NARRATIVE
The vastness of librarians’ responsibilities and the diversity of library users’ needs make staying abreast of current research and thought both a challenge and an imperative. I remember being stunned at the beginning of the program when I learned about the range of functional areas within a librarian’s purview: reference, circulation, technology, instruction, programming, building administration, advocacy - and so much more. Clearly, no one person can be an expert in all of these areas, which is why library and information professionals must always be seeking opportunities to read each other's scholarship and to communicate ideas and best practices amongst themselves.
As an MLIS student, I was fortunate to study the works of and attend lectures by leading thinkers in the field of library and information studies. I took courses in which I evaluated and critiqued research by scholars on library history, technological change, information access, library management, and information literacy. I did projects that deepened my knowledge of and challenged my thinking about library service. Finally, I applied this knowledge in real life as a student researcher, an outreach volunteer, and a library blogger. The research activities I undertook as an MLIS student educated me about different library environments, deepened my understanding of information access barriers, and made me a more skilled information professional.
To excel in my future role as an outreach professional in marginalized and underserved communities, I will need to conduct thorough research on the resource needs, demographics, and historical backgrounds of the communities in my service area. Doing so will help me better understand and address the communities' needs, as well as any structural barriers that might make it difficult for those needs to be met. Additionally, I want to advance the practice of library outreach by communicating my research findings to other outreach professionals through conventional and non-traditional scholarly outlets. Being a student in the UNCG MLIS program has prepared me to take on and master the challenges entailed in conducting, applying, and communicating research.
Studying the Scholarly Map
My first MLIS class, Foundations of Library and Information Studies, exposed me to the writings of numerous library and information studies scholars. Three who had a strong influence on my thinking were Stephen Abram, Carol Kuhlthau, and Candace Mellon.
The ideas articulated by Stephen Abram in Information Services Today have been guiding principles throughout my time in the MLIS program. In the chapter “Librarianship: A continuously evolving profession,” Abram (2015) made two statements that are at the core of my beliefs about library and information service: 1) “[w]hile technology gets most of the attention when change is discussed, it is changes in human behavior that are frequently the main thrust of change” (p. 41) and 2) “[i]nformation professionals are fundamentally about transforming lives” (p. 43). These statements emphasize the importance of valuing human needs over technology in our information spaces, something that I will strongly support and encourage in my future outreach work.
The valuing of human needs over technological developments is also evident in Carol Kuhlthau’s research on the information search process. In her 1991 article, “Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective,” Kuhlthau described the search for information as “a process of sense-making” (p. 361) that involves the “whole experience of the person, as well as thoughts and actions” (p. 362). She also wrote about the confusion that many people experience when searching for information. Her research is especially important to consider when helping people who have limited access to libraries, are unfamiliar with library databases, or are drowning in the current “information-overload” environment. I personally know what it feels like to be so overwhelmed by search results that you do not even know where to begin. Kuhlthau’s work will definitely inform how I approach reference interviews and other interactions with information seekers.
The vastness of librarians’ responsibilities and the diversity of library users’ needs make staying abreast of current research and thought both a challenge and an imperative. I remember being stunned at the beginning of the program when I learned about the range of functional areas within a librarian’s purview: reference, circulation, technology, instruction, programming, building administration, advocacy - and so much more. Clearly, no one person can be an expert in all of these areas, which is why library and information professionals must always be seeking opportunities to read each other's scholarship and to communicate ideas and best practices amongst themselves.
As an MLIS student, I was fortunate to study the works of and attend lectures by leading thinkers in the field of library and information studies. I took courses in which I evaluated and critiqued research by scholars on library history, technological change, information access, library management, and information literacy. I did projects that deepened my knowledge of and challenged my thinking about library service. Finally, I applied this knowledge in real life as a student researcher, an outreach volunteer, and a library blogger. The research activities I undertook as an MLIS student educated me about different library environments, deepened my understanding of information access barriers, and made me a more skilled information professional.
To excel in my future role as an outreach professional in marginalized and underserved communities, I will need to conduct thorough research on the resource needs, demographics, and historical backgrounds of the communities in my service area. Doing so will help me better understand and address the communities' needs, as well as any structural barriers that might make it difficult for those needs to be met. Additionally, I want to advance the practice of library outreach by communicating my research findings to other outreach professionals through conventional and non-traditional scholarly outlets. Being a student in the UNCG MLIS program has prepared me to take on and master the challenges entailed in conducting, applying, and communicating research.
Studying the Scholarly Map
My first MLIS class, Foundations of Library and Information Studies, exposed me to the writings of numerous library and information studies scholars. Three who had a strong influence on my thinking were Stephen Abram, Carol Kuhlthau, and Candace Mellon.
