60601: Information Sources and Reference Services - Fall 2022
Introduction to use and evaluation of basic sources of reference information, computerized and noncomputerized; reference interview and question-negotiation techniques; administration of reference and information services.
Information Sources and Reference Services was an invaluable elective not only to prepare for an internship, but also for a career as a professional librarian. I was able to closely examine information sources in a variety of library settings, from the public library to the academic library to the school or special library, as well as through municipal and government sources, freely available online sources, and print sources. In this course, I was able to assess reference services while posing as a patron, which gave me significant insight into how reference interactions are handled in a variety of settings, and I was also able to develop a three-page website pathfinder for patrons using materials from my own public library, which required looking at every resource format available in the local public library for my chosen topic (gardening in Colorado). Crucially, I learned the key differences between reputable and non-reputable or less-reputable sources, which is important in a library setting for one key reason: Patrons preferring Google searches. Armed with the knowledge I gained in this course, coupled with the knowledge gained in Information Literacy Initiatives and Instruction, I believe I am very prepared to work with a wide range of patrons in any library setting to help them grow their critical and analytical Information Literacy skills.
60613: Information Needs, Seeking, and Use - Fall 2022
Surveys theories and research related to people’s interactions with information. The theories covered include information context and situation, information needs, information seeking, exploration of information sources, communication and collaboration in the information search process, information use, and other interactions among people, information, and information systems.
Information Needs, Seeking, and Use built on my studies in my People in the Information Ecology core course by giving me the opportunity to undertake a deep consideration of how people access and use information and how no two people nor no two user groups access and use information in the same way. I considered and studied several Information Needs and Information Seeking models across the breadth and depth of user groups, including university students and specifically undergraduates and young adults, but I also chose to create a final research paper on a topic very germane to today’s socio-political climate: Misinformation and conspiracy theories, primarily around vaccinations and elections. This detailed research gave me a deeper and more compassionate understanding of why and how people access information in times of crisis and uncertainty. Given that every aspect of life worldwide, notably including education at every level, has just experienced tremendous upheaval in the form of the COVID19 pandemic, this course gave me significant insight into how and why a wide range of user groups might feel disconnected and unsure and also gave me ideas on how to interact with people who are feeling this way and help them find information in a way that is meaningful for them.
60615: The Academic Library - Fall 2022
Governance, administration and services of libraries in institutions of postsecondary education.
The Academic Library elective was fundamental to my success in my academic library internship because it gave me the invaluable opportunity to examine academic libraries from every angle and consider the myriad issues facing academic libraries today. Additionally, I had the opportunity to learn from someone who has spent her recent career working directly with students in two leading academic libraries, and she provided all of us with first-person insight into the academic library as an entity. I was able to develop several deliverables for this class, but notably a presentation I would deliver as part of an application process for an academic librarian position that required me to consider the target library’s strengths and weaknesses and offer a summarized plan for how I would help move the library forward in the wider campus. Additionally, this course gave me the opportunity to really consider how underserved populations interact with and experience the academic library and how the academic library is key to their success in school, their persistence in their programs, and their retention and graduation. When taken in conjunction with my Information Literacy Initiatives and Instruction elective, I believe I have a very solid foundation for working in Information Literacy and Student Success at the college and university level.
60618: Information Literacy Initiatives and Instruction - Fall 2022
Information literacy is an essential competency needed to navigate an information society. This course explores how to create and deliver effective information literacy instruction to post-secondary students and adult populations. Topics include a comparison of information literacy standards and frameworks; learning theories focused on adult learning; planning, creating, delivering, and assessing IL instruction activities; and developing and managing IL instruction in collaboration with key stakeholders.
Information Literacy Initiatives and Instruction was one of the key electives for success in my intended library career, in any setting. While this course focused broadly on Information Literacy principles and practice, I chose to tailor my deliverables to academic librarianship and particularly meeting the Information Literacy needs of underserved populations in the university setting, while also using the principles learned in this course to create a pathfinder for my Information Sources and Reference Services course. To that end, I developed an Information Literacy lesson plan for a mid-size, land-grant university, taking universal instruction design principles and disability accommodations into account; and an Information Literacy proposal for a mid-size, land- and space-grant university to build on their existing strengths in Information Literacy instruction and outreach into the wider university community. The skills I gained in this course directly impacted how I interacted with the students I taught and worked with in my internship given that the summer programs at Colorado State University (CSU) are designed to reach underserved populations and teach not only Information Literacy, but also strong self-advocacy and leadership skills. The skills I gained in this course are already positively influencing how I interact with patrons in my role at the public library in user services and on the bookmobile outreach team.
60001: User Experience Design Principles and Concepts - Spring 2023
Students explore the context in which User Experience Design exists and the various methods employed by designers in various fields related to design research, the generation of ideas and implementation of designs. Students are introduced to methods of design evaluation and to the conceptual framework of the related curricula.
User Experience Design (UXD) is a highly complementary field to library and information and science, so as part of my degree, User Experience Design Principles and Concepts was perfectly timed for my journey through the program. I was able to immediately look at how UXD principles could be applied in library settings, frequently sharing resources I had found specifically on that topic covering both public and academic libraries. Many of the principles I learned in this course are easily applied in the academic library setting (or any library setting) and particularly when considering how patrons access and use any type of library, museum, or archive. Principles such as presentation of information, flow, lighting, design, ease of use and access, examination of user personas, and even non-traditional use of space all come into play in the library and cultural heritage institution setting. This is especially true now in academic and public libraries, as patrons are using the library as a “third space” between their classrooms (students) and work (other patrons) and their home or living situation that is different to other public spaces. The library is not only seen as full of resources, but notably as a calm and quiet place to study, collaborate, relax, and even “nest,” and UXD principles are key to this.
