Competency O
Global
Global
Understand global perspectives on effective information practices that are supportive of cultural, economic, educational, or social well-being.
Introduction
For many, the idea persists of libraries as quaint local institutions serving a clientele confined to a small geographic area. The reality is, thanks to the world wide web and other communication technologies, libraries of all types are now part of as well as products of our increasingly connected and global world. Anyone on Earth with an internet connection can access the holdings of libraries practically anywhere, and even some academic and special libraries offer relatively open access. Furthermore, for many institutions that still do predominantly serve the local populace, those patrons are increasingly from a variety of countries and cultures, with their different background and views influencing their information needs and preferences.
I understand Competency O to mean that I must embrace practices and attitudes that allow me to understand the challenges and opportunities of different information organizations and their patrons all around the world, and to put that understanding to use in supporting the economic, educational, and social well-being of global communities.
Cultural Differences
My coursework showed me that when considering issues from a global perspective, librarians and other information professionals will soon come to recognize the varying values held by different cultures around the world. As an information professional, it is important for me to be aware of these differing views on ethics and human rights represented among local patrons who bring their own cultures and experiences into the information setting.
Hamilton (2004) noted that “Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been questioned regarding its perceived Western, Judeo-Christian constructions that may be of little relevance to communities with other beliefs/ideologies” (p. 105). Because of this variety of values and viewpoints, “attempting to pin down one uniform attitude to the right to information is a difficult task” (p. 106). That said, I have learned that while information professionals must understand and respect different cultures, they must also still strive to uphold their profession’s ethics and guiding principles not just for their local clientele but for all information seekers.
Information Access
One way librarians can adhere to their profession’s foundational principles is by promoting greater access globally as well as education around that access. The digital divide describes the gap between those who have access to the internet and other digital resources, and those who do not. However, someone who has internet access but does not know how to use it properly to obtain needed information will still find themselves on the wrong side of the divide, and thus at an economic disadvantage. It is therefore imperative that information professionals champion not only access but also education for communities around the world. As Ford (2018) put it, “Without education, including access to information and the knowledge of how to use it, people will become second-class global citizens” (p. 270).
As part of the larger access effort, information professionals can also support the open access (OA) movement, which Whitt (2021) said “enables research to be published without the content being locked from behind the traditional paywall and inherently promotes equity and inclusion, as it enables anyone from around the world to freely access it and share it” (para. 3). The OA movement can have large ramifications for promoting equitable social, educational, and cultural well-being among patrons, as it increases information access for individuals and institutions without the means to subscribe to expensive databases and journals, as well as for promoting economic equity for researchers, as “authors who publish their research under OA receive wider recognition for their work, increased networking opportunities, . . . opportunities for career advancement, and more” (Whitt, 2021, para. 5).
Mobile Access
The increasing proliferation of mobile devices is helping bridge the digital divide, but this development and the accompanying data explosion present both an opportunity and a challenge for the global information profession. Nearly 60% of people in the world are active internet users, with nearly 93% of those users getting access through mobile devices (Johnson, 2021, para. 1). As more people are able to access information and avail themselves of library resources and services wherever they may be, they are increasingly exposed to different viewpoints and cultures, and it opens up opportunities for educational and economic advancement.
However, Megaridis (2018) remarked that as more digital natives come of age around the world, “Expectations for fast answers are high, yet verifying and qualifying information is often not performed, which can be detrimental to decision making” (p. 110). This is putting extra pressure on librarians to quickly provide quality information with context. McKane (2018) concurred, writing “the ability to gather high-quality information and distill it into decision-ready insights is a skill not to be underestimated” (p. 9). McKane also wrote, “In the corporate world, if you operate globally, you have to operate digitally to provide value with content” (p. 10). This is becoming true for libraries as well, as more patrons are accessing holdings and collections remotely, from anywhere in the world.
What’s more, the mobility of patrons also means that data is being generated in more locations. The American Library Association (ALA, 2014) wrote, “The explosion of mobile devices, internet-connected devices, and applications has drastically increased opportunities for data collection” (para. 1). This global data explosion means new skillsets are needed within libraries. The ALA (2014) advised that “Computational thinking and skills, the ‘ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning,’ will be a required skill for organizations interested in making the most of available data” (Why It Matters section, para. 7).
Sustainability
Another development that affects the social and economic well-being of people around the world, and that librarians everywhere must thus pay attention to, is sustainability. Climate change and other global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and refugee crises underscored the need for humans to adapt their behaviors. This realization led the ALA (2019) to include sustainability as one of the core values of librarianship, with a focus on adopting “practices that are environmentally sound, economically feasible and socially equitable” (para. 3).
Equitability and social well-being on a global scale are especially relevant given that climate change is expected to disproportionately affect developing countries compared to developed ones (Bathiany et al., 2018). This is why the ALA cited the fact that “library leaders, and those who inspire future library leaders, have a mandate to ensure future access to economical library services” (Fiels, 2015, para. 3) as one of the factors compelling libraries to pursue sustainability.
Leadership
Addressing all these challenges and taking advantage of these opportunities means information professionals must become leaders in their institutions, in their communities, and on a global stage. In order to do this, they can look to industry associations for help and guidance. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ (IFLA, 2019) mission is “To inspire, engage, enable and connect the global library field” (Our Mission section), and the organization seeks to help “our membership and library field as a whole” (Structure: A Framework for Actions section, para. 2) uphold key library values including “the principles of freedom of access to information, ideas and works” (Our Values section, bullet 1).
The Library Leadership Administration and Management Association (LLAMA) is another organization librarians can turn to for guidance in becoming global leaders and advocates. Albright (2018) wrote, “Leadership competencies from the LLAMA of the American Library Association . . . provide a professional development strategy for how leaders can move organizations toward their visions and serve as change agents in today’s global information landscape” (p. 474).
