Describe and compare organizational settings in which information professionals practice
Today, librarians work in so many fields that we have changed our name to information professionals. Information professionals reflects the broad application of our skillset. Indeed, San Jose State University changed the college name from School of Library and Information Science to School of Information in 2014. Historically, librarians worked as catalogers and retrievers in repositories of physical materials. Now, information professionals connect people to physical and virtual sets of data in any setting that requires the retrieval, storage, security and organization of information.
The turn of the century brought a flutter of controversy about the future existence of library workers. Would improved access to search engines eliminate demand for library workers? Would advances in artificial intelligence and circulation automation replace the whole industry? Indeed, I delayed my MLIS application for ten years to ponder the industry’s future (a mistake). During that time, a paradigm shift answered these questions: Stakeholders realized that all information needs to be organized, protected, stored and retrieved. Search engine results need to be evaluated, filtered and limited. Students need to learn information literacy skills to navigate a complex information environment. The San Jose State University’s Master of Information and Library Science program addresses the changing information-scape in the context of several organizational settings.
The class, INFO 204: Information Professions, was a survey of library assessment, management and leadership. During the process of learning and practicing foundational skills, we applied them to a variety of organizational settings. For example, a group assessment assignment focused on a global, virtual, non-profit library. I choose an academic library as the subject of a management assessment assignment. We studied managing and planning physical facilities, which included inquiry into the nuances of public, academic, legal, archival and other special library settings.
More specifically, INFO 221: Government Information Sources, focused on virtual and physical government resources in depository and non-depository collections. The central theme of the course considered how federal agencies and other levels of government organize and distribute their information resources. The assignments exposed us to the exceptional circumstances surrounding types of government information: Security, confidentiality, privacy and access. While these seem closely related, we learned that each term carries with it a particular set of rules. Controlled vocabularies must not be downplayed in any setting, but they have special significance in government collections. This class concluded with two lectures and associated reflection assignments: “Building effective government information services for different kinds of libraries” and “The principles of civic mediation and explanation: The future roles of libraries” (Shuler, 2015). These explorations in the roles of government librarians focused on the delicate task of educating users about the lifecycle of government information. For example, to use the information, users must first learn how it is created (by which body) and how it is stored. The former lecture detailed how to provide government information in public and academic library settings.
The class, INFO 230: Issues in Academic Libraries, exposed me to concepts such as flat management organization, embedded team teaching across departments, and the importance of negotiating consortia. I applied these concepts posthumously to my experience working at the University of Wyoming as a shelver and circulation assistant during my undergraduate studies: The class rang true and relevant to my memory of the structure and issues facing my supervisors.
Then, INFO 284: Seminar in Archives and Records Management changed gears by focusing on the legal and historical value of digital documents in special collections. The class not only addressed organization and retrieval of digital information, but added extensive background context on the metadata and permanency of digital documents. I practiced evaluating security software and learned how to ensure continuity across obsolete and emerging storage platforms. The class forced me out of my comfort zone into the technical aspect of digital records.
I learned about legal resources on the job at a career college that was originally a paralegal training college. My training was provided by the attorneys who taught there. My role was to train students to perform legal research such as discovery and Shepardizing cases. I trained students to use the Colorado Code and the United States Code (USC). I helped students use Westlaw, Lexus Nexus and Michie’s Legal Resources to research cases and statutes. After the campus closed, I continued to work with legal materials in a set of law firms. My job was to update the codes in loose leaf binders. As I worked alongside the legal library staff, and witnessed a management change, I saw how the changes in management style and material knowledge affected the attorneys: It was the difference between a service leadership style and a laissez faire style. The replacement manager abruptly changed the legal libraries’ focus from the physical collection to the digital without providing training for the attorneys. I learned much from my supervisors and mentors about the resources and politics of working in a legal environment.
