Program Learning Outcome 2: Understand, engage, and serve users and their communities.
To me, this PLO is about how it is the duty of the library/librarian to go into their communities, talk to its members, and take every measure to assure that they are meeting the actual (not perceived) needs of the community. While it will never be possible to meet the needs of every single community member, it is crucial to consider the needs of all groups, particularly the most marginalized, when planning services, resources, and facilities needed by the community.
2.1 Assess the needs and goals of users and communities.
What are the needs of a community, as stated by that community? As a librarian, I can not assume that I will know what is best for a certain community without finding out from the members themselves. If a librarian is not out on the ground doing outreach, talking to prominent and respected community members, and giving the authority over to community members in service of performing a needs assessment, they will not understand the needs of that community and its users.
In IST 613: Library Planning, Marketing and Assessment, I worked on a project with the director of Inclusive Services (IS) at the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), Carrie Banks. Through community surveys, staff meetings with IS, program statistics, and speaking with members of the community, it was determined that there was a community need for IS programming for teens and young adults with developmental disabilities. Listening to the specific needs of this community allowed me (with the help of IS) to attempt to fill that gap by generating a program called “Virtual Graphic Novel Book Club,” targeting teens with and without disabilities through the use of hi-low graphic novels.
2.2 Engage diverse users and communities with empathy and cultural competence
I have gained a lot of experience engaging diverse users and communities by working at BPL. My partner librarian project afforded me the opportunity to be a contract employee with IS. I run two programs at several branches of BPL; one targeted to 0-5 year-olds with (and without) disabilities, and one targeted to 6-12 year olds. Because the needs of this particular branch are markedly different from those of other branches, I have had to adjust my programs in various ways to accommodate this. Even within the seemingly-specific community of young developmentally disabled patrons in Brooklyn, there are differing needs in each neighborhood. For example, in one of the libraries I work at, having an after-school program that begins at 4:30PM does not work. Through trial and error, and through speaking with parents and caregivers, I adjusted my program–it is now more of a “drop-in” format and it begins at 4PM. This would not work at all in another one of my branches, despite the program description being exactly the same. I have learned that even when I am not sure about how to address a community need, leading with empathy usually clarifies my confusion.
2.3 Elicit the voices of, advocate for, and collaborate with users as community partners in the provision of information resources and services.
As the parent of a child with a developmental disability requiring a lot of support, making sure the voices of the users and community that is being served is hugely important to me. I am a champion of the adage “nothing about them without them,” and hope to bring this spirit into my practice. In developing the “Virtual Graphic Novel Book Club” program with IS at BPL, I researched the needs of the teen and YA patrons that would be targeted by the program, primarily attempting to find out why they were not already using library services. In generating a new program for this community of users, I attempted to address each reason cited. For example, the teens surveyed place a high value in having agency over their own space; because of this, we made the program virtual rather than in-library. Services and resources for a community will fail if the community’s Own Voices are not heard.
2.4 Provide equitable, just, and culturally responsive services and resources.
Providing equitable resources and services for a community does not mean that their needs will be the exact same as another community’s; each experience must be tailored address the issues facing each population. In IST 672: Public Library as Institution, I performed an analysis on an issue facing a specific community–a library in a town with an alarmingly high level of underage substance abuse. I posited ways in which the community’s public library is well situated to address the issue, and while, as a library student, I was clearly not expected to solve one town’s rampant teenage drinking and drug abuse problem, this assignment required me to think about responsive services and resources based on the demographic and social population information about that specific town.
2.5 Use educational theory, instructional design, and assessment to develop, implement, and evaluate education, training, and programming for a variety of user audiences.
I strongly believe in the importance of having a framework of educational theory and instructional design on which to base instruction. I consider myself a student of Pablo Freire’s philosophy of education and attempt to lead with empathy in all my instruction. To me, having this educational theory as a bedrock will ground me when trying to develop education, training, services, and programming of any kind.
In IST 662: Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals, I was required to develop a teaching portfolio which included an instructional philosophy and two detailed lesson plans. Each lesson plan was anotated with the teaching philosophy or instructional strategy used in each section. Using assessment techniques I had learned in this class (and others), I adapted each lesson plan for a variety of student abilities, and included plans for supports and adaptive resources for students who may need them.
Every class in this program has reiterated the importance of community understanding and engagement. For me, it is best summed up by a phrase often repeated by one of my professors, Dr. Beth Patin: “nothing about us without us.” Leading with empathy means knowing that no one will understand the issues faced by a specific community better than that community themselves. Trusting a community to know their own needs and advocate for themselves has taught me to think more creatively in terms of filling those need gaps.