Part B
Technology and the Library
Throughout my studies, I have come to realise the importance of technology and the digital landscape and its relationship to the Library. Reflecting now, I realise that the majority of my library experiences to date, have been quite similar where technology is concerned. I went to primary school in the early 2000s; in that lucky time period where ICT skills like using floppy disks, navigating Microsoft Suite and touch-typing were all taught explicitly. However, these skills were taught in a separate dedicated computer room, not in the library, which was at the other end of the school. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, the library did not have any computers at all, barring the teacher librarian’s. I certainly do not recall being taught to use a digital library catalogue system. By high-school, there were computer banks in the library and a standalone computer used for catalogue searches. As time progressed, the quality of the computers and printers upgraded, some laptops were introduced, but not much else changed. My experiences in public libraries, and government high school libraries has been much the same. Whilst these facilities are meeting the needs of the population well, I feel that more can be done.
As my teaching career has progressed, I have watched schools rush to integrate new technologies into the teaching and learning sphere in innovative ways whilst simultaneously grappling with the ever-growing problem of mobile phones distracting from learning. If the Library, is to keep up with the times as a key player in 21st century life, then librarians need to ensure we are using technology to our advantage.
In my teaching career as a high school English teacher, I worked closely with the librarians and the library facilities. Most of our advertisement for the library facilities and services was done ‘the old-fashioned way’ – from word of mouth. We would take the students on tours of the library and teach them how to use the catalogue systems, but I would still have students approach me with no clue what to do, some of whom had been at the school for years.
The advancement of ICTs has progressed the school model both in Australia and worldwide to become a hybrid model combining digital and traditional processes (Faba-Pérez & Infante-Fernández, 2019, p. 16). School libraries now have unprecedented potential to use social media to showcase resources that will support teaching and learning, and in doing so, re-establish their roles as Resource Centres in schools and in the community as a whole (Faba-Pérez & Infante-Fernández, 2019, p. 17).
In previous blog posts I talk about the benefits of digital environments and digital literature within education (Power, 2021a; Power 2021c). I reflect on the ever increasing presence of technology in both the library and the classroom. Today’s learners expect to be immersed in a world of multimedia resources within their education environment (Lamb, 2011). The school library and therefore the library of the future, must follow suit in order to stay relevant.
On my virtual study visit to Lake Tuggeranong College Library, the librarians explained how technology was used extensively in both advertising the library and by students to complete assignments and study. The library staff used tools such as blogs and online graphic design programs to create professional looking infographics and advertisements showcasing the library’s services and resources (Power, 2022).
Before beginning my virtual internship with the Australian Film Institute Research Collection (AFIRC) hosted at RMIT University Melbourne, I wanted to find out more about this special library. Whilst the AFIRC website is sufficient in detailing the library’s key information, history, purpose and hosting the online catalogue system (Figure 1 & 2). However, since the library is a non-lending collection and many resources include unusual or rare items such as posters and clippings files (Figure 3 & 4). I could not gain a clear feel for the library from the site.
Figure 1: AFIRC Home Screen. (Source: Power, n.d.)
Figure 2: AFIRC Catalogue Screen. (Source: Power, n.d.)
Figure 3: Clippings files from the Coop Cinema. (Source: Barron, n.d.)
Figure 4: Lonely Hearts clippings files. (Source: Barron, n.d.)
Speaking to the library supervisor, Olympia Barron, and previous lecturer of RMIT, Stuart Richards, I was told that whilst the library was advertised to and used by students, the collection could be advertised more thoroughly to university staff and students. I decided to use what I had learnt and observed throughout my studies and create a promotional video advertising the AFIRC. The video presentation is short, sharp, and concisely advertises the AFIRC’s purpose, uses and advantages (Power, 2021b).
https://bit.ly/AFIResearchCollection
Since much of the content in the library is visual and the library already had an Instagram, I decided to continue building up the AFIRC’s Instagram account by showcasing more resources (Figure 5 & 6).
Figure 5: AFIRC Instagram Homepage. (Source: Power, January 2, 2022).
Figure 6: AFIRC Instagram Posts. (Source: Power, January 2, 2022).
Instagram is a great platform for this as according to Pokrop, in June 2021 there were 13 010 000 Australian Instagram users, of which 55.3% were between 18-34 years old; the demographic of most university students (Pokrop, 2021, para. 5). Libraries also report that behind-the-scenes posts on social media platforms like Snapchat help young people feel more at ease about visiting the library (Young & Rossman, 2017, p. 12). Clearly, authentically adopting social media relevant to the users will help school and public libraries alike.
Common sense and recent studies both point to technology as a key area for development and change to future proof libraries. Knowing what other similar libraries are doing, and planning for and adopting those changes, particularly where technology is concerned, will improve the future of the library for librarians, students, teachers, and other users (Hawkins, 2019, p. 408).
