Competency B

Competency B

Describe and compare different organizational settings in which information professionals practice.

Librarianship can look different depending on the type of library. I will compare three aspects of librarianship: instruction, strategic planning, and collection management in public, school and academic libraries.

Each library has responsibilities to educate the public, but those responsibilities differ slightly depending on who the patrons are. For example, in a public library, librarians may focus on adult literacy training and/or family literacy including programming for adult English Language Learners and technology literacy. These programs sometimes have talk groups and small group tutoring with a mix of volunteers facilitated by librarians. Family literacy programs focus on caregivers and their children together and often include story times and/or free books (Cunningham & Rosenblatt, 2019). In a school library, librarians focus on supporting the curriculum and Common Core Standards through direct instruction in research and technology. Schools often adopt models for research such as Big 6 to help provide consistency across a district (Cunningham & Rosenblatt, 2019). Academic librarians help patrons with advanced research techniques and how to navigate discipline-specific databases. Academic librarians also spend time providing on-demand instruction for individual classes and sometimes support entire departments as “embedded librarians” (Cunningham & Rosenblatt, 2019).

All libraries need a comprehensive strategic plan to guide their activities, however, because the goals and missions of libraries differ, their plans for meeting patrons need differ as well. All libraries should consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), but the extent to which the larger community is considered varies by library type. This is where an environmental scan is important. For example, public libraries must examine entire communities and possibly whole counties, to determine existing services and potential needs of their clientele. School libraries’ strategic plans focus on the school district and the building-specific community including parents, teachers and students. A school’s strategic plan should align with the district and school’s mission, just as a public and academic library’s plan should. Academic library strategic plans must consider the various majors and professions’ goals and needs to support faculty and students in their academic and career goals.

Collection management varies depending on the type of library organization as well. While all libraries strive to purchase materials that are of high quality meet the needs of the patrons, public and academic libraries often have much larger budgets than school libraries for acquiring new materials, in part because they serve more patrons. Academic libraries must meet the needs of both academic programs and vocational/professional programs. Vocational programs often require more visual resources which can add to the cost (Saponaro & Evans, 2019). Academic libraries may also be serving both undergraduate and graduate students and faculty who have different needs. Public libraries tend to have more urgency in acquiring materials because their patrons like to read new books as soon as they come out. This means anticipating what patrons will want to read, so librarians must know their community well (Saponaro & Evans. 2019). School libraries have their own challenges; not only should they anticipate students’ interests, but the selections must also support the curriculum (which changes periodically) and district literacy programs. School libraries also typically have inadequate budgets and must make sure the materials they add to the collection serve multiple purposes.

Conclusion

All librarians have to advocate for their organization, but school libraries have some unique challenges that academic and public libraries do not share to the same extent. Being cognizant of how other organizations handle and prepare for various issues can help librarians think outside of the box.

Evidence 1: Pico Rivera Public Library Strategic Plan

This was a group project for INFO 204. My role was the SWOT analysis and the goals and assessment plan. This supports the competency because it demonstrates my understanding of public library needs, planning, and organization.

Evidence 2: West Hills High School Needs Assessment

This needs assessment assignment was for INFO 233. My role was the strengths/opportunities, and the focus group questions. This supports the competency because it demonstrates my knowledge of high school library stakeholders and their unique needs.

References

Saponaro, M. Z., & Evans, G. E. (2019). Collection management basics. Libraries Unlimited.