Final reflection

The Mortenson Center for international library programmes exposed to many new, exciting developments in the field of librarianship. There would not have been a better place to learn from than the different libraries and information centers in the US, where cutting edge innovations and activities are being developed. My interaction with my fellow associates has taught me a lot of things too. These are my final thoughts as I outline how programme has helped me acquires some of the 14 Foundation Competencies:

Communication skills: New ways of managing Information literacy were a great eye opener. The new technologies that can be used in the library instruction will help improve the way we conduct IL. The lib-guides too will help us to be seen more as active partners in the learning and teaching activities in the schools than we are currently.

Marketing and advocacy: The visit to Upshot exposed us to innovative ways of showing impact of the special librarian in the business life of a private enterprise. This showed that thinking outside the box can increase the value of the library to the organization by getting involved in market intelligence of the organization which gives competitive advantage to the company. Some innovative ideas of engaging the community in marketing services of the library were eye openers. Good examples are the “read with the pacer” reading program which increases the profile of the library as it is associated with famous people in society. For academic libraries, the marketing strategy at the University of Illinois of putting posters in the bathroom was quite interesting and worth trying out. The lib-guides were an obvious hit in ensuring that there is collaboration with the faculty as well as increasing the usage of the materials in the library.

Forward thinking: Collection development practices where back issues are kept in the back stacks has given me some food for thought on how to deal with weeded materials. It was interesting to learn that the university of Chicago and university of Illinois do not discard their weeded materials unless perhaps the multiple copies,  but keep them in high density storage facilities. This ensures that the information is not lost but kept for future use however old it may be. We therefore need to start thinking of investing in a high density storage facility on campus like the university of Chicago has done. This is a very costly venture that needs forward thinking and committed people who know the value of information

The visit at ALA showed us some of the trends in the field of librarianship and revealed to us the service provided by ALA that can help us librarians to keep us with the trends so that we remain relevant to the evolving needs of our library clients.

Conflict resolution (personnel): workshops such as DISC have showed us that each person has certain characteristics that affect the style of leaders and it is important to know your style and learn other people’s styles so that you have harmony and effectiveness at work. The FISH showed the importance of valuing each other in the work place so that your create an environment that will motivate the work, thereby affecting customer service.

Team building: The SILL workshop helped us gain some team building skills as well the DISC workshop as they help the associates to work with each other despite our different backgrounds and helped us to build teams based on understanding each other’s style.

Evidence based decision making: workshops on data management and library assessment (evaluation) have shown me that the modern librarian occupying more roles than just a custodian of information resources. It is important for librarians to critically look at the statistics they obtain in order to make decisions that are evidence based, in addition to using them to show the value of the libraries as they advocate with management. GIS can be used more ways that we think in librarianship especially in the area of outreach as well as inter library loan, as we discovered during the GIS workshop.

Collaboration and partnerships: Another area of new knowledge I gained were the tips on writing salable grant proposals. In addition the visit to OCLC helped me appreciate the value of creating partnerships and collaboration within the community as we bring collections to people.

Change management: In order to manage change, one needs to be ready to accept resistance and also be patient to help others adjust to the change. This was learned in the workshop on Change management facilitated by Shirley. Our visits to several libraries both academic and public brought out the fact that it is high time to move from collections to connections. The different space designs in the University of Chicago Library, University of Illinois Library exposed us to the new ways of providing library spaces that promote collaborative learning.

Problem solving: The SILL workshop taught the need for one to be innovative in order to challenge the status quo for the benefit of improving service. For one to execute an innovative idea, with the available resources, there is need to put in place a SMART plan.

Project management: the last talk at Illinois state Library in Springfield gave some brief ideas of the phases involved in project management, from planning to implementation. Taking time to plan a project sets you for implementation of the project. Scope should be focused. Build on what others have done. Assign tasks and timelines. Processes have to be put into consideration. Budgets can make or break a project. Ask if you have any flexibility between what is budgeted and the actual cost. Who will be involved and which partnerships that will be involved. Who the target audience need to be defined properly to meet their needs. It is important to invest in marketing and outreach in order to communicate your project. Evaluation is important to keep the project on track.

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