“Describe and compare different organizational settings in which information professionals practice.”
Introduction
Storing and retrieving information is essential to any organization, but some types of organizations focus on information as a key aspect of their mission. These include libraries, archives, and museums. Each of these can come in different forms. They may be public or privately funded, and they may focus on different kinds of information materials. Sometimes they are part of a larger organization, like a school, city, or federal government. The mission and intended audience determine the kinds of information and services the organization provides.
Public Libraries
Public libraries are intended to provide information access to the people of a city, county, or state. This information can come in many forms besides the traditional medium of books. Public libraries allow visitors to access computers, the internet, and other technologies. They provide meeting spaces for community organizations. They hold story time programs for young children and literacy training for all ages. They provide access to online subscription databases. Many offer access to subscription newspapers and magazines. Some provide access to crafting materials and 3D printers, and training in how to use them.
Public libraries can provide help to people in difficult situations. Tunon (2022) describes how a woman who was pregnant, homeless, and quarantined in a hotel with COVID-19 called her local public library to get access to the local food bank for assistance. Some libraries have provided free meals, community gardens, life skills training, or other services to help people experiencing hunger, homelessness, or other difficulties. Freudenberger (2022) describes many other ways public libraries help their communities, but she acknowledges that available programs are limited by the funding the library receives. Public libraries are funded by local governments and donations, and the size of the library and variety of services offered can vary greatly.
Academic and School Libraries
Schools serving all grade levels often contain libraries. The phrase “school library” often refers to libraries in K-12 schools, while “academic library” refers to libraries in higher education. K-12 school libraries provide books and technology access to the students and teachers in the school. Harlan (2022) discusses how school librarians provide literacy instruction and work with teachers to plan curriculum. Although there are private school libraries, most school libraries in the United States are public school libraries and are funded by local governments.
Academic libraries are often larger than school libraries. In addition to being a place where students and teachers can obtain materials, access technology, and learn information literacy skills, they also provide access to materials necessary for scholarly research. This can include print and digital scholarly publications and historical materials in special collections archives. Some libraries publish their own materials in order to provide knowledge access to more people.
Cultural Heritage Institutions
Cultural heritage institutions like archives and museums hold unique, one-of-a-kind items that are useful for helping their patrons understand their cultural heritage. It is the uniqueness of their materials that sets them apart from libraries, which in contrast hold published works that have multiple copies available. Different types of museums and archives focus on different types of materials. Some are repositories for government records, some are focused on a specific historical time period, some are focused on specific kinds of art, and some are focused on telling the story of a particular ethnic group or location. Materials are often obtained by donation, so these institutions need to make potential donors aware of their services. Some receive government funding or are sponsored by larger organizations, but many archives and museums are funded by entrance fees and monetary donations.
Special Libraries
Megaridis et. al. (2022) describe special libraries as serving a particular area of interest for a particular organization. Nonprofits, corporations, and government organizations sometimes create special libraries to store information that they need to be able to quickly find answers to questions that come up in their day-to-day operations. These libraries can contain physical and/or virtual materials. They may contain large, customized databases that can be used to help the organization understand how to better achieve their goals (Cervone, 2022).
Items of Evidence
Evidence Item 1: Environmental Scan: Little Free Library
My first item of evidence is a group project report for the course INFO 204: Information Professions. The report is about Little Free Library, a nonprofit organization that aims to help people put boxes of books all over the world. This is a unique organization with unique challenges, that are outlined in the report. My role in this assignment was to write the introduction and SWOT analysis sections, as well as proofread my groupmates’ work and help with research and brainstorming of the entire paper. We worked together extensively on this project and had a lot of good discussions with each other about the topics covered in the paper, so even though I did not write all of the text myself, I felt like I fully understood the organization we were studying.
This paper shows that I understand that each organization has unique challenges, and not every organization will fit neatly into a category like academic library, archive, etc. Even those that do fit into a category will have different needs than another in the same category depending on the community it serves.
Evidence Item 2: Intellectual Freedom and Privacy Issues with Special and Academic Libraries
This item is a discussion post I wrote for the course INFO 204: Information Professions. In the post, I describe how academic libraries and special libraries deal with intellectual freedom and privacy issues. This item shows that I understand that different types of information organizations can be affected differently by certain issues. There is no blanket solution to concerns like intellectual freedom and privacy, and these issues need to be considered within the context of individual organizations.
Evidence Item 3: Infographic on Challenges Faced by Archives
and Audio Reflection on Challenges Faced by Archives
This item is in two parts. The first is an infographic I created to describe some of the challenges faced by archives, including funding, access, a history of oppression, natural degradation and deliberate records destruction. The second is an audio recording where I discuss the skills needed to face these challenges and how I have developed those skills.
This shows my understanding of the concerns of a specific type of information organization. It also shows my understanding of the skills needed to face those challenges within a specific information organization. I discuss the need for communication skills, project management skills, and the ability to anticipate and embrace change. These skills can be applied to face the challenges of any information profession. I also discuss the need for courage, a quiet courage that is willing to work together with people to find solutions despite the fear of conflict.
Conclusion
The lines between these different information organizations is often blurred. Schools and public libraries often have at least a small archival collection, and universities may have a larger archive and a museum. Archives and museums sometimes contain a small library of published works. All these institutions are focused on obtaining and providing access to knowledge. The differences between them are mainly on the goals of the institution and the types of materials and activities that make the main body of their work. Knowledge of how these different organizations work will help me better understand any job I obtain in the information professions. Many of these types of organizations require similar skills, so having those skills will help me succeed in any of them. As new technologies develop, new types of information organizations may come into existence, but they will still be defined by their mission and the people they serve. I plan to stay up to date on the types of information organizations I am interested in by subscribing to the publications of organizations like the Society of American Archivists and the American Library Association.
References
Cervone, H. F. (2022). Data management, analysis and visualization. In Hirsch, S. (Ed.) Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp.358-373). Roman & Littlefield.
Freudenberger, E. (2022). Community anchors for lifelong learning: Public libraries. In Hirsch, S. (Ed.) Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp.113-126). Roman & Littlefield.
Harlan, M. A (2022). Literacy and media centers: School libraries. In Hirsch, S. (Ed.) Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp.91-101). Roman & Littlefield.
Megaridis, C. S., Marcus, C., King, B. Drabik, M., & Lynn, D. (2022). Different information environments: Special libraries and information centers. In Hirsch, S. (Ed.) Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp.127-139). Roman & Littlefield.
Tunon, J. (2022). Information Intermediation and Reference Services. In Hirsch, S. (Ed.) Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp.153-164). Roman & Littlefield.