Section 1: About the placement organisation
Fairfield City Open Libraries (FCOL) consist of five public library branches, spread across the Fairfield City Local Government Area (LGA). The library branches include Bonnyrigg, Whitlam (Cabramatta), Wetherill Park, Fairfield and Smithfield. Extensive multicultural diversity exists across the Fairfield City LGA, largely due to its popularity as a settlement area for migrants and refugees. There is an equally diverse mix of family structures and also age ranges across the population. Accordingly, FCOL plays an integral role as an essential public service organisation, catering to this wide and varied range of community users. It has over 165,000 registered members (Mantakoun, 2023) and many unregistered patrons who visit the FCOL branches. The customer service nature of the organisation is highlighted in its Customer Care Charter (Fairfield City Open Libraries, n.d.), which promotes its commitment to meeting community needs through responsiveness, innovation and effectiveness.
As an established information agency, it is reflective of a traditional library, with access to a broad collection of physical fiction and non fiction resources. FCOL branches have extensively expanded on its range of resources to include digital formats including (but not limited to) DVDs, audiobooks, eBooks, multi-lingual databases, electronic newspapers, magazines, journals and encyclopedias. Existing as a community space and service, funded through local government council rates, FCOL staff members are considered custodians of these diverse public resources, promoting the freedom to read and facilitating access to information.
Further to resource provision, FCOL is committed in its mission to provide an extensive array of programs and services for the use and benefit of local community members. The diversity of programs extends across age-ranges from baby, toddler and preschool storytime sessions, LEGO, craft and assorted holiday activities for children, anime, gaming and coding clubs for youth, job and technology upskilling, networking opportunities and language classes for adults, as well as book clubs, art and social games for the elderly. These examples are only a sample selection of the extensive program offerings FCOL has established and implements on a regular basis.
At an organisational structure level, FCOL consists of teams who establish and manage varied over-arching initiatives, including the Community Programs team (which consists of an Adult/Children Programs and also an Innovative Programs division), and the Collections and ICT team. Each respective branch also has its own Customer Experience team attached, who each have responsibility for the implementation of the majority of the localised initiatives, along with the provision and delivery of other core services including resource borrowing, computer access, free WIFI, as well as printing and copying services.
FCOL branches strive to be inviting, welcoming and safe public community spaces. This is achieved through customer service delivery, the core and specialised service and program provisions, engaging and dynamic displays as well as thoughtful space design. Many FCOL patrons would be considered as vulnerable in the community and FCOL actively strives to support these disadvantaged groups, including the elderly, new mothers, new arrivals with limited or no English, and other community members experiencing social isolation or disadvantage. FCOL is a diverse and dynamic epicentre where information is disseminated, assistance and support services are provided, social opportunities are offered and friendships are cultivated. The absence of FCOL branches would undoubtedly be detrimental to the community at large and remove essential services accessed by many disadvantaged groups.
Section 2: Theory into practice
My beginning experience as a Teacher Librarian was an intense learning curve, as I had the opportunity to establish a brand-new primary school library in Term 3, 2021. Back then, I felt the cataloguing aspect of the role was my biggest weakness and therefore held the greatest learning opportunities, where I relied heavily on the knowledge of our library administration assistant at the time, who had come across from a neighbouring school. Currently establishing another brand-new school library (opened Term 1, 2023), I had vastly different cataloguing hesitations, as I established a genrefied fiction and non fiction collection, ditching the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system altogether. On account of this past and current experience, the nature of how collections are developed, managed and classified in public libraries is an area of keen interest and was also an identified Professional Placement goal, which related directly to subject learning from ETL 505: Describing and Analysing Education Resources.
After learning about information resource description (Brien, 2022, July 3; 2022, July 8), and the importance of accurate metadata creation (Hider, 2018), I had the opportunity to thoroughly explore the Spydus library management system (LMS), utilised by FCOL and many other public library organisations, which differs from the Oliver LMS that I am familiar with. However, in both systems, it is essential that accurate metadata is created and maintained, in order for patrons and library staff to successfully undertake the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) user tasks (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 2009). During my placement experience, I was able to utilise both my theoretical knowledge and practical experience of keyword and federated search strategies (Brien, 2022, July 26; July 27) to help patrons to locate relevant information resources. I was also entrusted to amend metadata at the backend of the LMS – a process relating to the identifying and metadata tagging of relevant NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge items.
