Competency B

Compare the environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice.

One fine day it occurred to the Members of the Body that they were doing all the work and the Belly was having all the food. So they held a meeting, and after a long discussion, decided to strike work till the Belly consented to take its proper share of the work. So for a day or two, the Hands refused to take the food, the Mouth refused to receive it, and the Teeth had no work to do. But after a day or two the Members began to find that they themselves were not in a very active condition: the Hands could hardly move, and the Mouth was all parched and dry, while the Legs were unable to support the rest. So thus they found that even the Belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the Body, and that all must work together or the Body will go to pieces.
Aesop

The moral of the fable is each member in its sphere must work for the common good. It is true that in any organization or institution, no matter how small in number it is, even if it is only two people, each person is indispensable in his or her role, and he or she must work for the common good of the organization. The same is true with information professionals. Though they are commonly called librarians, they do differ in their functions and serve in different environments and organizational settings. In Denise K. Fourie's and David R. Dowell's book, "Libraries in the Information Age," it is fascinating to know that, "By the close of the twentieth century, the ALA estimated that almost 130,000 libraries of all types were in the United States, and divided into four major categories: Public Libraries, School Libraries, Academic Libraries, and Special Libraries" (Fourie & Dowell, p. 41). Under each of these major categories, there may be hundreds or even thousands of different types of libraries.

In a library branch, especially public library, each librarian is a specialist in different function. There are manager, computer technician, children librarian, accountant, collection specialist, outreach coordinator, etc. It is quite startling to learn from Fourie and Dowell that, "Computer literacy to varying degrees has become essential in almost every position. Children's staffs have been expanded to include specialists in logical and educations growth and development of their patrons. The public libraries might have many specialized librarians responsible for administration, reference and readers' advisory services, collection development, and programming. Paraprofessional library technicians and clerical staff perform supportive tasks in such areas as children's services, bookmobiles, outreach, and technical services" (Fourie & Dowell, p. 41). This reality of diversity is important for future librarians to know as they plan for their new employment as early as they are in their first year of the SLIS. They might want to specialize in one track, but it is important to take enough courses to learn about other functions as well.

As for me, my concentration is in public library services, and for this reason I have been exposed to different experiences, one of which has to do with the patrons' current inclination to media. To understand better the way people nowadays search for daily news, a class on Advanced Information Resources and Services, LIBR 228-10, has helped much. For this class, I did a review paper on an article, "Convergence in the Library's News Room: Enhancing News Collections and Services in Academic Libraries," by the joined authors, Debora Cheney, Jeffrey Knapp, Robert Alan, and Pamela Czapla. In this paper, I discuss an issue that, "many people are not interested in reading newspaper anymore due to the increase of online services. This reality leads to the decline of newspaper collection in academic library"

In responding to this concern, the authors suggest that there should be television news viewing area and newspaper and magazine collections. With this suggestion, they explain that, "(1) Television news viewing area that would provide only news programming on three televisions from cable and satellite dish service. (2) Current newspaper collection (containing more international and selected domestic titles) that would provide additional sources to allow students to compare newspaper coverage in different regions of the world. (3) News magazine collection that would provide selected weekly and monthly magazines for news and political and social commentary across a wide range of viewpoints"

Just like in any given era, the people of our time have changed their way of receiving daily news, and it is very obvious to everybody. Future librarians should be aware of this evolution, so that they can prepare themselves well for new environments and organizational settings which are different from the conventional arrangement familiar to them 20 years ago when they were still in college. This course certainly has helped to expand my knowledge about the new trend. This convergence in the library's news room might have been at every branch now, and it might have not. Later when I am accepted to work in any library with this setting, I know I will not be surprised, or if the library is still arranged in a conventional way, I will certainly offer my suggestion based on what I learned in LIBR 228-10.

Another experience that I acquired for myself as a future staff in a public library has to do with my observation at a local public library which serves a multicultural community, and this is an indispensable experience. Just last semester, Spring 2008, I took LIBR 275-11 (Library Visit & Library Services to Diverse Communities). For the assignment of this class, I chose to visit Santa Ana Public Library (SAPL) in Santa Ana, California. In my paper, "Library Visit and Diversity Assessment," I state that, "I am interested in this library because its first priority is highly functional public service. Everyday, many patrons, mostly Hispanics, come to the library to read, select materials, use electronic resources, attend programs, and request information from staff. Many bilingual workshops, programs and services are offered here"

For those living outside southern California, they might not know that there is a large Spanish speaking population here, and it is growing steadily. Here are some startling statistics which I found in my research:
1. Santa Ana has grown by 69% since 1980.
2. It is 74% Hispanic, 12% White, 8% Asian, and 1.5% Black.
3. The percentage (74%) who speak Spanish at home is the highest in the nation.
4. 48.4% of Santa Ana residents are foreign born-the second highest rate in the U.S., behind Miami, Florida.

For this reason, almost every public service in southern California includes Spanish as a second language, and library service is where Spanish is needed most. In my observation of the daily operation at SAPL, I have learned that many services are offered in Spanish like Story Time, Reading Program, Passport Service, Crime Prevention Program, and etc. To serve the needs of this community effectively, it is important that the library staffs are bilingual. That is exactly what SAPL have. Most of them are Hispanics, and only two reference librarians are Anglos. However, both of them speak Spanish fluently.

Much more can be said about the environments and organizational settings, but the general idea is there are many different types of library, and each library has many different positions. Though librarians and information professionals are different in their functions, they all work towards one common good, that is to promote intellectual freedom.

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