The Space and Physical Access
The Professional Library is located within the Kelly Leadership Center in Manassas, Virginia. While this library is no ‘Dead Fish Library,’ it is still a special library and is very important for teachers in Prince William County (PWC). You will find The Professional Library on the first floor of the Kelly Leadership Center, which is an administration building for Prince William County Public Schools. Since this library is located in an administration building that is also used for educational programs (sometimes for the entire county, which is huge), it is not challenging to find parking in the vast parking lot located in front of the building. The Kelly Leadership Center was opened its doors in 2008, but still looks relatively new. When you enter the front doors to the building you are met by a PWC employee, who is responsible for checking patrons in and out. If you are a current employee, you simply show your badge and walk right in.
The Professional Library is located to right of the building entrance. It is not extremely big and was actually in slight disarray when I visited. Post pandemic saw rejuvenation and renovation for some offices within the administrative building and The Professional Library was on the list, but it has yet to be completed (renovations take a lot longer now adays). The Professional Library has many windows looking out at a type of indoor courtyard (skylight included above) for dining (with many tables and chairs, near the buildings cafeteria). I think the location is good because it is easily accessible for patrons already working in the offices within the Kelly Leadership Center and for visiting patrons. When you open the wooden door to The Professional Library you are met with tall bookshelves filled with educational books on your right with shorter bookshelves, also filled with educational books, jutting out. On your left are some empty bookshelves (that are labeled for removal) and a few tables with chairs, where patrons can look at resources. As you continue farther in, you come to the circulation desk where the only librarian works. Moving to the right, you will see more bookshelves filled with books, DVDs or DVD boxes with USBs in them, and different kits that can be used in the classroom. In the middle of some of the bookshelf rows were boxes or carts with materials piled on them in an unorganized fashion-definitely not easily accessible. If you go the left of the circulation desk you will find a special bookcase which houses materials about Special Education. These materials are often used by parents to research and better understand a child that may be in Special Education but can also be used by teachers and/or any other patron. Around the corner from there is a kitchenette that was popular at the hour I was there. Employees that worked in the building would often come through the indoor courtyard entrance to the library in order to get to the kitchenette.
Services and Intellectual Access
The Professional Library is an education research library mostly housing nonfiction material. This library is organized by the Dewey Decimal system. The Professional Library is unique is the way it is most often used. It is actually uncommon for patrons to visit the library in person. Most who use this library are PWCS employees and when someone needs to checkout materials from the library, they usually email the librarian, who gathers the materials and then sends them via school courier, or the materials can be picked up. A less common way to checkout materials is to go in person and fill out a form located at the circulation desk. Either way, the librarian is the one who accesses most of the materials for patrons. Wi-Fi is accessible within and around the entire building. There is a computer available there for patrons to access the catalog if needed, but probably about 99% of the time patrons access the catalog off site and then make arrangements with the librarian to acquire the materials needed. The fact that the library has a slight organized chaos in some parts makes a little more sense, knowing that there are not a significant number of in-person visits. In this Professional Library, the librarian is the main person that needs to sift through the material, and she is more than capable of locating anything requested. There is not a lot of signage in this library, but the shelves are labeled with Dewey Decimal numbers to help a patron (or the librarian) to locate the educational materials more quickly. There was also a cart filled with books that had a sign posted to it that read ‘Textbooks for Public Comment,’ which made me recall a past interview. The subject of putting certain books in a school library or taking certain books out of a school library is an existing controversy and that one simple sign really hit home for me.
