Competency C
recognize the
social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use
Nowadays we deal with an overwhelming amount of information. What we know, or do not, about food, real estate, health, gas prices, education, etc. determines our choices in every aspect of our lives. Moreover, it is a fair assumption to reason that information acquires importance according to the context in which the user seeks it. For example, information about where to find the cheapest gas in the city is irrelevant to the person who does not own a vehicle. On the same note, a recent convert to Judaism might only be interested in borrowing library books that deal with this specific religion. In yet a different context, a library affected by budgetary cuts might not be able to offer targeted services to their primarily Asian community. Thus, social, cultural, and economic dimensions play a role in information access, usage, and awareness. As information professionals we must understand all of these different contexts in order to successfully address the information needs of our patrons or clients.
The social dimensions of information can take many guises. An investigative assignment for LIBR 221 (Government Information Sources) instructed students to compare the internet accessibility and record offerings of government depository libraries in the State of Michigan. My research compared three different types of depositories: a regional public library, a university library, and a law library. The statistical profiles that I developed for each type of institution made me aware of the socio-economic and cultural diversity of the communities they served and how this affected the offerings, budget, services, and management of records of each library. For instance, the law library with a budget that is ranked 6th out of 189 listed by the American Bar Association, caters mostly to law students and professionals with a majority of the government records it holds being of a legal nature. In contrast, the public library, by virtue of being a regional depository and because it caters to a wider audience offers all of the government items that are printed each year. In this exercise I also learned that information provided by the different vendors or institutions differs based on the needs of their audiences. Libraries, repositories, and archives as traders of information must ensure that this is achieved by understanding that information must be made available to all people regardless of race and age without discriminatory practices, and it is used differently and for different purposes.
I had another opportunity to reflect on the cultural and economic dimensions of information with an assignment for LIBR 266 (Collection Management) in which I was tasked with developing a hypothetical ethnic collection policy for the San Bruno Public Library (SBPL) in California. In interviews with J. Alita, an Assistant Library Services Director for the SBPL, it became obvious that Hispanics represented the city's largest ethnic population group, yet the collections, services, and offerings of the library did not particularly address their social and cultural needs as evidenced by a community needs assessment conducted in 2004. I realized that a big part of the problem was the constrained budget of the city which did not allow for the acquisition of targeted materials or for expansion of the existing Spanish materials collection which was relegated to one small shelf in the library.
On a positive note, the library's management recognized the need to serve its Hispanic audience appropriately and to that extent not only did it employ bilingual staff but also constantly educated them on the importance of providing multicultural resources and services. As Agosto (Spring 2001, Section 10, ¶ 1) states, the attitude of the librarians is the "single most significant factor contributing to the general atmosphere of your library. This will affect the way that patrons experience and view the library and will determine whether the library's resources are utilized. The best way to encourage staff to embrace a library's commitment to serving its diverse population is to educate the staff on the social and educational benefits of providing multicultural materials. Not only is such service in line with the ALA Bill of Rights, but it also encourages all patrons to value diversity." In this assignment I also explored how the SBPL staff was cognizant of the institutional and economic barriers that stood in the way of its accessibility and strived to eliminate or mitigate them. Among the specific barriers I observed were outreach, staff availability, training, signage, and physical accessibility.
On the subject of economic considerations, it is also important to recognize that information is in many ways a commodity. Granted, there is a huge amount of information that is provided free. However, to the degree that information is useful, can be traded, and can be bought and sold for profit, it becomes extremely valuable. Brand (1987, p. 202) asserts "(…) information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive. Information wants to be free because it has become so cheap to distribute, copy, and recombine---too cheap to meter. It wants to be expensive because it can be immeasurably valuable to the recipient (…)." When information is available for a price it is accessible only to those users who have the purchasing power to acquire it, effectively preventing anyone else from seeking and using it. Even in the case of information that is freely available, economic considerations such as access to a computer or transportation can be the only reasons preventing a person's usage of an information resource. This is also true of a library that because of economical or budget considerations cannot acquire and offer certain materials due to their high cost. The previously mentioned LIBR 266 (Collection Management) assignment on the SBPL touched on this last issue as it explored the library's lack of targeted materials for Hispanics due to its small budget which did not allow for the acquisition of materials in Spanish or for the translation of the online catalog into Spanish.
To conclude, what will solidify the value of my services to information seekers is not only a deep understanding of the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of information use but also being aware of the specific characteristics of information users. As an information professional, and aided by my learnings from the MLIS program, I strive to achieve this level of tailored service promise by maintaining relevance of materials and offering them without bias or discriminatory practices, understanding that information is used differently and for different purposes, keeping a holistic world view in order to ensure a rich availability of materials, providing access and assistance to everyone regardless of cultural background, economic status, handicap, faith, or beliefs, and acknowledging that people from different economic backgrounds have different information needs. Keeping these tenets close to my heart will allow me to keep my services and offerings useful to all information seekers. In addition, maintaining a willingness to evolve on par with the communities and constituencies I serve will further help me to better address their changing information needs.
References
Agosto, D.E. (2001). Bridging the culture gap: Ten steps toward a more multicultural youth library [Electronic version]. Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, 14(3), 38-41. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from the Library, Literature, and Information Full Text via Wilson-Web Web site: http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org
Brand, S. (1987). The media lab: Inventing the future at MIT. New York, Viking Penguin.
Evidentiary
LIBR 221 - Government Information Sources – Depository Investigation
LIBR 266 - Collection Management - Ethnic Collection Policy