Final Reflections

I feel so incredibly relieved and proud to be at the end of my first semester of the MLIS program. I’m not going to lie there were times that I did not think that I was going to make it because of the rather intense workload of three graduate courses but in the end, I am glad that I committed to full time status. After taking on so much this semester between school, work, and my internship, I have gained an enormous amount of confidence in my abilities. Now, I feel as though I can complete just about any task put in front of me because of all of the new things I’ve accomplished and learned this semester. One of my most valuable qualities is my ability to focus on the task at hand without letting stress or factors affect my performance.  I, also, recognize that learning how to better manage my time will relieve some of my stress and increase my focus.

An interesting theme that I noticed throughout the semester was how I intertwined my experiences from my current workplace with what I was learning about the LIS profession and vice versa. Our discussions of professionalism made me extremely conscious of how I present myself and handle situations when I’m at work. Although I would consider myself professional, I did find a few aspects of my behavior that could be changed for the better. At the same time, my experiences working at a senior living home gave me a unique perspective on topics such as outreach and access. Now, I have found that I am interested in how to get information into the hands of more people because I realize that many people either do not have access to it or do not know how to access it. In the future, I am excited to continue to see how all of my past experiences will inform my current pursuits in the LIS profession.

My perceptions on the information professional have transformed quite a bit, especially throughout the last half of the semester. As I learned how diverse the LIS profession was, I assumed that the professionals working in different areas, such as a librarian vs. an archivist, were more unalike than they were alike. Now, at the end of the semester, I don’t think this to be true. The reason all of these professionals are grouped within the LIS profession is because of their close connection with information (no matter the form) and providing access to it. A lot of the same skills and knowledge go into the daily work of these professionals, despite the difference in their titles. Ultimately, the most important quality of an LIS professional is their ability to adapt to an evolving profession.