Patrons and Staff
Like most special libraries, The Professional Library serves a limited clientele, which are PWCS employees, graduate and undergraduate students, and others who need access to materials related to education. The most common clientele being PWCS employees. I did not see any other library patrons during my visit, however, it being summer may have had something to do with that. Upon speaking with the librarian, I did learn that this library does not have many in-person visits. Requests are primarily made via email and then the materials are usually sent via school courier. Most of the other people I saw were on their way to the kitchenette (it was near lunchtime). There is only one librarian in The Professional Library and she has many responsibilities, including circulation (not just checking materials in and out, but also gathering and sending them out via courier), helping patrons access digital sources (patrons can create their own account for EBSCOHost, which includes educational databases), helping patrons access OPAC, helping parents to locate needed resources, and so much more. How this special library works makes me think of a quote from Rubin and Rubin (2020), “rather than serving primarily as a physical place where information is stored, the special library is activity-oriented, focusing on meeting users’ information needs” (p.226). While materials are not checked in and out in the ‘normal’ fashion, the librarian makes sure to meet the information needs of the patrons. This special library is not made for children, the main patron focus is definitely PWCS teachers.
Collections
A majority of the resources in The Professional Library is educational books. However, there are USBs with educational videos (staff development and such), learning kits (mostly for science), and educational journals. There are digital resources available too, including educational databases with peer-reviewed, full-texted journals designed for educators. As mentioned earlier, there is a special section within the library dedicated to Special Education. There is not much technology present, there is only one computer for patrons to use to check out the catalog. Everything within the library is related to education.
Padden, C. (2022). Science kits [Photograph].
Digital Access
The Professional Library’s website is easy enough to navigate. It is a part of the bigger PWCS website, so it can be challenging to get to their specific page at first. Once on the library page though, it is well organized. The site is mostly dedicated to PWCS employees. There are many digital resources that are easy for a PWCS employee to access by creating free accounts, like the EBSCOHost that houses educational databases. This may not be as easy for a non PWCS employee, but it is possible. A patron can easily contact the librarians listed on the website via email or phone. All PWCS libraries use Destiny Discover, including The Professional Library. Each school library is able to create their own Destiny Discover page, which showcases books or eBooks that match the likes and dislikes of that school’s patrons. The Professional Library has a similar Destiny Discover page showing eBooks, recently added books, and popular books. One thing I did not like was that here are no noticeable accommodations for people that speak another language or for t=anyone who may be visually impaired.
Explore The Professional Library website.
Overall
As an educator, this was a nice library to visit. I think if the space was more organized and put together that it would have a more inviting feel to it. It was a bit disappointing to see the library in such disarray, perhaps after renovations are made it will be more inviting. One thing that could be surprising to someone that has never dealt with The Professional Library, is that there are not many in-person visits, and that the librarian usually gathers the materials for the patron to have them ready to send out or be picked up. Overall, I enjoyed my visit, but I may be bias since it is a special library I use consistently throughout the year when teaching.
References
Padden, C. (2022). Inside the professional library, Disorganized aisle, Books for public comment, Science kits [Photographs of the Simpson Library].
PWC Schools (n.d.). Kelly leadership building [Photograph]. https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/risk_management___security_services/community_use/kelly_leadership_center_rentals
Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.
This is a really nice resource for the teachers and parents of PWC. I love that they can request resources rather than going in person. That really opens up accessability. Thanks for sharing.
Those are some cool looking science kits. Much like you, I think it’s sad that the public can’t really access this library but the resources available are still pretty awesome. The mess is unfortunate, but certainly a byproduct of the chaos going on. I love the look of the library from the outside. Certainly has that “professional” feeling!
I’ve been experiencing a lot of library envy this week, so my first thought was “Why don’t we have one of those?” I love the idea of having materials available to educators to help them essentially become better educators. I like the idea of teachers having their own research space, almost like a secret clubhouse for professional nerds. However, I think the public could benefit more if it were open to everyone, especially in times like these when distance learning is gaining popularity and some families are becoming more involved in the educational process.
The outside of the building – the clean lines and glass – doesn’t seem to fit your description of the inside (somewhat disheveled, hardly any people). I love that educators can have their material couriered to them, that sounds very convenient.
I have never heard of a library life this for school professionals. I am surprised that there is no technology or related materials housed there for staff usage in and out of the library. It is a great example of a specialized setting.
Is is great that educators in the county have this as a resource. It is unfortunate that it is in need of organizing. I like that teachers are able to request what they need from the library and it is then sent to their school.