The ideas articulated by Stephen Abram in Information Services Today have been guiding principles throughout my time in the MLIS program. In the chapter “Librarianship: A continuously evolving profession,” Abram (2015) made two statements that are at the core of my beliefs about library and information service: 1) “[w]hile technology gets most of the attention when change is discussed, it is changes in human behavior that are frequently the main thrust of change” (p. 41) and 2) “[i]nformation professionals are fundamentally about transforming lives” (p. 43). These statements emphasize the importance of valuing human needs over technology in our information spaces, something that I will strongly support and encourage in my future outreach work.
The valuing of human needs over technological developments is also evident in Carol Kuhlthau’s research on the information search process. In her 1991 article, “Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective,” Kuhlthau described the search for information as “a process of sense-making” (p. 361) that involves the “whole experience of the person, as well as thoughts and actions” (p. 362). She also wrote about the confusion that many people experience when searching for information. Her research is especially important to consider when helping people who have limited access to libraries, are unfamiliar with library databases, or are drowning in the current “information-overload” environment. I personally know what it feels like to be so overwhelmed by search results that you do not even know where to begin. Kuhlthau’s work will definitely inform how I approach reference interviews and other interactions with information seekers.
Another older work that has tremendous contemporary significance is Constance Mellon’s 1986 article on library anxiety, which refers to the fear that students experience when they think that their library skills are substandard (p. 160). That the act of going to the library could bring on anxiety is something I had never even considered prior to beginning the MLIS program. I was very moved by Mellon’s observation that many students dread the thought of sounding ignorant when asking questions. This is something that all librarians need to be sensitive to in today’s information-heavy, public-shaming atmosphere. As an outreach professional, I will do all I can to counter library anxiety and ensure that the library is a non-intimidating place for all users.
One key takeaway from these scholars’ readings is that libraries are only as strong as their relationships with their users and their communities. I had the chance to put this thinking into practice while completing a community research assignment for Professor Michael Crumpton. For this assignment, I interviewed a staff member at a local nonprofit to determine how libraries could better serve the organization’s goals. While speaking with the staffer, I learned about challenges facing the organization’s student clients, and I told the staffer how librarians could assist the students with developing ideas for research papers. I look forward to having more of these types of partnership-building conversations in my career as a library and information professional.
Exploring the Thought Landscape
One thing Professor Crumpton stressed in that first class was the importance of professional networking. Attending professional conferences has helped me connect with experienced librarians in other parts of the country and stay up to date with current debates taking place in the library and information field. In my second year as an MLIS student, I attended the 2018 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Denver, Colorado. That conference featured a debate called “Are Libraries Neutral?”. While debaters on both sides defended their positions well, I was most moved by the arguments of “anti-neutrality” library scholars Emily Drabinski, Chris Bourg, and R. David Lankes. Bourg and Drabinski pointed out that library choices are replete with value judgements that make neutrality impossible, while Lankes called on librarians to advocate for their communities (“Are Libraries Neutral,” 2018). Having always been taught that libraries were neutral spaces, I had not known whether expressing my views on social justice would be considered “acceptable” in the library arena. After attending the neutrality debate, however, I became more comfortable sharing my views with classmates and professionals in the field.
At a prior Midwinter Meeting, I met retired bibliographer Al Kagan, who shared some of the history of ALA’s activism around international issues. That conversation was one of the motivating forces behind my decision to take Dr. Rebecca Miller’s international librarianship course in the summer of 2018. Dr. Miller encouraged us to question the cultural dominance of Western libraries and to identify our own biases and research approaches prior to beginning research projects. She made me aware of numerous thinkers with which I was not familiar, including South Africa-based library scholar Peter Lor, whose research situates librarianship within the broader field of international relations.
One key takeaway from these scholars’ readings is that libraries are only as strong as their relationships with their users and their communities. I had the chance to put this thinking into practice while completing a community research assignment for Professor Michael Crumpton. For this assignment, I interviewed a staff member at a local nonprofit to determine how libraries could better serve the organization’s goals. While speaking with the staffer, I learned about challenges facing the organization’s student clients, and I told the staffer how librarians could assist the students with developing ideas for research papers. I look forward to having more of these types of partnership-building conversations in my career as a library and information professional.
Exploring the Thought Landscape
One thing Professor Crumpton stressed in that first class was the importance of professional networking. Attending professional conferences has helped me connect with experienced librarians in other parts of the country and stay up to date with current debates taking place in the library and information field. In my second year as an MLIS student, I attended the 2018 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Denver, Colorado. That conference featured a debate called “Are Libraries Neutral?”. While debaters on both sides defended their positions well, I was most moved by the arguments of “anti-neutrality” library scholars Emily Drabinski, Chris Bourg, and R. David Lankes. Bourg and Drabinski pointed out that library choices are replete with value judgements that make neutrality impossible, while Lankes called on librarians to advocate for their communities (“Are Libraries Neutral,” 2018). Having always been taught that libraries were neutral spaces, I had not known whether expressing my views on social justice would be considered “acceptable” in the library arena. After attending the neutrality debate, however, I became more comfortable sharing my views with classmates and professionals in the field.
At a prior Midwinter Meeting, I met retired bibliographer Al Kagan, who shared some of the history of ALA’s activism around international issues. That conversation was one of the motivating forces behind my decision to take Dr. Rebecca Miller’s international librarianship course in the summer of 2018. Dr. Miller encouraged us to question the cultural dominance of Western libraries and to identify our own biases and research approaches prior to beginning research projects. She made me aware of numerous thinkers with which I was not familiar, including South Africa-based library scholar Peter Lor, whose research situates librarianship within the broader field of international relations.
My experiences at the conferences and in Dr. Miller’s class convinced me that librarians have a professional responsibility to advocate for marginalized library users and to think about the global implications of the work that we do. I applied this thinking in a real-world context by doing a year of library outreach service in a rural North Carolina community and by writing letters to senators in support of increased national funding for library services. Around the time I completed my volunteer service, I also did a comparative analysis of the library systems of Nigeria and Ghana. Applying lessons learned in Dr. Miller’s course and in Dr. Carmichael’s information sources and services class, I identified and evaluated over 100 research sources in order to write comprehensive library systems profiles of both countries. Reading the work of Nigerian and Ghanaian library, education, and political scholars helped me understand the barriers to library services in countries where hundreds of languages are spoken and where much information exchange is done orally. It also opened my eyes to the parallels between the problems faced by rural communities in the United States and those faced by similar communities abroad. Learning about library service issues in other countries has given me a better understanding of how to approach the library access challenges facing marginalized and underserved people in the United States.
Creating an Intellectual Space
In my last year of library school, I took Dr. LaTesha Velez’s information literacy class. The scholarly articles I studied in this class made me think deeply about how librarians teach students to assess and value information. One piece of writing that I found particularly thought provoking was the book chapter “The tyranny of tradition: How information paradigms limit librarians’ teaching and student scholarship,” by Carrie Donovan and Sara O’Donnell. These scholars urge librarians to challenge traditional ideas about authoritative scholarship and empower students to be not just researchers but authors in the scholarly space.
Inspired by Donovan and O’Donnell’s remarks on self-authorship and my own desire to make my voice heard, I decided to voice my thoughts on librarianship more publicly. I began posting more frequently to the student blog I had started in 2017. Drawing on the research I had read and my own personal experiences, I emphasized the ways that library and literacy work can contribute to social progress.
Around the same time, I started a research project on the information literacy strategies of incarcerated women for Dr. Velez’s class. This project was a podcast which included the insights of two formerly incarcerated women and a writing workshop facilitator. While doing the podcast, I became familiar with the prison advocacy work of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and the research of scholars Megan Sweeney, Tobi Jacobi, and Eleanor Novek. These writings revealed that much of what I see as essential for good library service – i.e., consistent access to information and no censorship – is something that prison librarians often cannot provide due to administrative restrictions. In my discussions with formerly incarcerated women, I learned how they support each other educationally and emotionally, in spite of substandard resources and challenging living conditions. The project transformed the way I thought about incarcerated women, information literacy, and library scholarship. It also showed me that I could convey research effectively in a non-written format. This project and my other research activities as an MLIS student have given me the confidence to forge my own path of scholarship in the field of library and information studies.
LEARNING ARTIFACTS
- Reflections on Information Services Today
- Comparative Study of Library Development and Practice in Ghana and Nigeria (Summary)
- Literature Review for Podcast on Information Literacy Strategies of Incarcerated Women
References
1. Abram, S. (2015). Librarianship: A continuously evolving profession. In S. Hirsh (Ed.),
Information services today, (41-52). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
2. Are libraries neutral? Highlights from the Midwinter President’s Program. (2018, June 1). Retrieved from https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/06/01/are-libraries-neutral/
3. Donovan, C., & O’Donnell, S. (2013). The tyranny of tradition: How information paradigms limit librarians’ teaching and student scholarship. In Information Literacy and Social Justice: Radical Professional Praxis (Vol. 121, No. 140, pp. 121-140). Litwin Books in association with GSE Research.
4. Hirsh, S. (2015). The transformative information landscape: What it means to be an information professional today. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today, (3-9). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
5. Kuhlthau, C. C. (1991). Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 361- 371. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1301244250?accountid=10598
6. Mellon, C. (1986). Library anxiety: A grounded theory and its development. College & Research Libraries, 47(2), 160-165. doi:10.5860/crl_47_02_160