Competencies

Competency 2: Institutions

Photo credit: J. Davis, 5 Oct 2009

Portola Valley (CA) library exterior

COMPETENCY STATEMENT

Each graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science program is able to…

…describe and compare the organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice

Page Contents

IMPORTANCE OF THE COMPETENCY TO ME

This competency is meant to give library and information science (LIS) students an opportunity to learn about different types of environments in which someone with a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) can work. While I plan to use my degree to do data curation in a data geoscience archive, I have spent time researching both libraries and data archives in order to understand how the original information professionals, librarians, do their jobs, and to watch information management in action.

In "Reference and Information Services" (LIBR210) and "Resources and Information Services in the Disciplines and Professions" (LIBR220) classes, I got the chance to study libraries and data centers in more depth than the ordinary patron, both in person and online. I made visits to my local libraries for assignments: libraries in the San Mateo County Library (CA) system–Foster City Library, Portola Valley Library, and Woodside Library; and libraries in the Peninsula Library System (CA)–Burlingame Public Library (Main), San Bruno Public Library, South San Francisco Public Library, and Daly City Public Library branches. I visited and interviewed the librarian at the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, and I visited the main San Francisco Public Library branch. I went to the 2009 American Library Association (ALA) conference and listened to information professionals discussing their work, and I attended the 2012 American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference and attended presentations of dataset management in the geosciences.

In addition, I am a fan of libraries, and during my stint at SJSU I have also visited the Boston Public Library, the Mary Baker Eddy Library (Boston, MA) with its Mapparium, the San Francisco State University (SFSU) J. Paul Leonard Library, the Gulf Gate Library (Sarasota, FL), and the main branch of the Marion County Public Library System (Ocala, FL). At most of these libraries, I talked to the librarians working there about their organizations. I had one especially memorable and bittersweet conversation with a librarian, whose name I have forgotten, at the SFSU library about her library's decision to purge physical books and journals to open more space for computer stations, moving most of their journal subscriptions to electronic ones.

I have worked at a NASA data center (Goddard's Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center), testing software designed to archive and retrieve data beamed back from the Moderate Resolution Imagine Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the Terra satellite, and I learned about the issues of storage, preservation, backup, and serving data to customers, both raw and processed to various levels. I currently work at a small biotech company, Cytobank, that helps biologists store, share, and retrieve their flow cytometry experiments. Scientsts are using Cytobank as an adjunct to published journal papers to show how they processed and interpreted their data, allowing other scientists insight into their findings and the opportunity to make their own decisions about the meaning of the datasets.

Having worked at science and technology centers for 35 years, since I was 14, I have seen the organization and management styles of many different types of groups. There are challenges that are common to any work environment, but I have found that in libraries and data centers, there is a sense of purpose, a respect for the information being handled, that is inspiring.
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WHAT WORK PREPARED ME TO UNDERSTAND AND PERFORM THIS COMPETENCY?

"Information Management" (LIBR204) and "Reference and Information Services" (LIBR210) both provided instruction about what it would be like to work in a library. I got to do my deepest investigation into the inner workings of various information centers in "Resources and Information Services in the Disciplines and Professions" (LIBR220) which I took twice, once with a maps/geographic information systems (GIS) focus, and once with a science and technology focus. It is from these classes that I draw my evidence. There is a review of the library-archive at San Francisco International (SFO) airport where I interviewed the reference librarian and got a feel for working in a special library. Next I present an evaluation of the online services available at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) library, along with analysis of the reference service informed by the reference librarian shadowing done in LIBR210 (and used as evidence in Competency 1). I also present an interview with an archivist at NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), which gives insight into some of the differences between being a librarian and an archivist. Finally I include an analytical report of a local public library that I evaluated while on vacation, using standards learned in LIBR200, LIBR204, and LIBR210.

All of these papers illustrate insight I have gained, in this program, as to how information centers operate and what working in them can be like.
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EVIDENCE

Review of San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum

In "Resources and Information Services in the Disciplines and Professions–Topic: Maps and Geographic Information Systems" (LIBR220), I was asked to interview a map librarian and get an idea of their job duties and the feel of their workplace. I chose the library and archive at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which is especially interesting to me because my home is very nearby in the westward takeoff flight path (which is something I consider to be an advantage; it's marvelous to see planes all day and night!). The library/archive is a serene space in the heart of the chaos of the international terminal, and its architecture is grand and soaring, providing a quiet place to contemplate the nobler aspects of aviation. The librarian was relatively new at the job and enthusiastic, and she showed me many interesting artifacts in their collection. The position is more of an archivist than a reference librarian, providing artifacts to people like fiction writers rather than maps to be used by patrons looking for coordinates.

