Competency Statement: Understand global perspectives on effective information practices that are supportive of cultural, economic, educational, or social well-being.

Introduction

Global perspectives are not only important to design diverse, equitable, and inclusive programs and services in our information environments. Information and solutions developed in other parts of the world can enrich information communities that are also confronting the same issues and holding the same interests.

This competency enables librarians and information professionals to teach, learn, and apply information practices that support cultural, economic, education, and social well-being universally and inclusively so that global communities can sustainably access and collaborate in sharing information with the rest of the world.

Sustainability

The effects of climate change are increasingly becoming apparent as we see evidence of global warming, such as having to endure longer heatwaves, which can cause issues with information preservation. Physical and digital artifacts are expected to be kept in temperature-controlled repositories which can consume high energy loads. A case study of the UK’s National Archives demonstrates how the organization monitored and evaluated power consumption to explore and implement mitigation strategies (Hong, et al, 2011). This vitally sustainable practice can be used as a model for other information environments that require strict environmental conditions for storing archival documents and data servers.

Language

Language is a significant barrier to global information discovery where a concept in one language can be interpreted in several ways in another. To mitigate this, the International Organization of Standards 25964 was created to present a data model requiring compliant information environments to 1) employ thesauri for information retrieval and 2) that the thesauri should be interoperable with other vocabularies (NISO, 2024). A thesaurus maps the relationship between concepts and maps them to other vocabularies and can “clarify and standardize the varying and conflicting interpretations that exist” consistently within automated systems (Will, 2012, p. 48). Applied across languages where some concepts can have single or multiple equivalent relationships, thesauri can map non-preferred terms to one preferred term tied to its equivalent and retrieve the most relevant information in the target language.

Open Access & collaboration

Inviting global perspectives is enriching and can lead to the development of new ideas, but it can be challenging.  Studies have shown that countries weak in “research infrastructure and capacity to absorb scientific and technical knowledge” leads to low research output and development, including the lack of access to current information, keeping research scientists in the developing world isolated and their research having little impact (Chan & Costa, 2005). Open Access, principled on the conviction that scientific literature is freely accessible to benefit and serve public good, has been a way for developing countries to benefit from institutional access to research output, improved citation and research impact, low infrastructure cost, and improved access to primary data (Chan & Costa, 2005). Collaborating with the Open Access movement “enriches the global knowledge base by incorporating the ‘missing’ research from the less developed world and improves south-north and south-south knowledge flow” (Chan & Costa, 2005, p. 159).

Evidence

The evidence I chose to present to demonstrate this competency include a blog post examining barriers that affect the global independent game developer community, a discussion on the metadata of a digital collection managed by Japan’s National Diet Library, and a WikiData project where I create entries for a small collection of LGBTQIA+ books written and published in Japan.

Evidence #1 – INFO 202 – Information Communities – Global communities blog post

In this blog post, I discuss the entry barriers for the indie developer game community, one that is concentrated in the global north across North America, Europe, and East Asia, and how libraries could help this information community. I brought attention to an article that interviewed a South African developer, who, when asked about the greatest challenges that indie game developers confront, answered internet that was over-priced and under-delivered, expensive hardware, and lack of awareness. With this understanding, I looked for real-world ideas that would inspire solutions for these barriers, With some research, I discovered “Libraries Without Borders,” which brings mobile libraries with books and technology equipment, including a server, internet connection, and generator, to connect remote areas to the world and the Milton Public Library in Ontario bringing awareness to indie game development by making its own game to teach its patrons how to use its services. These ideas reinforced my belief that libraries can be a place that can foster independent game development in its communities. 

This evidence demonstrates my understanding of how global perspectives can influence information practices that are supportive of the well-being of an information community.

Evidence #2 – INFO 281 – Metadata – Digital Collections Discussion

In this discussion, I explored two digital collections and discussed their metadata. I was interested to see how Japan’s National Diet Library utilized metadata for its digital collections. It was interesting to see “Publication Place” used twice, one with the international standard indicating Japan (“JP”) and the other used for a domestically recognized location. The property for “Publication Date” also contained formats for the Western calendar and Japanese Wareki calendar, where the year and eras are different. I noticed that metadata properties were available in both Japanese and English, but except for “Collection Information”, all the metadata properties had Japanese values. While the metadata schema is inclusive of Japanese, it is difficult to enforce English equivalents to completion, especially if it’s expected that users of this library who don’t read Japanese are only there to browse.

This evidence demonstrates my observations and understanding of how metadata is used for Japanese artifacts by the Japanese government that can be used in information environments outside of Japan for effective information practice supportive of cultural well-being. 

Evidence #3 – INFO 287 – Linked Data – WikiData Project Reflection

In this linked data project report, I reflected on building a small collection of Japanese written material about gender and queer topics with structured and interconnected data using the WikiData platform, Wikidata. I was motivated to build this collection due to my personal connection to queer academics and desire to have their work recognized outside of Japan. I ran into a number of issues using WikiData, including how to describe resource types while working under constraints, and having to add or modify new WikiData entries in order to add and link information. While I was happy to see some Japanese authors and publishers already having their own WikiData entries, I was not happy with many I had to work with because I didn’t agree with much of the metadata and was unsure why Japanese text was not included with the misspelled romanizations, and I vowed to clean up and add more entries to the platform someday. I also found the constraints and errors very frustrating to work with and often wondered if it was because the descriptive values I chose was incorrect and could not unlock the constraints. I assumed language or cultural bias was built in, and while I appreciated someone’s attempt to standardize, the lack of flexibility made WikiData very difficult to use for Japanese works.

This evidence demonstrates my ability to reflect on issues of an information platform that can prevent the sharing of global perspectives supportive of cultural and educational well-being. 

Conclusion

Global perspectives from different regions and cultures encourage us to think and create from new angles and develop empathy for approaches that may not seem intuitive at first. But I also feel it is important to also think about barriers to information practices that encourage collaboration in a way that is not wasteful, appropriated, or exploited. Operating sustainably, extending language access, and acknowledging contributions from marginal voices is a diplomatic responsibility that promotes mutual exchange of knowledge and peace. As I settle into the information profession, I hope to find opportunities to lower these barriers and be a part of teams that bring visibility and discovery to not only domestic, but also international contributions.

Resources

Chan, L. & Costa, S. (2005). Participation in the global knowledge commons: Challenges and opportunities for research dissemination in developing countries. New Library World, 106(1210/1211), 141-163.

Hong, S. H., Strlič, M., Ridley, I., Ntanos, K., Bell, N., & Cassar, M. (2011). Climate change mitigation strategies for mechanically controlled repositories: The case of The National Archives, Kew. Atmospheric Environment, 49(2012), 163-170

NISO. (2024). ISO 25964 – the international standard for thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies. https://www.niso.org/schemas/iso25964

Will, L. (2012). The ISO 25964 data model for the structure of an information retrieval thesaurus. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 38(4), 48-51.