Introduction

Organizational settings within the LIS field include a variety of institutional types, each serving its specific communities in unique ways. Libraries are commonly categorized into school, academic, public and special libraries; while archives are often categorized by institutional type, including corporate, government, university, museum, personal, and memory institution archives. Each of these settings has distinct organizational structures, missions, funding sources, patrons, collections, and services.

Before diving into some of the different organizational settings, it’s important to note the distinction between libraries and archives. While libraries and archives are arguably the most predominant information organizations that MLIS candidates will work for, key differences between them stem from their histories and collection types. Historically, libraries have provided access to bibliographic materials (i.e. books). However, in today’s world, they are no longer bound solely to this object type and may offer access to things like games, videos, music, and physical items (Arns, 2017). Additionally, many libraries allow their patrons to check items out, whereas archives will typically restrict materials access to a secure environment such as a reading room. Archives originated from a need to preserve and provide access to records from governing entities (Cunningham, 2017). Today,  archives exist in many forms, preserving and organizing an assortment of items. Typically, these items or records are not mass-produced; if they are, there is some historical significance or unique provenance that makes those materials valuable to the  institution that maintains them. 

Special Libraries

Often part of a larger institution, special libraries can vary significantly in size, ranging from single-librarian operations to large departments with hundreds of staff members. Collection focuses can span the gamut from medicine and law to very specialized fields such as wine or fertilizer industry materials (Megaridis et al, 2022; SLASC, 2021). As the name implies, special libraries tend to focus on niche subject areas, providing significant in-depth knowledge within a narrow field of study. Services provided by these libraries can be more involved than those offered at say an academic library. For instance, reference services may include extensive research done by the librarian, while other services such as information analysis and synthesis or knowledge management may also be available (Shumaker, 2017). In general, the mission and funding of these libraries are closely tied to the institutions they serve.  

While not all institutions that have a special library also maintain an archive, many do; an example of this is the next setting type explored, corporate archives.

Corporate Archives 

Corporate archives, as the name suggests, are run by a business or corporation. Their mission supports the business by collecting and preserving internal records, documents, and items that track the business history, define their corporate culture and support internal research (Mooney, 2017). Patrons of corporate archives are often restricted to employees, but may allow other outside researchers access depending on their mission and the records in question. Collections and services are similar to special libraries; collections in particular provide in-depth knowledge on their particular market interests and history of the organization. This type of archive is particularly adapted to help the business with internal research regarding past endeavors; provide unique marketing and outreach materials; create exhibits for lobbies or window cases and may provide help with litigation, particularly regarding trademarks, patents, designs, copyrights and intellectual property (Mooney, 2017). As they are tied to a business they may have a larger budget compared to public institutions however this is highly dependent on the economy, as the department may lose funding or be shut down if the business isn’t doing well financially. Organizational structure can range from lone arrangers to large departments. Examples include businesses like Disney, IBM, Patagonia and Wellsfargo. 

Furthermore, corporations, depending on their business needs and size, may also require other types of information professionals to work with their production teams. These roles may include digital asset management, website design and architecture, UX or UI design, creation and management of controlled vocabularies, knowledge management, or cyber security.

Academic Libraries & University Archives

Academic libraries support research and educational goals of higher education institutions such as universities, colleges, junior colleges, and research institutions. From an organizational structural standpoint, they are inherently a part of a larger institution and typically employ multiple librarians focused on specific tasks. These positions can include roles focusing on research and reference, instruction, information access, data management, technology services, and more. All of these different services reflect the mission of their parent institution and the needs of students, faculty and the broader community that the library serves. Collections in academic libraries support the research and educational needs of the aforementioned patrons; often, this includes physical and digital materials like traditional encyclopedias, books and journal articles, but may also feature rent-able technology or makerspaces (Mavrinac, 2022). 

University or academic archives will tend to have overlapping missions, patrons and funding sources as their library counterparts. They are always be tied to a higher education institution and will often be either a part of or connected to that institution’s library system. Sometimes, they are connected to the institution’s special collections, resulting in department names like “Special Collections and Archives.” According to Maher (2017), university archives arrange and preserve “the official records, personal archives, and private manuscripts of enduring value for telling the story of the university, its programs, people and place.” (pp. 4793) These collections may include items such as prominent faculty and alumni manuscripts or research materials, administrative records, and unique collections related to the institution’s fields of study. Services often include outreach and exhibits, creation of oral history materials, digitization, reference, and research support.

Evidence

INFO 230: Issues in Academic Libraries – WP1: Research Support Services in Academic Libraries

The first piece of evidence to showcase my understanding of competency B is a white paper written for INFO 230 titled “Research Support Services in Academic Libraries” (compB_WP1.pdf). This white paper explores the need for expanded research support services in academic and research libraries. Through writing this paper I was able to better understand one of the core aspects of these libraries that sets them apart from other types of information organizations: the need to provide the materials and services associated with academic research. The individuals they serve range from tenured professors to undergraduate students, due to their varied experiences, research libraries often need to make these services accessible at different levels. 

This paper demonstrates my knowledge of a key mission for academic and research libraries that set them apart from other informational environments and shows my understanding of who they cater to.

Student Leadership – Hosted speaker event with Smithsonian Transcription Center

This next piece of evidence is an event put on by the ASIS&T SC & SAASC on May 6, 2024: “Transcribe-A-Thon Pt2: Harnessing Online Volunteers with The Smithsonian Transcription Center.” This conversation covered topics like how the TC website works, the organizational structure of the TC and how it fits into the Smithsonian’s larger ecosystem, the importance of project management, the importance of “soft” skills, and why it’s key to understand your users when considering design choices.

This event let me explore a part of the worlds largest research institution. The Smithsonian houses multiple museums, libraries and archives; technically the TC sits outside of those entities but is deeply intertwined with them, supporting their digitization, accessibility, and research efforts. While a significant part of the mission is supporting these internal stake holders, they also perform a significant amount of outreach by supporting over 80,000 digital volunteers. In designing the TC web portal, hosting events and providing resources for these volunteers, many factors need to be considered. According to our guests Emily Cain and Mark Custer one of their biggest challenges is understanding who uses the website and what their needs are.

This event showcases my exploration of a unique information organization setting as I interview two employs of the transcription center. I had the idea for the Transcribe-A-Thon as a way to bring in more student interest while collaborating with the SAASC. I was supported by members of both student groups (ASIS&T SC and SAASC), but took on a significant amount of the planning and execution. I worked with three members of the student groups to pick out times for the two main events and the three discord “Transcription Hours.” I created slides, researched how to use the TC site, reached out to and coordinated with the TC team, and then hosted this second event.

⏱️ Timestamps where I am talking (after our guests start to talk I don’t talk again until the next time stamp)
0:00 – Welcome & Introductions
6:55 – Start of the conversation: How does the technical side of the Transcription Center work?
21:42 – How these processes compare to manual processes in smaller projects.
23:23 – What skill sets have helped you in this work?
31:37 – Understand & working with so many volunteers
38:33- Similarities between the Transcription Centers volunteer opportunities and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
47:33 – Reflection on the student experience
50:16 – Wrapping Up & Experience to Evidence

*If it is easier, watching the video on YouTube will allow you to click on these same timestamps in the description box below the video.

INFO 284: Digitization and Digital Preservation – Workflow Created for the Women’s Military Aviator Personal Archives as an Independent Contractor

The next piece of evidence that demonstrates my knowledge of competency B is my work with the Women Military Aviators (WMA) personal archives (compB_projectPlanWMA.pdf). This past summer I was asked to help create a workflow for the WMA professional organization. Currently the WMA archives are housed at the Texas Woman’s University (TWU) Archive & Special Collections in Denton, Tx. While TWU staff is able to house, organize and work towards digitizing the WMAs core collection of materials related to the professional organization, they don’t have the time nor funding to dedicate to the personal archives submitted by individual members. This project outlines the steps that WMA members can take to ensure their collection is fully represented in the TWU Archives. 

