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"Knows and demonstrates service concepts, principles
and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users.
Can retrieve, evaluate
and synthesize information from diverse sources for use by individuals or groups.
Can interact with individuals or groups of users
to provide consultation, mediation or guidance in their use of information resources.
Can recognize and respond to diversity in user
needs and preferences for resources and services.
Can relate assessments of emerging or chronic situations, circumstances or
conditions to the design and implementation of appropriate service and rresource responses."1
Each course
in some way related to and discussed service. Whether creating a collection of particular books in the "Collection Development"
course, to providing digital materials in the "Digital Libraries" course, knowledge dissemination was stressed in the following
four courses.
ILS504 Reference
and Information Resources and Services with Dr. Elsie
Okobi
Dr. Okobi taught us the importance of
"service". Our first assignment was to analyze and evaluate
the service of two reference librarians at two libraries of our choice. We were to ask them a question and see how they handled
the reference interview and compare the two librarians. We also evaluated an online reference service.
We were taught to "interact with
individuals ...to provide consultation and guidance in their use of information resources". We discussed at length the reference interview, how to pose questions and how to get at the heart
of what a patron is looking for to better target the information retrieved.
One ongoing assignment taught us to "retrieve, evaluate and synthesize information from diverse sources". We were given words, subjects, people's names
and we had to look through various reference books to find the answers. These assignments made me cognizant of the wide variety
of reference materials and how hard a reference librarian must work to find the information a patron seeks. If nothing else
it provided me with a new appreciation for the role of the reference librarian.
ILS514 Materials and Services for Adults with Dr. Elsie Okobi
Dr. Okobi addressed the issue of "recognizing
and responding to diversity in user needs and preferences for resources and services" in the adult services course especially. We learned about the different types of libraries and the diverse populations
that they serve. We had to pick a city and find the demographic information about the people who live in the area and who
are potential library patrons and what types of information they might need and how to present the information to best effect.
Non-English speakers would need different information from those who speak the language. A large group of unemployed patrons
would need different information from those who are employed, etc. We had to conduct an interview with a librarian who specializes
in a particular field. I chose a business and career librarian to interview.
"Can relate assessments of emerging or chronic situations, circumstances
or conditions to the design and implementation of appropriate service and rresource responses."1
Our semester project made us aware of the circumstances
of a library and we had to implement an appropriate service. I chose New Haven and a service of information delivery for the
homebound. The same principles could apply to college students and faculty who prefer to do their work online or merely in
their dorm or office.
ILS560 College and University Libraries with Dr. James Kusack "Can interact with individuals or groups
of users to provide consultation, mediation or guidance in their use of information resources."1
In this class we looked at different possibilities
of service and interaction with students and faculty. A pilot project at Yale School of Nursing was introduced where each
student is provided with a name of a reference librarian and works with that one librarian for the entire time until graduation.
We also liked the idea of using social networks for contacting students and providing information. Many librarians and libraries
have a presence on "Facebook" and "Second Life". We also discussed how to use librarian liaisons to benefit faculty departments.
ILS600 Independent Study with Dr. Yan Quan Liu
"Can recognize and respond to diversity in user needs and preferences for resources and services."1
The work I did in the Independent study helped me see the diverse needs of an urban population. Although the study
gauged peoples use of digital resources there was a wide range of resources people used and of types of information they were
looking for. Considering that patrons were multi-lingual, of different educational backgrounds with varied incomes we came
to realize that a librarian must have a good understanding of the people who use the library and its resources to be able
to offer effective information retrieval for each very different patron. For this project we added questionnaires in Chinese
and Spanish to allow more patrons to take part in the study.
1 American
Library Association. (2005) Appendix A: Draft Core Competencies, July 2005. Retrieved April 19, 2009, from: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/accreditation/prp/DraftCoreCompetencie.pdf
Core Competencies
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