Program Goal A
Understand the ecology of libraries and information networks, their unique environments, and how they are governed.
To better understand how different libraries, work, it is important to “understand the ecology of libraries and information networks, their unique environments, and how they are governed” (USC, Program Goals). During the course of the Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program at the University of Southern California (USC), students were able to grasp a better understanding of this goal through classes such as LIM 500B – Fundamentals of Library and Information Science. It is also important to understand the library’s past and present to connect with how they will and work or will not function in the future. The library does not just stand as a structure that houses books, but engages with the communities of users, other library professionals, and society as a whole (Stewart, Syllabus 2018).
What helped in understanding the ecology of libraries and information networks was through looking at the library’s past and present through the lens of different people. One of our first assignments throughout this course was to research a historical figure in the library. Researching and writing about Melvil Dewey’s legacy helped in understanding what sort of tasks and goals he was trying to achieve to help organize library systems, educate others in librarianship, found librarian organizations, and improve and streamline libraries. His ideas and implementation of systems and organizations gave libraries the structure that it is still heavily based on today. Today, there are academic, private, public, archives, and more organizations that still work from the very foundation that Melvil Dewey set. Although there are slight differences depending on the each library’s unique needs, the foundation has been fundamental.
Later in the course, we were asked to interview a library leader who is currently working in a library. The artifact, Interview with a Library Leader Part II summarizes my interview with a library leader at California State University, Long Beach. Coming into the interview with no library experience, it was interesting to learn about the structure of academic libraries. In place of more common titles such as Director, I learned that librarians are considered to be part of the faculty at the university. As such, from the Dean of the library, to the faculty which comprise of librarians are all professors in their profession. It was a very different atmosphere than what I had learned about public libraries. Each library has their own ecology, staff, budget, and networks.
We ended the semester with an evaluation of a library innovation that has currently helped or will help if implemented into libraries. This gave us the opportunity to see where libraries were headed. Without a solid foundation and understanding of how libraries have grown to today, it would have been much harder to grasp. What may work for some libraries, may not work with others because of these varying factors. This emphasized to me the importance of libraries and the communities they serve. From beginning to end, libraries are organized to best be able to serve their communities.
Reference:
Stewart, C. (2018). Syllabus 2018. Retrieved from https://lmscontent.embanet.com/USC/MMLIS/LIM500/docs/LIM500_Syllabus_FA18.pdf
This page has paths:
- Program Goals Amy Yang