Current Issues

Elective

Given the following resources are available to the candidate:

• Access to information and data sources about federal, state, and local legislation and the community and the populations served by the library.

The candidate is expected to:

• Identify social/political/economic issues that may affect the library, the populations it serves, or its services (see Politics and Networking)
• Develop recommendations based on the issues.

The criteria to judge the adequacy of the performances are:

• Data collected are relevant and useful.
• Recommendations are timely and targeted.
• Further exploration is conducted on issues of priority to the library.
• Operational plans and budgets accommodate the impact of relevant issues.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify major current issues in public library management.
2. Identify how general political, economic or social trends related to the issues in their public library management context.
3. Analyze an issue in depth, incorporating information gleaned from all relevant sources, and document how the issue could impact strategic planning, services, policies, resource allocation, or collection management as applicable.
4. Develop and defend recommendations for how an issue might be addressed and resolved in a particular public library.