Statement of Competency
Introduction
In the twenty-first century, technology has evolved and emerged at an unprecedented rate. It is critical that information professionals stay up to date with current and emerging technologies so that they might provide service that aligns with the evolving technological landscape. In addition to these technologies, this competency also addresses how they impact and inform information professions and environments.
Identifying Technology
Information professionals have long considered their mission to be connecting people with resources and assisting them with their information needs. In the twenty-first century, where technology has exponentially shifted and changed, information professionals should take great care in their ability to identify and adapt to this technology. How does one stay abreast of emerging information and communication technologies when the evolutionary pacing seems to grow quicker by the day? Stephen Abram stresses that “Information professionals need to do more than just see the changes currently happening; they need to get out in front of them–forecasting what is to come and proactively moving ahead to adapt to these changes” (2022, p. 28). He suggests information professionals should look to professional consortia, partner with vendors, and engage in idea and resource-sharing which helps with the financial burden of identifying and evaluating emerging technologies.
When identifying new and emerging technologies, it is integral that the information professional understands the user. Not all technologies will be appropriate for every institution, community, or user group. A strong understanding of user needs and behaviors allows information professionals to evaluate technologies not only for their innovation but for their relevance, inclusivity, and sustainability. Conducting user surveys, asking for feedback, and making note of information-seeking behavior of an information professional’s user base can help determine whether a new technology is suitable for adoption and inclusion.
Using Technology
Using technology has become a de facto responsibility for today’s information professional (Breeding, 2022). Serving their communities and meeting their communities’ information needs undoubtedly involves technology-driven activities such as organizing information (such as digital asset management systems and content management systems), using specific platforms that require technological literacy (eg: Adobe and Google Workspaces) and improving situational workflows through technological programs which foster efficiency. The diverse ways in which technology can be deployed within information communities is wide and vast, and future service provision relies on adaptability (Hirsh, 2022).
Michael Stephens’ important scholarship on Hyperlinked Libraries (2022) emphasizes the need for user-centered technologies that encourage engagement. The current use of social media technology has some real-world applications with information professionals engaging with the global community in meaningful ways. Mychal Threets, an SJSU alumnus, exemplifies how this can be successfully executed— during COVID, he began communicating via TikTok and Instagram (social media platforms) to talk about how libraries enhance our lives. This garnered him instant recognition from followers, which ultimately led to opportunities to promote libraries, and eventually, an offer to become the host of the revived PBS show ‘Reading Rainbow’ (Gupta, 2025). Because of his social media interactions, he is now able to reach new audiences via television.
Evaluating Technology
When evaluating emerging information and communication technologies, one needs to approach evaluation with a holistic approach. This means that in addition to evaluating the technology in terms of performance, cost, and effectiveness, evaluation must be couched in a firm understanding of the user base (both internal and external). Both Hirsh and Abram (2022) champion adaptability of the information professional and institution in addition to equity as guiding evaluative principles, while Stephens (2022) argues for a participatory approach, where evaluation from users is invited, valued, and respected. Taken together, evaluative measures such as beta tests, feedback questionnaires, and social media engagement are part of this holistic approach that blends these approaches.
Evidence
MONCA librarything.com Website
This item of evidence was created while working at The Museum of Northern California Art. This hyperlink leads to librarything.com, a social cataloging and bibliographic tool for individuals and institutions alike. In my position at MONCA, I am responsible for the organization and cataloging of our visual resources library. At present, this collection stands at 700-plus titles. I began this project by creating an account under MONCA’s name, and then manually entered ISBN and or LOC numbers into the website, which would link to a book if it existed in the library. Librarything is not an open source program, but owned through acquisition by Clarivate (ProQuest), so the programming is proprietary. What the program does allow for, however, is community-generated content, which employs user-tagging and metadata to discover other users’ existing content and bibliographic data (including pictures and reviews) to be linked to the item, which can be discovered and used by other librarything users. After I had entered all of MONCA’s print resources, I individually assigned “tags” as metadata for future precision and recall for interested museum patrons or staff.
