Assess and respond to the needs of diverse communities.

 

2.1 Planning: Applies a mission driven approach to organizational planning.

 

2.2 Assessment: Demonstrates the ability to engage in assessment of services, collections, products, user experience, and information technologies and articulates its importance in information provision.

 

2.3 Design: Designs services, collections, products, and user information technologies to respond to the needs of diverse communities with an emphasis on user-centered design.

 

2.4 Outreach: Demonstrates the ability to communicate with diverse members of the community. Articulates the importance of outreach.

 

Evidence

​

•  LIS 653 CAMP Assignment

  • 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

• LIS 618 Readers’ Advisory Project

  • 2.4

 

The assessment of needs at a library spans an exceptionally wide range of community needs from a single individual searching for a book to the entire school community and the entire library itself. In this section of my portfolio, I am including two artifacts that represent the two extremes of the planning and outreach process. From a readers’ advisory for a single reader, to a statistical collection analysis of the current collection, student population, circulation, and specific targeted outreach efforts.

 

The readers’ advisory project presented here documents my interactions with one student. It includes a list of twelve questions I have found helpful in working with teens, including what books they like best (and least), their reading habits, specific genres and tropes they prefer, what is on their “to be read” list, and what kind of formats they read in. This is not intended to replace a thoughtful back-and-forth dialogue, especially if that conversation is being led by the student. However, I have found that many students have never been asked these kinds of questions and these questions may bring out energetic responses from even the most shy students. It is helpful to have a structure in place (in mind, if not on paper) to lead interactions with students. Part of this readers’ advisory process allows me to get to know individual students and I like to end with the question, “What do you wish your librarian knew about you?”

 

At the other extreme of the planning process is an ongoing, scheduled analysis of the collection. This was done for an elementary school using the Follett Destiny system and student data to summarize available holdings by non-fiction subject area and fiction, with particular attention to books tagged as relevant to India or the Indian experience. This school has seen a rise in Indian American students and this analysis indicated a need to plan for the purchase of additional “own voice” texts to ensure we’re meeting the needs of the student community. The report provided here is a specific analysis of this collection at this point in time, but the report is in a template structure that could be used in this school or any other school. The statistical disaggregations presented in a non-statistical format make it easy for any administrator or stakeholder to understand the current strengths and weaknesses of the collection in meeting community needs.

 

References

 

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3). https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf

 

Blintt, J. (2020, October 20). The importance of a diverse classroom library. International Literacy Association. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2020/10/20/the-importance-of-a-diverse-classroom-library 

 

Jamison, A., & McNamara, E. K. (2025). Let’s Talk about Diversity: A Content Analysis of School Library Collection Development Policies. Children & Libraries, 23(1), 17-23. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.23.1.17