Becoming an Information Professional (Still)
It is hard to believe that I have only been pursuing my Master of Library and Information Science degree for three months. The process of taking three courses combined with starting my first job in a library have made it feel as though I’ve been doing this much longer. In reflecting on this semester, I decided to take a look at my first blog post where I introduced myself and my call to the information profession. I noticed that, because of my lack of experiences, I focused on my transferable skills and drew attention to the fact that I had been working “in” libraries rather than “for” libraries.
One aspect of LIS 701 that surprised me was the breadth of exposure to different environments in the information profession. Because I had only begun working at the Forest Park Public Library two weeks prior to the start of classes, I was extremely willing and eager to be exposed to new ideas.
Reading the Hirsh text early on was eye-opening, mostly due to the fact that I figured the profession dealt solely with public librarianship, academic librarianship, or archives. Even with that framework, I really did not have any preconceived notions of what the profession entailed. I found myself drawn to the chapters on copyrights, licensing, and open access mostly because the concepts intimidated me at first, but also because they were issues that needed to be understood, especially in our digital landscape. One drawback to all of this exposure was that it did not assist me in selecting a set career path. In fact, it probably has made the job more difficult, but it has made me excited to explore more opportunities with my future courses like Internet Fundamentals and Design and Metadata for Digital Objects.
Our team studies definitely helped me with improving my communication skills. With all of the Bibliosofties as commuter students holding down part-time or full-time work on top of classes, meeting traditionally was challenging. I believe we were able to work well by selecting a topic for our study, research our respective facets of that topic, and come together with our findings to create cohesive and interesting presentations. I see the professional staff at my library working collaboratively on various programs and events quite often, and I saw our team studies as useful experience for working with the same people in a professional setting.
My favorite aspect of LIS 701, though, was the creation and maintenance of this blog. In the beginning, working with a new platform (Medium) and ensuring that I had incorporated relevant citations and images was daunting. I did not understand why I could not just write a response and post it in a discussion forum like my other courses. I found having these extra steps in place made my responses more thoughtful, more authoritative, and a much more entertaining read. All of the other online blogs and articles I generally read incorporate the same features into their platforms, something I had not taken the time to notice or appreciate. It was wonderful to not only stay up to date on the happenings of the library world, but also to have a way to creatively share my thoughts and opinions with my coursemates. Not only was I sharing my posts with the class, but after writing “Publicly Funded Internet Café?: Community Engagement in the Library,” I began sharing my work on my personal Facebook. Since then, I have had a friend in software development talk to me about his opinions of video gaming in the public library, a recommendation to write about the Wishbone TV series in response to my article on Arthur, and a lament from a law student about the impediments to accessing legal research. One Medium user even began following my stories and recommended my article reviewing Library Resources and Technical Services.
The “Career Management Strategies for Lifelong Success” chapter in the Hirsh texts advises that “one of the best ways to establish a professional presence and be more competitive in most job fields is through branding” (Hirsh 371). Based upon the reactions from my friends (and even one stranger), I can see keeping a blog as a successful way of personal branding to showcase my writing and communication skills and my ability to stay relevant in the profession. Time permitting, I would love to continue creating posts. From this assignment, I believe that LIS 701 has provided great exposure to the information profession and what it has to offer.
