That Terrifying Thing Called The Future

     Whenever I begin a new educational endeavor, my goal is to simply grow. This concept of “growing” includes concrete objectives such as degree or certificate completion but also more fluid ones such as a new way of thinking or maintaining an open mind. Although I think it is important to set goals for myself especially when it comes to education, I never want to restrict myself with them so I try to allow my goals to transform as I do. What I want to get out of my graduate education right now at the start will almost undoubtedly be different than what I want to get out of it halfway through my studies and at the end.

     In order to give a better image of my ambitions, I have broken down my goals into two groups: Small Scale Goals and Large Scale Goals. For these two groups, I will list my top 5 goals and give a brief description/explanation of each.

Small Scale Goals

Improve time management skills. Online classes take time management to a whole new playing field. Not only is the homework to be done on your own time but now, so are the lectures and the class discussions. Being disciplined is the key to success in online classes. An essential part of using your time wisely is giving your task priority ratings so that each is given enough time. Improving my time management skills will save me a lot of stress throughout my graduate studies but will also help at my workplace and future internships.

Focus on learning, not just getting the grade. When confronted with a rather a daunting course load, I tend to complete assignments merely for the sake of completing an assignment without reflecting on why I need to do this. For my graduate studies, I truly want to focus on learning what each individual assignment has to offer. This means at the beginning and end of each assignment taking time to reflect on what I have learned and how I can apply it to future situations.

Be present in discussions, especially for online classes. Having been awfully shy for a good majority of my life, I always found participating in class discussions to be painstaking. I never had a problem coming up with something to say; rather the problem was the physical act of speaking out loud in front of the class.  Although I never expanded the class discussions with my own thoughts, I became an avid listener. Switch to online classes and I am struggling to listen to what all of my classmates have to say. Naturally, this is because of the format of the discussions. With discussion boards, I feel I am more willing to contribute my views but it takes a lot longer to “listen” to what everyone else thinks. For the rest of the semester and future semesters to come, I want to set aside a good amount of time each week to go through and comment on the other students’ posts. This way I am gaining the full classroom experience and opening my mind to new perspectives.

Use each course to explore what the LIS profession has to offer. As with just about anything else, there will be some courses in the MLIS program that will interest me more than others. I must remind myself to take each course as an exploration opportunity rather than an obstacle to struggle through. There are so many different facets of the LIS profession and if I assume I would only be interested in a few, I will be closing myself off to interests and opportunities I didn’t know I could have.

Give myself a break every once an awhile. Sometimes I sacrifice getting enough sleep, eating properly, or doing a bit of pleasure reading in order to get all of my course work done. Although I understand that in being a full time student I must sacrifice some things, I also need to be realistic and take care of myself for the long haul. As my time management skills improve, I believe that I will have more opportunities to step away and take a breath so when I return, I am fully refreshed.

Large Scale Goals

Find your niche in the LIS community. At this point in time, I am gung ho about Archives. The mixture of history, preservation, and information management intrigues me to no end. Still, I am not sure where I fit into it all. I am interested in photograph preservation but book conservation excites me too. With help of my studies, I want to explore and locate a particular specialization or for that matter, maybe a lack of specialization that suits me best.

Seek out and complete two more internships related to Archives. Over the past year, I have done a good job of seeking out volunteer/internship opportunities pertaining to the archival field. This is something I want to continue doing over the course of my MLIS program. Every internship will teach me new things about the archival profession and raise my experience level up a notch.

Complete MLIS and Archival Administration Certificate. Although this is quite obvious, I think it is important to keep in mind what the end result of all my hard work will be.

On completion of degree, stay in touch with profession.  A completed MLIS is not enough to keep me a marketable LIS professional for the entirety of my career. If I want to make the most of my education, I must vow to use what I have learned to continue educating myself for the rest of my professional life.

Seek out more specialized educational opportunities. Once I have found my niche, I would like to pursue specialized training for that aspect of the field. Specialized training will increase my knowledge and push me closer to what I would like to be doing.  For example, the Rare Book School offers a closer look at the history of books, manuscripts, and printing. Also, the George Eastman House offers graduate and certificate programs in photograph/film preservation.