2009 ALISE Conference

Training the Next Generation of Librarians as Community Facilitators

Derek Hansen

shakmatt@gmail.com

Title: Training the Next Generation of Librarians as Community Facilitators

The role of librarian has always been multifaceted. Librarians collect, protect, and organize information. They mediate, educate, and advocate. In all of these activities, they bridge information and people. To be successful, they must understand both the human record and the human heart. Although many of the core librarian competencies have remained constant through the ages, others have changed as a result of social, political, economic, and technological forces. The relatively recent surge of information and information technology has prompted many to reevaluate the role of librarian in the 21st century – a role that has proven incredibly resilient over the ages, largely because of its fluidity. In this paper, I argue that we are at a pivotal time when librarians should reconsider their role and the skills necessary to be successful. Specifically, I describe why librarians in our age should actively develop skills in community facilitation, what those skills look like, and some general strategies for teaching them.

Although librarians have a long history of strengthening communities, several factors make this activity increasingly important in our current era. The key factors I discuss in the paper include: the widespread use of social media tools and mobile devices that enable information sharing and coordination at an unprecedented scale; the increasing demand for information that can be accessed anywhere at any time; the importance of the library as a neutral “Third Place”; the role of the library as Internet provider to those without access; the high trust of the public in librarians; and the confidence in librarians’ willingness to protect individuals’ privacy.

The remainder of the paper discusses specific skills needed to cultivate communities and competencies needed for librarians to reach their full potential as community facilitators. I review and critique some of the excellent case studies that demonstrate how librarians can strengthen communities (e.g., Pettigrew, Durrance, Unruh, 2002), as well as the article by Lankes, Silverstein, Nicholson, and Marshall that reconsiders the role of the library as a facilitator of conversations (2007). While these articles are helpful in articulating some of the general guidelines for library-community interaction, they fail to enumerate the specific skills and concepts necessary for librarians to effectively cultivate communities today and in the future. Likewise, recent literature examining the use of social media (see ASIST 2007 annual meeting proceedings) has largely ignored the educational perspective (one exception is McCook and de la Pena, 2000). I help fill this void by explaining the key skills (learning outcomes) and concepts that students have found most useful from courses I have taught on the topic over the past several years. I include a brief bibliography of some of the core readings in this new and evolving research area, one that is certain to be incomplete, but will hopefully start a useful discussion. Finally, I briefly describe some strategies I have found useful in helping students to master some of the skills and internalize the concepts.