Reflective Essay. Resource and Services component. I ve always had a passion to collect, manage, protect and

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1 Reflective Essay What gained my attention to Dominicans program was the Archives and Cultural Heritage Resource and Services component. I ve always had a passion to collect, manage, protect and preserve information, whether it came in the form of books, manuscripts, photos, textiles, film or audio. On the other hand, while in the MLIS program I was fascinated to learn about the many career paths that library science had to offer. I must say that my experience at Dominican University has been one of the best; despite the length of time it has taken me to achieve this prestigious accomplishment. Dominican challenged me to reflect on the person that I was, I am, and will be. When I started the MLIS program at Dominican several years ago, I felt confident, focused and strong; I was excited and eager to gain an understanding of the core values of librarianship, archivist, information professions and cultural heritage. I still remember the emotions I felt when I walked into my first graduate class, cataloging, I was excited! However, by the time I left the three hour course, I was totally intimidated; I was flooded with a surplus of library science terminology that completely perplexed my intelligence. At the start of my third and fourth core classes, I was ready to throw in the towel. Something just didn t feel right, my life had been altered, and a new experience was taking place. Learning to balance motherhood, losing a job and combating two major deaths in my family over the first two years in the program required a great deal of balance. My energy, space and patience were cluttered with these normal occurrences that take place on this road we call life. M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 1

2 Despite life occurrences, Dominicans program and its faculty allowed me the flexible to take a pause when I needed it most. The extent of understanding that Dominicans faculty and staff displayed during my career as a graduate, epitomized immense support, guidance and sincerity for the well being of their students. I was able to maintain the mental capacity to push forward in meeting the criterion to complete my Masters. This has been one of the longest and most rewarding journeys of my life. E-Portfolio My e-portfolio artifacts are comprised of extensive and analytical reports, investigate projects, web based tool navigation examples, metadata schemas, finding aids, internships, archival and cultural heritage assessments, and additional scholarship learning. What SOIS experience were the most significant learning experiences for you? My most significant learning experience came while working on 2 assignments for my LIS 775 class. The first was a reference assignment; today it puts me in the mind of Hidden Figures, the second was my Forest Park Historical Society Internship. (A little background story on my reference assignment) The instruction was to locate a not so well known person who was involved in the development of the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in This assignment was pretty tedious due to the fact that I chose to locate an African American scientist. What made this assignment somewhat difficult was the time it took me to locate credentials for this person. I went through excessive research methods to gain access to Dr. Quartermans track record of contributions. M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 2

3 Dr. Quarterman was a chemist; he was extremely instrumental in the development of the Atomic Bomb. He was a unique chemist and worked under the direction of Enrico Fermi, he worked at both Columbia University and University of Chicago. He was involved in the experiments that led to the diffusion method of obtaining fissionable materials. It was the transformation of solid uranium into huge amounts of particular kinds of gas. I was able to generate enough information to incorporate his life into a presentation. With over 30 EBSCO database searches, pretty much all popular databases yielded no results for the chemist. I was able to speak with four online librarians, with one being the Rare Book Collection Librarian; he was able to locate two reports co-authored by L. A. Quarterman in the general library catalog at the University of Chicago. My second significant learning experience came while interning at the Forest Park Historical Society. Diane Hansen, the executive director/archivist, required me to research the migration of African Americans and their experience living in Forest Park, Illinois. The goal was to locate any documents, records, photos and articles. The purpose of this research was to incorporate the diversity if any within the fabric of the Forest Park community. These records were to be archived and stored in Forest Park Historical Society Archives. (This yielded minimum to no results over the span of 75 years) What I learned about these two assignments was the meager information that was available. Being a novice at that time, I was able to maximize my research skills. As information holders of the world, it also made me evaluate the moral and social responsibility of how information custodians and contributors of the world shape our society. We have a responsibility to M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 3

4 contribute and support the efforts to help inform and educate people. These assignments were the perfect example of self examination in the lives of our personal views to hold truths of the human experience. It is extremely important that those that are documenting and preserving information to shape our thinking on democracy, diversity and intellectual freedom adhere to the ethical core values of archiving and its record keeping. The responsibility of the ALA is defined in terms of the contribution that librarianship can make in ameliorating or solving the critical problems of society. The core values of archivist and code of ethics for archivist are to inform those who work with archivist, in shaping expectations for professional engagement. Which Artifacts in your E-Portfolio do you consider to be your best? It is hard to whittle down the work I have completed at Dominican into two or three examples alone to discuss. I consider all of my artifacts in and out of my portfolio to be my best work. My portfolio demonstrates my growth in the program, from mediocrity to perfection. My academic diversity at Dominican has further exposed me to a successful MLIS curriculum. An agenda that consistently demonstrates a successful program which I am confident will lead me into a new and exciting career. One of my most rewarding scholarships came from the Metadata for Digital Resources and Digital Curation courses. I can now decipher basic metadata schemas with their strengths and weaknesses while comparing multiple standards. I am able to create and encode metadata schema records and charts that clearly clarify whether a particular metadata is compatible for crosswalking. To my surprise, encoding metadata was not as complex once I was able to grasp M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 4

