Role of Librarians in Faculty Learning Community

December 30, 2018
Role of librarians in faculty learning community

Abid Hussain
THE role of libraries has now been changed, libraries were once considered a collection of books or
other similar material for recording, organizing, and disseminating of information. The nature of
libraries is changing now and the modern libraries are dealing more with people than with material and
technology. The importance of the role of libraries and librarians cannot be denied, but, it is pertinent to
mention that the role of the faculty learning community is increasing worldwide in higher educational
institutions. What is faculty learning community (FLC)? “A faculty learning community, as a particular
kind of community of practice, has been adopted widely as an approach to an engaging community in
the cause of student and faculty learning and of transforming institutions of higher education into
learning organizations”(Misa Mi, 2015).
The FLC is working to achieve long-term goals around the world. The foremost objective of the FLC is
to build university-wide communities through the process of teaching and learning, The FLC is
working to investigate new ways that can enhance teaching and learning, It nourishes the scholarship of
teaching and its application to the student in the learning process. It is broadening the assessment of
learning and evaluating teaching methods. It is a source of collaboration across disciplines, it is a
source of enhancing general education and coherence of learning across disciplines, It is increasing the
prestige of excellent teaching and, thus, is a source of financial support for teaching and learning
initiatives. The FLC is creating awareness regarding complex situations in teaching and learning. As
mentioned earlier, the basic need of today’s libraries is to focus on users rather than collections of
information. Modern libraries are becoming the hub of user-oriented services. The paradigm of libraries
are shifting from a traditional setup to modern digital applications. Similarly, the job of librarians is
also adopting new shapes in order to create more opportunities for patrons rather than giving them
quantitative books and other reading material.
The core issues of modern libraries and librarians are to advance the teaching, learning and research
methods of users in general and faculty in particular. Today’s libraries are the centre of social spaces, a
hub of community engagement, where people can read, think and explore new ideas. They provide
spaces where people can share their expertise and foster a culture of a learning organization. The
practitioner librarians have set a goal to facilitate users contributions in gaining the objectives of any
organization. In this the role of traditional librarianship has evolved to create hybrid professionals who
have two service objectives: (1) To develop a learning atmosphere; and, (2) To provide those resources
that are mostly applicable to the learning community. Today’s librarians can connect faculty members
with library resources via information skills. A librarian can help the faculty learning community close
their knowledge gap. They provide this assistance by giving access to literature to solve their problems
in curriculum development. This is the moral duty of a librarian to create a social learning atmosphere
for the faculty learning community. Through these efforts the librarians may take a positive step to
achieve the goal of social interaction amongst faculty members and administrative staff.
The role of the librarian in community building should not be underestimated in the 21st century. In
this scenario they may work as a bridge between students, staff, and faculty members. In this role they
may invite faculty members across disciplines to participate in FLC events and activities. As a
community builder, the librarian should also participate in the FLC activities in order to encourage
them to various library services to explore opportunities for collaborative teaching and research
projects. Community building is actually relationship building in a different dimension and it upheld
the idea of a learning organization to achieve the ultimate goal of improving student learning and
outcomes. The librarian should actively participate in all activities to create social spaces in order to
improve the teaching, research, and learning opportunities for the faculty members across disciplines,
in this case, the librarians must remove themselves from traditional role. Contemporary librarians
cannot work in a vacuum. Teamwork and partners are required in any organization to promote,
services, resources and equipment.
The librarians are facilitating the FLC by providing them with the resources, services and spaces to
achieve a common goal of any universities. The teaching faculty and academic librarians are sharing
common concerns in “to provide the highest quality instruction to engage the students through the
development of information literacy skills. “To seek collaboration to keep up with new trends in
information creation, use and dissemination, to increase skill in assessment, increasing pressure to
publish, feel they don’t have enough time, money or staff to do everything they are expected to do, Feel
they would benefit from connecting with colleagues who complement and complete what is needed to
move projects forward (Andrew et al., 2009)” Interaction between faculty members, administrators and
librarians in universities will lead the organization to attain its common goal with a strong relationship
between these three pillars. Triangular relationships between them will get a proper solution to any
complex situation being faced by universities or similar organizations.
— The writer is working as Library Officer in Institute of Strategic Studies, a think-think based in
Islamabad.

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December 30, 2018

Role of librarians in faculty learning community

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