Competency H: identifying, using, and evaluating current and emerging information and communication technologies

“Core Competency H — demonstrate proficiency in identifying, using, and evaluating current and emerging information and communication technologies.”

Introduction

With the proliferation of digital and electronic information sources and the user friendly technology found in internet and mobile application search engines, it might appear that librarians and other information specialists are in an endangered profession. The ever advancing and emerging technology allows people to access information wherever and whenever they want it. Immediate information gratification is at one’s fingertips. However, librarians and other information specialists who stay current with cutting edge technologies keep our professions relevant. We do so by not only staying current, but by staying ahead of the trends so that we help or patrons learn the technology. Not everyone will have access to all of the technology; libraries can help provide it. For example, the county library system in which I am currently working has just purchased pre-bundled Kindle Paperwhite readers for circulation. The University library system where I earned my undergraduate degree had a laptop loan program.

Managing Current Technology

I have had the opportunity to evaluate some of the current technologies used in Information Science. I wrote a report on augmented reality (see H_Evidence_1) in which the experience, whatever it is, is enhanced or augmented. For example, closed captioning on televisions or active links within a text on a screen leading to related text, like glossary entries for an article which uses technical jargon or even museum displays in which a recorded docent will describe an exhibit at the push of a button.  I have found that much of the current technology that is successful is interactive. The trend seems to be that technology will become ever more interactive rather than passive. People will be actively participating  in the information retrieval process. Virtual world technology puts users into the programs in a role playing setting. I have been working in Second Life, a virtual simulation program, and the experience leaves me inspired with different ways that such technology could be used in information professions (see H_Evidence_2).           

Transitioning from Current to Emerging Technology

One of the sites I visited in Second Life was had infinite potential for technological growth. It was Science Island and the site has the ability to evolve as discoveries are made and it even makes it look possible that discoveries could made right there in virtual science world. There are sections of the land devoted to astronomy, nuclear energy, and genetics. The emphasis seems to be on applied science. There is an observatory to study astronomy and one can use "camera controls" to look into the eyepieces of the telescope, though I never figured out how to do that. There is a simulated nuclear reactor with notecards and interactive things which teach about different types of energy. There is a virtual reality lab which completely immerses one's avatar into an environment chosen by the learner, such as "nature" or the solar system.

Managing Emerging Technology

I recently read and reviewed a couple of articles  (see H_Evidence_3) which discuss the fact that recent studies show not all people engage with  information presented by technology with the same rate of absorption. Essentially, the studies show that reading articles and blogs and blurbs on the internet with highlighted text links decrease attention span and do not allow readers to fully engage in the text. Furthermore, comprehension also suffers from reading on devices as opposed to printed text. Emerging literacy technology will have to evolve to accommodate the way our brains work if we are to support comprehension in  literature.

Conclusion

I think that today's children will learn more effectively through the kind of technology I am discussing here because they have been immersed in it since birth. I also think novelty makes it effective for others not so invested in obtaining the next new gadget because people try it out, at least at first, for the fun factor. I think something like this would be, I believe, of particular value to those who are unable to visit the actual museum or science center. There is also great potential for an interactive archive of sorts for data collected by scientists in a site like this. The notion of using virtual reality as a mode of publication is also a viable use for a site like this. I can see myself using Second Life technology as a librarian for information retrieval. It will require some research and preparation as far as verifying authenticity and reliability of the information presented, but a site like Science Island which is sponsored by the University of Denver or the Archives of Stanford University or the Holocaust Museum sponsored by the actual Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. are pretty well documented.

Competency G: organizing information, including classification, cataloging, metadata, or other systems

“Core Competency G — demonstrate understanding of basic principles and standards involved in organizing information, including classification, cataloging, metadata, or other systems.”

Introduction

Human beings compartmentalize. We classify and sort and try to make sense of the minutiae of life by labeling each thing and grouping it together with other, similar things. We seem to do this instinctively and without thinking about it. A library catalog differs in that it must be planned and thought out. A library without a catalog wouldn’t be a library; it would be like an unmapped land, a warehouse full of jumbled up materials that would do no one any good because, first of all, no one would even know what was there and if they did, by some chance know that an item existed in that mess, no one could find it.

