{"id":42,"date":"2011-04-23T07:28:49","date_gmt":"2011-04-23T07:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cjburriscapstone.wordpress.com\/?page_id=42"},"modified":"2011-04-23T07:28:49","modified_gmt":"2011-04-23T07:28:49","slug":"reflection-paper","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/capstone-components\/reflection-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

If preferred, my reflection paper can be downloaded at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I began my journey toward librarianship, I had been working in academic libraries for fourteen years.\u00a0 I knew about some of the essential functions of libraries, what made them operate, and how to make them work in a daily context.\u00a0 What I did not have, however, was the professional perspective about the work I was doing.\u00a0 The mechanics of the work was easy for me to comprehend, but the rationale for the value of this work was not part of my mindset.<\/p>\n

The five core classes of the Library and Information Studies Program- Foundations, Collection Management, Information Sources and Services, Organizing Library Collections, and Library Administration and Management- taught specific things about these essential functions of libraries.\u00a0 Learning about technology in libraries addressed the practical need to understand current trends and their impact on upcoming developments.\u00a0 Upon a closer look, however, each course taught the theory behind each of these practices and the underpinnings for librarianship itself.\u00a0 Learning about these theories made the core courses even more relevant and practical as the method to the work behind them was explained over the course of sixteen weeks.\u00a0 The products of those theories, along with respective courses that inspired them, will be examined in this paper.<\/p>\n

Foundations of Library and Information Studies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Foundations taught the background of professional librarianship:\u00a0 its origins in antiquity to the contemporary context of the Information Age.\u00a0 Although I recall one student in my class who was taking Foundations as her final course, I was glad to have taken it at the beginning.\u00a0 So much of what was covered in this class was intrinsic to what would be covered in other classes, including library departments, the importance of patrons in libraries, and the true value of library collections.\u00a0 But what was truly important was the value of service.\u00a0 Service is what the profession of librarianship is about, not only from the standpoint of librarians to patrons, but also between one librarian to another, libraries and the agencies that support them, as well as libraries and their surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Libraries exist as resources for their communities.\u00a0 For too long, libraries have been viewed as collectors and storehouses for information.\u00a0 In the print-based environment, this was certainly the case; however, the ardent strides that have been made in computing technology over a few short decades has caused libraries to reevaluate that philosophy cultivated over thousands of years.\u00a0 The days of libraries being standalone resources were over as soon as the first modem was installed.\u00a0 Now, a library exists as part of a larger framework of the vast flow of information that moves past their potential users.\u00a0 Librarians have adapted their approach toward their users in a similar manner.\u00a0 Instead of simply leading their users to sources, librarians have begun to reinforce the skills of their users to evaluate sources for themselves.\u00a0 Library users must become information literate as they review the resources presented to them. \u00a0As librarians find the best resource, librarians would are required to take a more active role to finding the answers they seek.<\/p>\n

In the information rich environment of today, libraries are still forced to contend with those who seek to deny users from seeing specific resources.\u00a0 Censorship has always been at the heels of materials that enter libraries, especially as librarians build collections that would serve the best interests of their users.\u00a0 Academic libraries have the value of institutions of higher learning that they serve, as the concept of academic freedom exists to be paramount to their mission.\u00a0 Public libraries and school libraries, where the level of reporting can be more complex, could face a different set of shareholders with an interest in the materials that these libraries may purchase.\u00a0 In these circumstances, libraries may have to be more selective in how to handle a specific challenge to certain library materials, but there are documents that can offer support.\u00a0 In the United States, for instance, the American Library Association has the Code of Ethics, the Freedom to Read Statement, and related documents that can ground the position of a library into offering a specific resource.\u00a0 Conversely, if a library does not offer a resource as part of its collection, these materials can offer a framework for a librarian to explain why these materials do not appear.\u00a0 Censorship can often be seen as a subjective point of view, but documents that bring a professional perspective beyond a simple \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d serve as a method to bring it into a more objective circumstance.<\/p>\n

Collection Management<\/strong><\/p>\n

Library collections must reflect the population of the community they serve.\u00a0 Sometimes, this can be simple matter of collecting materials that would serve specific segments of those populations, such as the latest Harry Potter book for a public library or a journal about condensed matter for the physics department of a university.\u00a0 However, libraries can face certain possibilities in their collecting where materials have fallen out of date and newer materials have not been purchased to replace them.\u00a0 Collection management addresses these situations with policies that determine adding materials to the library collection, evaluating their use over time, how they should be removed from the collection, and who has the authority to make these decisions.\u00a0 Collection management policies can also benefit the communities served by libraries as well:\u00a0 having policies available for individuals or groups to review can add a layer of transparency to a library, allowing it to act in good faith with the consent of the larger collective.<\/p>\n