Moreover, Ford (2018) urges library and information science (LIS) professionals to think and act more globally and to make sure their institutions are playing active roles in our increasingly global society:
LIS professionals have a set of common values about what is good and what is bad. We must have a set of values on the international level to safeguard ethnic, religious, and other identities irrespective of nationality as the criterion of international rights and obligations. (p. 273)
To this end, Ford presents several ideas for information professionals to consider adopting, including celebrating diversity, holding seminars and workshops on different cultures, and increasing their own and their patrons’ global awareness (pp. 274–275).
Evidence
Evidence 1: INFO 200 Information Communities – Global Issues and the Information Community
This assignment gave me insights into how to consider and better understand an information community whose members might live in different locations or come from different cultures. The comic book, comics, and graphic novel information community ended up being an ideal one for exploring this topic, as the medium has a global appeal and yet there are regional differences in the specific content and titles that appeal to patrons.
In researching this assignment, I learned the value of taking a less U.S.-centric approach to serving an information community, and specifically when building a collection that can appeal to a larger clientele. This coursework taught me that a more global outlook can help me both better serve current patrons and reach new audiences. In particular, I believe that I must remain curious about patrons, and that through formal surveys and casual conversations with them I can educate myself on different cultural materials and preferences for more inclusive and representative collections and services.
Evidence 2: INFO 231 Issues in Special Libraries and Information Centers – Librarian Interview
For this assignment I was tasked with interviewing an information professional working in a special library setting. In order to gain a more global perspective on the information profession, I sought out a professional working for an institution that had an international presence to some degree. The librarian I interviewed not only works at the library for a large multinational organization, she also brings to her role many years of experience at special libraries in her home country of Kenya.
My interview with the librarian gave me many interesting insights not only into a special library that operates in many countries and across many cultures, but also about some of the distinct challenges facing institutions around the world—not least of which is the digital divide, especially in poorer areas. The assignment raised my awareness of how, as an information professional, I must educate myself on global issues such as information access, equity, and sustainability, and taught me to strive to be part of the solution rather than an impartial observer.
Evidence 2: INFO 231 Issues in Special Libraries and Information Centers – Professional Event
In June and July, 2021, I attended, via Zoom, the Special Library Association (SLA) Europe annual conference. Through the theme of Reflect/Redesign/Reboot, the conference speakers communicated the challenges their industry and individual institutions were encountering especially in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Though most of the speakers and attendees were from the UK, some were from other countries, and the conference sought to represent viewpoints and issues that covered its membership in 15 countries across Europe.
My attendance at this event represents another effort to gain a more global outlook on information science as it’s practiced in other parts of the world, including meeting more international peers. In the paper I discuss not only global issues such as the pandemic itself but also more regionalized ramifications and local issues. I believe that such efforts to self-educate, gain new perspectives, and establish new connections will make me a better and more effective information professional.
Conclusion
According to Ford (2018), “The increasing effects of globalization on societies and institutions everywhere and the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world mean that library and information science (LIS) professionals have a responsibility to their clients to provide services with a global perspective” (p. 267). My coursework has given me just such a global perspective by exposing me to differing cultural viewpoints and practices as well as to challenges and opportunities when it comes to information access, equity, and human rights in different information settings around the world. I believe the knowledge and experience I have gained in my classes and in my extracurricular reading and activities have equipped me to understand and promote the cultural, economic, educational, and social well-being of individuals and communities worldwide both in a future job and individually as a global citizen.
References
Albright, K. (2018). Leadership skills for today’s global information landscape. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (2nd ed., pp. 106–116). Rowman & Littlefield. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sjsu/detail.action?docID=5295158
American Library Association. (2014, September 12). Data everywhere. http://www.ala.org/tools/future/trends/data
American Library Association. (2019, May 14). ALA adding sustainability as a core value of librarianship. https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2019/05/ala-adding-sustainability-core-value-librarianship
Bathiany, S., Dakos, V., Scheffer, M., & Lenton, T. M. (2018, May 2). Climate models predict increasing temperature variability in poor countries. Science Advances, 4(5). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aar5809
Fiels, M. (2015, June 28). Resolution on the importance of sustainable libraries. American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/governance/council/council_documents/2015_annual_council_documents/cd_36_substainable_libraries_resol_final.pdf
Ford, B. J. (2018). LIS professionals in a global society. In K. Haycock & M.-J. Romaniuk (Eds.), The portable MLIS: Insights from the experts (2nd ed., pp. 255–264). Libraries Unlimited.
Hamilton, S. (2004). To what extent can libraries ensure free, equal and unhampered access to internet-accessible information resources from a global perspective? [PhD thesis, Department of Library and Information Management, Royal School of Library and Information Science/FAIFE, Copenhagen]. International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/faife/publications/StuartHamiltonPhD.pdf
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (2019, September). IFLA strategy 2019 - 2024. http://repository.ifla.org/bitstream/123456789/25/1/ifla-strategy-2019-2024-en.pdf
Johnson, J. (2021, September 10). Global digital population as of January 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
McKane, A. (2018, May–June). Putting Intelligence in employees’ pockets. Information Outlook, 22(3), 8–10. https://www.sla.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Pocket-Intelligence.pdf
Megaridis, C. (2018). Working in different library environments: Special libraries and information centers. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (2nd ed., pp. 106–116). Rowman & Littlefield. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sjsu/detail.action?docID=5295158
Whitt, B. (2021). Optimizing library services - How open access and OA agreements can support diversity, equity, & inclusion? Against the Grain, 33(5), 52–55. https://www.charleston-hub.com/2021/11/optimizing-library-services-how-open-access-and-oa-agreements-can-support-diversity-equity-inclusion/