Improving Our Communities: Grad School Should Teach Social Services

If you've been to a public library in most larger (or urban) places, you've likely seen that these libraries do more than house books. Public libraries are often places where people come to connect to the Internet, check their email, or fill out job applications. Libraries are also places where people cast their election ballots or pick up IRS forms. These services are provided by libraries because they benefit the patrons or the community.

Libraries are more than places to find books. Libraries are community-driven social services and civic centers. And I'm concerned that some information/library science graduates aren't being prepared adequately to meet this need.

Some libraries have made news in recent years for providing even more progressive social services. Take the San Francisco Public Library -- they hired the first-ever full-time library social worker in 2009. Other libraries have followed suit: Denver, San Jose, Dallas, and more. Libraries, especially urban ones, have a segment of homeless or home-insecure patrons who visit the library for shelter and to access resources they need (job applications, email, Internet access to social services, etc). Library staff educated through traditional information/library science programs learn how to catalog, develop collections, and organize information. They're not explicitly taught, however, how to provide social support for those who especially need it.

People go to public libraries for a wide range of reasons, including taking advantage of the programming offered by libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) released a report in April 2014 on the state of public libraries. The report basically said that people visit public libraries to use the Internet, apply for jobs, and locate social services. Librarians at public libraries today likely deal more with social services than reference requests. To me, it's just the nature of the paradigm shift. But we need to make sure our future librarians are prepared to offer these social services.

So here's a disclaimer: My undergraduate background is in Sociology (B.A., 2005) and Urban Policy Studies (B.S., 2007; dual degree). I am probably predisposed to analyze the social aspects of urban public libraries than those without this type of background. I'll admit that. However, my background has also likely given me more insight into the issues surrounding public libraries as social services centers. All that said, if I were a graduate student in an information science program with the intent to go onto to public librarianship (heck, even academic or school librarianship!), I would really, really want to have some coverage of delivering social services.

A course (or possibly two!) would be exponentially beneficial for all information science students (disclaimer: I am a loud proponent of mandating everyone having at least 3 sociology courses in their school career: 1) sexuality and society; 2) families and society; and 3) something related to social norms/mores and social construction. I learned the most about how to be a compassionate, empathetic individual from these three courses and I still apply that education in my daily life!). Back to info science grad school, though. Courses should be provided on how society functions as well as explaining the why behind issues such as homelessness. Info science programs with this insight would produce more well-rounded, prepared librarians. When people are more understanding and sympathetic to another's circumstances, they can provide better customer service. And that's really what it all boils down to: improving our communities by providing better information and social services.

Anyway, this post turned more into a bit of a rant at the end than I intended :)

DONE. Where's the fork!?

Call me Steak because I am so done with my masters degree! Received my final grades on Tuesday -- two As :) For anyone who cares, my GPA was 3.93. Pretty proud of that considering all that I've had going on while also pursuing a masters degree.

I was going to attend the commencement/hooding ceremony this past weekend, but waited too late to book a hotel room. All of the hotels around Knoxville were booked solid. Since I didn't have strong feelings about attending, I decided to forego that pomp and circumstance. Honestly, dodged a big ol' stress bullet by not attending anyway.

As it stands now, I am an official graduate. I can call myself a librarian, if I want. I'm not sure other people would call me a librarian (there seems to be some snarkiness and prejudice against those who don't work in a traditional brick-and-mortar library and that's a shame). I call myself a librarian, though! Just because I don't have the Dewey system memorized or have to deal with porn watchers doesn't mean I don't manage information! And isn't that what it's all about? Managing information and access to such?

Here's how I spent my "graduation day":

Snugglin my son at celebratory Buffalo Wild Wings dinner :3 (If it's difficult to read, my shirt in that photo says "library schooled" haha)

What's next on my professional horizon? Working through my catalog plan, developing some social media content policies, and finalizing (I hope!) a few projects this year. It's a brave new world for this solo embedded librarian!

{Work Project} Small Library Catalog

I work for a small agency that helps county governments do their thing. We provide technical assistance in a wide variety of topics like finance, law, environmental, and law enforcement (among others). My specific job includes managing our small physical library as well as our electronic resources and publications. Years ago, my agency published several print manuals that covered many topics. Today, all of that information has been converted into a Drupal site and is maintained electronically. We have the capability to print out an updated version of those manuals, but we no longer go through the lengthy publication process. Converting to Drupal has streamlined our publication process.

However, the physical library is in poor shape. My agency last had an actual librarian over a decade ago. I am stepping into those shoes and trying to bring the physical library into a modern version of itself. Hence a project I hope to complete later this year: An online catalog!

Since we don't need a true OPAC or access to OCLC records, I am planning on using LibraryThing for our catalog needs. Why? Mainly because it's already online. It also allows for relatively easy data entry (and retrieval for some of our materials like the Tennessee Code Annotated, believe it or not). I am hoping that using LibraryThing will allow me to get the catalog up and running in a relatively short amount of time, but also offer the opportunity to expand as needed.

My basic (for now) plan entails:

• Determine cataloging needs: metadata fields to be used, catalog size (rough estimate), operational/functional needs (how will people access it)


• Explore LibraryThing and document aspects to be utilized in agency catalog


• Develop and draft crosswalk between identified metadata fields of existing materials and fields available in LibraryThing


• Document all of this process ;)

My current target date for taking the catalog live is around the end of the year. I would really like to get the meat of the fields sorted and decided by the end of summer. I currently have a hot project I'm trying to finish by the end of summer, so hopefully I will get that one done and can move on to this catalog.

