Practicum Objectives

For my practicum, I had several objectives I needed to meet. These objectives include

· Gain Experience working outside of Kent State

· Learn what part of a public library I would work the best in

· Learn what type of library environment I feel most comfortable working in

· Help the Stow Library improve its services

· Gain experience solving everyday problems in various library positions

· Learn which skills I have mastered and which ones I need to work on

Working at the Stow Munroe Falls Public Library will help me to meet these objectives by

• Giving me real experience as a librarian outside of Kent State by working at a small public library
• Help me to define what area of the library I would like to work in by trying out different areas and determining what I enjoy based on these experiences.
• Give me experience in both the public and academic environment by preforming this practicum and a job at Kent State to determine their differences and what my professional comfort zone is.
• Allowing me to offer my services to help their reference desk during busy times.
• Let me create a project and defined tasks that I can use for future employment
• Give me a chance to work with the public in a position where I can help solve their problems within a library environment
• Let me determine what my strengths and weaknesses are through an evaluation at the end of my practicum.

When starting my practicum, I wanted to "cast a wide net" as I knew that I needed to get some experience in the public library world, with my practicum this is what I was aiming for. I wanted this so that I would be a well-rounded librarian and know what it was like to work in both the academic library world and the public library world. When looking for practicum libraries I contacted the Stow Library to see if they had any available. After a nice interview, I was chosen to work at the Stow Library as a practicum student in the Adult/References department. I wanted to work here because it was a nice library that had a welcoming feel to it and I felt that by preforming my practicum here I would have an advantage of working with a smaller staff and get a more personal experience as a result. I was glad that it would take place during the winter months because this would challenge me to be on time and really push me to see what my strengths and weakness were as a librarian in a new position at a challenging time of the year.