Classification and Cataloguing

That was the quandary in which my child’s preschool staff found themselves a few years ago. They had a small library of books, both purchased by the preschool program and donated by parents. They did not know what books were in the collection, but they wanted to be able find books to read to the children appropriate to the curriculum and the children’s interests. I volunteered to do an inventory, classify and label the books and then arrange them on the shelf. I also volunteered to create a catalogue of the books in a format that would coordinate the classification system with the books’ locations on the shelf. The preschool did not have a computer, so the catalog I would create would be a paper printout. This would not be the ideal format since any changes to the collection, whether additions or losses, would have to be handwritten on the paper, however, I gave the files to the director of the site on a memory stick so that she could take it to the center’s headquarters and update the catalog on their computers.

The first step I took in this process was to take an inventory of the collection. This meant pulling every book off the shelf and writing the title by hand on a sheet paper. I took this paper home and entered the data into a Microsoft Excel worksheet. I then sorted the entries alphabetically. There were almost 500 books in the pre-school’s collection. I brought the list to the director and we decided that the best way to classify the collection was by topic. That way, when the teachers wanted a book about a specific issue or event, that book would easier to find. Because space was limited, we could not assign much shelf space to the collection. We decided to put colored labels on the book spines and arrange the books on the shelf, grouped together by topic and alphabetized within the grouping by title. I offer the catalog and documents used to develop the catalog as evidence (see G_Evidence_1a, 1b).

Systems

The way in which I created the preschool’s library catalogue was obviously much simpler than what modern libraries go through to classify, arrange, and catalog their materials. I have so much more knowledge and information about cataloging and classification than I had a few years ago when I classified and cataloged the collection at the preschool. At that time I had no knowledge of AACR2 or RDA or MARC. I was very familiar with Dewey, however the Library of Congress system of classification confused me. I have a much better understanding of LOC now. Of course, none of these systems were necessary for the small collection of EB materials at the preschool, however, knowing what I do now, I could have done a better job classifying and cataloguing their collection. I am more knowledgeable about classification and cataloging because of a class I took in the MLIS program. I offer comprehensive, graded exams which display my competency in these areas (see G_Evidence_2 and G_Evidence_3) One of the first things I should have done is make a brief description of each of the materials. This description would have assisted the teacher who was selecting material for the day’s story time to make an appropriate choice. Grouping materials by topic does not go far enough to describe each book; a short description could help a teacher find germane material more quickly. Like a keyword only search, it doesn’t narrow the selection to the most relevant material.

Since this was a collection unique to the preschool and only they would be using it, it was not necessary to use AACR2 or RDA to standardize the catalog so that others could access the collection. Furthermore, since there was no computerized version, save the Excel files saved on my hard drive and the memory stick I gave to the director, MARC was also unnecessary. In a hypothetical scenario, in which I was classifying and cataloging the entire preschool system’s collection, that is, all of the materials in each site, then I would have used AACR2 and added a field with a short description of the material, one identifying which site had possession of which materials, as well as a field showing how many copies of each item the system possessed overall. That catalogue would not only be standardized among the preschool sites, it would also be far more extensive and detailed and most likely computerized.

Conclusion

Sorting and classifying comes naturally to humans; perhaps it is our finite minds’ way of making sense of the infinite universe, this parceling out and labeling bits of it. However, with a catalog, the things we classify don’t make sense. We may inherit an immensely valuable coin collection, but without a catalog to tell us what each coin is or how it is significant, we might never know what we have. Because I understand not only the importance, but the various methods used by libraries in organizing information and materials, I am better able to not only assist information seekers in finding what they seek, but also in navigating the catalog and classification systems to further my own research and continuing education to better serve patrons overall.

Competency F: selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital items and collections

“Core Competency F — use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital items and collections.”

Introduction

Preservation is one of the most essential functions of the information profession. My research has shown me that one of the first functions of the library was as a repository to preserve and conserve treasures which included rare books, whether those books were clay tablets, papyri, or bound volumes. Historical artifacts are treasures and their preservation and conservation is the domain of information specialists like librarians and archivists. Historical artifacts contain information; they give researchers a context and allow visionaries to imagine themselves within that context. Preservation differs from conservation in that preservation is simply protecting the materials. Conservation also involves research, documentation, and procedures to prolong the life of the materials and the reason we do this is so that these materials can be used because it does no good to preserve things if they are not used.

