Intellectual Growth

I worked as a library assistant in an elementary school prior to my entrance to the iSchool MLIS program. Due to budget constraints, the librarian I worked with was able to work only half-time in the library, so many responsibilities fell to me. I taught library lessons and read stories to the kindergarten, first, second, and third graders. I purchased, processed, cataloged, circulated, and maintained books in the library collection. I created library displays and publications. I accessed and printed reading records and test scores for every student school-wide, and I collaborated with teachers to provide materials which aided in classroom learning. It often fell to me to decide how to raise funds and how to spend our budget. There were times when I was approached by students, parents, or other teachers with concerns about materials in our collection or suggestions on what should be added. There were also times when students were sent to the library to check out books, take tests, fulfill discipline consequences, or spend recess time. And I did it all with no knowledge of the importance of knowing the library policies!

While working at the elementary school I felt confident in my ability to get things done and I felt that library operations ran smoothly due in part to my daily management. Now I know that I was just lucky! Being a MLIS student at the iSchool has expanded my views in many ways. One way that my thinking changed is in recognizing the necessity of well written library policies.

Taking the required core class entitled Information in Social Context, LIS 550, challenged my previous notions about such issues as intellectual freedom, intellectual property, and privacy. In this class we discussed the difficulty in making decisions which would please all stakeholders in a library system and the importance of having policies on collection development, conduct, acceptable internet use, and copyright liability among other things. Along with Laura Horne, Rebecca Paul, and Treasure Givan (now Samuel), I wrote a patron conduct policy for a fictional high school setting. To write the policy we considered all possible users and stakeholders in the library and the possible uses they may have of the library. This task in itself was enormous! We then spoke with real people involved in a similar situation and read various library policies, reviewed basic law and discussed how a like policy would best fit our specific school environment. The writing process involved a lot of discussion and revision since we were working as a group and had to reach a consensus. This seemed to mirror what it would be like to write a policy as a committee with participants representing many perspectives. Overall, I think this experience was very beneficial in realizing the importance of a policy and how difficult it is to develop a useful one. I am proud of the policy we drafted as a result of our research, discussion, and teamwork.

Having been awakened to the importance of policy, I elected to take LIS 522, Collection Development. This class focused specifically on understanding and evaluating collection development policies, evaluating evaluation tools, and ultimately creating our own collection development policies. I was able to draw on my past policy writing experience in LIS 550 as I worked with Sarah Ellison, Jill Kobayashi, Rebecca Paul, and Reed Strege to compose a policy for the library at the John Stanford International School. Since this policy had to conform to the format of a typical collection development policy and was to be used in a real setting at its completion, it took more effort to complete than the fictional high school conduct policy had. We began by conducting a community analysis and interviewing the library staff so that we could tailor the policy to the specific needs of the school and the users. By evaluating the quality of other school library collection development policies we were able to piece together the most beneficial aspects and make improvements on others to create an appropriate document for the John Stanford International School Library. All members of the group put in many hours to review policies and deliberate language and implications in the policy we wrote. Some challenges we faced writing a collection development policy for a school setting were keeping in mind the fact that student users are required to use the library, assuring the proper emphasis on the school curriculum, working within a non-existent budget, and clearly outlining the steps to challenge materials. After so much discussion we felt confident submitting the policy to the John Stanford International School for review and eventual use. Since it is beneficial to update collection development policies annually, I know that this experience will prove invaluable in my future career.

Looking back on my experience working as the library assistant in a library where I had little knowledge of the policies I can see how my experience there could have been changed by working under some fixed guidelines. For instance, a collection development policy would have guided my purchase and discard decisions and might have illuminated the necessity for budget reallocation. Having and knowing policies would definitely have eased the process of dealing with patron conduct and concerns. Policies protect librarians and guide the future of their libraries. Writing and maintaining policies helps to publicize the stance of the library on important issues such as intellectual freedom and commands the respect of our worthy position of the keepers of information.