Competency N

Preparation and Evidence

Robbins-Carter and Zweizing's ideas on evaluation are similar to the characteristics defined by environmental scanning, a subject I investigated thoroughly in INFO 204 Information Professionals. Environmental scanning is the process of gathering information from internal and external forces to assess the changing needs of society and "make decisions that create strategic advantage for the organization to succeed in a changing environment" (Babalhavaeji & Farhadpoor, 2013, para. 2). Examining trends is a crucial aspect of environmental scanning because it helps information organizations understand the needs of the community and manipulate strategies that will address emerging trends in hopes of attracting more clientele. Environmental scanning is an ongoing process that fits well with Robbins-Carter and Zweizing's planning model. By performing environmental scans, information organizations can have a first look at emerging trends, analyze competitive external sectors, and draft plans that will ensure the organization's longevity by adapting and providing based on these identified needs, which are similar to the descriptions found in steps 1-6 of Robbins-Carter and Zweizing's plan. Steps 7-8 are a perfect description of information-seeking behaviors, which ultimately require information organizations to execute their plans to observe the impact of the information gathering process and draw new conclusions which will contribute to the learning experience by providing reflections of the information-seeking behavior process.

To understand the process in which environmental scanning parallels evaluation, I will consider a collaborative project (Part 1 of Organizational Analysis) developed in INFO 204 Information Professionals as my first piece of evidence. For this assignment, the team and I shared a series of articles that focus on environmental scanning on a Google Document. Next, we listed them on a spreadsheet to eliminate duplicates and review the number of sources we had collected. An article that many of us shared and used in our analysis was Managing Change with Environmental Scanning by Patricia Katopol. In this article, Katopol describes how two university librarians feared their careers might be in jeopardy after learning that the university would be shutting down three language programs, which coincidentally were the areas that these librarians specialized in (Katopol, 2014, p. 1). Much like Katopol, our group argued that these librarians could have benefited from engaging in environmental scanning to evaluate if their collections met the needs of the students. Information professionals and information organizations must be keen on examining information centered on their organization to determine if their role fits the needs of their community, as described in step 3 by Robbins-Carter and Zweizing. If the librarians could not focus on environmental scanning due to personal biases, then it was their duty to seek help from other information professionals or organizations that could provide new insights in regards to environmental scanning.

The analysis also describes the attitudes of information professionals when tasked to perform environmental scanning. Information professionals might feel overwhelmed combing through diverse information sources, a process most commonly known as information overload. Information overload can cause information professionals to neglect the information "or process it incorrectly, file it away for later retrieval, process only part of it, lower standards for what constitutes acceptable information, only access parts of the information, or escape the deluge of information by ignoring it" (Katopol, 2014, p. 2). Much like information-seeking behaviors, the sense of feeling overwhelmed is part of the behavioral process that will attract negative feelings in regards to information, but there are ways to combat these emotions and as some of the authors suggest, collaborating with a team that specializes in environmental scanning could ease the negative feelings associated with information-seeking behaviors.

Our analysis also focused on the University of Arizona Libraries and the strategies they used to evaluate their programs and services. The University of Arizona Libraries performs environmental scanning often to address the growing informational needs of students. By evaluating circulation reports, conducting customer surveys, making internal observations, and participating in academic conferences, the libraries can map existing gaps and address these fields. The primary source of evaluation stems from customer surveys, which they utilize to create strategic plans. The active role of these libraries has sustained them, even during budget cuts, which confirms that proper evaluation can help information organizations strive through any economy or social change. Had the two librarians in Katopol's article evaluated their contribution and role to the academic advancement in the selected programs, then their jobs would have remained secure.

This analysis provided new insights related to information science by examining environmental scanning and how the evaluation of multiple sources, including within the organization and external environments, can lead to the success or demise of an organization. I enjoyed reading the articles that my group selected in preparation for this analysis because they each focused on different elements of environmental scanning. The organization of these documents provided us with the ease of accessing these articles for quick reference. The group and I worked on different sections of the paper, then Kindra Baker and I organized the segments in a manner that flowed cohesively for the final essay.