Within collection management is the understanding that collecting decisions are made in the interest of intellectual freedom.\u00a0 By this reckoning, a patron should be able to walk into any library and find specific resources, regardless of personal views or the format the information is delivered.\u00a0 Intellectual freedom should also be a factor in the selection of library materials. The decision to add a specific resource should be based on its worth to the larger community and not to the personal tastes of the person who makes that decision.\u00a0 Personal decisions can bring the question of bias into the decision-making process of a librarian, and this should be avoided in order for a librarian to maintain a professional perspective as well as for the librarian to earn the trust of the larger community.<\/p>\n

Information Sources and Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

Librarians could be faced with the possibility that patrons may not know exactly what they needed or how to begin the process to find what they need.\u00a0 This is why information services and sources, or reference services, can be critical to discovery of library materials by patrons.\u00a0 By using a reference interview as a starting point, librarians can help these patrons refine a nebulous idea into a finely honed concept of where to begin research.\u00a0 From that point, reference librarians can act as guides to library materials that can aid patrons toward the topic of their interest, whether it is an entry in the Columbia Gazetteer of the World<\/em> or a link in Business Source Complete<\/em>.\u00a0 Reference services are one of the closest interactions within a library, not only in terms of the contact between people but the inherent trust that a librarian has been given by a patron to find required information.<\/p>\n

The tools that are used by reference librarians, both print and nonprint alike have specific criteria to serve their patrons.\u00a0 First, they must maintain a level of accuracy that necessitates them to be as current as possible.\u00a0 Patrons looking for information about the Czech Republic would not want to read information about Czechoslovakia except in a historical context; materials should be maintained to account for these facts, regardless of a how a patron should approach that information.\u00a0 Next, information sources should be from some of the respected authorities within their respective field of service that patrons should recognize.\u00a0 After their initial visit, patrons should recognize in future interactions the names Lexis-Nexis, Gale, EBSCOhost and Jane\u2019s, comprehend the types of material that can be found within them, and determine the relevance of those materials within their field of research.\u00a0 Finally, the instructional attitude of librarians can emerge at the reference desk while assisting patrons.\u00a0 Rather than be unhelpful and use a closed approach, librarians have maintained the outlook that patrons should be able to access their resources and learn how to return to them later should the need arise.<\/p>\n

Organizing Library Collections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once a particular resource has been ordered for a library collection, a library user should be able to find and use it.\u00a0 The process of organizing library collections, commonly known as cataloging, has been the approach for giving these materials a unique identification schema that would allow patrons to not only differentiate between the works of authors who lived in different time periods, but also to find a specific resource years after it was added to the library.\u00a0 Cataloging has been a craft of libraries to place materials within their collections in a precise location using a unique identification system, whether it is the Dewey Decimal System, Library of Congress Classification, or a locally administered arrangement.\u00a0 Access to materials has been one key factor of library services, because materials could possibly be lost in a collection unless proper measures are taken.<\/p>\n

In the current environment of electronic resources, libraries now have access to materials that will never reside within the confines of library walls.\u00a0 Moreover, these resources can number in the thousands, presenting a challenge in accessibility for library catalogs.\u00a0 Many libraries have turned to the prospect of outsourcing these cataloging requirements to third party agencies (such as JournalFinder, Serials Solutions, and TDNet) to maximize the availability of electronic resources without taking valuable staff time to do so.\u00a0 In addition to the needs of accessibility, agencies also update the information that resides within these records, particularly when a resource moves from one vendor to another or leaves a particular electronic package.\u00a0 These concerns reflect a new paradigm where library records would have to be manipulated several times over the life of an electronic resource- a practice unheard of several years ago.\u00a0 In order to maintain the ability for a patron to use the latest resources, catalogers have had to adapt to their shifting nature and use manage them according to local practices.<\/p>\n

Library Administration and Management<\/strong><\/p>\n

This course has a daunting title, but its subject matter was far from mysterious.\u00a0 While the other core courses addressed how to manage resources, this course focused on how to manage people.\u00a0 This course also did not feature a textbook about library management; rather, it took the approach that libraries were like any other office environment:\u00a0 the location may be unique, but the same personality types, work habits, and professional traits can be found there just as any other workplace.\u00a0 The books that were used, such as Raving Fans<\/em> and First, Break all the Rules<\/em>, took a more centered approach to management that could be applied to any business setting.\u00a0 By doing so, I was able to appreciate the concept of management from a perspective that not only tied it to a library, but challenged me to think of management outside of the library framework.\u00a0 By doing so, library management is no different than bank management, restaurant management, or even classroom management:\u00a0 it is the ability to bring out the best from employees while applying their talents to serve the needs of the larger organization.\u00a0 As stated by the traditional adage, a leader proposes while a manager disposes.<\/p>\n

