Throughout my life, the library played an important role in my educational and recreational passions and pursuits. Growing up the library was in close proximity to my home, allowing me to be lucky enough to explore their resources more often. Coming from a low-income family, the library was one of my biggest resources for information and entertainment. The library was important to me because I was able to follow my passions without financially constraining my family. It encouraged me to grow both academically and artistically as I developed my interests and career goals. While in college, my interests in art and social justice fueled many of my life interests and goals. The direction that I want to pursue relates to my interests in art, photography, and history and guided my academic goals, such as the attainment of degrees in the history of art and architecture and feminist studies. As a result, my decision to enter the information professional field was influenced from these interests because I wanted to promote the access of information in the same way that the library supported my interests, passions, and goals. My goal is to pursue a career that relates to art or history within the archival and librarian field, that allows me to share information and resources with others. The library has always been a place of great importance in my life and as a new information professional, I want to help connect people with information and resources to pursue their interests.
Conception of Librarianship
My conception of what librarianship means to me is that librarianship seeks to promote the intellectual, creative and, social growth of individuals. Information professionals help support this through a set of professional values and principles that guide their everyday work. As an information professional, abiding by a set of values and principles is an important motivator to continue to grow and develop as a professional. This benefits the patrons we work with because our passion is reflected in our development of skills and service. This also benefits the organizations we work with because we strive to help an organization grow with these goals, values, and principles in mind to create a level of service that users will find helpful. Information professionals and organizations, like archives and libraries, work together to create services that allow users to access resources to promote their intellectual, creative and social growth. Technology is also an important aspect of my conception of librarianship because technology allows us to promote and make resources accessible through different channels and tools. Information professionals strive to promote the growth of individuals and organizations to help build a community of learners that contribute to the social well-being of the communities we serve.
A set of principles and values help drive information professionals to help continue the growth of the profession. The values and principles that are the most important to me as an information professional come from both the American Library Association and the Society of American Archivist. These include the equal access to materials, preservation and the inclusion of diversity in collections (Society of American Archivists, 2004). Providing a high level of service, protecting user privacy, and upholding the principles of intellectual freedom are also other values I find important to the professional growth of information professionals (American Library Association, 2008). These basic values and principles are just some of the basic guidelines that help fuel the work conducted by information professionals. Looking at both sets of values is important to me as an information professional because both areas share very similar goals. Since librarians and archivists share similar goals and values, I will have a deeper understanding in the importance of providing resources and materials for users. This is also important to me as a professional because overlapping goals will enrich my experience as an information professional as I will have different perspectives from both the archive and library field to help guide me. Information professionals, such as myself, need these guidelines and values to help fuel our passion for helping users find and access informational resources. Therefore, it is a critical component in my development as an information professional that I will always reference.
Libraries and Archives
Informational institutions like libraries and archives contribute to the education and creative goals of users through their resources and services. Although library and archive collections may differ in focus, they both work with organizing material, answering reference and research questions and are typically seen as the gatekeepers of their collections. Libraries and archives provide users with information resources as well as services that help teach and guide users in information retrieval. As an information professional, these types of organizations are an instrumental part in the promotion of information and resources to help aid individuals.
One way that libraries and archives promote this is through the implementation of access. Providing access to information and resources is an important aspect of a library and archives goals. Providing access is also achieved through collection development, policies, and services. For example, digitizing and adding digital resources to collections is one way that institutions are promoting access from different locations and formats. Users live in a technological climate that produces vast amounts of information that is often overwhelming and not always accurate. Conducting research and satisfying informational needs utilizing digital resources is one way that users access information. It is often the most convenient way to access resources that are an important mode of access for many users. Therefore, it is necessary that information institutions are meeting the informational needs of users using digital resources. Another form of access is the preservation and conservation of information for future generation whether it is in physical form or digital. For digital resources, this is a challenge for information professionals as vast amounts of information are created in monumental amounts. It is then critical to learn and teach others how to evaluate resources. As an information professional, providing access through our resources and services is a major component in my current and future professional work.
Promoting education through programs and services enriches available resources that users utilize. Information professionals have the opportunity to promote education through the services and programs that libraries and archives can offer. Services offered should allow users to learn how to navigate the information landscape and teach users how to use, evaluate and implement the information and resources that they discover. Providing educational services also promotes the growth of individuals and is critical in the social well-being of communities.
Libraries and archives improve the social well well being of the communities they serve through their resources. They provide economic relief and opportunities for individuals in financially constrained situations. For example, users can teach themselves new skills from resources at the library or through services available. These skills can be used for personal or professional development that can lead to better career opportunities. The materials available also serve as entertainment resources that are low-cost and can provide stress relief. They also benefit the community by nurturing educated and informed citizens that seek to continuously learn, grow and as a result make significant impacts and improvements in other areas. My experiences in the library have helped develop me as an individual and I want to encourage others to continuously grow and learn.
Technology
Technology also plays a big role in the creative, intellectual and social growth of individuals. Therefore, it is important that libraries and archives will utilize technology to promote and grow their collections, resources, programs, and services. Information professionals will not only concern themselves with just handling and retrieving materials. The work information professionals conduct will revolve around finding ways to engage with users while experimenting with new and different technologies. For example, users might want more digital content, so archivists might steer their collections towards the creation of digitalized material of resources are available. Traditional ways of promoting materials should still be used because they provide an organized standard for users to search and discover material. Using technology should serve as aids to supplement the traditional methods used. Technology is an important part of the tools that will help me engage with users and information. Technology will be an important tool that I will utilize throughout my career and will continue to be an asset in the information professional field.
Conclusion
As an information professional, I want to help make resources accessible, while guiding users in resource discovery to help fuel their informational needs. In this field, it is important to share knowledge and resources with each other to improve the services we provide. This is important because sharing informational resources creates a democratic society that allows the opportunity for significant change and improvements. Our values and ethics help govern our motivations and work, but we still need to continuously grow as technological advances require new skills and knowledge. To do so requires motivation, passion, and camaraderie with other information professionals.
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
-Steve Jobs (2005)
References
American Library Association. (2008). Code of Ethics of the American Library Association. Retrieved February 2015, from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics
Jobs, S. (2005, June 14). ‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
Society of American Archivists. (2004). Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics. Retrieved February, 2015, fromhttp://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics
