beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society,
group, place, or time.
These are things that we learn
as we evolve and develop into the people we are
destined to become.
We are all apart of our own
smaller cultures whether we define it by our
nationality, color, creed, personal beliefs or sexual orientation.
Within these groups we also fall into a
larger culture of being an American, and following the
customs and beliefs of this society. Ones culture is stemmed from ideas and beliefs that were created and passed down from generation to generation.
Over the years, as societies changed so
does ones culture.
We all try to grab hold of our
roots and hold tight to things weve garnered and
passed down from the previous generations. We all are aware that things get modified in order to fit into the world that we live in today. We tweak things here and there to make them what we believe to be a little better.
We try to make the process a little faster, or
to include whatever fad is currently trending.
Therefore, when thinking about culture one has to
realize that it is not something that is stagnant, but
something that is constantly evolving in order to fit the needs of the people within its culture. While considering the types of culture a library may have I ran across a more appropriate definition of culture.
A way of thinking, behaving, or working that
exists in a place or organization. Much like the
previous definition, libraries establish their culture by first studying the community that they serve, and then by creating an environment that will meet the needs of that community.
The word culture falls under
a huge umbrella; there are many things that it can be
associated with. When trying to develop a successful plan, one must first realize that culture is learned. So how do you and the rest of the library staff learn about the needs of their community in order to establish their library culture? The first thing that should be accomplished when establishing the internal culture of a library is creating a mission statement.
Your mission statement
should include your specific goals, what your values
are, and your inspirations. The mission statement
should be welcoming to all and all staff should believe
in the mission statement of the library. The Chicago Public Librarys (CPL) mission statement is pretty long compared to some of the mission statements that I looked up. The one phrase that CPL markets is that they believe in the freedom to Read, Learn, and Discover. Just these three words encompass so much. One can learn many things in a library setting, like how to order material, how to use a computer, or learning information on a specific topic.
Another opportunity in a library is to
discover, one could discover a new book or a program
that is taking place in the library.
This is an
example of how a mission statement should state exactly
what they plan to accomplish.
The second issue that
needs to be addressed is staffing.
Staff is a crucial part of any organization, especially for staff in a library setting.
Library
culture has to be built from within and made strong by
upper management. Researchers believe that there are four traits of culture that exert positive influence on employees performance. Those traits are involvement,
accessibility, consistency and mission (insert
citation).
Employees need to feel that they are
involved in the process of organizations culture
development.
Resources need to be accessible to staff
and to patrons, and patrons should know that know that
the services that they get will be consistent. The best way to accomplish this is by establishing a culture within the librarys organization.
This helps staff
members with the skills needed in order to interpret
events and issues.
Organizational culture also helps
with continuity so that everyone in the organization is
on the same page across the board.
It helps to
establish a healthier work environment and when staff
feels that their needs are being met within the library they are able to provide better service to library users.
An example of internal library culture would be
how users of the library are labeled.
Do you refer to
them as patrons? Customers? Or do you use something
else?
The creation of staff titles is another way
organizational culture is formed in libraries.
Traditional titles could always be used but depending on what your communitys culture is you may decide not
to use different titles to make the roles assessable to
the users.
Another form of internal culture will be
the rules and regulation of the library.
This
information needs to be put to print as soon as
possible to provide users with a clear and concise picture of what is expected of them while they use library services. The other end of the spectrum is the external culture of the library. Many times staff will have to do some outside research in order to assess the needs of the community. In a city like Chicago there are many different kinds of people and many different communities and culture within this city.
First one has to determine what the
community dynamics are, what languages are spoken
within the community and what their cultural norms are. This research will help the library to determine where libraries should be located and what programs and library material need to be included in each library. Staff would have to develop relationships with community members so that they can put together a resource guide in order to best serve their community. Some examples of community resources that the community
may need are, institutions that help people attain a
GED, job placement institutions, English as a second language classes, resume writing assistance, Driving motor vehicle study guides and even help with locating shelters and food pantries. Depending on how many libraries there are within a single library system will determine which specific needs within that community. The Chicago Public Library is unique in that they have libraries in every community of the city. By having so many libraries every culture can be represented in some way, but there is a process to determine a good place for the library. The librarys administration first determines the need to have a library in a particular community.
After this
determination is made, a plan is put together with a
budget and a library is built in that community. Depending on where the library is located and what the population of that community is, determines what programs the library will have, the staff that will be placed in the library and the kind of collection development that needs to take place.
Collection development is a very important part of
the culture of a library.
What books and serves you
have within the library should serve all members of the
community without discrimination based on cultural and linguistic heritage.
The collection should provide
information in appropriate languages and scripts
(UNESCO, 2001).
All this should be in a collection
while being inclusive to all cultures, genders and
sexualities.
This consideration will help to create a
multicultural library community as well.
As the U.S population is becoming increasingly diverse, library communities have to come to recognize the importance of providing a multicultural environment.
Many libraries have set up diversity
committees and even residential programs for
minorities(Yeo, Jacobs, 2006).
However, diversity does
not mean much if we as professionals dont have an
understanding of how the dominant culture and ideas are articulated within our libraries and our daily practices (Yeo, Jacobs, 2006).
We also must be able to
identify that to help make the library more
multicultural, we have to challenge our own views. By
working in an environment that is open to the public
where that anyone can walk through the doors. We will encounter people that have different views that we have, are apart of a different religion that we may be apart of.
We will encounter people that are of a
different gender, ethnicity and sexuality and we still
have to be able to assist these individuals to the best of our ability. While all organizations have some type of culture that they expect their employees to follow, a library has to two separate cultures that make up its organization.
Libraries have to follow the internal
and external culture if they plan to achieve success in
meeting the needs of the library users.
Most people
are apart of many cultures, ones that they learned
growing up in the United States, ones that were learned within their family unit, and ones that they personally identify with. Library professional, administration and paraprofessionals must take all of these things into consideration when developing the culture of their library within a specific community.
Collection
development, programming and services should reflect
the community that you serve without bias and
stereotypes.
The library is a place where
conflicting ideas co-exist, where people can discover
undiscovered knowledge, and where the powerless can be empowered through access to knowledge (Yeo, S., Jacobs, J. 2006).