Selection and Evaluation

Because archivists cannot possibly preserve every piece of material presented, there has to be a protocol for selection and evaluation of the materials in question. Acquisition starts with selection and appraisal.      A protocol for selection includes creating criteria for appropriate materials, and many things must be taken into consideration when appraising materials, including whether those materials fit the collection and whether they are the best reflection of the work of the creator of the collection. For example, I visited the ONE archives which was created by Jim Kepner as a means of documenting LGB culture in Los Angeles. The collections are many and massive with probably millions of records, thousands of which still need sorting and processing and preservation measures applied, but they are all related to LGB issues in keeping with Mr. Kepner’s original intent. My report of this visit is offered as evidence towards my competency in this area (see F_Evidence_1).

Provenance is an important issue in acquisition. By “provenance,” I am referring to the concept of ownership and/or legal custody of records and materials. This provenance also allows archivists to assess value and to verify authenticity of materials. This protocol exists whether materials are preserved physically or digitally.

Somewhere in the process, an archivist may have to make the difficult decision whether an item is germane to the rest of the collection and is to be conserved or if it must be discarded. There is also the issue of privacy and copyright when dealing with personal papers and whether the collection will be open to the public for research. Again, much of the value of a collection lies in its usefulness, especially when space is at a premium.

Organization

Organization of materials in an archive or repository is twofold. First, the safety and conservation of the material must be if prime concern. Second, the materials need to be processed and a finding aid created. I created a finding aid for a fictitious collection (see F_Evidence_2), so I am familiar with the process:  taking inventory of the materials, arranging and organizing, then describing the creator of the materials in the collection and listing the materials with a short descriptor of each item. All of these can assist a researcher in finding materials they need. They may also serve as an inventory and catalog aid for the archive or repository to keep track of which materials are processed or at which stage in the processing the collection may be.

The organization of the actual repository, archive, or library is also part of the preservation process because the type of container in which the material is located, the stage at which the material is in being processed and evaluated for repair or conservation procedures, the location in the building or satellite location (media materials, like film and tape, that are owned by the ONE related to LGB film and television is located at UCLA) are all part of the organization of the collection, as are the finding aids and, in some cases, a map of the building to guide users in finding the materials on their own where paging is not offered or required. I again refer to my report of my visit to the ONE; that is a very well organized and very efficiently run repository. The staff knows exactly where every piece of material and at what stage in processing each collection is.

Preservation

As mentioned above, the conditions in which materials are kept are important to the preservation process. I had to opportunity to complete two projects which support this notion. I completed both a fictitious Special Collections HVAC Monitoring Report (see F_Evidence_4) and an actual report of the branch of the County library where I work (see F_Evidence_5). These projects illustrate just how important atmospheric conditions are to the preservation of materials. I was able to make recommendations to my Community Library Manager based upon my study to make the materials in our circulating collection circulate longer which will save money on replacing worn and damaged materials.

The preservation and conservation process of the Ellesmere Chaucer, which is curated by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California is well documented as is the process by which it was re-bound. Its facsimile was on display when I visited the library which led me to the conclusion that creating an accurate facsimile for display and use was a viable way of providing access and protecting the actual artifact at the same time. Many images of the folios of the original manuscript are also available in digital format at the Huntington’s website. My report on the preservation of this manuscript is linked as part of my evidence of competency.

The procedures for preserving archival materials are advancing with technology. The most obvious use of technology in archival practice is in digitizing records and born digital records. There are, however, new technological advances in every aspect of archiving and the practice evolves as the new technology advances. I wrote a paper discussing how technological advances affect preservation (see F_Evidence_3). Technology in the form of electronically stored records of acquisition make the process of tracing provenance, that is the trail of ownership and custody faster and more accurate. Since conservation efforts invariably change the materials, recording the conservation procedures is crucial.  Making these records electronically available allows greater access to others involved with curating the materials as well as patrons of the repository who may need that information as part of their research.

Digitized and born-digital materials have special preservation needs. For example, I have five inch floppy discs with information I will most likely never be able to retrieve again, yet I hang onto them" just in case." I don't even know if they still have the information they originally were used to store because the material was so fragile; one accidental swipe in front of the monitor and the magnetism of the screen could wipe out all the memory. I also have many 3 inch floppy discs, but no access to a machine that can read them. An archive or repository that curated these materials would need to either retrieve the information on these materials and store it in another medium or invest in machines that could read the media or even both. In my paper on technological advances, I briefly discuss the BitCurator project which is a program designed to assist archives and repositories in preserving and allowing access to born-digital records which may only be accessed through obsolete machines.