The group united once more to develop Part 2 of Strategic Plan of the ongoing investigation of environmental scanning. This time, however, the group focused on a specific library to perform environmental scanning. For this assignment, the group agreed to focus on the classmate, Kristin Horgan-Graham's library, the Auburn Public Library (APL). Horgan-Graham shared the library's website with the group early on, and during one of our virtual meetings, we asked her questions about the library. The purpose of these questions would help us identify the expressed needs of users and gaps in programs and services. Next, we compared the needs of her library to the needs of our library and concluded that there were many similarities between libraries and user needs. This analysis was necessary for providing the group with a sense of direction that could allow us to use critical thinking skills to help establish goals and objectives and plan for the future of the APL library.

The group evaluated many aspects of APL and concluded that APL needs attention in the following areas: adult and children programming, library outreach, lifelong learning, technology, collection development, staff shortages, and library architecture. Our proposal collectively developed a plan that hopes to address these concerns between 2018-2023, which is the second piece of evidence that proves how our evaluation and plan for APL strives to address the characteristics defined by Competency N.

The goals are meant to address current and future needs, which ultimately references how evaluation is not about satisfying a goal but the act of conducting an environmental scan to create a project plan that will satisfy current needs and form prognostications of future needs to address concerns at an early stage. From the articles we read, the team agreed that the library would benefit from surveys, data collection, statistical analysis, and other tools, as described in these articles, to perform environmental scanning. Our strategic plan is as follows:

• Goal 1: Increase adult lifelong learning programs and outreach initiatives for adult patrons by offering more program times and variety.

For this section, we developed three objectives:

1. Aggregating technology literacy courses.
2. Offer a diverse selection of adult programming to attract new and existing patrons.
3. Increase the number of programs and services that reflect the desires of English Language Learners (ELL).

In identifying tools for evaluation, the team agreed that it was necessary to conduct surveys, make internal observations, collect data collection, circulation statistics, and program statistics to address the identified objectives. If we observe the number of attendees in the programs the library currently offers, then we can examine which programs are trending amongst the community. The library an also conduct surveys that allow community members to provide input of which type of programs and services they would like to see at the library. In regards to technology, the team thought it would be best if the staff kept a record of the kind of inquiries patrons make in regards to technology literacy. This record could help library staff determine what types of technologies users are most interested in learning. ELL courses is a subject area that is sensitive in many libraries because as much as libraries would like to offer ESL courses, there aren't enough staff available to execute a program of such kind. Our team concluded that it would be beneficial for the library and users to aggregate more materials to the collection that will address the needs of the ELL community. We will measure the success of this initiative by analyzing statistics and collection reports.

• Goal 2: Address current public services staff shortages by hiring one to two part-time library assistants.

The objective for this section proposed to hire a part-time assistant that will be available when the library expresses staff shortages and require the most coverage. For this section, Horgan-Graham was our environmental scanner because she had access to make such observations and colled data regarding circulation statistics, program attendance, etc.

• Goal 3: Grow children's programming and outreach by increasing variety, accessibility, and frequency of programs.

The objectives are as follow:

1. Perform outreach for all grade levels to increase patron participation at the library.
2. Develop a mobile library system for community outreach.

These objectives seek to increase children involvement in libraries by taking on the task of performing outreach in schools and local communities where services are scarce. Introducing programs and reading materials to children may spark learning curiosities that are addressed and welcomed in library environments. The success of outreach is weighed by conducting surveys that monitor these initiatives. Survey tools sequentially touch on information-seeking behaviors. The goal is to gather information that will address the information-seeking questions: what type of program and services do children prefer? How can library staff help children find an interest in reading or engage them in learning curiosities?

• Goal 4: Update technology and technology resources to better meet the needs of patrons.

The objectives are as follow:

1. Replace library technology with newer technology models.
2. Incorporate more digital tools to APL's digital library.

In this section, someone made the observation that libraries must adapt to behave as technology centers to fit the increasing demand of available technology for patrons. Horgan-Graham also analyzed external factors and determined that Auburn University was a threat to APL because students search for information organizations that are equipped with the latest technology and provide access to a large platform of online digital sources. APL needed to prepare an action plan to address these concerns and guarantee the attendance of students. The identified objectives propose to update the library with the latest technology and embed more technology stations to fit the diversifying needs of the community, as well aggregate digital library resources so that students could have access to databases anywhere they go.