Evidence 1 is a critique of an academic library’s management plan. The purpose of the assignment was to find an academic library’s management plan and compare it to established management criteria. I assessed the Schmidt Library of York College against the management principles and theories in the class’ texts: The changing academic library: Operations, culture, environments (Budd, 2012) and Defining relevancy: Managing the new academic library (Hurlburt, 2008). The paper finds the Schmidt Library Plan dated and provider-focused. The plan neglected to address integrating librarians and information literacy into subject classes. It did not provide resources for unscheduled assistance. It neglected to plan for diversity, change and ultimately, succeed.
Before I choose to report on the Schmidt library, I read several libraries’ management plans. They were similar in their inward focus and lack of program assessment initiatives. Those similarities; the unifying underlying tone of those plans, made me wonder if they were merely a product of dated MLIS training programs that may have been the norm in the 1970s and 1980s. Maybe the leadership just had not learned the importance of change, adaptation and evaluation. The content of my MLIS education would not yield any of the plans I researched for this paper. This dissonance between former and new information professionals’ training is why I choose this evidence to illustrate competency B. Today, information professionals are early adopters of change. From 3D printing to designing search bots, we keep ourselves updated and technologically relevant in any organizational setting. Our planning documents would reflect these values by emphasizing user-centered services such as on-demand assistance, diversity and outreach programming and technology navigation programs. These skills translate to all information environments, from academic to special libraries: They all need flexible, forward leaning leadership.
What I learned from this exercise surprised me: Though my classmates and I have less library management experience than most, we have the tools to recognize feckless plans that ignore the user-populations’ pressing issues. I have learned to evaluate programs and design strategies with actionable goals based on user-centered research. I am hyper aware of my faults and have practiced identifying deficiencies and creating plans to correct them during my MLIS training.
Evidence 2
Evidence 2 uses research to compare librarians’ skillsets to the growing need for information professionals in social research and policy writing professions. The assignment was to research the role of information professionals in a non-library setting. I selected the paper because the research finds many links between information professional skill sets and generally desired employee skills like communication, teamwork and data manipulation. The paper illustrates that information skills are relevant to any information dense occupation from traditional environments like academic and public libraries to less conventional settings such as marketing research and data analysis firms.
For example, the research expresses a significant surge in information related professions such as network administrator, data analyst and records clerk. It found declines in book-binding, printing and computer programming occupations. The computer programming decline is interesting: Computer software evaluation and administration may be replacing jobs from this category. Traditional library jobs held steady from 2006 to 2016 projections (Rubin, 2010). This steady state can be attributed to a balance between retiring librarians and job elimination e.g. automation. In summary, the paper explores the relationship between traditional, alternative and loosely-related information professions and the skills that support them in a variety of organizational settings.
I will apply the academic library experience I gained at the University of Wyoming and the paralegal career college to any organizational setting because I learned several transferable skills. Legal research requires attention to detail. Teaching students exercises patience. Office politics demands maturity.
I will combine these skills with my legal library experience and lessons from the government documents class to provide context and education to users in many settings. I learned that users need to understand how information was created to find, understand and use it. For example, an information user needs to know that the House of Representatives present and vote on legislation, the Senate must vote on it and the president can veto it. This basic structure helps the user begin to interpret and interact with the information. Each step of information creation is well-documented but often stored in separate places. I will apply this spirit of providing context and education to my post graduate employment patrons—in whatever setting that may be.
Evidence 2 taught me that, although many competencies transfer to data driven professions, I need to continue to develop new and specific skills. If I can become employed in a para-library field, I must make self-education in the specific tools and nuances of the industry an urgent priority. While self-education in industry specific tools is always important, it is necessary to transition from traditional to alternative information settings. For example, I would need to improve my database building skills to manage data across a large network. I would need to increase my knowledge base of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) to be an effective NGO researcher, even though I have many of the required skills.
One of the ways I will apply the lessons of competency B is to be more confident when proposing new programming and challenging outdated programming, services and materials. I learned that planning documents might reveal leadership’s skillset and service paradigm. I can use this information to gently move information environments forward no matter the organizational setting. This confidence stems from the idea that information professional skills transfer across disciplines and organizational settings.
References
Budd, J. (2012). The changing academic library: Operations, culture, environments. Chicago, American Library Association.
