Communication is a large and valuable part of an information professional’s job. Communication between the librarian and patrons (or students), coworkers, the community, and shareholders are all a part of the information professional’s responsibilities. Communication can be formal or informal, and can happen in the form of presentations, conversations, emails or other text based exchanges, to name only a few of the most common forms.

 

Interpersonal communication includes both verbal and non-verbal cues that help people to understand and build meaning with one another. Verbal communication usually takes place face-to-face, over the phone, or using a conferencing or web conferencing software service. Verbal communication offers the opportunity for participants to exchange information with one another in real time, without needing to wait for one or more participants to respond at another time. Verbal communication is advantageous in learning environments, where students may need to ask follow up questions. Verbal communication also works very well during reference interviews, because it allows the information professional to ask questions, and to conduct a reference interview more easily. The same is true of presentations, although they do not usually lose their usefulness if they are recorded or stored and viewed at a later time.

 

Written communication works well when information needs to be presented more formally. Writing reports, proposals, emails, memos, letters, or instructions are all forms of written communication. Written communication can also be useful because it gives the participants something to refer to, to assist them with remembering, as in the case of a complex task or set of instructions. Written communication can be done by hand or electronically, and increasingly there are more technical tools that allow both formal and informal forms of written communication. An example of formal written communication might be a research paper, while an example of informal written communication might be a Twitter post.

 

Nonverbal communication can be just as important when interacting with people as verbal (or even written communication). Voice tone, body language, and facial expressions make up a large percentage of nonverbal communication. Tone of voice is an important element in nonverbal communication. The way that a person says something gives that message context. A phrase said in a stern or angry tone will carry a much different message than something said in a light jocular manner. Tone of voice can be used to convey emotion and elicit a particular type of response in listeners. Body language such as nervous pacing or shifting, blinking rapidly, or twitching can convey nervousness, and cause people to react differently to a speaker than they might to a confident speaker who makes eye contact, smiles, and makes engaging and conversational gestures while speaking. Facial expressions also play a role in nonverbal communications. The phrase “smiles are contagious” is based on the fact that many people, whether consciously or not, adopt the facial expression and to a lesser extent the mood of people around them. If a speaker smiles and displays outward signs of being happy or excited, that speaker is likely to get a similar response from the audience. If the speaker is angry or outraged, he or she is likely to convey that with their facial expressions, and to have those expressions mirrored back to him or her by the audience.

 

Throughout my time in the MLIS program, I have had to put many of my communication skills to use. Whether writing papers, creating presentations, videos, or attending webinars or other group meetings - communication is at the center of many of the courses that I have taken. I have learned new mediums of communication by creating screen-casts, instructional videos, and white papers. I have attended and hosted meetings using Zoom, Collaborate, and Google Hangouts. I have connected with fellow classmates on Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram. Most of these means of communication were things that I did not use, or had never created prior to my enrollment at San Jose State. I am proud to say that this program has broadened my skill set, and taught me efficient and effective means of communication, whether it be written, verbal, or nonverbal.

 

Evidence

 

The first piece of evidence that I submit to demonstrate my mastery of this competency is a presentation that I created while serving as a peer mentor for INFO 203. When I began the program, the school was using Collaborate as the main program to host meetings, and eventually switched to Zoom. For my presentation, I decided to record a video to instruct students how to start or schedule a meeting using Zoom. As a student, this was the first time that I had used the program, so I hoped that this would prove useful to other students as they learned to use the program. This presentation demonstrates my ability to use screen-casting software to explain and demonstrate how to use a technical communication tool. The presentation was placed online, with links to the presentations provided to iSchool students.

 

The second piece of evidence that I submit is another project that comes from my experience as a peer mentor. Peer mentors were broken into groups to create a “meet-up” for students taking INFO 203 (and thus, new to the program). I worked with two other peer mentors to create a meetup that we called “Mistakes we made... (So that you don’t have to).” In the presentation, we talked about some of the mishaps and slip ups that we encountered throughout the program, and offered tips and advice so that incoming students could avoid making the same mistakes. I have included the PowerPoint presentationfor this meetup. It was a wonderful experience to work on this project - it required collaboration in a small group, as well as hosting a meeting and discussion with new students. This project demonstrates my ability to communicate in a small group environment, as well as my ability to present information to a larger group as part of a collaborative effort.

 

The third piece of evidence that I submit to demonstrate my mastery of this competency is a video that I created in INFO 281 - Open Access. For this project, we had to identify a group on on campus open access stakeholders, and to create a targeted message for the stakeholders advocating or informing them about open access options. For this project, I chose William Paterson University, which is where I attended college as an undergraduate. The stakeholders that I chose to target my message to are professors engaging in research and seeking publication. This short video discusses open access, and the options for open access at William Paterson for this group of individuals. This piece of evidence demonstrates my ability to create a message to convey information to a targeted group of people. It demonstrates my ability to present information, but also to curate the information that is relevant to this group, and succinctly present it to a group of professionals.

 

Conclusion

 

Humans love communicating with one another. This is apparent, when one considers the vast amount of technologies that we have invented over the centuries so improve and enable communication. From the telegraph to Snapchat, people have always been trying to communicate with each other. Now, with the age of the internet and social media, communication is more accessible, but perhaps more complex than ever. Working as an information professional requires a high level of communication skills, as all professional positions will require some degree of communication. Professionals will interact with the public, with coworkers, and with stakeholders to ensure that information will be disseminated and shared accordingly, and it is therefore imperative that information professionals have developed the skills and tools needed to communicate effectively.