Conclusion

I actually find this aspect of librarianship the most interesting. I am considering continuing my education to become a conservator of rare materials, particularly books. As I have stated previously, I am a bibliophile. Stories in electronic format have their place, certainly, but nothing can replace the experience of reading a real, physical book. The material itself holds an intrinsic value for that experience. In the same way, access to other materials as well as the information they convey is valuable so those materials need to be preserved, conserved, and curated. I have experience in this area, as shown by my evidence. I also have a high level of interest and would love work in an archive or repository, filling that particular function of librarianship. Wherever I serve, I will be certain to perform preservation tasks whenever appropriate.

Competency E: design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems

“Core Competency E — design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems.”

Introduction

“Information retrieval” means just what it says, retrieving information. This means that an information retrieval (IR) system could be an internet search engine such as Google or AskJeeves or a library’s OPAC. Even a book can be an IR, since when it is opened, one can retrieve information that is stored therein. The definitive IR for me was the old card catalog of my childhood library. The cards were color coded – subject, author, title; white, canary yellow, and mint green, all typed on a typewriter or hand printed, and each card represented a book or other piece of material in the collection. When I was a child, a trip to the library was really a treasure hunt. The clues were in the card catalog. The hints were the signs posted to the ends of the shelves which listed what was located on those shelves, which Dewey call numbers or the first two letters of the authors’ last names for fiction.  The Wizard of Oz, for example, could be found on the shelf labelled, “BA-BE” in the children’s section. One had to have an idea of what to look for in the catalog – the white subject cards were probably the most perused, but sometimes, one would be looking for another book by a favorite author (those were mint green cards). The OPACs used in place of the card catalogs create faster and perhaps more relevant results (though maybe not as creative or as fun ones), and they work on the same reference and cross reference principle. Keywords, Boolean, or specific searches can all result in cross references and there is less need to be exact in one’s query.

Design

I had to opportunity to learn about designing an IR when I created a database to catalog my mother’s collection of American Girl™ dolls (see E_Evidence_1). I used InMagic’s DBTextworks to create a catalog of the collection. Each field had to be consistent in each entry and each field also needed to be searchable. For example, if my mother wanted to know which dolls she had acquired in a certain year, I would have to make those terms searchable. I chose what I knew made each part of the collection, each doll, unique from the others, but at the same time, I wanted to be able to search by similarities as well. I created a spreadsheet from the database for my mother so that she could see the all that data at a glance without turning on her computer.

Query

When the County library system where I work changed from ACS to SirsiDynex and iBistro for searching the catalog,  that was when I first learned about the query. We attended training in the new systems before it went live so that we could assist our patrons with information retrieval.  The mote specific the query, the more relevant the outcome. A “keyword” only search might display 1000s of results, but the advanced search option allows the querent to use the Boolean search terms and/or/not, as well as specifying in which category to search (i.e., title, author, type of material, language, etc.) Having this system available is useful when one has a patron looking for a title that might be used by several authors for different books. For example, a patron might be looking for  Daughters of Artemis  by L. M. Townsend. If that author is not specified, they may get materials with that title by J.D. Ironmonger, Lauren Wright Douglas, and at least two titles by other authors.

Evaluate

The measure of an effective IR system is user satisfaction. I had the opportunity to evaluate several IR systems. In the first piece of evidence I am presenting here, I compared RefWorks and Google Scholar in the context of discovering which system would be more useful for academic work (see E_Evidence_2). In the next piece of evidence (see E_Evidence_3), I evaluated a user’s ability to retrieve information in a virtual world setting. I based my evaluation on ease of use, relevancy of results, and whether results could be repeated consistently. I found Google Scholar to be the most user friendly. It allows both keyword and Boolean search terms and produced consistently relevant results. RefWorks was more complex and has more features, but with assistance and practice, the features and links are very useful for students. I found the virtual world scenario the most enjoyable IR experience, however it was that very experience that was a drawback in the system because it was distracting from my search. There was really no way to query for a specific result and because some of the sites are created and run by non-professionals, the information presented may be inaccurate, albeit enjoyable.

Conclusion

Librarianship is a multifaceted profession. At the heart of this profession, however, is service. By being fluent in the languages of several IRs, a librarian can better serve those seeking information. In the end, the librarian is her or himself the best IR there is because he or she can access, analyze, and evaluate the accuracy and relevance of the information  that is retrieved through the systems discussed here and others.  I feel that I have the experience and knowledge to use information retrieval systems to assist information seeking constituents in a plethora of settings.

Core Competency D -- planning, management, marketing, and advocacy

“Core Competency D — apply the fundamental principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy.”