Hurlbert, J. (2008). Defining relevancy: Managing the new academic library. Libraries Unlimited. Westport, CT.
Rubin, R. (2010). Foundations of library and information science. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. New York, NY.
Shuler, J. (2015). Syllabus. Retrieved from http://ischoolapps.sjsu.edu/gss/ajax/showSheet.php?id=6634
Evidence 1
Unit 3: Agenda for Your Campus's Library Committee
That Susan Campell called the Schmidt Library’s efforts revolutionary is dated. Updating the website, training staff to provide services and remodeling to accommodate a single service point and flexible group learning are standard operating procedure; not revolutions. Here in Colorado, a library making these transitions as late as 2007-2012 would be considered behind or underfunded.
If I could set the agenda for the Schmidt Library at York College or a similar organization, I would rely heavily on user-focused research. I would charge the committee with identifying which technology skills students have mastered so we do not sound elementary teaching redundant skills during the reference interviews, information literacy classes and when co-teaching with discipline faculty. The committee should Identify weaknesses and market the information literacy classes as solutions to these weaknesses. I would charge them with identifying apps that connect students to the researchers who author the materials they use along with the corresponding staff training.
The librarian’s role should be to keep abreast of cognitive research on information absorption/ overload and translate that into staff training and student information literacy training because students feel like they have the answers—they are literally in the air, but students need help digesting the right information and asking the right questions. Information literacy is no longer using a website efficiently. It is training your brain to skim the surface, know when to dive deep, and come up with the most relevant information. It is using 3D printers, unfamiliar software and media equipment. The committee needs to design continuous staff training to reflect these needs.
The committee should focus on external initiatives that place librarians outside of the library; in classrooms, cafeterias, and common spaces to provide information services everywhere. I’d like to see librarians in easily identifiable uniforms roaming the campus with a tablet and portable printer/ campus flash drives literally handing out information; from what’s going on this weekend to which articles a specific faculty member used to write a lecture. The students should expect everything from the roaming librarian. A campus-roaming librarian should be an extension of the computer who can talk, ask, give and check for understanding, user-satisfaction and making real-time adjustments.
The committee should design assessments that can be used to market the library’s monetary and scholarly value to the University. They should design assessments that demonstrate how the library moves the university towards its goals and contrast those assessments with independent, situational management exercises that imagine a defunded or absent library. Providing this contrast is important because psychology research shows that humans have difficulty imagining gradual consequences which corresponds to Budd’s (2012) discussion of pathological disconnection between action and intention. Administration needs explicitly articulated consequences to make informed decisions.
The committee should research faculty integration: Possibly, how to provide office space for faculty and increase faculty- librarian co-orientations for students. The Schmidt initiative intended to make the collection relevant. I would ensure that the reason the collection is relevant is because the faculty are right there with their students using the information-rich environment with the partnership of librarians. Students want information faster. We can provide that training in the context of disciplinary classes along with faculty, but a structure needs to make that easy and automatic. Faculty need to be able to text the library, “We’ve got 40 coming over right now”. The committee needs to design enough flexibility into the physical space to handle unscheduled classes.
Any of these proposed additions may be addressed under one of the headings in the Schmidt plan (2008 p. 56). However, I assume they are not because of the conservative nature of the plan and, at the time of the article’s writing, some libraries were still scrambling to deal with the internet and increasingly digital environment. Subsequent plans need to reflect a more nuanced understanding of the Librarian’s role in delivering information to students who have grown up with technology.
References
Budd, J. (2012). The changing academic library: Operations, culture, environments. Chicago, American Library Association.
Campbell, S. M. (2008). The new 3R’s: Revolution, reorganization, and renovation. In J. M. Hurlbert (Ed.), Defining relevancy: Managing the new academic library (pp. 52-64). Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited.
Evidence 2
Do Library and Information Science (LIS) Competencies Transfer to
Social Research and Policy-Writing Competencies?
