Describe and compare different organizational settings in which information professionals practice.
Librarians and other information professionals, such as archivists, will practice their profession in a number of environments, including public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries, special libraries, and archives. Each library differs from other libraries in terms of organizational structure, funding sources, the clientele it serves, and the mission of the individual library. The information environment with which most people are accustomed to encountering librarians (or people they think of as librarians) is in the public library. The purpose of public libraries is to serve the needs of the general public through the provision of “facilities, resources, and services in a variety of media (print, audio, visual, electronic/digital) to meet the needs of individuals and groups for both formal and informal education, as well as for information and personal development which includes recreation and leisure” (Clubb, 2009, p. 4347). Public libraries will have programs for various groups in the community, including children, teenagers, adults, senior citizens, and may even create events for specific demographic groups such as refugees, the homeless, grandparents raising grandchildren, et al. Public libraries will be funded by local taxes, but may receive additional funding from donors and special library affiliated groups (often known as “Friends of the Library”), among other funding sources (Clubb, 2009, p. 4362). In contrast, academic libraries “are libraries that belong to institutions of higher education including . . . universities or colleges, two-year community or junior colleges . . . tribal colleges, professional schools, and professional focus institutions” (Curzon & Quinonez-Skinner, 2009, p. 11). Academic libraries differ from public libraries in that they are specifically designed “to support the the educational and research activities of their parent institutions through the provision of collections, services, and user education” (Curzon & Quinonez-Skinner, 2009, p. 11). Academic libraries tend to have a collection of items which are more focused on the needs of researchers, and may include special collections of items. In my personal experience with the Albertson Library at Boise State University, this meant that the library included items such as microforms, special collections of items related to Idaho history, theses/dissertations, and federal repository privileges. The collections were also considerably larger than those of public libraries in the region (e.g., the main branch of the Boise Public library had about 80,000 - 100,000 books, whereas the Albertson’s library held about 500,000 books in its collections) However, even public libraries contain many of these same items. What really sets apart academic libraries is the organizational structure, which connects with the university administration and includes academic positions such as deans. The faculty of the library will also often have postgraduate education in specific subject areas, in addition to their MLIS. In comparison, school libraries (often known as school library media centers) serve the needs of school-age children, and are connected to the educational philosophy of their parent institutions, which are public school districts. They are funded as part of the school district budgets which fund their parent institutions. Faculty in a school library range from paraprofessionals with high school diplomas or some undergraduate education to LIS professionals with MLIS degrees. Special libraries have a more topical focus, and serve “specialized and limited clientele[s].” Examples of special libraries include “medical libraries, law libraries, corporate libraries, libraries in legislative and executive agencies of government, music libraries, art libraries, engineering libraries, and libraries of trade and professional associations” (Shumaker, 2009, p. 4966). Archives represent information organizations where solely primary source documents are found, rather than the mixture of primary and secondary sources found in other information organizations (United States National Archives and Records Administration). The first piece of evidence I am submitting is a paper where I compared the characteristics of two information centers, one academic, and one public, in my local community in Idaho. The second piece of evidence I am submitting is an assignment for INFO 234 in which I compared the collection development policies of 2 libraries, one in Washington state and one in Idaho, to determine their policies met the basic principles of intellectual freedom. The document includes instructor annotations done as part of the grading process (and they are in the right pane of the Word document). The names of the public libraries have been removed. The third piece of evidence I am submitting is another comparison of collection development policies, but this one compares the general characteristics of collection development policies, rather than simply looking at them through the lens of intellectual freedom environments.
My personal experiences with different information organizations have been primarily with academic, school, and public libraries. My first experience with working in a library was as a library aide in my high school library (unpaid, and completed as part of a study hall) when I was in high school from 2005 to 2006. My main responsibilities for that job included sitting at the circulation desk, checking books out for students. I also removed books from the computerized circulation system and checked books in again. For public libraries, I have volunteered on the floor cleaning off shelves, reshelving books, and organizing collections at two separate public libraries. I have also worked in the technical services department at one of the libraries on one or two occasions cleaning and performing disk repair on DVDs. I informally observed the workings of the technical services department, including how interlibrary loans and holds work. In 2011, I spent about two weeks employed with an academic library in my local community as a student assistant on the work-study program. I quit because of the demands of the final project of my undergraduate education. Although most of the time, I was restricted to the circulation desk and the workings of the interior of the circulation department on the first floor of the library, I was given a tour of the other floors of the library by a fellow student assistant. The duties I performed for this job included couriering books to professors in different areas of the campus of the university, removing books from the book drops, performing clerical work, and manning the circulation desk. I was given the opportunity to observe how circulation staff interacted with student assistants and met briefly with members of the library administration. I also observed the archives at the same academic library as part of a class orientation with the same library, which included a brief demonstration of restoration on a medieval book and the special collections on Idaho history. We need to appreciate the organizational structure of library structures, the communities we serve (so that our knowledge will be tailored to meet the needs of the specific organization and community members we will be working with), and the needs of community stakeholders who are our benefactors.
References
Curzon, S.C., Quinonez-Skinner, J. (2009). Academic Libraries. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (3rd Edition). (pp. 11-22). Taylor and Francis: New York.
Clubb, B.H. (2009) Public Libraries. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, (3rd Edition). (pp. 4347-4366). Taylor and Francis: New York.
Shumaker, D. (2009) Special Libraries. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (3rd Edition). (pp. 4966-4974). Taylor and Francis: New York.
United States National Archives & Records Administration. (n.d.)What’s an
archives?. Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/about/info/whats-an-archives.html