Competency I
Use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users
Serving others is the basis of librarianship and being an information professional. The skills that we learn in the program boil down to understanding the fundamentals of information retrieval and sharing that knowledge with the public. Sharing knowledge is our purpose and developing new ways to better serve the public is tied into that as well. It is difficult for people to ask for help and as a profession we must continue developing service concepts so that the public and our colleagues are aware of our presence and not intimidated to ask for our help. Serving is fundamental for librarians and it is in the profession’s best interest to develop an image that presents itself contrary to the stereotype of a shushing librarian. Librarians must continue to develop professionally and explore new avenues in order to increase interaction with the public.
By studying, sharing, and emphasizing the principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals and groups of users we can be better prepared to lead our profession into the tumultuous future of changing technological paradigms. Service concepts entail tactics that make the librarian friendly and approachable and many libraries have experimented with different ways to engage the community. Some libraries enforce a particular style of dress, the concept of the roving librarian similar to a retail worker that approaches clients and questions if they have any questions. Facilitating information access is a complex subject that librarians must evaluate based on their audience. While the assumption is that librarians should be the figureheads of the library handing down prescriptions to every question that is sent to them the real emphasis is in assisting patrons to efficiently locate information for themselves. Sharing these techniques can take place in many different ways. Some libraries offer seminars based on common subjects and market them to the community so that a large group can benefit from the shared knowledge of the librarian. One example would be a seminar on introducing newer computer dynamics for senior citizens. Librarians must always strive for relevance and accuracy as understanding the audience that the community serves is essential to providing information services that will benefit the community.
In my professional experience I have been able to put together the service concepts in order to serve groups and individuals in assisting them in their informational needs. During my time working as an Academic Advisor most of the work consisted of assisting students with class scheduling and explaining University policy. However, to better assist my students I had to assist them in many other ways based on their informational needs and differing backgrounds. During the time working all of my work was conducted through email and telephone calls. I developed an excellent phone manner and tried to differentiate myself from other advisors because I would always pick up my phone and spend as much time on the phone that the student required. On the individual basis I was able to assist students in conducting searches through various databases that the school subscribed to such as Proquest. My information retrieval techniques I learned from LIBR 202 came in handy when I routinely had to explain Boolean operators for more efficient searching. These service techniques directly assisted me in managing my student population. By providing a high level of individuated service I managed to significantly reduce the amount of weekly incoming calls. More questions answered for students allowed the call volume to decrease and voice mails were nearly non-existent. Through this success I was able to share these service concepts with my department and promote them at our weekly meetings. My manager was impressed and did see that those advisors that successfully implemented the tasks saw similar declines in the amount of calls they received.
In LIBR 210 reference librarianship I learned about how service concepts could be implemented in different ways. The role of the roving librarian illustrates that we must seek out and engage our communities based on criteria that is relevant to their informational goals. Different groups will have different concerns and levels of understanding of information literacy. In that manner it is important to approach the public in a way that suits their ability and inclination. Libraries have offered telephone service for quite some time and continue to expand in many different mediums. SMS, instant messaging, presence in virtual worlds like Second Life, and other mediums. Another great way to facilitate information access is to target communities within the library that are seeking similar information with a pathfinder. In LIBR 210 I had the opportunity to create a pathfinder for a community of dog lovers. I consulted several dog owners that I knew and asked about topics they would want to know and compiled what I could find at the closest public library.
I have been able to transfer these skills in serving others based on their informational needs, conducting reference interviews, suggesting relevant and accurate information sources based on the needs of the patron or group. Understanding the needs and requests of others is not solely the domain of the librarian. In every industry we may be faced with colleagues requesting more follow-up on a particular subject and it is important to understand the implications of the request and to suggest a proper answer based on the needs and scope of the request of the individual. My time at SJSU SLIS has benefitted me with excellent research skills but I understand that moderating the message based on my audience is still a requirement. It would be silly to recommend an article or search service that is located behind a pay wall or requires an institutional subscription. As librarians we must be prepared to provide levels of different service so that our patron or the group is satisfied that their query has been answered effectively and at the level of price and conciseness they are able to bear.