5 the concept by utilizing resources that helped aid me in creating xml records. An example would be using the Oxygen XML Editor tool to add data. Overall, I was able to gain a solid background in the areas of the foundations of library and informational science, archival studies, digital curation, research in library and information science, access and retrieval. What does the e-portfolio reflect about you as a library/information science professional? I am confident that the work in my e-portfolio displays my versatility in the profession of information sciences and archives. It reflects my thoroughness and attention to details, it echo s my passion to ethically uphold ALA s and SAA core values as an information professional. My e-portfolio reflects my competency to receive, articulate, manage and overcome obstacles. Dominican has trained me to produce the highest quality of service as a professional. How has your perspective of libraries/information centers changed during your coursework in the program? Amazing how my intellect has completely changed since the beginning of my graduate career at Dominican. When I first entered the program it seemed very traditional and theoretical, as my time spent at Dominican began to grow, the curriculum has evolved. For example, with the rapid growth of digitally born context, Dominicans library and information program has technology grown; this has strengthened my knowledge of information systems. The earlier years of my studies were classroom based and as my later years of study advanced; my courses have been a mixture of in class and online learning. I had no prior experience of online learning/classes, paperless text books, pathfinders or virtual discussions, until Dominican introduced me. M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 5

6 With the rise of digital libraries and digital curation, Dominican has retained its innovation to keep the program at the forefront of global academia. The advancement of information sciences in the digital realm from a more traditional environment, has transformed a nation of librarians into advanced information technology professionals that I am elated to be a part of. With this being stated, I am able to generate, encode and evaluate common metadata schemes with efficiency. I am competent of translating and creating XML records for digital resources and discuss which metadata schemas are utilized for which resources. Another example, Dublin Core has the most simplistic yet least amount of elements when it comes to adding data. Once I include qualifiers, more metadata can be added; the data becomes more specific and allows for better search results. I can truly say that Dominican has prepared me as a future information specialist. What direction do you see your career taking at this point in time? I see my career going in a few directions, considering I am currently not working in a library or archival environment, I would like to start in public, academic or a special institution. In the meantime, I would like to complete the work I started while working on my graduate Independent study at the Vivian G Harsh repository in The project that I started was from an unclaimed collection that was gifted to me in 2008; I then donated this collection to the Harsh Repository in I was able to establish its provenance, therefore adding historical and intrinsic value to this rare collection. The collections name, The Personal Collection of Elnorah Huff-Williamson, which I created, captures the private life of a Chicago showgirl. The collection was created involuntarily during a very important time in American history, dating the archives to the late 1940 s thru early M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 6

7 1960 s. The collection provides primary sources that include photos, newspapers, programs, cards, a love letter, school records, post cards and articles from the black press. This in-depth component was not added to my E-Portfolios, the unique project is currently a work in progress. The partially processed collection has not been completed due to the Vivian G Harsh Repository being temporarily closed for renovation; since the fall of I plan on fully processing the collection with hopes of adding the collection on the Omeka site when they reopen the facility in the fall of Once I am able to secure a position at an institution of my choice. I would like to continue to volunteer some of my time at a repository, museum or a historical place. I feel that this is important and will keep me contemporary in a formal and informal learning atmosphere. I would like to build relationships with smaller organizations that are seeking to preserve their past, present and future, preferably, neglected African American cemeteries. I am currently and have been in communications with Porterdale Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia since My hopes are to offer my archival skills in preserving their original tattered ledgers digitally. My ambition is to work on a digital curation plan after I conduct more research on the background of their foundation. I was able to receive photos of one of their hand written records, including the front and back cover of the binder. It appears to be suffering from heat and moisture damage, this ledger dates back to the early 1920 s. M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 7

8 As I have progressed though Dominican s Masters of Library and Information Science Program. I have matured from a novice information seeker into a professional contributor that caters to all disciplines of knowledge. As my academia career at Dominican comes to an end, I am confident that I can navigate through any situation and accomplish the task that I am afforded. I feel that the quality of knowledge that I obtained while in Dominican s program, has equipped me globally for the next level of professionalism. M L I S ~ D o m i n i c a n U n i v e r s i t y ~ Page 8