I will probably (read: please remind me) post my documentation or at least some lessons learned from this catalog project to this blog, so keep checking back to stay updated on the ongoing saga project.

Book Rut

Now that school is done and I have a ton of free time I should be able to dive into more books, right? There are so many that I want to read, but I've been having trouble deciding which one to start. I've started three different books, but can't get focused on one. I'm not quite sure what is going on... stressing about the lack of stress I have? That's just weird, brain. Cut it out!

I hope to get back in my book-reading groove soon! I am only 4 books away from completing my Goodreads Reading Challenge. I know 10 books seems wimpy, but it's the first challenge I've done and it's been awhile since I was able to actually read a book (It took me over a year to finish A Dance with Dragons mostly because of the baby and all that). I wanted to start this challenge with a reasonable amount of books. Maybe next year I can read more. And more. And more...

It's {almost} Over!

Today is the last day of my masters degree journey. It will end with a 5-minute presentation on my final project (http://sisdrupal.cci.utk.edu/egosset1). I do have a couple of other things to do for that particular class (commenting on other students' websites, writing a lessons learned type review). As of Saturday, I will be completely finished! 

Way back in 2011, I found out that The University of Tennessee offers an online, distance education program for Information Science. I read about InfoSci and the program and realized, "HEY This is the kind of stuff I like to do and I'm good at it!" I applied and was admitted to the program in Fall 2012. Since I work full time, I have only been able to take 2 classes at a time (Let's not remember Spring 2013 when I took 3 classes okay? That was HORRIBLE). And then I got pregnant. So add dealing with all the pregnancy stuff that went with his birth and being a first-time mother with a fragile, premature newborn. While still working half-time and taking 2 classes a semester. 

Cue reaction gif here:

But now the worst is over and all I need to do is finish up these last couple of assignments and wait for my diploma to be mailed to me.

I've also added the other final project website to this blog and linked to it on my Grad School Work page. I've added that site's pages here because I will be losing access to it some time after graduation and I kinda want to keep it since I worked on it for a few months. Plus, you never know when you'll need to cannibalize your previous work, right?

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead to no more school ever again! 

 

(Yep, I sure did just link to a *gasp* Wikipedia page. ;P)

I'm still here!

Just a quick note: I'm still here! I'm right at the end of my very last semester and things are a bit hectic for me. I've got a few more assignments to finish up over the next two weeks and all of my energies are being poured into them. After the semester is over, however, I will be adding a couple of books reviews (since I've now finished two books and reading another). 

One small update: I've decided to not attend my hooding ceremony. Simple reasons: husband just got a new job and so time off for him is a bit iffy. Also, there are ZERO hotels available. I waited too long to book the hotel. UT has the university-wide graduation (mainly for undergraduates) on Thursday, May 7. Then on Friday, May 8, there is the College of Communications graduation ceremony in the morning and my School of Information Sciences hooding ceremony in the afternoon. Three graduation ceremonies in two days = no hotels within a 15-mile radius of Knoxville. I wasn't really strongly convicted on attending anyway. I'd rather save myself some stress of traveling and stay home to RELAX. Plus, the real icing on the "yay masters degree" cake is the actual degree, professionally framed. I have the frame choice selected and I cannot wait to hang it in my office.

Of course, all of this depends on my passing the comprehensive exam! I think I will, but my anxiety has me second-guessing myself. I'll find out Friday. 

The Waiting Game Begins

Yesterday, I took my comprehensive exam in Knoxville at the school. Since I've been sick and coughing my head off, I emailed the exam committee chair earlier this week to see if there was anything that could be done so I wouldn't be sitting in a room full of my stressed out classmates and coughing during the exam. Thankfully, I was allowed to take my exam by myself (with a proctor, of course). And I still coughed my head off -- probably about 20 minutes of straight coughing. It was rough for me, but the proctor didn't even flinch. I was grateful for that. 

The exam itself consisted of three sections of two essay questions each. I had to pick one question from each section and answer it. I had been really nervous about the test because even though I've learned a ton during this program, I still wasn't confident in my ability to answer the questions. I was afraid I'd blank and forget everything I learned. 

Thankfully that did not happen. 

I chose questions that asked about a specific theory I've learned and how I would/could apply it to an information setting of my choice. Naturally, I chose my current work situation (but I referenced it in a vague way so as to not give away myself to the review committee. I felt if I named my agency or gave specifics about my work, someone might recognize it and therefore compromise the anonymity needed for them to objectively grade my work) and Buckland's "information-as-thing" theory. I enjoyed writing that answer, truly. 

The second question I chose asked about the digital divide -- which is the gap related to accessing information. Some groups experience barriers to accessing information due to discrimination (i.e., libraries instituting policies that directly ban things like having extraordinarily strong body odor, which prevents certain homeless individuals from using public libraries). Some individuals also may lack the needed skills to find information they need -- they lack information literacy. This question was also fun to answer and I am pretty confident in my answer.

The third question asked about how controlled vocabularies and user-generated content such as tagging (e.g., Delicious bookmarks) can (or possibly not) work together. It's interesting to think about how tagging could enrich metadata records if catalogers would add fields for user-generated tags. I don't think controlled vocabularies and tagging need to exist in a mutually exclusive manner. 

Anyway, I only need to earn a "pass" from each of the reviewers in order to pass the exam. And if I pass, then I get to graduate! I think I did well enough to earn a pass, but I won't find out my result until around April 17th, when the results are due to the Graduate School. Although getting through the test itself has reduced my stress level a whole lot, I will still be anxious as I wait for my result and then still until I get through the hooding ceremony. It's just how I am.