Since I came into the LIS program as a manager myself, I was not sure about what I could learn that I had been exposed to previously at in various seminars and conferences devoted to this topic.\u00a0 What I learned, however, was more universal and relevant than I can imagine.\u00a0 As a manager, it became important for me to impress my expectations to my staff without being too hands-off or too hands-on at the same time.\u00a0 It was important for me to set that example; if it was done in the right way, employees would feel capable of developing their own talents and offer them to the benefit of the organization.\u00a0 Moreover, the value of the Three Secrets (from Raving Fans<\/em>) and the Twelve Questions (from First, Break all the Rules<\/em>) have left me with points to ponder that will carry me through the rest of my library career.\u00a0 Knowing that people come first- whether they are employees, patrons, customer service representatives, or faculty- in the library profession has made it a more rewarding experience.\u00a0 The tools we use may change over time, but management itself is a process that must be continually revisited and refreshed to make it relevant to those I serve.<\/p>\n

Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Technology has always been at the heart of libraries, from the advent of the written word up to the latest electronic book readers.\u00a0 Today, technology has given libraries the capacity to become full-fledged information centers, connected to the larger world as well as the surrounding community through the internet.\u00a0 Libraries can provide a point of service to users either at a physical desk or remotely through a proxy server.\u00a0 However, librarians have to remain current on the latest technologies in order to provide the best service.\u00a0 Training, workshops and seminars offer a formalized mode of learning, but librarians could face a situation where they have to learn about a particular technology quickly, either for personal reasons or for teaching someone else.\u00a0 The libraries and librarians in the current era of information must face these challenges often on a daily basis to respond to these situations with a level of confidence, competency, and capability when using their skills to instruct and inform others.<\/p>\n

The technology courses I have taken in the program have been varied in content, but each one addressed a specific area.\u00a0 In \u201cDigital Libraries\u201d, I learned about the value of metadata and how it is used to quantify objects that exist only on a hard drive or a mainframe.\u00a0 As an extension of cataloging, it is crucial to have these objects classified, but it is more important to guarantee that they can be continually accessed regardless of changing formats or hardware.\u00a0 \u201cPrincipals of Database Information Retrieval\u201d was about techniques associated with searching various databases to find specific results.\u00a0 Because remote databases can differ in terms of controlled vocabulary and content providers, it was important to understand how subject databases and online search engines can be completely dissimilar in terms of the results they can return to a user.\u00a0 The course \u201cComputer-Related Technologies for Information Management\u201d operated on the premise that a librarian may be in an environment where they are required to function not only as a librarian but as the member of an information technology department.\u00a0 As a librarian, I should be prepared to respond to instances where I may have to introduce technologies to simplify workflows or aid patrons when needed.\u00a0 Finally, \u201cEmerging Technological Trends in Information Access\u201d discussed some of the latest trends introduced to libraries in terms of library technology.\u00a0 This course looked at current library technology as a starting point while encouraging students to consider the next phase and how it could impact libraries within the near future.\u00a0 Together, these courses provided an opportunity for me to learn more about library technology and its transitory nature.\u00a0 Moving forward would require a measure of looking backward to ensure that resources would continue to be accessible to users yet to come.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a whole, the library and information science program has given me a suitable groundwork to understanding what it means to be a professional librarian.\u00a0 The classes that I have taken gave me a broad overview of librarianship in terms of function and technology, but I know that I have been prepared for the work that is to come and the situations that were never addressed in the classroom.\u00a0 The component of technology was especially important, as I was challenged to make the best of the tools that are currently available while being mindful of what may be over the horizon.<\/p>\n

I was given the opportunity to expand my worldview in terms of libraries and the people who work inside them.\u00a0 By standing the \u201cwhy\u201d as well as the \u201chow\u201d behind library operations, I have a greater understanding for what would be asked of me to serve as a librarian<\/em>, not just as a member of a library staff.\u00a0 The relationship that a librarian has with the community serves a special one, and I am glad to have had the chance to learn more about it.\u00a0 I feel that my journey toward professional librarianship has only begun, and I expect to learn even more using these courses as the foundation for what will follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If preferred, my reflection paper can be downloaded at this link. Introduction When I began my journey toward librarianship, I had been working in academic libraries for fourteen years.\u00a0 I knew about some of the essential functions of libraries, what … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-42","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/burriscj.sites.wfu.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}