Accessibility and Inclusion in a Library eMentorship Program By Daniel Alejandro González, Lorin Flores, Cynthia DeLeon, Marcella McGowan, and Jordan Torres EARLY 2020 BROUGHT MASSIVE UNREST, INSTABILITY, AND A MASSIVE MIGRATION INTO DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS. Prior to this time, our team had been serving library patrons through standard brick and mortar mediums and traditional titles as library assistant and librarians. As a library assistant, I did most of my work through in person service desks, computer labs, and through telephone reference hours. My colleagues and co-writer librarians had similar responsibilities in their respective departments and branches. As the pandemic policies took place in early spring, we closed our library doors to patrons and stopped face to face services. Established approaches to library service have been challenged and enhanced by the internet era. “[T]his is a new global library environment, and it is one in which librarians are still finding their way… The role of librarian as both user-educator and intermediary is prevalent in this environment”.1 The transition from hardcover and paperback books to electronic ones has been happening from the beginning of the internet era, this paper to plastic, in person to digital migration became more urgent and pronounced during the pandemic. DIGITAL TOOLS & COMMUNICATION Our first move was to find a way to communicate with departmental colleagues and each other since we would no longer have time to work desks together, time to continue ongoing dialogues from our shared office spaces, or time passing through the building and collaborating in committees, workshops, programs, or other in person communications. We were able to follow up with general information through work email accounts and could share ideas one step at time in
the way that emails allow. Researchers have found certain challenges with online work relationships and email communications, noting that “the characteristics of email increase the likelihood of conflict escalation among those communicating by email”.2 Email, like any other type of communication provides benefits and challenges that touch on communication styles, cultural backgrounds3, and relaying of context.4 While our email communications were fairly clear and collegial, it did not help us make progress towards our goals to serve the community. As we were focused on providing effective services and tools for patrons, we needed spaces and practices to have meaningful collaborative work sessions. Our first efforts focused on ways to directly communicate with patrons. To this end, we moved through a few familiar apps and services. There were announcement boards where we could post current information about library services, pandemic updates, and vaccine news. Some of these provided a space for the audience to respond and post questions or other messages. None of these were in real-time and provided a stagnant communication flow that was more of a one-way declaration than a way to have conversation and dialogue, nor a way to have productive collaboration sessions. Our directive to serve patrons was also adjusted at this time with the system emphasis being placed on a single LibGuide. This format has become a widely used way for organizing and disseminating information due to its layout and low cost. It also sits within the current contexts where “[c] ommunication in twenty-first century libraries is a challenge that is made complex by organizational
Sharp, Kate. “Internet Librarianship: Traditional Roles in a New Environment.” (2000). Byron, Kristin. “Carrying too heavy a load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email.” (2008): 309-327. 3 Holtbrügge, Dirk, Abigail Weldon, and Helen Rogers. “Cultural determinants of email communication styles.” International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 13, no. 1 (2013): 89-110. 4 Byron, Kristin. “Carrying too heavy a load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email.” (2008): 309-327. 1
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176 | Texas Library Journal SPECIAL EDITION, SUMMER 2021