Snow Marlonsson
San Jose State University
To answer this question, this paper applies Melissa Fraser-Arnott’s (2013) research on transferable competencies of the Library and Information Science (LIS) community to research on jobs related to: Grey literature, think tanks, public policy research institutions, consulting service firms and other research organizations that compile information with the primary purpose of influencing social change. This essay discusses whether the transferable LIS competencies identified by Fraser-Arnott make the MLIS graduate an appropriate candidate for social policy researcher jobs. Where the MLIS skill set is found lacking, this paper provides a brief annotated bibliography of further reading and suggests extra skills and training to address deficiencies.
The lexicon that denotes librarians who perform research for social policy organizations is not clear. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014) does not list social science researcher or knowledge manager as an occupation in its Wages Report or Job Outlook Handbook. However, reading the job descriptions of several occupations revealed related fields that do have ample data about required competencies: Operations research analyst, survey researcher, sociologist, public relations manager and market research analyst. Indeed.com, an internet job board, easily found the following jobs in response to the term think tank: Research associate, research analyst, open data analyst, research policy associate and others. The job descriptions of these posts contained many of the transferable competencies Fraser-Arnett (2013) identified, but they also revealed significant deficiencies in the idea of using an MLIS to prepare for work as a social researcher.
According to Library and Information Science (LIS) Transferable Competencies (Fraser-Arnott), 19% of job postings for LIS professionals were for non-library employment settings with alternative job titles such as metadata specialist and data analyst (2013). Fraser-Arnott goes on to report which competencies transfer to non-library jobs and renders the MLIS desirable beyond the library. Among Government of Canada job postings, 11.7% called for communication; which is the second most desired competency listed in the research (Fraser-Arnott). Communication was followed closely by the three-part category: Information Technology/ Information Management and Records Management at 11.3%. The remaining transferable competencies range from 9.3% to 2.6% respectively: Teamwork and interpersonal skills 9.3%, Personal Qualities 8.6%, Research Analysis and Problem Solving 7.3%, Management and Supervision 5.5%, Financial and Resource Management 5.2%, Policies and Procedures 4.3%, Project or Program Implementation/ Coordination/ Administration 4.3%, Providing Advice and Recommendations 4.2%, Human Resource Management 3.0%, and Business Planning and Reporting 2.6% (Fraser-Arnott).
A casual review of the competencies listed in the aforementioned job descriptions on Indeed.com revealed that some LIS competencies do transfer to social research and policy writing. Although the sample set was only ten postings, they did reveal significant commonalities with Fraser-Arnott’s (2013) Government of Canada results. For example, The United Nations University, the research arm of the United Nations (UN), recently advertised for a Research Associate. The required competencies follow:
Out of the five competencies required for this position, three are transferable LIS competencies: Research and writing, communication and management- administration.
Similarly, World Resource Institute (WRI) advertised for a Research Intern: “The intern will join WRI’s Science and Research team, which works’ to promote quality, accuracy, institutional coherence, and a lack of bias in our research. We measure our success in both the quality of our research and in its ability to drive change in the world in ways that support our six goals (Food, Forests, Water, Climate, Energy, and Cities).”(World Resource Institute) The required competencies follow:
Again, a majority of the required competencies are LIS transferable competencies: Research, Personal Qualities, Information Technology and Communication. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute advertised for a Research and Policy Associate. The required competencies include:
All of the competencies required by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute for this listing are nurtured by the LIS experience. The Government of Canada required 16% of potential job candidates to have topic-specific knowledge and experience (Fraser-Arnott). The Indeed.com postings highlighted here, and the other seven that provided background reading for this paper, all require specific knowledge for the job. Each think tank required knowledge of the relevant topic. Google, for example, was looking for someone with knowledge about conflict resolution, international relations, public policy and Silicon Valley to fill a social researcher position (Google). The Thomas B. Fordham Institute required knowledge of Pedagogy. The UN required knowledge of International Relations. Each job posting listed topic-specific knowledge as the most important competency followed by several LIS transferable competencies.