60614: Collection Management in Libraries - Spring 2023
Principles of collection development and management for public, academic, school and special libraries, including maintenance (weeding and analysis), needs assessment, acquisitions, e-resources, licensing, and preservation.
Collection Management in Libraries gave me invaluable insight into how any given library’s collection is developed and managed over time and the significant considerations that go into creating and maintaining a collection, especially in the 21st century where a significant percentage of a collection is likely digital. In the case of all libraries and notably academic libraries, budgeting for resources is always a concern and making the case for return on investment becomes a critical part of securing budget funds. By examining the details of collection management and considering how to specifically manage, in the case of academic libraries and their programming, access to digital items and digital content subscriptions (including scholarly databases), I have become familiar with how these models work and was able to apply this knowledge in a hands-on fashion during my internship at Colorado State University in order to learn even more about this area. In my role at my local public library, the information in this course was immediately applicable to my continued learning and I was able to develop a draft plan to manage a portion of the handcrafts collection, an area of personal interest to me, but also an area of the collection that needed attention.
61095-002: Special Topics: Digital Collections: Institutions and Organizations - Spring 2023
This one credit hour course introduces the major types of digital collections supported by various institutions and organizations: Institutional Repositories, Data Repositories, Digital Archives, Cultural Heritage Collections in Public Libraries and the Digital Public Library, open text collections such as Project Gutenberg, large aggregators such as Hathi Trust and the Internet Archive, and museum collections.
Digital Collections: Institutions and Organizations has been one of the most important electives I have taken in the Kent State MLIS program overall. I say this for two reasons: First, the course, brief though it was, gave me invaluable insight into how to access digital collections, why these collections are critical to information science, and how to use them for detailed research in ways that were previously only available to patrons and researchers who could travel to the physical collections themselves. Second, the course made me a better researcher and much more able to translate that detailed research into the information access needed by patrons at any level. This advanced and leading-edge collection management and access knowledge will be critical to my success in my career in 21st century cultural heritage institutions, but more importantly, will impact any outreach and information literacy instruction in which I engage during my career. The skills and access knowledge I gained in this elective will allow me to better help any patron or researcher pursue their interests in a meaningful, and hopefully fascinating way.
61095-004: Special Topics: Introduction to Digital Humanities - Spring 2023
This course aims to provide students with a greater understanding of how new forms of knowledge production and representation, computational thinking, and applications of various information and digital technologies have impacted research and pedagogy in humanities disciplines. Special attention will be given to how information professionals can support and promote digital humanities work. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to explore, apply, and critique the technologies, tools, methods, and values of the digital humanities field.
Introduction to Digital Humanities, is an elective and subject area that has interested me since I first looked at the Kent State MLIS program. Aside from looking at digital resources (in this case, raw data) in a way complementary to but still different from the Digital Collections: Institutions and Organizations course, this course has given me a solid understanding of how big data plays a critical role in Humanities research, how to translate that research into a meaningful project, and how to work closely with others to gain new insight into large datasets. My work in this course led to an initial exploration of ArcGIS as well as other humanities computing tools, notably OpenRefine data cleaning tools and Voyant data visualization tools, and I was able to use these skills and tools to create an ArcGIS-based project on the Densho dataset that clarified infant and child deaths in the Japanese Incarceration Camps and added critical information to the research in this area. I also know that this course will serve me well in my later career, if I am successful in achieving my goal of working in an academic library at a research university, and particularly at an institution that is involved in and supports Digital Humanities research, because it has given me foundational skills to pursue humanities computing work. The big data manipulation skills learned in this course are widely applicable to a number of fields and settings outside an academic library. Of particular note here is that this course re-ignited my interest in Digital Humanities to such a degree that I am strongly considering a PhD in the field.
60692: Internship in Information and Cultural Heritage Institutions - Summer 2023
Supervised experience of a professional nature of not less than 100 clock hours for 2 credit hours or not less than 150 hours for 3 credit hours in an information or cultural heritage institution. Deliverables determined with instructor of record. Maximum registration of 2-3 credit hours per semester. No more than a total of 6 credit hours of Internship or Individual Investigation or any combination of the two may count toward MLIS degree requirements.
I chose to complete an internship in Cultural Heritage Institutions as part of my MLIS degree before applying to Kent State University, and was able to do so in my final semester (Summer 2023). I believe that there is no better hands-on learning opportunity than a professional internship, and I combined my interests in student success and academic librarianship during a 150-hour, three-credit internship at Colorado State University Libraries, where I was on the Student Success Team at Morgan Library, the main campus library. Colorado State University is an R1 university in the Carnegie Classifications and I was asked to complete several high-impact projects that will be used at Morgan Library. These include: Evidence-Based Acquisitions (EBA) collection purchasing decisions with a $38,544.67 budget; an online information literacy module, including an APA Version 7 style guide primer, to support the Agricultural Science 116 core class; a collection management project for the Maps Collection with recommendations regarding the collection size and inclusions, metadata and discoverability, digitization, and work staffing proposals; library tour development and delivery to incoming students with disabilities including neurodiverse students; hands-on, in-class information literacy support for incoming students in the first-generation Bridge orientation program; hands-on, in-class support for middle and high school students participating in the summer Native American STEM Institute (NASTEMI) program; and purchasing selections using GOBI software for the Social Work program with a $1,000 budget. I also completed a daily activity log, a one-on-one meeting with my academic advisor at Kent State University, and a four-page reflection paper on my experience. I sent my final Summary Activities Report (SAR) for Colorado State University Libraries as a supplement to my Kent State University deliverables. CSU Libraries uses a mid-point and final SAR as a review method for every tenure-track librarian, and because I was treated like an active member of the team, I was asked to complete the same process, which I found extremely valuable to my professional development.
