Welcome to the LIS 6010 – Introduction to the Information Profession blogging assignment. This week Group 1, which consists of Karl Akkerman, Andrew Dyjach, H Jennings, Melissa Mykietiuk, and myself, Anissa Ali, will discuss Types of Libraries. So far you have had the pleasure of reviewing information about academic libraries presented by H. Jennings and school libraries presented by Melissa Mykietiuk. I will continue the week reviewing Special Libraries. What are they, who do they serve, and how do we prepare ourselves as professionals to thrive and contribute to these non-traditional institutions.
After reviewing several definitions for special libraries, I have concluded that special libraries are libraries fulfilling the educational and research needs of private corporations, museums, information centers, government agencies, law firms and non-profit organizations. Most special libraries are restricted to their employees, members, or specific clientele. Special libraries are limited to the information and research that is specific to the function of the organization. This limitation makes these libraries information warehouses for their specialty. For instance, a law library will have information specific to law. A hospital library will have a wealth of medical sources. A governmental library will house government documents and manuals. A museum will house historical documents and artifacts. In corporations, like JP Morgan, Johnson’s Controls, and British Petroleum, the information available to its staff would be limited to finances, pharmaceuticals, and gasoline production, respectively. There are also special libraries housed within public and academic libraries. An example for academic libraries would be law and medical libraries. Special libraries within public libraries could be a special collection from some era or about a particular race or culture or individual. Although, some special libraries are housed in private companies or in libraries restricted to a specific patron, in what ways do special libraries benefit the public?
Information professionals are required to maintain these non-traditional libraries. According to the Special Libraries Association: “An Information Professional ("IP") strategically uses information in his/her job to advance the mission of the organization. This is accomplished through the development, deployment, and management of information resources and services. The IP harnesses technology as a critical tool to accomplish goals. IPs include, but are not limited to, librarians, knowledge managers, chief information officers, web developers, information brokers, and consultants.
Information Professionals work for information organizations, which are defined as those entities that deliver information-based solutions to a given market. Some commonly used names for these organizations include libraries, information centers, competitive intelligence units, intranet departments, knowledge resource centers, content management organizations, and others.”
After reviewing several ALA approved university course catalogs and the Special Libraries Association website, I noticed that professional competencies were discussed in order to be successful in the capacity of a special librarian. An article titled Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century from www.sla.org states that there are four major competencies, each with specific skills:
1. Managing Information Organizations
2. Managing Information Resources
3. Managing Information Services
4. Applying Information Tools and Technologies
Please list at least one suggested personal competency that you hold and one you would like to acquire. Also list how you would go about acquiring this or any additional competencies.
Not only should special librarians have the skills and knowledge acquired in a MLIS program or years of experience on the job, they must also be highly knowledgeable about the information specific to their library. Dority has listed 139 job titles that can be found in a non-traditional career. This list is not exhaustive. Salaries for these positions can range from the high 30’s to high 90’s. If you think about the names of the 139 job titles, most of them are technical. Meaning librarians must keep up with pace of the emerging world of technology.
Association, S. L. (2008, January 27). About Information Professionals. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from Special Libraries Association: www.sla.org
Dority, G. K. (2006). Rethinking Information Works. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.
Eileen Abels, R. J. (2003, June). Competencies for Information Professionals in the 21st Century. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from Special Libraries Assoication: www.sla.org
6 comments:
I think that the biggest personal competency that I hold is described by the sla.org article as the ability to be "flexible and positive in an ever-changing environment." I think that by nature, I am a pretty positive person, and that if I chose to become a special librarian, that would serve me well.
As for a competency I would like to develop, I think that I need to work on my ability to "harness the current and appropriate technology tools". I think that I need to work on my level of comfort with and ability to teach the use of technology to others. I think that this is something that any librarian will need in this world where technology keeps changing. I definitely am working on this as I go through the LIS program here. I am taking 6080 now, and already feel much more comfortable with certain technology.
Works cited
Eileen Abels, R. J. (2003, June). Competencies for Information Professionals in the 21st Century. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from Special Libraries Assoication: www.sla.org
Special libraries offer, from my perspective, the largest diversity of jobs. You could be a special librarian for a Zoo, then turn around and work for a makeup company. The sheer difference in jobs seems as though you'd need a certain kind of personality or outlook to be able to adapt to the sheer range in jobs available. It must be very daunting.