Introduction

One of the exercises required by the LIBR 204 class I took for the MLIS program at SJSU was to assess oneself with several assessment systems. I took three personality tests and I was not very surprised by some of the results, but then, I should know myself well enough to be able to look at a description of personality types and call mine without taking the test. The Social Styles test had me tied between Expressive/Analytical, which really don't go together at all. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II labels me an "Idealist," the description of which is distinctly at odds with the results of the Humanetrics-Jung Typology assessment which confirmed my self-assessment that I am 100% introvert.

So, how do these assessments help me become management material?

Management

Management of staff, resources, space – all of these fall under this competency. I realized that, upon becoming a librarian, even if it wasn’t a library manager per sé, I would still be “management” as opposed to my heretofore role as “staff.”

This realization has given me more insight into the roles played by each part. Rather than adversarial positions as is often envisioned at the words, “management” and “labor” or “supervisor” and “staff,” each member of the team complements each other and that is when it works. At the same time, someone has to be in charge. Someone has to take the lead and that is why librarians have advanced degrees. We have greater knowledge and experience from which to draw and that allows us to lead other staff members in creating successful policies, procedures, and programs and in building and managing relevant collections. I also assessed myself through these systems as an Idealist. The description of an Idealist is someone who relates well to and inspires others to seek personal growth. This makes me think there is something in me that answered the questions in such a way that a previously unknown aspect of my personality may just be capable of doing that. That makes me feel more capable as a manager because it is the managers’ role to ensure that those staff members they manage have the opportunity to grow and to educate themselves. My library manager and our circulation supervisor have been invaluable resources to me throughout my time as a student earning my MLIS. They have supported me through accommodating my schedule for classwork and by giving me tasks and responsibilities that are more in line with my level of education and aspirations than are in my job description. For example, I was recently put in charge of and permitted to lead a program at our branch library involving recycling old books. My library manager often asks my opinion on ordering books for our collection as well as weeding old, non-circulating, and/or shabby books.

Planning

Every successful thing starts with a plan and every library with which I have had any experience has a strategic plan. These things seem daunting until one sees that there is a formula to making them. Most strategic plans involve a team effort. The formula involves:

1)      Vision and Mission of the Institution

2)      SWOT or an evaluation of the institution’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

3)       Strategic Outcomes and Strategies

4)      Action Plans

5)      Resource list

a.      Part A: Strategic Plan Resources and Action Plan Resources

b.      Part B: SWOT Resources, Evidence of Support for SWOTs

From these tools, the team builds a strategic plan. I had the opportunity to participate in creating a fictitious strategic plan for an actual library as part of a LIBR 204 class (see D_Evidence_1). I actually learned as much about myself as a manager and team member as I did about creating a strategic plan. As an introvert, I have difficulty functioning within a team, but through this experience, I have learned that discomfort can be put aside for the duration of a project and that, at the end, the sense of shared accomplishment is very satisfying.

Marketing and Advocacy

It does no good to have a great library or a notable archival collection if no one knows about it. That’s where marketing comes in. Putting myself “out there” to market is well outside my comfort zone as an introvert and that is one of my challenges but being aware of these challenges helps me to overcome them. Each program, each facet that makes one’s library unique or even useful, is material for marketing. Promoting programs or special collections unique to the library or branch is one way of marketing. (see D_Evidence_2).  I think that the bottom line is that I am, indeed, an introvert, but that merely defines my comfort zone. I can and certainly have stepped out of that zone to meet goals and I can do it again when called upon to do so as when I am promoting our branch’s programs like story times or books clubs or events held at our branch to patrons at the circulation desk. Marketing is synergistic for libraries. Only by serving our community can we discover what needs we might still meet and then offer what meets hose needs. I explored this concept of marketing in an article I reviewed (see D_Evidence_4).

Part of planning should be discovering what information and entertainment needs the community which the library serves has and then taking the necessary actions to meet those needs. Letting the community know what is then available is marketing by whatever methods are used (i.e posters, website, social media, etc.).

One type of advocacy in which I have stepped outside that zone of comfort was in working to get out the vote for continued funding to our libraries. Our county was looking at cutting budgets for library funding and there was a measure on the local ballots to do just that. The result would have been a sharp decrease in the hours that libraries would be open to the public, as well as cuts to staff which reduce the number of services we provide to the affected communities. We had seen the result of such budget cuts in another nearby community library which I studied as part of my collection development class (see D_Evidence_3). The Pomona Public Library curates 23 special collections, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder collection, and this most likely played a part in keeping that library open when budget constraints forced the city to make some tough choices. The library was at risk of being closed. The community served by the library rallied. There were protests, fundraisers, and people came out to vote to save their library. Instead of closing the library, the hours were cut back in half, staff were cut to the minimum to keep the library staffed during the few hours of operation, story times were cut altogether, and the city allocated roughly 20% of the previous year’s operating costs to keep it open in 2011. The following year, the people came out again and more money was given to the library to re-instate story time and other services. The library had become an indispensable part of the community and the community advocated to keep it open.

Our efforts to advocate for our own library system were successful. There were some hours cut from some of the branches and a hiring freeze put in place, but no one was let go because of cuts and services were not markedly affected.

Conclusion

The principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy are interrelated. Everyone from managers to staff to patrons working together can make a library successful and relevant. As stated above, managers who involve staff members in planning, strategic and otherwise, get a better perspective of what needs are to be addressed by the plan. Managers and staff can work with patron feedback towards making the implementation of the plan work. As a future manager, I will be involved with both planning and the implementation and adjustment of those plans. I feel prepared through my experiences presented in my evidence to do these things.

Core Competency C: cultural and economic diversity

“Core Competency C — recognize and describe cultural and economic diversity in the clientele of libraries or information organizations.”

As library professionals, we may encounter very diverse demographics even within one small community. At one library where I worked, we had patrons of many ethnicities and religions, including homeless people, Buddhist nuns, Goth teens, parents who homeschooled their children, and women in hijabs all coming into our library, all seeking materials and information. The materials people seek are just as diverse and a good reference interview is crucial to help the patron find that information he or she is seeking. In order to conduct an effective interview, the patron must be understood both linguistically and culturally by the reference librarian helping them.

The organizations themselves may be just as diverse. I earned my undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California which boasts 23 separate libraries in the USC library system. Each library exemplifies the very diversity discussed here, from the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives to Norris Medical School library to the Gerontology library to the East Asian Library. Doheney Memorial library is open to members of the community in which the university is located – South Central Los Angeles. The University library that I particularly enjoyed was the Hoose library of philosophy. I blogged my study of this library because it impressed me with its classic architecture, mosaics, and stained glass (see C_Evidence_1). Not far from Hoose library on the same campus is Leavey library which is a more modern building, more metal and glass than marble and more technology, as well, with its public computers, printing stations, and carrels with outlets for personal laptops. The focus at Leavey is on research and computing.

USC is also the home of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian archives. The founder of the ONE archive, Jim Kepner, started collecting newspaper clippings and books about homosexuality after witnessing the now infamous Black Cat gay bar raid in in 1942.  He started his collection with a copy of Radclyffe Hall’s Well of Lonliness.  He kept his growing collection in his apartment, calling it “The Western Gay Archives.”   Presumably, his collection grew beyond his apartment’s capacity, because it was moved to a Hollywood storefront and named “the National Gay and Lesbian Archives.” In 1994, The ONE institute, which Mr. Kepner helped found, acquired Mr. Kepner’s collection and it has grown into what is now the ONE National LGBT Archives.  In 2000, the collections were sponsored and moved to their current home on Adams by the University of Southern California and ten years later, they are now a part of the USC Library system. The archive is touted by USC as the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world. I was honored to visit this archive and my report on that visit is entered as evidence of my competency in this area (see C_Evidence_2).

Collections in a library is one place in which the diversity of the community that library serves may be reflected. As part of strategic planning and collection building and development for a library, a study of the demographic of the community that is and will be served by that library is necessary. As part of learning about collection development, I had the opportunity to study the demographics of a community served by an academic library, East Los Angeles College located in Monterey Park, California. This exercise was a challenging and rewarding opportunity to see firsthand how the diversity of a community creates that community. It was also fascinating to see how the college itself would affect the demographics of the community – would the academic campus be an insular island, a pocket with its own separate demographics or would the students be from the community and reflect the area at large? I offer a presentation of my findings as further evidence of my competency. I found that the diversity of the community was enhanced by the students attending the college the library served while serving the academic population of students, faculty and staff (see C_Evidence_3).

Libraries serve communities and, while communities are created by common interests, they are populated by diverse individuals. Diversity, whether cultural or economic, creates opportunities for people to learn from one another and to forge bonds that go beyond what is diverse and by what we all hold in common. The library, with its commitment to equality of access and intellectual freedom, could easily be the heart of that community.

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.