This initial project planning write up was created in INFO 284, but is a rubric for the real organization. These materials demonstrate my experience working as an independent agent for a private organization and coordinating with an academic archive. In order to develop this workflow I needed to understand the collection policies and metadata requirements of TWU, while simultaneously advocating for and deeply understanding my clients, the WMAs, needs. Taking on this role as an independent contractor put me in a different type of setting compared to the more stable, supervised roles that are embedded into an institution.

INFO 204: Information Professions – Strategic Plan & Presentation

My last piece of evidence to show my mastery of competency B is the culminating group project for INFO 204, the Strategic Plan and Presentation (compB&D_strategicPlan.pdf & compB&D_planPresentation.mp4). This group project explores the process of creating a strategic plan for the San Jose Public Library (SJPL).  As a team of four we worked through an environmental scan, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, revamped the mission and vision statements, and created six action oriented, measurable goals for the SJPL. During this process I learned a great deal about SJPL and public libraries in general. 

To properly analyze factors affecting SJPL we needed to understand the macro environment in which public libraries are currently situated down to the micro environments that make up San Jose as a city. Our research involved looking into yearly budgets; gathering and analyzing data on the city census, catalog offerings, and provided services; as well as understanding the organizational structure between branches and within SJPL itself. 

This project was a significant undertaking and required considerable collaboration. My role within the group was team lead. Larger decisions were decided by the group, while sections of the research and the production of the final products were broken down into individual tasks. I worked with a partner on redeveloping the mission statement (p. 2) and researching the SWOT analysis threats and weaknesses sections, while the writing for that was taken on by a different individual. Individual tasks I took on include writing and researching the paper sections regarding innovative technologies (goal 3, p. 7), library awareness (goal 5, p. 9), putting together the executive summary (p. 3), and designing the visuals for the final products deliverables (paper and video). For simplicity during the presentation we split the speaking up for two people to do. My voice can be herd in the video from 0-2:27 & 9:23-10:20, as I cover the introduction, vision & mission statements, then wrap up the presentation, while a different student read scripts we each created to present the goals we individually worked on.

*If it is easier, watching the video on YouTube will allow you to click on these same timestamps in the description box below the video.

Or if you’d like to just look at the slides for my sections you can view those here.

Conclusion

Understanding various LIS organizational environments will help me navigate my current job search activities and provide insights for potential future career opportunities. In addition, if during my employment, I need to collaborate with another organization type I will better understand how to connect to them and what their needs might be for an event to be successful. Each of these organization types have their own sections within larger professional organizations, so staying connected through those portals seems reasonable. Examples include ACRL from ALA, Museum Archives Section of the SAA, or the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). Furthermore, exploring different organizations websites or reaching out for informational interviews with people working in various environments could provide extra insight if the need arises.

References

Arns, J. W. (2017). Libraries. In J. D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 2762-2767). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4 

Cunningham, A. (2017). Archives. In J. D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 179-194). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4 

Maher, W. J. (2017). University archives. In J. D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 4791-4796). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4

Mavrinac, M. (2022). Learning and research institutions: Academic libraries. In S. Hirsh (ed.), Information services today (3rd ed., pp. 102-112). Rowman & Littlefield.

Megaridis, C. S., Marcus, C., King, B., Drabik, M., & Lynn, D. (2022). Different information environments: Special libraries and information centers. In S. Hirsh (ed.), Information services today (3rd ed., pp. 127-139). Rowman & Littlefield.

Mooney, P. (2017). Corporate archives. In J. D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 1081-1085). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4 

Shumaker, D. (2017). Special libraries. In J. D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 4361-4369). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4  

SLASC. (2021). 2021 past events, Special Libraries Association Student Chapter of San Jose State University https://ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu/slasc/past-events/2021-2/