Program Goal A
This program goal’s objective means to understand how a library or information environment operates. Program Goal A is the understanding of the roles, competencies within libraries, and the information profession. This goal identifies the different types of libraries, their funding, organization, governing hierarchy, collections, and services within the information profession (Stewart, 2019). This program goal teaches the historical and traditional role that librarianship has with information and explores how evolving technology will affect and improve library services in the future. Through my courses and assignments during this program, I built a foundational understanding of the history of libraries, the services libraries provide, and how they operate.
During my first semester, while taking the course LIM500: Fundamentals of Library and Information Science, I was assigned to write a report on a historical figure of the library profession. I chose to write it on Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, who is also known as the Father of Library Science. Dr. Ranganathan is known for writing the Five Laws of Library Science and for developing the colon classification of books. This assignment taught me the historical beginnings of library science and the purpose of Dr. Ranganathan’s five laws. I learned the five laws of library science as books are for use, every person his or her book, every book its reader, save the time for the reader and the library is a growing organism (Ranganathan, 1965). The Five Laws of Library Science are a purposeful framework for all information professionals to follow if they choose to work in this field. Learning about the Five Laws and other contributions Dr. Ranganathan made to the library field, addresses the program goal’s objective of learning the historical and traditional role that librarianship has with information and exploring how evolving technology will affect and improve library services in the future.
Additionally, this program goal requires learning about a library’s environment and services. During the LIM591A Research and Professional Applications course, I was assigned to analyze reference desk services and how reference services will change in the next ten years. For this assignment I critiqued the services currently provided at the reference desk, I touched on how reference services are delivered to patrons and discussed how these services will change as technology evolves within the next ten years. I also articulated how technology has forced reference services to evolve, from taking phone calls or doing face to face interviews to now providing reference help through email, chat, and virtual calls. In the assignment, I discussed how future technology like cloud services and twitter threads will change reference services, and their reach won’t be limited within their four walls, rather, they can reach patrons outside of their library with the help of the Internet. This assignment addresses the program goal’s objective as I further learned about the ecology of libraries by analyzing and critiquing a traditional core service and how evolving technology will affect and improve this service in the future.
In a later semester, I took the course LIM591C Research and Professional Applications. During this class, we read and discussed library policies and ethics and I was tasked with critiquing a current library policy. In this assignment, I discussed the Portland Community College Library (PCCL) policies. In my policy reflection assignment, I discussed how PCCL was a community college library and how it bases its policies according to the American Library Association’s (ALA) policies, in which the policy provides plenty of links to the websites. I read and learned about PCCL’s mission and discussed PCCL’s operating policies such as the acquisition and collection development policies. Furthermore, I discussed PCCL’s Privacy and Confidentiality, Data Security, and Copyright policies in the assignment. I gained competency in this program goal by working on this assignment because I learned how to identify the type of library, the services the library offered, and how it was governed through their many policies.
After learning about what makes a good Library policy, during the same course, LIM591C Research and professional applications, I also learned how to draft a library policy of my own. For this assignment, I chose to write a Privacy and Confidentiality Policy for the City of Arrow Public Library in the State of Arizona. Just like PCCL’s policy, I included policies on a patron’s Privacy and Confidentiality policies and how the library adheres to Arizona’s Privacy and Confidentiality State laws. I also included policies on how to check out books, reserve conference rooms, and policies on the Internet and Wi-Fi use. Not only did I learn how to write a comprehensive, detailed library policy, I also learned some of the program goal’s objectives through this assignment. I further learned about the ecology of libraries, how they are governed, and how they operate to serve their patrons.
Program Goal A describes the ecology and history of libraries, the unique environments of the information profession, library programs and services, and how libraries are governed. I demonstrated mastery of this program goal by writing on the history and the traditional role of library science, as I showed in my Historical Figures assignment on Dr. Ranganathan. I also learned about library programs and services as I discussed reference desk services, and how it will continue to evolve in the future. Lastly, I learned about how libraries are governed as I assessed a current library policy and then wrote my own.
References
Stewart, C. 2019. LIM 500: Fundamentals of Library and Information Science. [Syllabus]. Los Angeles, CA: Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. https://ia801405.us.archive.org/20/items/lim-500-su-19-syllabus/LIM500_SU19_Syllabus.pdf
Ranganathan, S. (1965). The five laws of library science ([Ed. 2, reprinted with minor amendments]). Asia Pub. House.
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