SLO 4: The student designs services to meet the information needs of all users and

communities.

Libraries have many important ‘jobs’ to do as an institution, one of these is to design

services to meet the information needs of all users in the community. Without the libraries
meeting all the user’s information needs, what would be the reason for their existence? This
includes services for all races, ages, religions, beliefs, and any other needs that needs met.
Libraries should always be a safe place for everyone.
Throughout my time at UNCG and working in the library, I have learned that each
community the library serves is different. The people that make up the community have different
beliefs, values, standards and lifestyles. Each person is their unique self, and that means each
library needs to learn their users in their community in order to best serve that community. A
library can’t buy the same books, have the same programs and offer the same materials as every
other library, instead they have to do research and see exactly what needs their community has.
This brings me to the first assignment I want to discuss for this object. In LIS 620 we had the
experience of creating a small Needs Assessment for Libguide. This needs assessment gave me
the opportunity to learn the basics of creating small surveys for the parents and grandparents in
my story time. This assignment prepared me for the bigger assignment in LIS 650 where we had
the chance to create a larger Needs Assessment. This assignment opened my eyes to a whole
world of possibilities in the library world. I was able to take this assignment and use the results I
had received for the next semester when I helped the library create their Strategic Plan. This
document shows the process I took to get to the strategic plan. When conducting my needs
assessments, I was able to talk one on one with some of the patrons and get to know them on a
more personal level. I do feel because of how these particular strategic plans were conducted, I
may not have gotten the best anonymity that was needed for these strategic plans, but instead I
received some fake answers to allow me to hear what I want, but I also was able to hear some
patrons tell me exactly what they felt the library needed which went a lot farther than a paper
survey. When creating these surveys and helping with the strategic plan it is important to keep in
mind all of our patrons and that is why the needs assessment is so important because if done
correctly, all users will be represented.
Not only are needs assessments important when learning about your community, but
research is also just as important. If you don’t have the correct statistics about your community
how will you know the people you are serving? Without the numbers your needs assessments
may not be as accurate as you need them to be. The library needs to know the different
ethnicities that live in their community so they can reach all the different areas to know what
ALL of the community's needs are.
Once these areas are covered and the needs assessments have been evenly dispersed
throughout the community and the community has spoken, can you create effective programs for
the community. If the library is simply creating programs and not getting patrons to come to
these programs, then are the needs being met? Maybe that isn’t what the community wants or
needs?
Another important area that I feel some libraries may be lacking in is books in other
languages. I know patrons ask for Spanish books and we have them in the children’s area, but
there are only a few mixed in throughout the adult fiction. Our community may need a section
just for adult Spanish fiction, but without a true need’s assessment or some basic research we
may not know if that is a need in our community. I believe one small fix that wouldn’t cost any
money could be to create a display of our adult Spanish fiction and see if it circulates. If it does,
then it might be worth looking into adding more of these into the collection.
Recently, our director has mentioned wanting a permanent story walk somewhere in our
community. After some research, four of us employees have created a committee and we are
currently looking for a park that would benefit the community the best. I feel this project is a
good example of this objective, because we are looking for a ‘book desert’ in our community
that could benefit from a story walk due to lack of resources in their area. We have located a park
that isn’t near the library, that is located in a lower economic status, and has a good number of
children. We want to do some more research, but for now we feel this is a great location and
opportunity to bring the library to more users.
In LIS 618 Week 6 Discussion we talked about digital literacy and its importance. I felt
this discussion board fit into this objective because some patrons can’t make it to the library like
others, so if we have digital opportunities for them, we can add our accessibility to more users.
This works the other way around as well; some users may not have internet at home and need
access to the internet at the library. This is where the library needs to know their community and
make sure and have the needs met for their community whether they need more in house use or
digital literacy for outside patrons or an even mix of the two.
In the end, it is the library’s job to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone. Each
library needs to know their community and what they need so they can adequately provide
programs that meet these needs. This can be a challenge, but the libraries need to master this as it
is one of the most important ‘jobs’ of the library, lacking these services, that meet the needs of
the community, could mean the community doesn’t feel welcome and doesn’t show up at all.