Competency I

Use service concepts, principles, and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users.

Said the governor "Is there any advice you can give me in the exercise of my office?"
"Yes. Learn how to give order."
"How?"
"So that others can receive them without feeling inferior," said the Master.
Anthony de Mello

As the governor learns how to give order that others can receive them without feeling inferior, librarians and information professionals also need to learn how to use service concepts, principles, and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users that they feel satisfied. When patrons come to library to search for their information, they have the right to expect that access should be convenient, relevance significant, and accuracy trustworthy. As far as information access is concern, there should be up-to-dated technology and techniques provided, so that patrons can access the library's collections of information with much less cumbersomeness possible. In our time, library's information should be digitalized and made available online for patrons to search. They should be able to access library's collections from everywhere, whether at work or at home, whether they are in the country or they are on vacation at a remote continent. Information access should be at least at this convenient level. With relevance of information, it is important to understand the patrons' needs and respond to them with the precise information that they can use for their projects. We all have the experience of getting things and later find out that only parts of it are relevant, and the rest are of no value. Last but not least, accuracy in information should be reliable. To achieve this end, librarians and information professionals should make it their constant care to assess the quality of the collections. Several criteria should be taken into account as to do this task: frequency of use, currency, and necessity. With access, relevance, and accuracy of information are in place, library service will successfully fulfill patron's quest for knowledge.

In relation to this competency, I would like to introduce a pathfinder, which I created for LIBR 210-04 (Reference & Information Services). This pathfinder intends to help parents with young children. It is my experience that they do not have much time due to the commands of time for their work and their family. So when it comes to help their children to find a book or any material, they do not have enough time to find the right ones which are fitting for their interest. What I did in this pathfinder was to collect 10 websites which are suitable for children's education at all ages. For each website, I listed its title, home page, date of last modification, a brief description on its content, a general instruction how to search for desired information, and whether it is free or with service charge and how much. After completing this pathfinder, I gave it to my sister who has three young children, and she was very delighted with the gift, even with only 10 websites. Up to today, three years later, she is still using it to search for materials to help her children. It is my plan that when I have more time I will create more pathfinders and categorize them into different subjects like history, math, literature, geography, etc. I will upload them in my website for my sister to search or for any parents who need them.

From my assignment for LIBR 283 (Marketing of Library & Information Services), I have learned much about certain service concepts, principles, and techniques that facilitate information relevance. In this assignment, I was directed to explore two business websites to find out whether they are customer-centered organizations. One of them that I searched for was the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) in Charlotte, North Carolina. In my search, I found a very attention-catching website called brarydog.net. The term "brary-dog" is a combination of "library" and a pun on "prairie dog" that curious creature of the plains, http://www.brarydog.net. The intention of this website is to help users manage the ever increasing resources of the library which continue to grow as the World Wide Web expands. Two relevant techniques that PLCMC uses for their website are Predilection for Segmentation and Full Marketing Mix. Predilection for Segmentation is a "combination of a great many smaller sub-segments that may deserve separate marketing programs," and Full Marketing Mix is "A diverse marketing program pays attention not only to communication but also to the nature of the offering, its cost to target audience members, and the channels through with it is made available." What is truly relevant in these techniques is that it offers patrons different services at different prices or even free of charge. Patrons can choose for themselves what is fitting for their interest. The catch is when they choose the free service they will be induced to look into what other different services have to offer. What a clever concept to market their product. It is truly a customer-centered organization.

As far as accuracy of information is concerned, I have learned from my assignment paper, Selection of Library Materials , for LIBR 266 (Collection Management) valuable concepts how to select qualified materials. According to G. Edward Evans and Margaret Zarnosky Saponaro, in their book, "Developing Library and Information Center Collection," there are six good ways to select materials: current sources for in-print books; catalogs, flyers, and announcements; current reviews; bibliographic databases; best books, recommended lists, and core collections; and subject bibliographies. These sources have been widely consulted by librarians and information professionals across the nation. So they should be a good place to go to when accuracy of information is needed.

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