playing a myriad of roles in a plethora of settings, librarians remain not only relevant, but an invaluable and irreplaceable asset to information seekers in a variety of communities. The things that remain consistent are tied to the values of information professionals: services, access, and preservation. It is my hope to find my fit in one of these areas, but I feel prepared for any setting in which librarians play a role.