Communicate and collaborate with colleagues and communities.

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Communication is an essential skill for working with both patrons and colleagues in libraries.  Knowing how to communicate ideas, answer questions, give instructions, assist with research and troubleshoot problems. In addition to the responsibilities that a librarian has with patrons, it is important to know how to communicate with faculty to help support their instructional, research and teaching goals. Working effectively with a range of people with different backgrounds, abilities, cultures and languages and comfort levels with technology can ensure the success and independence of patrons and faculty. Focus on user centered communication and taking a collaborative approach with colleagues and the community is one way to effectively communicate ideas and instruction. Librarian’s responsibilities and roles require expertise in technology, literature, locating resources, research and readers services therefore being familiar with current teaching and learning research and methodologies is key to having a positive outcome. Being cognizant of both the informational and the relational aspects of communication during the interaction in the library are also important. Awareness of behaviors, attitude, affect and tone and other key non-verbal aspects of communication can convey a message that also contributes to the reference experience (Radford, 2001).

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The artifacts listed under this objective are less interpersonal communication and more professional communication with patrons and colleagues to share resources, research and information that I have learned to help others if and when they may need it. During class, I was required to present many of these artifacts to the group. As students, we were exposed to many concepts that were presented by fellow students as well as doing several projects in a group setting where we were all required to contribute an aspect of the project as in the Collection Management website and the Health and Medicine Resources presentation. Working as a group and also presenting to a group is an essential skill when serving the public as a Librarian. Many library programs, initiatives and policies require the input and collaboration with the community, therefore knowing how to most effectively engage others toward achieving a common goal is an invaluable skill to acquire.

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Radford, M. L. (2001). Encountering users, encountering images: communication theory and

the library context. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 42(1), 27–41. Retrieved on November 7, 2020 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40324035