Whole Person Librarianship by Sara K. Zettervall & Mary C. Nienow

Author:Sara K. Zettervall & Mary C. Nienow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO

Macro: Systematic Change

Macro-level work happens at a cultural or societal level. To the extent that library social workers create a cultural shift through training library staff, that role could be considered to have a macro as well as mezzo impact. Leah is increasingly involved at a macro level through coaching library systems that want to hire social workers and mentoring new library social workers. Similarly, library social workers’ connections with other organizations can also lead to macro-level impact, particularly when they’re positioned at a higher administrative level. By virtue of being in a management position, Zelda explained, she’s “able to be in a lot of meetings and really help to make decisions in regards to what the library will be doing with certain things and keep a trauma-informed social work focus on some of those things and how we are best serving our customers.”

Like Zelda, many library social workers play an important role in library culture by helping to (re)develop equitable library policies. Using her perspective as a social worker and psychologist, Ursula has worked with her library board, which “is very supportive of us, and we are trying to pass a policy that is talking specifically about evaluating our services, collections, and programs… . The other piece was really about providing multicultural and equitable services and programs, what that looks like, and what kind of training do we need. When we say we are welcoming to all, what does that look like when it comes to our families and the way we talk to patrons and the way we create our programs?” Her library administration hadn’t considered getting involved with policymaking outside the library system until she came on board. Her role “put us in a platform we weren’t in before. We are now able to have conversations with city council members, with the United Way, more macro-level in the community. They’re bringing us the conversation that they didn’t used to before in terms of budgeting or how the school district is thinking about programs for bilingual household reading acquisitions. That didn’t happen before. I don’t think the library saw themselves as having a role at those levels, at those tables.”

Just as Zelda’s efforts opened up a new role for her library’s administrators as community change agents, all social workers have much to teach librarians about macro-level work. Chapter 5 goes into greater depth on the kind of policymaking and advocacy social workers provide, what that looks like in a library setting, and how it might be adapted for greater reach in librarianship.

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