My work with librarything.com for MONCA aligns with competency H because it required me to evaluate a technology for goodness of fit with MONCA, a cultural heritage organization that has industry-specific needs, such as organizing and providing access to visual resources. I proved I know how to use this technology, by my understanding of how the metadata attached to each record supports discoverability for patrons and staff. I evaluated the librarything website technology by understanding the strengths (ease of use, community collaboration and sharing) and limitations of the platform (proprietary software, no standard vocabulary, not open source). This ability to make such assessments in these three domains speaks to my capability as a budding information professional because it shows that I am able apply knowledgeable, informed, critical thinking to a specific user group.
INFO 210: Using AI in Library Instruction
In this assignment from INFO 210 with Dr. Johanna Tunon (Fall 2024), I documented how I moved through an exercise of using a generative AI LLM platform (in this instance, Microsoft Copilot) to assist me with beginning a research paper. In essence, this exercise served to simulate a similar experience one might have when participating in or conducting a reference interview. The exercise began by initiating a query with Copilot by asking it to help me start researching a paper on Art History. Dr. Tunon supplied the steps we were required to take, but the structure of the language and syntactical decision-making with regards to querying were mine. I found that Copilot gave wonderfully structured answers to my queries, and the narrowing and tightening of my scope was enhanced with suggestions on keywords to use, search strings to try, and authoritative sources. At the end of the AI exchange with Copilot, I found that I had a strong understanding of how to start the research process on this pretend essay. It feels inherently wrong to use AI in general when embarking on any type of scholarship, but I suppose that having those feelings when using new technology helps one to carefully consider and evaluate it without blind acceptance.
This evidence demonstrates my understanding of Artificial Intelligence, an emerging technology, which supports my knowledge of current and emerging technological issues and trends. I showed the exchange between myself and Copilot, which shows I understand how to use this technology. I also stated that this assignment felt like a self-guided reference interview, which demonstrates that I understand how this emerging technology impacts information professions. The using of the technology was, in fact, an evaluative activity since to evaluate Copilot in this case involved iterative usage.
INFO 210: Discussion Question: Week 6
In this assignment for INFO 210 with Dr. Tunon (Fall 2024) I used two generative AI programs (ChatGPT and Google Gemini) to respond to a prompt asking each program to write a 200-word essay on a person of interest. The choice of subject was ours to make. I asked both programs to “write a 200-word essay on T.C. Boyle.” I found that both programs sufficiently provided a cogent, well-written response but noted that in comparing the two programs, ChatGPT gave more nuanced and sophisticated responses. After the initial prompt, I asked each program to provide refinement through additional prompts to see how they handled the requests. In addition to seeing how both platforms responded to text generation of a well-known individual, I then asked both programs to write a 200-word essay on my sister (a Yale-educated economist) to see if they could recall her scholarship (widely available on google scholar and other databases). They could not. I found this to be surprising, and noted it in my evaluation.
This assignment supports Competency H because I showed that I can identify emerging technologies such as 2 generative AI tools (ChatGPT and Google Gemini) that are becoming more widely adopted. I selected these tools to compare features such as accuracy, nuance, and precision in recall and prompt refinement, which shows that I know how to use and evaluate such technologies. In this instance, I was focused on evaluating accuracy and authoritativeness. This evaluation also shows that I recognize the evolving ways emerging information and communication technologies are shaping content creation, literacy, and reference work in the information landscape.
Conclusion
It’s an exciting time to be an information professional—the information landscape is constantly shifting and adapting to help meet the needs of users. The emerging information and communication technologies available to information professionals is enormous and expansive, and while all might have their specific use and value in different arenas and applications, it’s imperative that information professionals understand that widespread adoption is ill-advised without thorough evaluation. I plan on remaining adaptable, inquisitive, and engaged in the new horizons of information technology through remaining active in participatory social media platforms, generative AI assessment and application, and industry-specific professional development associations.
References
Abram, S. (2022). The transformative information landscape. In S. K. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp. 27-37). Rowman & Littlefield.
Breeding, M. (2022). Managing technology. In S. K. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp. 342-357). Rowman & Littlefield.
Hirsh, S. (2022). What it means to be an information professional today. In S. K. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp. 3-14). Rowman & Littlefield.
Stephens, M. (2022). Hyperlinked libraries. In S. K. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp. 229-239). Rowman & Littlefield.