The Bureau of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook (2014) followed a similar pattern. After industry-specific knowledge, it listed several LIS transferable competencies for Sociologists: Research, Analysis, Communication and Project Management/ Administration. Similar to social researchers, 8% of sociologists are employed by consulting firms. Overall, the occupation is projected to grow by 15%, which is faster than average growth through 2022 (Bureau of Labor). Likewise, survey researchers perform research, analyze data and communicate results. They work for research firms, polling organizations, nonprofits and in a peri-marketing capacity for corporations (Bureau of Labor). The occupation is projected to grow by 18% over the next eight years. Market research analysts also perform research, analyze data and communicate results. This occupation is projected to grow by 32% (Bureau of Labor) in the near future, which leads to the conclusion that specific knowledge, supported by LIS competencies is a highly marketable position from which to begin a job search. Research, analysis and communication are repeated themes in high growth fields that rely on discovering, synthesizing, analyzing and communicating information.
The most important competency, based on the Fraser-Arnott research and anecdotally, by the Indeed.com job postings for social researchers and the Bureau of Labor’s job descriptions is knowledge. One of the recurring knowledge requirements revealed by the preparation for this writing was fugitive literature, or grey literature, which refers to the work product of researchers. Grey literature consists of newsletters, research reports, internal papers and policy briefs that are internally circulated, often, without indexing or cataloging” (Hartman). Knowledge of the access and use of this niche of literature is important to success in the social research and policy writing field. Aspiring researchers should become familiar with portals that increase access to grey literature such as the GreyLit Network, PolicyFile, Columbia International Affairs Online, Psyc-EXTRA -from the American Psychological Association, and PAIS International (Hartman). Accreditation standards for schools offering Social Science degrees are adding requirements to build student competencies in compiling, analyzing and influencing social policy (Hartman). While Hartman mentions the value of reading books and journals specific to public policy formation, she advocates for familiarizing oneself with grey literature above all.
Tracking the Influence of Grey Literature in Public Policy Contexts: The Benefits and Necessity of Interdisciplinary Research (MacDonald, De Santo, Quigley, Soomai & Wells) adds a different dimension to the argument for supplementing the LIS skill set with grey literature competency. The article asks how information functions between the point of research and policy. Multi-dimensional research and interdisciplinary views provided by LIS Managers, Scientists and Policy writers combine to achieve a more effective transformation from research to policy (MacDonald et.al.). The State of the Planet Declaration, approved at the 2012 Planet Under Pressure Conference, calls for a new approach to research. It must be international, solutions- oriented and integrate global members across local knowledge systems (MacDonald et.al.). The declaration goes on to assert that Earth’s interconnected and interdependent systems must be researched in kind; with a holistic approach to research and understanding (MacDonald et.al.). The role of grey literature is akin to raw data. Unless a person interprets the data, it cannot result in a policy. The role of the LIS worker is to negotiate this web of data, people, systems and disciplines. LIS workers can determine the lifecycles of scientific/ grey literature, use knowledge tools, and foster an understanding of how people become aware of, use, and become influenced by information (MacDonald et.al.). Further, the authors posit a guess as to why LIS workers have thus far been excluded from sorting and interpreting grey literature for policy makers:
While an information studies perspective may be explicitly missing from some interdisciplinary undertakings, its absence may be more a matter of language or oversight than actual failure to recognize the contribution of this discipline. For example, the recent book. Knowledge and Environmental Policy: Re-imagining the Boundaries of Science and Politics, draws on research based in
political science, and environmental and natural resource policy, and employs the term "knowledge" rather than "information" to convey research perspectives that govern information studies points of view. An explanation of why some disciplines such as information science are overlooked or entirely missing from interdisciplinary research initiatives may be attributed to stereotypical misunderstanding of the potential contributions of such disciplines to such collaborations. (MacDonald et.al.)
The juxtaposition of Fraser-Arnott’s (2013) transferable competencies with this call to action for LIS workers in the interdisciplinary research-to-policy field is noteworthy because the two sources are citing different aspects of the same LIS skill set. Fraser-Arnott does not categorize the synthesis of multidisciplinary knowledge, becoming aware of information or influence. She does, however, report on the related competencies; Problem solving and analysis, teamwork and interpersonal skills, as well as cataloging and metadata.