During my time at FCOL, I also spent time engaging in professional dialogue with the Collections Team manager, to gain an insight into the role of the Collections Team within the organisation. The main role of the Team is to keep the collection up-to-date, relevant and reflective of the local community of users. Regarding the age of the collection, FCOL has one of the newest collections across the state, with 84.7% of physical library material purchased in the last 5 years, with 97.8% of the collection purchased within the last 10 years (Mantakoun, 2023). Prior to the establishment of the online public access catalogue (OPAC), physical collections were tailored to and designated to specific FCOL branches (S. Thadakamalla, personal communication, June 22, 2023). For example, non fiction books on cars and repairs were kept at the branch location with the higher portion of mechanics in the area, whereas business and management books were held at the branch in amongst the largest number of business start-ups. However, since the advent of the OPAC, FCOL has a ‘floating collection’ of resources, whereby books can be borrowed from and returned back to any of the branches within the organisation.
FCOL resources are organised according to DDC principals, where DDC has been identified by the National Library of Australia (n.d.) as the most widely used classification system across Australian libraries. This differs from my own school library organisation, as I have chosen to undertake the process of genrefication, which was explored in depth, as part of ETL 505. Genrefication refers to the organisation of books into genre categories (Mabee, 2020; Sannwald, n.d.), which helps students to locate a type of book they are after (McClintock Miller, 2022), particularly during the browsing process. One of the main arguments against genrefication was that it does not adequately prepare students for navigating public libraries (Gray, 2019). From my time spent at the various FCOL branches, I felt that this argument was a non-issue. Due to the heavy customer service nature of the organisation, staff were constantly circulating and assisting patrons with enquiries to be able locate resources with ease, no matter what the individual patron’s level of DDC understanding.
What I found to be most intriguing in relation to the collection development at FCOL, was the fact that the majority of processes including physical resource selection, shelf-ready tasks including labelling and book contacting as well as accessioning were entirely outsourced, and that the library played only a small part in the specific selection of resources for their collections. Instead of identifying specific resources for acquisition, detailed user profiles and parameters were provided to the supplier and based upon these specifications and working within the confines of certain budget directives, the branches would be sent a consistent supply of shelf-ready books. This differs greatly to my own experience as a teacher librarian, where upon consideration of our student users, I personally undertake the process of locating, vetting, selecting, preparing and accessioning the entirety of our resource collection. This has proved most beneficial for my own situation, as it has allowed me to develop a detailed and intimate knowledge of the collection, rather than just receiving new books for shelf placement.
Section 3: Critical reflection
My Placement with FCOL was a valuable and comprehensive experience. I was able gain an extensive insight into the FCOL organisational structure, in a way that strengthened my own professional understanding of how the local public library system exists and functions as a community service information organisation. Through a combination of dedicated one-to-one professional discussions with multiple key team leaders, as well as immersive hands-on experiences at the various FCOL branches, I was able to expand on my experience as a practicing primary school teacher librarian and also integrate the extensive theoretical knowledge gained throughout the Teacher Librarianship Masters course, by experiencing theory in practice.
One of my placement goals was to understand the various community service programs and initiatives, across different target groups. I was able to spend extensive time with both divisions of Community Programs (Adult/Children’s Programs and also Innovative Programs teams), in order to gain a comprehensive understanding the how these programs come into fruition. It was evident that meticulous attention to detail was necessary in the planning of these events, with the coordination of a huge diversity of activities, dates and times across multiple branches. Whilst engaging with the Community Program leaders, I was always considering how I could relate these programs to my own school context and how the local public library could be utilised as a valuable asset to compliment, extend and enrich student experiences and opportunities. I also proved useful with a recommendation of a key local TL network contact and proposed attendance at an appropriate TL network conference that FCOL could productively engage with, in order to extend their reach and community impact.