The library Collection
It’s funny now looking back on my thinking before I started this course and I think I was rather naïve in my understanding of special libraries and the necessity of their collections. I had been introduced to libraries at a young age and knew their purpose and benefited greatly from their services many times over throughout my studies. I know, thinking rationally, that professions such as music, law, medicine, and the arts must have great repositories of information at their disposal. It’s just that, rather embarrassingly, it never occurred to me that those places must exist somewhere. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to intern at a special library.
During my time as an intern with the Australian Film Institute Research Collection (AFIRC) I was able to use knowledge I had learnt in ETL503: Resourcing the Curriculum and use the opportunity to apply it to a real-life library scenario. I feel it is important to mention that I have had to withdraw from the subject half-way through, to complete it in a later semester. Therefore, I have no blog-posts from this subject. However, I have detailed hand-written notes which I was able to refer to when completing the auditing activities in my internship and used theoretical knowledge to support my hands-on training. Even though ETL503 is called ‘Resourcing the Curriculum’ I was able to transfer the theories to the higher education special library setting of my internship. Just as I was able to use my theoretical knowledge from the subject in my practical experience, I hope to use this practical experience to better inform my studies in the completion of this unit later this year.
During my internship, I was able to complete collection analysis and evaluation, for a portion of the library’s resources; those related to queer film festivals worldwide, with a particular focus on the history of Australian festivals. I first took the time to get to know more about what was already in the collection as this helps librarians to better support the library users (Figure 7).
Figure 7: A photograph of an original 1991 Melbourne Queer Film Festival Programme. (Source: Barron, November 18, 2021).
It is also a vital step to understand more about what you have, before you start adding to it (Stephens & Franklin, 2015). This is also important in a school library or special collection context where budgets are limited, and the collection must meet the current curriculum requirements. In this way, librarians can make sure they are choosing the most relevant resources so that students, teachers, and patrons can get the most use out of them. Collection analysis then informs development and management decisions where the aim is to assess the collection’s utility (Johnson, 2018, p. 240).
I was able to assess the collection against the library’s goals and purpose as set out in the collection development policy and then evaluate the collection in relation to other similar collecting organisations such as the National Library of Australia and the Australian Queer Archives. I looked for any gaps in the collection and whether those resources could be found in those larger collections (Figure 8).
Figure 8: A screenshot of the Australian Queer Film Festival Collection overlap analysis excel document. (Source: Power, December 1, 2021).
This is what I later found out is called, ‘collection overlap analysis’ and it serves many purposes. Adopting a cautious approach to acquiring new materials is useful for smaller libraries such as special libraries or school libraries with budgetary and space concerns will allow for a sustainable and relevant library collection (Mitchell & Lorbeer, 2009). My supervisor also advised me that it is important not to ‘step on the toes of other libraries’ so to speak by not collecting resources that would be the specific focus of another collection (O. Barron, personal communication, November 19, 2021). In the example of my internship, we realised there were some gaps in the queer film festival collection, however; in the cases that these items were available at the Australian Queer Archives we decided it was not a priority to add those items to our collection. I understand that the value of a special collection lies somewhat in its uniqueness and that it is therefore logical to respect the value of other special collections. It is also a matter of these collections working with a limited amount of space to hold items so selection must be judicious. In a school context, libraries may not wish to overlap resources because they may also be working with limited funding or physical storage space and there is increasingly more emphasis placed on library spaces being used for things other than resource storage such as makerspaces or collaborative work areas. I have also found in my research on the topic that there is more and more focus on collaborative collection management where resources are shared across libraries, saving costs and space (Demas & Miller, 2012, p. 169). Of course the other important thing to consider is the fact that these collection analysis periods, particularly like the one I did, assessing a specific aspect of the collection, take time. My supervisor told me that she would have loved to spend more time researching and looking into the collection in the kinds of ways my project allowed me to do but she simply does not have the time to spare (O. Barron, personal communication, November 18 2021). This is a key point to consider for smaller collections or school libraries where staffing is limited and there are always pressing demands.
What I’ve learnt so far is that collection management and development is an integral part of running a library, yet it seems that it for as important as it is, it is equally as complex.
Libraries as collaborative places
I think we’re all familiar with the library stereotype: the dusty shelves full of books so old their spines crack as you open them, the rows of silent students and the little old lady librarian shushing you from behind inch thick glasses. But in my experience of libraries, this has just not been the case. In fact, all the libraries I have been to or worked with, have been so loud at times, it’s hard to hear yourself think. I think it’s well beyond time that we reinvent the stereotype. What I’m getting at is that libraries have transformed not only their physical spaces, but the way they are run.
In the school context, strong links and collaboration between library staff, teachers and students should be established so that each have a key part to play in creating successful and effective libraries. The same goes for other kinds of libraries where users or key stakeholders can be inserted instead of students.