Intelligence analysis is another field that combines research, analysis and reporting with policy preparation. Intelligence analysts collect, store and catalog information. They analyze information for decision-making and base recommendations on their research (Wu). This pattern of information driven jobs using some LIS competencies but falling short of the knowledge (in this case, analysis for decision-making) is consistent with the findings in the rest of this paper.
Suggestions for Supplemental Development
Readings
Grey Literature and the Internet by Karen Hartman, while used sparsely here, is a much richer resource for aspiring social researchers than the scope of this paper would admit. She clarifies the importance of grey literature to social researchers and provides a wealth of information about accessing the information.
Global Public Policy, Transnational Policy Communities, and Their Networks by D. Stone addresses the systems of public policy in a trans-national setting. It answers who carries out global policy when convoluted tiers of authority are involved.
Software/ Downloads/ Industry-specific Portals
Become familiar with using open and subscription grey literature portals. Subscribe to Policyfile, Columbia International Affairs Online and PsychExtra. Download the Onion web browser to gain access to the underground web. Become familiar with open sources of grey literature such as PAIS International and GreyLit Network.
Professional Alliances
Build your own consortium to buy subscription access to the commercial products above. Begin with a letter including the costs and benefits of pooling resources for grey literature.
Join Social Action Organizations. Read their newsletters, connect with colleagues and volunteer in whatever roles you are currently qualified.
Classes
Public Policy/ Public Administration
International Studies/ Global Studies
Sociology
Behavioral Science
Organizational Science
Internships
Support the readings, associations, classes and skills with experience. Identify the social organizations you are most interested in and collect as much information about their needs as you can. Design a proposal of internship that fills a specific, measureable niche in the organization and volunteer to contribute your expertise for a specified project or time.
Idealist.org is a place to start.
Conclusion
A MLIS alone does not prepare a person to enter the social research and policy writing field. However, a MLIS graduate who intends to earn a second Masters to become competitive in the university library occupations, might choose to earn a public policy, international relations or sociology Master’s degree to serve the dual purpose of becoming competitive in academic libraries and to increase their opportunities to perform passionate research for institutions of social change.
References
Bureau of Labor. (2014). Sociology; Occupational Outlook. United States Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://data.bls.gov/search/query/results?cx=013738036195919377644%3A6ih0hfrgl50&q=sociologist+inurl%3Abls.gov%2Fooh%2F
Fraser-Arnott, M. (2013). Library and Information Science (LIS) Transferable Competencies. Partnership: The Canadian Journal Of Library & Information Practice & Research, 8(2), 1-32.
Google. (2014). Employment: Home. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/about/careers/search?src=Online/Job+Board/indeed&utm_source=indeed&utm_medium=jobaggr&utm_campaign=freeaggr#!t=jo&jid=66075001
Hartman, K. A. (2006). Social Policy Resources for Social Work: Grey Literature and the Internet. Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 25(1), 1-11.
Jin, T., & Bouthillier, F. (2012). The Integration of Intelligence Analysis into LIS Education. Journal Of Education For Library & Information Science, 53(2), 130-148.
MacDonald, B. H., De Santo, E. M., Quigley, K., Soomai, S. S., & Wells, P. G. (2013). Tracking the Influence of Grey Literature in Public Policy Contexts: The Necessity and Benefits of Interdisciplinary Research. Grey Journal (TGJ), 9(2), 61-68.
Stone, D. (2008). Global Public Policy, Transnational Policy Communities, and Their Networks. Policy Studies Journal, 36(1), 19-38. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2007.00251.x
Thomas B. Fordham Institute. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.idealist.org/view/job/tShGcJKMn3H4?utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Indeed
World Resource Institute. (2014). Retrieved from https://careers-wri.icims.com/jobs/1739/open-data-intern/job?mode=job&iis=Indeed&iisn=Indeed.com&mobile=false&width=1350&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false
Wu, Y. (2013). A Preliminary Study on the Curriculum Overlap and Gap Between LIS Education and Intelligence Education. Journal Of Education For Library & Information Science, 54(4), 270-285.