Statement of Competency
Competency C emphasizes the core responsibilities of information professionals to design and implement programs and services that meet the wide range of information needs of their community. The acronym DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) has become a central guiding force in modern society within various kinds of institutions: political, educational, corporate, and entertainment. Within information organizations, DEI issues have a direct impact on physical spaces, personnel, content, and communities. Broadly, it is a guiding force in information science. Because DEI is often lumped into one general concept, Kawanna Bright (2022) advocates for a detailed understanding of its individual components as the nuance of each carries implications for the information professions.
Diversity
“For information organizations, diversity is defined by the various ways that people may be seen as similar or different based on categories including race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual identity, religion, language, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures” (Bright, 2022, p. 68). Understanding diversity in the information profession requires one to see it from all angles. Information professionals are diverse. Communities are diverse. Information is diverse. Bright (2022) highlights that not only are these identities diverse, but they are also intersectional and deserving of deeper consideration. Diversity in the workplace looks like employees embodying a wide range of personalities, genders, races, religions. Diversity in materials (for example, the public library) should mean that there is a wide and comprehensive selection of materials that represent a multitude of viewpoints. This also means that the materials should be as diverse or different as the clientele it serves.
Equity
The American Library Association recognizes “the critical need for access to library and information resources, services, and technologies by all people, especially those who may experience language or literacy-related barriers; economic distress; cultural or social isolation; physical or attitudinal barriers; racism; discrimination on the basis of appearance, ethnicity, immigrant status, housing status, religious background, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression; or barriers to equal education, employment, and housing” (ALA, 2017). For information professionals, equity could mean hiring processes that emphasize equity in representation. It means patrons are treated in a way that is respectful of their information needs and offered a wide range of materials to support those needs without bias or judgement. Equity is a core belief of information professionals, and codified in the ALA Code of Ethics. Equity, which assumes that people have different needs from one another and should be provided with resources and environments that seek to provide an equal outcome should not be confused with equality, which simply guarantees that people should be treated the same and be provided the same resources.
Inclusion
Inclusion takes the themes of diversity and equity and calls us to create physical, virtual, and metaphorical spaces that adapt and best serve the needs of our constituents. The current socio-political landscape requires that information professionals center social justice in their efforts towards inclusion. Cooke (2018) argues for librarians and other information professionals to be “actively engaged” and not neutral in their work to foster inclusion. Here, advocacy takes a leading role. The information grounds of disenfranchised and marginalized populations do not change or become more inclusive with neutrality, but with action.
Evidence
INFO 281: Caring for Clothing Programming Presentation
This evidence from INFO 281: Teaching Life Skills in the Public Library demonstrates my ability to recognize diverse populations and provide equitable programming tailored to their needs. For this final project, I designed a program and presentation on laundry skills, specifically targeting college students in my community. In a college town, many young adults arrive without having learned this practical skill at home. By identifying this gap, I created a program that addressed a need which, if unmet, can contribute to social and economic disadvantage. Equity was central to this project. Life skills are not acquired evenly across populations; students from families with fewer social and economic resources or less parental/familial support may be at a disadvantage as they transition to adulthood. By offering free, accessible instruction through the public library, this proposed program aims to reduce disparities in preparedness for independent living. Such programming will ensure that all students, regardless of background, have the opportunity to acquire essential life skills.
Through this assignment, I demonstrate how understanding the unique needs of a specific user group can guide the creation of programming that is not only informative, but also empowering. By addressing inequities in access to life skills education, this artifact shows my ability to design inclusive services that ensures students and other young adults can make the transition to adulthood with equitable footing.
This item of evidence comes from INFO 200 with Dr. Kevin Bontenbal (Fall 2023). In Blog Report #5, I examined the information community of Parents of Children with Congenital Heart Defects (PCCHDs). This population faces a wide range of information needs, from medical knowledge about specific heart conditions to emotional support, mental health resources, and practical guidance on navigating health systems. By studying this group, I recognized the importance of tailoring information services to communities with specialized (and often urgent) needs.
The blog post explored how libraries near me (Northern California) are addressing health literacy through innovative programs, such as Sacramento Public Library’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and San Francisco Public Library’s employment of an on-site social worker. These examples demonstrate how libraries can build community connections and provide access to vital resources that address needs in a specialized community, with the understanding that there are members of this community who lack access to important resources, and need specific programming to address their social and economic inequities and disparities. I also considered service provision gaps that exist for families in rural areas with limited access to specialized care. My suggestions for alternative service provision and programming include ideas such as offering health insurance workshops, the inclusion/coordination of volunteer medical professionals' service and expertise, or advocating for additional social worker positions within libraries. These ideas illustrate ways libraries could expand services to better meet these social needs. This artifact demonstrates my ability to analyze diverse user populations, consider appropriate resources, and elicit partnerships to ensure more equitable access to information.
INFO 285: Annotated Bibliography
This evidence comes from INFO 285: Applied Research Methods: Action Research with Dr. Renée Jefferson (Spring 2025). In this annotated bibliography, I summarize and discuss the textual evidence for inclusion on our report about service provision for the Latinx community in Fresno County, California. I discussed how Hoyer advocates for marginalized communities insofar as suggesting how a public library can assist with the unmet needs of these specific community members. Hoyer provides practical programming and staffing suggestions such as multilingual staffing measures, fine-free circulation initiatives, and collection development that supports and recognizes the diversity these groups bring to the library.
This annotated bibliography illustrates my understanding of the need for diverse service provision within the public library system. Through the analysis portion of this assignment, I was able to make critical suggestions to how the author could have delved deeper into the subject by suggesting that further scholarship could address the issue of the ‘digital divide’ within and amongst the same user group.
Conclusion
The current socio-political climate requires that we as information professionals be “active bystanders” in everything we do. We must work to protect intellectual freedom, freedom to read, and above all else, the safety and dignity of one another. Freedoms, liberties, and rights are actively either eroding or being stripped from us. Libraries have always been spaces of community and safety. Today, we must fight to keep them so. My goal as an information professional is to advocate for all, to include all, and to serve all. I can do this by doing work on recognizing internal bias, and leading with empathy. Looking to places like the ALA and ACLU for professional and ethical guidance will be helpful for me as I step into this new arena.
References
American Library Association. (2017). Strategic directions 2017: Update. https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/aboutala/content/governance/StrategicPlan/Strategic%20Directions%202017_Update.pdf
Bright, K. (2022). Equity of access, diversity, and inclusion. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp.66-79). Rowman & Littlefield.
Cooke, N. A. (2018). Librarians as active bystanders: Centering social justice in LIS practice. In K. Haycock (Ed.), The portable MLIS: Insights from the experts (2nd ed., pp. [insert page range]) . Libraries Unlimited.