Regardless of their specific library and their specific role, librarians must be adept at meeting the needs of a wide range of library users. One way that users will vary is of course based on their role -- students vs faculty at an academic library, or children vs adults in a public library. More importantly, though, is for librarians to be able to develop and demonstrate intercultural competence, so that they can communicate effectively with all users, to be able to truly listen to them and meet their specific informational needs.

In LIS 662, Information Services for Diverse Client Groups, we spent a great deal of time discussing the crucial aspect of listening to our users and meeting their needs, instead of patronizingly deciding what is best for them. This means making careful plans to drive the organization’s mission forward in a way that is directed by our diverse communities, as described in dimension 2.1 - Planning. Working in a library of veterinary medicine, I have had first hand experience with an environment that is overwhelmingly white - veterinary medicine is one of the whitest in the country. The students of color that we do have at the College of Veterinary Medicine face serious obstacles when it comes to succeeding in veterinary medicine, and I do what I can to make at least some aspect of their time in school as welcoming and inclusive as possible. As an assignment for that class, I planned a survey of students who are underrepresented in veterinary medicine (URVM). It was a true learning experience for me in that -- despite my carefully planned outreach - I did not have any respondents to this survey. There are many reasons as to why that happened, but I am taking the lessons I learned in that experience and using them to improve my Capstone project.

A huge component of meeting the needs of all patrons is delineated in dimension 2.2 - Assessment. It is crucial that librarians are able to cast a critical eye on every component of their library’s services and resources, on a regular basis to ensure that they are continuing to meet the needs of all patrons. For LIS 636, Web Production & Useability for Librarians, we had the opportunity to assess several websites on various components of useability. I examined the NC State University Libraries interlibrary loan service, known as Tripsaver. This assignment asked us to focus on a specific theory of useability in our assessment.

Going back to my project in LIS 662, I combined past anecdotal reports from our patrons with everything I had learned in the class about supporting minority groups, I designed (dimension 2.3 - Design) a project that I think is appropriately supportive without being condescending - a Personal Librarian program for URVM students. We already have a similar program in place for other groups of our users, so it will be easy to implement. The challenge will be making sure those URVM students know about the program.

This brings us to the next dimension, Outreach (2.4). In this Capstone project, I have changed my approach to reaching out to minority students. Instead of attempting to target them carefully, I will broaden my scope to contact all students, and I am including a demographic survey as a way to carefully build a diverse pool of participants. My site supervisors have been really helpful in thinking of ways to build that diversity, including a question on the survey that asks “Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself that will help us build a diverse group of respondents?” I think this is great, in that it will allow students to call my attention to marginalized identities that I never would have thought to ask about if it wasn’t for this question.