Old Skills and New Practices Mean Radical Change for Library Education Deborah Turner College of Computing and Informatics, Drexel University. Email: [email protected] Tim Gorichanaz College of Computing and Informatics, Drexel University. Email: [email protected] Technological advances and other societal change have resulted in public libraries’ in- creased reliance on online resources when providing access to information. However, a portion of those served by public libraries includes members of urban poor populations who may prefer to interact with information by talking. How can library educators en- sure graduates are prepared to serve these populations? Using the participatory action research method this paper reports the Oral Present research project. This project is part of an on-going study conducted to identify how public libraries studied meet the infor- mation needs of this constituency. Results reveal how current service practices involve a radical twist on using traditional collection development skills. Discussion includes recommendations to ensure library education curricula can better prepare graduates for applying age-old professional practices in radical new ways. Keywords: library services, libraries and metropolitan areas, oral information, urban poor, LIS education, everyday life information Introduction recommendations for improvement in this area. Analysis of focus group, interview, echnological proliferation has led to a and observation data reveals how library Tdecrease in ready reference services, and information science (LIS) educators including less reference desks, and to pub- can better prepare librarians for meeting lic libraries finding technology-based ways the information needs of those who pre- to meet patrons’ information needs. How- fer to interact with oral information. The ever, members of urban poor populations preliminary findings presented are part of in the United States tend to belong to oral an on-going research project focused on li- cultures, or those that traditionally prefer brary services extended to the urban poor. to interact with information by talking (Heath, 1983; Ong, 2005; Purcell-Gates, Exploring the Problem in the 1995). How do librarians in the United Literature States meet the information needs of talk- ers? The study reported in this paper was Members of underserved within the developed to increase understanding of (1) general populations of the United States in- this population, (2) how libraries extend clude, but are not limited to, families with services to it, and (3) how people inter- children (birth to age 17) living below the act with one type of informal, specifically poverty line (as defined by the American oral, information. By identifying practices Office of Management and Budget, which that urban public librarians in the United implements and enforces Presidential pol- States use to meet urban poor population’s icy and is revised annually in accordance information needs, this study provides with U.S. code section 9902[2] of title J. of Education for Library and Information Science, Vol. 57, No. 3—(Summer) July 2016 ISSN: 0748-5786 © 2016 Association for Library and Information Science Education 239 doi:10.12783/issn.2328-2967/57/3/2 240 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE 42), individuals with disabilities, senior Turner, 2009). People prefer informal citizens, and residents of all ages unable to information when they want to find out access library programs and services due about something new (Daft and Lengel, to factors including geographic, language/ 1983; Fidel and Green, 2004; Mackenzie, linguistic, technological, and socioeco- 2005; see also Ikoja-Odongo and Ocholla, nomic barriers (Minnesota Department of 2004). As examples, prenatal women rely Education, 2007). The study focuses main- on oral information to build relationships ly on one underserved U.S. demographic, with key information providers to become those considered urban poor. This portion informed (McKenzie, 2009); co-workers of the population has poor social protec- use it to build teams and socialize new tion from risk—including limited access colleagues (Hall, 1993; Mirivel and Tracy, to education, employment, healthcare, and 2005; Meehan, 2000; Sole and Edmond- housing (Gilderbloom, 2008). Culture, son, 2002); community members—who race, and social psychological factors also rely on old technologies—consider it contribute to their poverty (Wilson, 1996). when deciding whether to adopt new tech- African Americans and other minorities nology like smartphones (Burrell, 2012); are likely to be a part of the urban poor and, managers share it to convey important (PEW, 2012). When conducting research information (Case, 2007; Turner, 2012; on African Americans, DiTomaso (2012) Leckie, Pettigrew, and Sylvan, 1996; see finds that their social and economic status also Bhaumik, 2005). remains unchanged because they routinely Increasing and facilitating access to lack access to the type of social connec- online information will not bring about tions needed to achieve socioeconomic social change for many of these groups. mobility. This research indicates where Instead, access to information must be intervention is needed to positively impact coupled with effective social connections the urban poor. that foster the flow of informal informa- Evidence of public libraries’ on-going tion. This discussion is consistent with the interest in those considered underserved small-world model of information seek- can be shown by the way LIS literature re- ing, which posits that people rely on in- fers to the urban poor in a broad range of network providers of information, usually domains: from early-20th-century efforts oral information, over out-network provid- to “Americanize” immigrants to current ers (Chatman, 1996, 1992). A key aspect efforts to help those disadvantaged, needy, of this model is that community members underprivileged, or underserved (Office of do not trust outsider information sources. Education, Bureau of Libraries and Learn- ing Resources, 1973; Townes, 2015). Method More recent efforts to improve quality of life have aimed to get urban poor commu- To learn more about how urban public nity members online. Although these ef- librarians serve populations that prefer to forts have led to some positive outcomes interact with oral information, the current for this population, they fail to improve study design relies on the Participant Ac- economic prosperity, political participa- tion Research (PAR) method (Kemmis, tion, and social interaction systemically McTaggart, and Nixon, 2014; Kindon, (Frisby-Greenwood, 2013; Wolfson, Pain, and Kesby, 2010) to examine and 2013). determine how to improve library educa- The study reported here also emerges tion curricula. PAR involves relying on from new understandings about oral in- researcher and, as appropriate, participant formation, mainly in the western world. knowledge to arrive at study conclusions. This type of information has been catego- Preliminary data was gathered at the Cleve- rized as informal information (Case, 2007; land Public Library (CPL), a large, urban Old Skills and New Practices Mean Radical Change for Library Education 241 system with 27 branches and the first of library. The participants received their three research sites. Data sets include in- choice of a mini USB flash drive or a can terviews with librarian administrators (9), of nuts (both valued at 5 US Dollars) as an interviews with eligible library users—re- incentive for the fifteen to twenty minutes gardless of whether they use CPL (47), a of their time needed for an interview. focus group with representatives (7) from Finally in recognition of how initial community service organizations (5); and, data gathered revealed persistent coop- limited observation data. eration between libraries and community Library administrators included ad- service organizations, data was gathered ministrators charged with system-wide to learn more about the organizations’ responsibilities and branch managers. roles in meeting the information needs of Central administrative librarians helped underserved populations. Specifically, the ensure that most data was gathered in or researcher facilitated a 90-minute focus near library locations serving the city’s ur- group with representatives from five dif- ban poor—the majority of which are Afri- ferent community service organizations. can American. Several of these librarians Focus group members responded to semi- had worked in more than the one capac- structured questions focused on what pop- ity since beginning at the library system. ulations they served, how they advertised The library administrators responded to their services, how they got information to semi-structured interview questions about their target populations, and whether and what populations the library served, how how the organizations worked with public it worked to meet their information needs, libraries. Although held in a library facil- which populations had information needs ity, the focus group involved no library that were the hardest to reach, and why do- staff members. ing so proved challenging. Librarian par- Data was coded to identify emergent ticipants also suggested potential places to themes. Consistent with the PAR meth- gather data by interviewing eligible library odology, member checking helped ensure users. accurate analysis of the data and identifi- Next, community members provided cation of emergent themes. insight into how