> C/V
> P.L.O. 1
> P.L.O. 2
> P.L.O. 3
> P.L.O. 4
> P.L.O. 5
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PLO 2 – Understand, Engage, and Serve Users and Their Communities
Introduction
Both understanding and serving communities must begin with listening, curiosity, and a commitment to honoring library users. This PLO stresses that information work is inherently relational: our services, programs, and collections must reflect the values, histories, and aspirations of the communities we serve. I ground my assessments in evidence, attend to cultural context, and approach engagement with humility. Effective librarianship requires technical skill, in addition to empathy, reflexivity, and a willingness to be shaped by the people whose stories and needs inform our work.
2.1 Assess the needs and goals of users and communities
In my Library Community Issue Analysis and Strategic Plan for Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (IST 672), I investigated longstanding effects of generational racism and cultural erasure faced by the Seneca Nation and its communities within Buffalo, NY. Assessments were rooted in population data, health equity reports, and direct accounts of Indigenous community members’ lived experiences. By identifying both environmental and institutional forces contributing to continued marginalization, I was able to frame realistic, community-centric goals. Similarly, my Community Music Lab Proposal (IST 613) articulated a plan for a cross-generational creative space centered on neighborhood voice and belonging, drawing on resident feedback and mapping intersecting community needs.
2.2 Engage diverse users and communities with empathy and cultural competence
The Equity Literacy Practice Worksheet and Responsive Librarianship in Action assignments (IST 511) documented an ongoing development of cultural humility and practices of reflexive engagement, where I reflected on my role as an information worker, committed to both combating deficit-based narratives as well as uplifting historically erased identities. The Equity Literacy exercise encouraged me to examine how biases can unintentionally marginalize. I carried this insight into real planning efforts, such as the Strategic Plan (IST 672) for working with the Seneca Nation, where I prioritized community-led design, anti-tokenism, and restorative visibility.
2.3 Elicit the voices of, advocate for, and collaborate with users as community partners
Through my public & oral-history practice and archival consulting, I advocate for participatory models that uphold community voices: in developing volunteer frameworks for the Patterson/Resnaa Archive, I created feedback loops where participants shape descriptive terms and event priorities. This collaboration mirrors the rhetoric of my earlier library-based advocacy projects, while bolstering the idea that equities within information services emerge when users are treated as co-curators of their own histories—as I like to call it, reclamation of personal narrative.
2.4 Provide equitable, just, and culturally responsive services and resources
The Access Effectiveness Evaluation (IST 616) of a library website taught me how digital tools can perpetuate or alleviate information barriers, especially in consideration of accessibility, concerning multilingual, disabled, or underserved users. Similarly, my Genre Study (IST 612) of culturally relevant literature centered equity-driven collection development, highlighting representation across race, gender, and lived experience. Both assignments emphasized the responsibility libraries have in designing inclusive, and culturally affirming services. I extended these values in my Strategic Plan, which itself proposed specific actions in order to support Indigenous youth through identity-affirming materials, land-centered programming, and collaborative tribal educational partnerships.
2.5 Use educational theory, instructional design, and assessment to develop, implement, and evaluate education, training, and programming for a variety of learner audiences
My Digital Audio Preservation Practices (IST 715) write-up involved translating preservation theory into a training resource for community members digitizing oral histories.The Library Community Issue Analysis (IST 672) included programmatic recommendations rooted in community-based pedagogy, with emphasis toward restorative learning environments for Seneca youth and intergenerational Indigenous audiences.
Learning Transfer
This PLO maintains the idea that community engagement is a philosophy of practice. The lessons I have learned about cultural competency, participatory design, and collaborative advocacy guides my approach to every future professional relationship. Users are partners, co-creators, and knowledge holders, and I will work to ensure that their voices meaningfully influence decisions that affect them. I will carry forward the understanding that communities are not homogeneous—each is shaped by layered identities, histories, and lived experiences. By centering these multiplicities, I can design services and learning environments that are inclusive as well as affirming, restorative, and responsive to the dynamic realities of the people libraries exist to serve.
Evidence
IST 511 - Equity Literacy Practice Worksheet
IST 612 - Genre Study
IST 613 - Community Music Lab Program Proposal
IST 616 - Access Effectiveness
IST 672 - Strategic Plan (Buffalo Erie County Library)
- Library Community Issue Analysis
IST 715 - Digital Audio Preservation Practices & History