In my blog posts written whilst I was completing ETL401: Introduction to teacher librarianship I first reflected on the role of the teacher librarian at the beginning of the subject (Power, 2020b). I mentioned the role the teacher librarian has to play in community engagement such as through creating links with parents. Interestingly, I was noting how the school library of which I was a part, did not connect with the parents at all to my knowledge. In another post reflecting on finishing that subject, I mention the Australian School Library Association’s (ASLA) definition of teacher librarian role as threefold; as information specialists, curriculum leaders and service managers (ASLA, n.d.; Power, 2020a).
It is through the continuation of my studies that I have learnt more about the Teacher Librarian’s role as curriculum leader. I have also had the opportunity to see this in action in my internship, albeit in a special library in a tertiary education context. ASLA states that we need to work with principals and senior staff and are involved in curriculum planning, we must raise staff awareness of the skills needed to access and use information and work collaboratively with teachers to ensure the library is used effectively (ASLA, n.d.)
In my internship I had the opportunity to work with the other members of the library team and a former RMIT lecturer who is also a key industry professional. A photograph of him shows his book which was developed through research conducted at the AFIRC (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Stuart Richards holding up his book. (Source: Richards, December 1, 2021).
I worked with this industry professional, conducting an interview to gain his advice in regard to future collection development and library promotional management procedures. I also collaborated with key professional and publishing groups through email such as the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) and was granted permission to advertise the November 2021 MQFF (Figure 10).
Figure 10: 2021 Melbourne Queer Film Festival Programme. (Source: MQFF, n.d.)
From this collaboration, a collection policy procedure has been developed in order to establish stronger links with this festival group in future to provide relevant resources to the library collection. I also established links with members of the Australian Queer Archives to gain more information about a rare 1985 poster in our collection (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Sydney Gay Mardi Gras Poster, 1985. (Source: Barron, November 16, 2021).
After connecting with the Archives, I posted about the information on the AFIRC Instagram feed which was then shared by the Queer Archives on their Facebook page, thereby further strengthening the connections between these establishments. The original artist then commented on the Facebook post about the poster. It was really amazing for me to see that this little bit of legwork had paid off in such a way and to even have one of the original artists to comment made this piece of history that much more important to me (Figure 12 & 13).
Figure 12: Australian Queer Archive Facebook Post. (Source: Power, January 3, 2022).
Figure 13: Australian Queer Archives Facebook Post comments. (Source: Power, January 3, 2022).
Creating connections and collaborating with different stakeholders, information specialists and relevant bodies, no doubt strengthens libraries to support their common goal, the best library experience for the user. Whether that be a school library, public library or specialist library.
References
[AFIRC website home page] (2021). [screenshot]. AFI Research Collection. https://afiresearch.rmit.edu.au/
Australian School Library Association [ASLA]. (n.d.). What is a Teacher Librarian? https://asla.org.au/what-is-a-teacher-librarian
Demas, S., & Miller, M. E. (2012). Rethinking collection management plans: Shaping collective collections for the 21st century. Collection Management, 37(3-4), 168-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2012.685415
Faba-Pérez, C., & Infante-Fernández, L. M. (2019). The content disseminated on social media by public secondary school libraries as a reflection of society: The case of the Extremadura region of Spain. The Electronic Library, 37(1), 16-34. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-04-2018-0073
Hawkins, P. (2019). Change in libraries: Directions for the future. Public Library Quarterly, 38(4), 388-409. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2019.1595314
Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3), 12-17.
Mitchell, N., & Lorbeer, E. R. (2009). Building relevant and sustainable collections. Serials Librarian, 57(4). 327-333. https://doi.org/10.1080/03615260903203645
Pokrop, J. (2021, July 14). Instagram demographics in Australia: June 2021 update. NapoleonCat. https://napoleoncat.com/blog/instagram-users-in-australia/
Power, A. [Allie Power] (2021a, August 23). A critical reflection of digital literature experiences. The Power of Libraries. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thepoweroflibraries/2021/08/23/a-critical-reflection-of-digital-literature-experiences/
Power, A. (2021b, December 21). AFI Research Collection [Video]. Canva. https://bit.ly/AFIResearchCollection
Power, A. (2020a, October 20). A reflection. The Power of Libraries. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thepoweroflibraries/2020/10/20/a-reflection/
Power, A. (2020b, July 25). Reflecting on your experiences as a teacher before you became interested in working in a school library, write a 500 word piece about your understandings of the role of the TL in schools. The Power of Libraries. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thepoweroflibraries/2020/07/25/reflection-on-the-role-of-the-tl/
Power, A. [Allie Power] (2021c, July 26). Digital literature environments as an English teacher and future teacher librarian. The Power of Libraries. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thepoweroflibraries/2021/07/26/digital-literature-environments-as-a-future-teacher-librarian/
Power, A. [Allie Power] (2022, January 10). Technology, information agencies and their users. The Power of Libraries. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thepoweroflibraries/2022/01/10/technology-information-agencies-and-their-users/
Young, S. W. H., & Rossmann, D. (Eds.) (2017). Using social media to build library communities: A LITA guide. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.