I almost wonder exactly what skills you could learn that would apply to most SL jobs. Also, from my limited experience, SL jobs have the hardest-to-figure-out job titles!
Cited:
Shontz, Priscilla K. The Librarian's Career Guidebook
I think special libraries, because they limit their client base to a specific group, do not directly benefit the public in most instances. But this does not mean the public does not benefit indirectly from special libraries. According to Dority, special librarians help lawyers, veterinarians, and medical personnel, to name just a few groups, do their jobs. Dority (2006). p. 80. By keeping professionals in service oriented professions informed and current, special librarians provide a benefit to the public. And some special librarians even put together online courses that enable nurses and other professionals learn how to do their job. Dority (2006). p. 80.
I also found a paper, by a Susanna Weaver, on non-traditional jobs for librarians that was interesting in that it made reference to jobs that I would not have imagined existed. Many of the jobs mentioned by Weaver clearly benefit the public. One I found particularly surprising was bibliotherapy. According to Weaver:
"Bibliotherapy is a treatment technique used by information professionals to make therapeutic use of selected reading materials for clients and patrons. Through the guided reading of written materials, patrons/clients are helped to gain an understanding or insight into solving problems relevant to therapeutic needs thereby affecting attitude and behavioral changes. Health and wellness professionals rely on the librarians’ knowledge of literature to recommend books and other informational material to help reach goals set forth in the therapy process."
Furthermore, some special librarians do provide services in a more direct manner to the public. A special librarian might become a "consumer-health specialist for a public library system," for example. Dority (2006). p. 80. Other special librarians provide services to disabled persons. Most libraries, and other organizations, want to serve the disabled, and under current law must. But, according to Weaver , most organizations don’t even know what library materials are available. Weaver says that special librarians in this area collect and house information for the disabled and then work collaboratively with public libraries, nonprofits, and other organizations to provide access to their materials.
Works cited:
Dority, G. Kim (2006). Rethinking information work: A career guide for librarians and other information professionals. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.
Weaver, Susanna (n.d.). Non-traditional jobs for special librarians. Retrieved January 30, 2008 from http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/class
/clis724/SpecialLibrariesHandbook/non-traditional.htm.
I just started working part-time in an intellectual property law firm's law library—a specialized special library.
The law librarian's skills are being put to use for a substantially smaller group of people than in the case of a public library. And I agree with the belief that the public library is crucial to a thriving democracy. But sometimes I think that the value of the special librarian's skills to her patrons is just as great as the value of the services that the public librarian provides to her patrons. (And I’m not speaking in terms of monetary value.)
When a group of people get together toward some common vocation, the existence of a person who knows how and where to find necessary information, allows them to carry out their mission more thoroughly and efficiently. I noticed when I practiced law myself that the very existence and atmosphere of an information center in my firms engendered respectful use by the attorneys.
But that’s the private-purpose special library. The public-accessible special library is just as important. When my mother and I visited the Morgan Library and Museum in NYC last year, I admit that all I really knew about JP Morgan was that he had been a very wealthy financier. But I could see, when I walked around with my mother, the hushed enthusiasm that she and the other patrons felt at the fact that they were in this place finding out all these interesting details about him and actually able to view manuscripts that he had written and collected. One person who actually wanted to do research was pleased to find that the library there was open to scholars for use. That’s exactly what public-access special libraries do—invite unrelated groups of people who all share an interest in some specific subject to learn more about it.
If this metaphor isn’t too forced, I’d like to compare the public library with the Encyclopedia Britannica’s Micropedia and the (public access) special library with its Macropedia. In one, you’re exposed to a broad overview of various subjects, and in the other, you get a specialized in-depth look at any one of them. And in either case, the librarian is the indispensable binding holding it all together.
The more I think on it, the more I am interested in special librarianship. The competancies of managing information services or resources, neccessarily specific to the subject area, could be very satisfying. I can think of a few intersting ares I would not mind being a special librarian in. For example, I would love to be involved in a specific genre of music for a cultural museum or music institute. I would also enjoy an institute that has, as part of its collection, oral histories like the Library of Congress' "Story Core." To paraphrase Stephen Abram, I'd like the idea of taking and refining a collection of specific information and turning it into knowledge for people.
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