e-Portfolio Home :: Competencies :: Vlasta Home

competency A

competency B

competency C

competency D

competency E

competency F

competency G

competency H

competency I

competency J

competency K

competency L

competency M

competency N

Statement of Competency B

In which I discuss different environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice.

---

... for all the attention even the most observant of us pays to useful things, we all but ignore the infrastructrue upon which they rest.
(Petroski, 1999, p. 7)

Before enrolling in the SJSU SLIS program, I was quite familiar with public and academic libraries. I knew that many large companies had internal libraries, but never really thought about them as libraries. I was aware of archives, from readings in history, but oddly enough, I never had the opportunity to enter one. Once, I inquired about a book in the Special Collections of George Washington University library in Washington, D.C. It was like walking into a fairytale – through seven hallways, up the seven stairways, behind seven doors, there was an enchanted room where nice old lady guarding access to a locked treasure. This is not necessarily the image an American would come up with, but I grew up in Europe where many special collections and museums are housed in old castles or medieval buildings, and the aura of mystery and history (as well as smell of mustiness) is part of the setting.

My first semester at the program was one big wake-up call from the fairytale. One of my first assignments in the Information and Society class, and the EVIDENCE 1 to this competency, was a paper that explored and compared different types of libraries. Writing it, I really did not discover something completely new and unknown, but rather I become aware of varied environments and missions that defined the structure, funding and collection policies of different libraries that I had encountered.

My elementary school had a small library where I read every Tarzan, Dr. Doolittle and Winnetou book. I never though about it as being there to support school curriculum and the informational needs of school children. I am sure that if I walked in that library today, it would be full of computers with the Internet connections, various media educational tools and equipment. And that the librarian would not be simply one of the teachers, but professional librarian with special credentials for work with school children. Thirty five years ago, it was just a room, filled wall-to-wall with books.

The research institute, in which I worked after high school, had its own special library and librarian. The institute was a kind of think-tank for work place democracy issues and the focus of the library collections was in sociological research and economics. I wish I paid more attention to complaints of the librarian about computers, database and issues of cataloging. However, in the process of writing the assignment I realized that many companies, hospitals and law offices have their own libraries, with a similarly narrow focus. According to the salary data available in library journals, positions in special libraries are the best paid librarian positions. These libraries do not belong to a formal library system and librarians working there often work alone, but they have very active professional association (Special Libraries Association).

The university libraries are usually best known for their host institutions. Their primary mission is to support the curriculum of the university and collection focus can vary, but they are always very scholarly oriented with extensive journal and database collections. The special collections of rare and unique books, as well as university archives are also usually bundled up with the university library. In Europe, particularly countries with a University rather than College system, the academic libraries often function as national depository libraries.

Of all libraries, the history and organizational settings of public libraries was probably the most interesting thing to research. Although I volunteered in Fairfax City Public Library, because of my knowledge of bookbinding and photography, I was mostly secluded in the local history room mending books and organizing photograph collection. As I was researching the history of the Riverside City Public Library for the History of Books and Libraries course, I discovered the complex ways American and, in some part, European public libraries come into being. Used to the top-down and centralized approach of public services very common in continental Europe, it was interesting to explore the bottom-up ways of developing of local libraries in the United States.

The history of the Riverside City Public Library, my EVIDENCE 2 for this competency, is probably more characteristic for development of libraries west of Mississippi than some general example. However, the library history is typical enough to show that even in the 19th century; no town in America was too isolated not to be effected by general trends and developments in the rest of the United States. Local businessmen in the Riverside organized a subscription library almost at the same time when this form or book clubs were popular in the rest of the United States. The first librarian of the association was a drugstore owner, and the book collection was housed at the back of his store. By 1888, city decided to levy a tax and support the free library and professional librarian with its proceeds. By 1910, the library was so successful that, for a while, it ran its own librarianship educational program. The Riverside City Public Library was also one of libraries across the America that received a grant from Andrew Carnegie (see also Carnegie Libraries of California) .

Unfortunately, this rich history and tradition of the city library strongly affected the development and relationship with the Riverside County Public Library System, which was established in 1909 following the California county library act. As Baker (1998), head of Riverside City Public library and writer of library’s centennial history, explains in his article in Library Journal, because of a number of political and economic reasons, mostly local in the nature, the county library system was effectively run by the city library administration. This arrangement was never particularly happy and eventually Riverside county and city split their library systems in 1996. The management of the county library system was also one of the first to be outsourced to a private library management company (Library Systems and Services Inc.). The jury is still out on the judgment if this move is good or bad for the public library system. Baker (1998) predicts that “larger, more solvent cities will have real public libraries, while unincorporated areas and poorer, smaller towns will be left with outsourced reading rooms, a patina of electronic connectivity, and a minimum of value-added librarianship” (p. 37).

The inherent weaknesses of the non-profit and tax-supported model, combined with the emergence of the Internet and the new ways in which people create, access and disseminate the information, creates strong pressure on public libraries to redefine their mission in the new technological environment and social setting.

Reference:

Baker, R. J. (1998). Outsourcing in Riverside County: anomaly, not prophecy. Library Journal, 123(5), 34-37.

Petroski, H. (1999). The Book on the bookshelf. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.