The library/archive itself is relatively new; when I made my visit in 2010, its online presence was nascent (and is professional but still not terribly interactive in 2015). I had the impression of a work environment that is relatively low-key, with few political debates about how to run the organization or the collection. That is probably simply the impression of an outsider from a one or two hour interview; all organizations have their politics. The collection itself is fascinating; I was especially taken with an exhibit up at the time about "covers",  or  envelopes  commemorating  first  flights, as mentioned in my paper. I hope to return as a patron to browse the books and artifacts, and if I do not end up being a data curator, I could see myself happily enjoying a career as a librarian in this type of environment.

Review of Goddard Library Repository reference library services

One assignment in "Resources and Information Services in the Disciplines and Professions–Topic: Science and Technology" (LIBR220) was to explore a science and technology-oriented library online. I chose the library at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in part because I used to work at the center. While the online resources are limited for patrons outside the center–it is a government library whose purpose is to help scientists doing research for the government at GSFC–the librarians proved extremely open to helping someone outside their user base. In my paper, I discuss receiving swift and thorough answers to questions about American satellite programs in the 1970s and 1980s and about general resources for a science and technology-oriented LIS student. This glimpse into a government library shows an organizational philosophy similar to that of government scientists that I have known, which is that the work they are doing is to provide a benefit to the public; there was no boundary-drawing as to who was and was not a patron worthy of help. One of my goals as a data curator is to embrace this same philosophy and do my best to help patrons, regardless of their origin, gain access to the datasets they need to do their research.

Interview with an archivist at Ames Research Library

An interview with a graduated iSchool student with whom I had worked in a group in a previous class provided not only an opportunity to reconnect but also another look into a different NASA information organization. The group the graduate works for, the Life Science Data Archive at NASA Ames Research Center, is not open to the public, so the patrons are exclusively NASA employees and contractors. This interview offered a bit more insight into the differences between a librarian and an archivist–a line which was blurred in the interview with the SFO library/archive professional (see first piece of evidence). Archivists work more with the archive under their domain than the outside references sometimes used by a reference librarian. The NASA archivist also explained that preservation of materials comes before the needs of patrons, which is an interesting twist on the usual viewpoint of a librarian, who predominantly hopes that the materials under their care are used by patrons. Because this interview subject received an MLIS, the graduate was going back to obtain an archivist certificate, as the focus is that specialized.

I anticipate that work as a data curator will be closer to that of a librarian, where preservation will be balanced with patron need for use. This is perhaps less of a juggling act when the items under care are electronic datasets; the users will rarely come into contact with the physical manifestations of the information, which will be stored "behind the scenes" in data centers and simply downloaded or sent on separate physical media to the users.

 Review of Sarasota (FL) Public Library, Gulf Gate branch

I enjoyed visiting libraries so much that when I was on vacation in Siesta Key, Florida, I decided to make another evaluation visit, similar to those I made in "Information Organizations and Management" (LIBR204), to the Sarasota Public Library without any actual assignment to do so. I picked a research question that was relevant to the beach my family has visited my whole life; Crescent Beach, in Siesta Key, has unusually white sand whose color is purported to be due to being primarily composed of quartz grains. I found hints of a Harvard report on this online but could not get to the report, so I took that question to the library. I evaluated the library the way I had been taught in my first reference services class: how easy is it to find, how good are the signs for helping patrons find their way around, how effective are the marketing materials, and what sort of service do the reference librarians provide? Having all these things in mind, and having been to some very fine libraries by then, such as the Boston Public Library and the San Francisco main branch, I was perhaps a bit enthusiastic in my critique. While the concerns in my unsolicited report were legitimate, they clearly did not hamper the patrons too much, as the library was quite busy.

I thought that I had posted the review in the "coffee break" style discussion room for the class I was in at the time (LIBR220), but I cannot find a copy in my downloads of one of the iSchool's previous learning environments that vanished while I worked on my degree, Desire2Learn. Instead I am providing the draft that I wrote. I was about halfway through my classes at this point, and if I had any questions as to whether I had picked the correct degree, I answered them for myself by repeating a library review assignment just for fun. In fact, I expect to continue to do this on an informal basis throughout my life, visiting libraries as I travel and having a question pertinent to the locale ready for the reference librarian.

Re-reading this review also reminds me that in my evaluation of information organizations over my time at iSchool, I feel I am not suited to work in a public library. The constant interrupt-driven customer service requirements and face-to-face interactions are not compatible with my social anxiety. Work at a data center, with online interactions with most of my patrons, will be a better fit.
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CONCLUSION

I love libraries, and I will always love visiting and using libraries. It has been a pleasure to see more of them up-close. A data center, however, is more suited to my personal work preferences and my career goals. Learning more about how they operate and what resources they draw upon has given me much reference material to help me do my job in one as a data curator, both actual references in terms of information resources and also ideas of best practices for making data centers the best they can be.
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REFERENCES

Davis, J. L. (2009, October 5). Entrance to Portola Library, Portola, California. [Digital photograph].

Last updated: Friday, April 17, 2015

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