Understand global perspectives on effective information practices that are supportive of cultural, economic, educational, or social well-being.
My main philosophical principle that I hold to in librarianship, which can be summed up in the following statement, “connecting people to information.” This means that the LIS professional is not only the guardian of a repository of information, but also serves an important and proactive role in meeting the needs of people through giving them access to reliable and well-researched information. The librarian also protects patron rights to information access by faithfully upholding intellectual freedom principles, which are embodied in the American Library Association (ALA) Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement. The librarian must also understand the socio-economic dimensions of intellectual freedom, which can be caused by attitudinal, language, cultural, and economic barriers. The digital divide (caused in part by lack of home access to computer and internet resources) is a major issue disconnecting people from information, and one need that public libraries can use their resources to fill. Programming also includes community outreach. Members of the community in which a public library resides may not be aware of programming, information tools, and events held at the local library. Librarians must also be consummate marketers, creating flyers and taking advantage of new social networking tools online to make patrons aware of events and programming. And let’s face it, there are information-related services the library cannot provide, and this is something that can be remedied by librarians forging contacts and making arrangements with local community organizations and governmental agencies to hold events in the library to make patrons aware of local community services that they can use to improve their lives. Librarians can also create information pathfinders and maintain collections of pamphlets from local organizations to the patron preferring to find the services on their own. To conclude, I would strongly prefer to work in a public library where I can meet the needs of local people from all socioeconomic, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Each patron has their own information needs, and because of this, I think teaching patrons information literacy, in other words, how to navigate the vast reams of information available in books and online, and how to find reliable, well-researched information is central to my role as a librarian.
My experiences with the library have been almost exclusively as a patron (with the exception of some time spent volunteering, and an abortive two-week stint as a student assistant at the circulation desk in my final semester at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho). Thus, my conception of what it means to be a librarian (or a library staff member) is based around the way that I have been treated by library staff. When I began the SLIS (now iSchool) program, I began to use the computer terminals at my local public library. At that point, the library only offered patrons a two-hour time span, but I have seen that amount of time extended to four hours. Now, computer time may seem to be a funny point to start out in discussing my philosophy of librarianship, but giving patrons adequate amounts of time to use the computing resources is one way the library can contribute to patrons’ ability to use their access to information to improve their lives and the lives of others in the community. One of the biggest ways the librarian connects people to information is by providing programming. Programming is a way of introducing people to new experiences and diversifying their thought processes by teaching them new skills. This programming can take the form of classes, reading groups, interest-based clubs, or library-sponsored events. It can be an ESL class for immigrants and refugees, or a remedial computer class for senior citizens, or a resume-making class tailored to the specific needs of grandparents raising grandchildren (I actually created an instructional plan for this idea). Programming can also take the form of a library comic book convention (the local Boise Public Library does comic book convention) or an anime viewing group for teens.