Professional Submission

For our LIBS 691: Seminar in Public Libraries course, we were asked to write an article for submission to Public Libraries Magazine. We were to write about a trend that affects the work of public libraries and librarians, and draw from what we had learned to make a contribution to the profession. In my role as an Information Services Assistant, I have worked with many vulnerable members of our community – those who are experiencing homelessness, living with poverty, or living with mental illness – and it has become a goal of mine to identify ways we can serve these populations better, within the constraints of the library’s purview. Through my research on this topic, I came across the trend of libraries adding social workers to their staff, and I wrote my article about this trend. My article includes reasons why this trend is appearing, research on librarians’ feelings about dealing with complex social issues and the limitations of their work, examples of this trend, and evidence of its benefits.

 

Meets:

 

SLO 1: Create innovative responses to the needs and interests of diverse and global communities.

SLO 5. Integrate evolving technologies and theories that underpin their design, application, and use with library and information services.

SLO 6: Analyze current and historical trends to forecast future directions of the library and information field.

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