Katrina's LSC 548 Final Project

Reflection and Future Plans

Learning the basic principles of Information Architecture (IA) and having the opportunity to gain hands-on experience using IA, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to design and build this website were not only beneficial skills, but one of the most enjoyable and empowering classes that I have had in graduate school. I have gained the skills to build and evaluate websites and other technology interfaces, such as simple apps, using the principles and practices of IA. I now find myself analyzing and considering how they reflect user information behavior models and interaction design principles (Ding, Lin, & Zarro, 2018).

My future plans include incorporating what I have learned about Information Architecture to increase my future library’s relevance and usefulness in the rapidly changing information society. I plan to offer programming and informational resources supporting the digital literacy of my patrons that includes computational thinking and coding. Once I have earned some influence over collection management, I will ensure that we have both print and digital resources to support patrons learning coding languages, including any necessary hardware and software. The programming that I develop for patrons allow patrons to develop self-efficacy in technology.

I hope to increase my library’s relevance to library users. Richard M. Adams Jr. stated that Librarians and library services are not as essential as they once were, and that they must ask […] what role they will have in this new information environment (2018, p. 180). I fear that when the baby boomer and silent generations no longer make up a large proportion of library users, libraries will be at risk of fading away unless drastic changes are made in how we provide information and services to younger generations. Libraries are at a crossroads, and unless we become the preeminent provider of information to the X, millenial, and Z generations, the future looks bleak. Technology must be utilized for libraries to become the Third Place to these generations. Adopting the standards of mobile-first responsive websites, and providing mobile-friendly OPACs is the bare minimum. We must be innovative to meet our patrons where they are if our profession is to survive long term. We need leadership that is forward-thinking that will support newer librarians in bringing positive change for the betterment of our individual libraries and the profession as a whole. Foremost among my future plans is to obtain a position in an innovative and proactive library, under a leader who is actively engaged in bringing about the future of libraries. I hope to work with leadership that will support my bringing a fresh perspective from my recent education at URI, coupled with my life experiences. I want to be a part of the profession regaining its stature in our communities.

In Analysis of the Changing Roles of Systems Librarians, Ratledge and Sproles concluded that Today’s technology-oriented librarians need to develop a variety of specialized skills in many different areas, including but not limited to, web technologies, server, desktop, and mobile computing technologies, digital collections, data analysis, project management, and scholarly communications (2017, p. 310). I would argue that all librarians, not only systems librarians, must be technology-oriented to have a place in evolving the library model. Staying up to date with technology developments will be critical to our success. This course, along with LSC 508, were great first steps toward that for me. I intend to stay abreast of technology developments through involvement in round tables, forums, listservs, and conferences; reading a wide variety of technology-oriented literature and scholarly journals and increasing my technology skills through lifelong learning and contiuning education.

My next steps are to continue to develop my HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills. I need to further increase my skills with JavaScript, and I would like to study JSON. I will also complete the w3schools.com tutorials for Python, PHP, SQL, XML including XML DOM as time allows; this is likely to be a multi-year project. Hand in hand with these goals will be continuing to develop my ability in digital information literacy instruction, so I am able to effectively teach these skills to my patrons. I will also continue to study the principles of IA. For this, I would like to read Information Architecture for the Web and Beyond, by Rosenfeld, Morville, and Arango, (2015), as well as continue to study the textbook that we used for this course.

In order to stay aware of what the current and developing issues in library technology are, I will add a membership to ALA-LITA in addition to my ALA and RILA memberships, and I will subscribe to some of the LITA listservs that interest me. I hope to attend national conferences throughout my career, as my employment allows; I will also regularly add up-to-date technology books and guides to my personal library.

IA and technology in general are developing in more areas than library science, so I won’t limit my education to library-oriented offerings. It is vital that librarians don’t get stuck in our library bubbles and lose a wareness of the rapid changes in culture and technology. Critically, the ways in which our library users are using technology will affect how, and whether, they interact with libraries. I will explore additional ways to stay informed of what is happening to technology outside of library and information science circles; these might include regularly visiting websites like C/NET and Reuters, but I will continue to explore other options as this not currently a strength for me. I will continue to learn everything that I can about information behavior and user experience. This will be accomplished through regularly reading current library journal articles, and any other books and literature that I can find.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in this Information and Web Design course, and I am sure that what I learned here will be foundational skills that I will use throughout my career as a librarian.

References

Adams, R. M. Jr. (2018). Overcoming disintermediation: A call for librarians to learn to use web service APIs. Library Hi Tech, 36(1), 180-190. doi: 10.1108/LHT-03-2017-0056

Ding, W., Lin, X., & Zarro, M. (2017). Information architecture: The design and integration of information spaces (2nd ed.) [e-book version]. San Rafael, CA: Morgan & Claypool Publishers. doi: 10.2200/S00755ED2V01Y201701ICR056

Ratledge, D., & Sproles, C. (2017). An analysis of the changing role of systems librarians. Library Hi Tech, 35(2), 303-311. doi:10.1108/LHT-08-2016-0092