It was beneficial to then be able to follow-up with the hands-on experience of multiple and diverse community programs across the branches. Easily the most natural program to transition into was babytime, where I was invited to co-host the session, which involved singing nursery rhymes, reading stories and incorporating simple movement and music activities. I productively assisted in the set up for toddler and pre-school storytime sessions as well, which involved appropriate resource selection and craft preparation, tied to broader community events including Refugee Week and NAIDOC Week, which has familiar links to my role as a primary school TL. I also participated in the different STEM-based sessions that coincided with my time at FCOL, including the LEGO BricQ Motion Essentials and Code Club as well as helping to prepare for the Nitrotastic holiday science show, that was presented by an external provider. Particularly the STEM-based experiences gave me pause to consider different ideas for makerspaces and/or lunch clubs that would be appropriate to host in my own school library space.
A large part of time spent during my placement, was assisting with daily customer service tasks. This included assisting with a diverse range of customer enquiries regarding computer use, document formatting, photocopying, book check outs and membership sign ups. The experience I was most comfortable with was assisting with children’s book recommendations. Here I was able to utilise my extensive knowledge of quality children’s literature to be able to provide useful, appropriate and targeted suggestions to both children and parents. I was regularly able to incorporate my knowledge of popular children’s book series and authors, the Children’s Book Council of Australia shortlist titles and the Premier’s Reading Challenge books and guidelines, to compliment search queries. I was also requested by a key staff member to offer any suggestions regarding how to upskill the broader group of staff in being able to assist more comprehensively with this particular target group of patrons.
Similar to my experience with the virtual study visits, I feel that the placement experience further opened my eyes to alternative diverse options that other information agencies may offer, by way of career choice. I feel that my current role as primary TL is comparable to branch manager, with the necessity to be across all facets of the broader happenings of the organisation, as well as being on top of the productive management of the day-to-day operations of the space. During my time on placement, I was able to seamlessly transition into the public library space with confidence, possessing many transferable skills I have built up as a both a classroom teacher generally and as a TL specifically. A feedback recommendation for my own professional growth was to continue to network more broadly within the public library sector, expanding beyond school TLs. This is worthwhile advice to incorporate, as I progress further along my journey as a qualified information professional in a primary school setting.
References
Brien, D. (2022, July 3). Discussion forum 1: The need to organise information. Learnings of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningsofateacherlibrarian/2022/07/03/discussion-forum-1-the-need-to-organise-information/
Brien, D. (2022, July 8). The importance of understanding information resource description. Learnings of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningsofateacherlibrarian/2022/07/08/the-importance-of-understanding-information-resource-description/
Brien, D. (2022, July 26). Discussion forum 2 activity: SCIS search. Learnings of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningsofateacherlibrarian/2022/07/26/discussion-forum-2-activity-scis-search/
Brien, D. (2022, July 27). Discussion forum 2 activity: Federated search system. Learnings of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningsofateacherlibrarian/2022/07/27/discussion-forum-2-activity-federated-search-system/
Fairfield City Open Libraries. (n.d.). Customer care charter.
Gray, M. (2019). Genre fiction collections in Australian school libraries. Scan,38(10). https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/aeipt.226272
Hider, P. (2018). Information resource description: Creating and managing metadata. (2nd ed.). Facet Publishing.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (2009). Functional requirements for bibliographic records. https://cdn.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/assets/cataloguing/frbr/frbr_2008.pdf
Mabee, M. (2020, October 26). How to genrefy your library: A beginner’s guide to getting started. Book Riot. https://bookriot.com/how-to-genrefy-a-library/
Mantakoun, S. (2023). Public library statistics 2021-2022: Public library services in New South Wales. State Library of New South Wales. https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/public_library_statistics_2021-22.pdf
McClintock Miller, S. (Host). (2022, March 15). Ditching the dewey (season 4) [Audio podcast episode]. In Leading from the library. https://all4ed.org/podcast/ditching-the-dewey/
National Library of Australia. (n.d.). Standards. https://www.nla.gov.au/about-us/standards
Sannwald, S. (n.d.) The case against library genrefication is… In Defence of Library Genrefication. http://genrefication.weebly.com/the-case-against.html