• Goal 5: Introduce new collections and build upon existing collections available to patrons.

The main objectives for this section sought to increase the libraries AV collection by 25% and increase circulation by adding more materials to their collection. These conclusions derive from collection reports and circulation statistics that demonstrate which items are most popular between community members and analyzing estimated wait times for items placed on hold. APL needs to increase its collection to reduce waiting-time for patrons. The group proposed that the library design a special collection, allowing patrons to check out popular items for a brief amount of time. The patron cannot renew items from the special collection and are also removed from the holds waiting list. These procedures will condense the number of people on the waiting list, thus providing others with the opportunity to access their materials much quicker.

• Goal 6: Address the current and future building and accessibility needs of Auburn Public Library.

The objectives focus on the architectural design of APL and propose renovations to attract new and existing users. Renovations are necessary when libraries undergo multiple changes. If the library feels that there is a need to include more technology, then the library needs to find a space to aggregate these tools. Furthermore, community members use the library space for other purposes. Large study rooms can attract students or organizations that need space to commune together. Increasing parking availability might encourage new users to visit the library. Small details such as these make a difference for the experience of the user.

In my opinion, these assignments are crucial in demonstrating my understanding of evaluation of programs and services in libraries. Learning about environmental scanning taught me that there exists competition of external environments that can threaten the success of libraries. As an information center, libraries are required to monitor emerging trends and learn how to address these trends to demonstrate to community members how their contribution satisfies their information needs or inquiries. The development of new programs does not guarantee lifelong success; a library must continue to perform environmental scanning to prepare for future trends and information needs. In Part 1 of the Organizational Analysis, is where I gained new knowledge of how to evaluate library services by engaging in studies that pertained to environmental scanning. As mentioned, the group performed individual research to collect articles that focused on the subject of environmental scanning. Next, we removed duplicates, then Baker and I analyzed the articles to construct our analysis. The analysis is meant to focus on the history, strengths, gaps, and applications of environmental scannings. Baker and I spent a week analyzing sources and drafting the analysis, so this assignment immediately came to mind for this competency. However, Part 2 of the Strategic Plan was a blur for me. I did not remember working with my group for a second assignment, so when I found Part 2 of the Strategic Plan, I was dumbfounded. Coming across this document prompted me to search for evidence of our collaboration, and then I remembered how I played a role in the development of this project. Due to our previous analysis of the articles, Horgan-Graham asked Baker and me to collaborate once more in drafting the annotated bibliography. Our role was quite simple, given our experience with the articles. As a collaborative project, we each provided input in creating goals and identifying objectives that would address the many areas APL could improve its quality of service for the community; however, Gates and Horgan-Graham developed the strategic plan. As a group, we divided the work evenly. These assignments included multiple parts to them, and perhaps that is why my mind remains slightly foggy. Anderson and Fantino created a powerslide that accompanied our work, but that is a segment I do not have access to or recall all too well.

Future Applications

If the library is not performing environmental scans and evaluating current library practices, then it is my duty as a future library, to ensure that I engage in these practices. My interest in becoming a librarian has a lot to do with the community. I enjoy serving members of the community and advertising our programs and services. My experiences have taught me that non-library users do not understand how libraries continue to thrive, but they thrive because they perform evaluations and environmental scans. The library makes every effort to listen to the needs and demands of members of the community, and while not all demands are met, the library attempts to find solutions, much like the APL with ELL.

Working at a public library provides me with the advantage to learn which programs and services spark the interest of community members, and analyze which programs are doing well. As a future librarian, it is my goal to create a plan that will address the needs of the community and provide a series of diverse program and services that will cater to the needs of individuals. As a Library Aide, I have worked closely with the librarians to evaluate our collections and weed materials to ensure the public has access to relevant materials that are in good condition.