As an emerging information professional, it is important to be aware of the great many organizational settings available to the field. Each organizational context has its own mission and purpose, which impacts the way it is run that looks different depending on the work environment. In my experience with several different internships at various spaces in academic, public, educational, and corporate settings, I have the unique opportunity to compare the structural policies and practices that can range drastically in each context. I have selected two pieces of evidence to demonstrate my competence and comfortability in different organizational settings in both academic and public libraries.
Justification of the Evidence
Evidence #1: Collaborating for a Strategic Plan in an Academic Library
In this group presentation, we give a presentation of an imaginary Strategic Plan for F.W. Olin Library at Mills College in Oakland. My role in this group project is to create an Action Plan on Civic Engagement informed by the academic library’s mission, “to provide learning experiences grounded in social justice.” In this Action Plan, I outline the strategic outcome that the library serves as a campus resource in effort to strengthen civic engagement among the student body. To be in an academic context and to promote public engagement is part of the institutional mission but also foundational to librarianship. The presentation we gave was recorded and our group’s Strategic Plan presentation begins at 1:14:23. In Evidence 1a, you can access this recording and in Evidence 1b my Action Plan slides are available for viewing.
Evidence #2: Collaborating for a Strategic Plan in a Public Library
In contrast, at my internship in Alaska with Anchorage Public Libraries, I worked for a little over two months as a Community Development intern. The library administration was going through preliminary stages of their Strategic Plan. My role in these weekly meetings was to take notes and as an intern for the municipality, I also had the opportunity to plan and execute community surveys for the branch library patrons. I have provided a link to notes I took during meetings in one of our significant meetings. These surveys contributed to the Strategic Plan because it provided data on the types of needs each community has based on different branch locations. This experience helped me learn how to research tools(such as Survey Monkey and project management organization tools such as Meistertask and Asana) but also gave me a glimpse of the life of public librarianship behind the scenes.
Conclusion
The combined experiences I had in both academic and public library settings, and to participate in the basic Strategic Plan process has significantly informed my library profession trajectory. This exposure to contrasting environments that emphasize the need to return to its organizational mission is significant. Though the target patron audience is vastly different in academic versus public library contexts, the research tools to organize and streamline communication is similar. My plan is to add these specific skills into my resume as I begin my job search in both academic and public library settings. Since I know now how vision and the mission of the organization drives the library context, in my employment search process I will evaluate how the organization matches my own professional values where I can also utilize my newfound project management skills.