Beliefs about Library Services

Chattanooga State Technical Community College
Augusta R. Kolwyck Library
DRAFT
April 24, 2000
What I Believe about Library Services: A Work in Progress
Victoria P. Leather
Dean of Library Services

Library Services

All individuals seeking library services should be treated with dignity, courtesy, and respect.
Libraries should develop comparable and appropriate services for all categories of patrons, but this does not necessarily mean the "same" services.

Students in Hamilton County can use to the Augusta R. Kolwyck Library on the Amnicola Campus.
Students in Marion County can use the Jasper Public Library with which the Kolwyck Library has a cooperative agreement.

Community college libraries serving distance education students can perform a valuable service by helping them develop a lasting relationship with an appropriate library near their home.
All suggestions for actions should be reviewed in the light of existing processes and services to determine if the suggestions can be addressed or accommodated through them.
Librarians should ascertain the current level of a student's knowledge about his information need and adjust their actions/teaching/reference assistance so that it fits that student's need.

Example: A student in a developmental English class may need step-by-step assistance in understanding/finding appropriate basic sources for a research project, whereas a student in a legal assisting course may only need some periodic suggestions about new ways to approach the research topic.

A room full of books is not a library.
A library consists of

appropriately educated personnel who know how to organize and find the information needed by their patrons
the ownership of or access to the information resources needed by their patrons.

Libraries should have a few fundamental rules and enforce them solidly across all categories of users.

Exceptions: The college president and perhaps other administrators in the library's direct reporting line.

Library Instruction

The criteria for successful library instruction include

supportive faculty members who realize the value of working with library staff to teach students and who understand their role in successful library instruction
motivated students who "have a need to know" the information provided in the instruction session
focussed instruction directed specifically to the students' assignment
hands-on practice after a demonstration or discussion.

There are two components to successful library instruction

affective - the student identifies a friendly face and sees the library as a welcoming place where he can get help
cognitive - the student learns research skills or finds sources of useful information.

Library Planning

Libraries should make a plan, implement the plan, and review and revise the plan regularly in light of new resources, developments, and technology.
Libraries should do zero-based budgeting and prioritize all items in all budget categories.

This allows libraries to add or subtract services/materials as funding permits.
It allows libraries to visibly show what services/materials cannot be acquired at various funding levels.

Library Staff

All library staff should be treated with dignity, courtesy, and respect.
Each person should be given the opportunity to accomplish his job (contribute to the library's mission) with as much latitude for individual preference as the library's needs will allow.
All library staff members should respect the privacy and confidentiality of their colleagues.
Just as "play is the work of children," work should be the play of adults -- have as much fun as appropriate while contributing to the library's mission.
Praise in public.
Library staff members should not embarrass their colleagues.
Library staff members should be supportive of their colleagues' endeavors.
Library staff members should allow their colleagues to "do their jobs" even if they think they can do them better.
All library jobs are important, and those who perform them well should be treated accordingly and valued like gold.
Library staff should look for opportunities to improve the way they do their work and consequently the overall library service.

Library Cooperation

All physical libraries are single access points to the immeasurable, universal library of knowledge.
Librarians at physical libraries should cooperate to meet the needs of their patrons.
People may be patrons at two or more physical libraries, thus reinforcing the logic of library cooperation to meet patrons' needs.

Example: A distance education student may be a patron of a far away community college library and a patron of a nearby public library.

Local public libraries are strengthened when academic libraries develop cooperative agreements with them to teach and support distance learners.
Cooperative agreements between libraries should be mutually beneficial to both libraries.