As I reflect on my time in the Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) program, I ask myself, how did I get here because working in libraries was never part of my plan. That was until I came across an opening at the Norman Public Library. I was 38 years old, married with two kids in junior high school, and had spent the better part of the last 15 years working in call centers, a job that I found to be soul crushing. Soon after I started working at the Norman Public Library, I fell in love. Here was a job that genuinely made a difference, a job where helping people was actually about helping people. I found a place where I felt like I was doing something good for the world and something that didn’t feel like it conflicted with my core values. That’s how I found my way into libraries and into this program.
The four courses that made up my first 12 hours in the MLIS program were LIS 5023: Management in Information Organizations and LIS 5033: Information and Society (both in Fall 2021), LIS 5043: Organization of Information (Spring 2022), and LIS 5970: Public Librarianship (Summer 2022).
Information and Society provided a solid base for the rest of the program. Learning about the history of librarianship, the industry’s core values and ethics, and taking a deep dive into intellectual freedom, all put me on my way to achieving Goal 1: To learn and understand the core values and principles of the library and information professions. I already had experience with intellectual freedom, having gone through multiple training courses on the subject as part of employment with the Pioneer Library System. Examining it through an academic lens gave me a different perspective on intellectual freedom. Around that time, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced they were discontinuing the publication of six books (Chappell, 2021). This course helped me understand that situation and the controversy surrounding it at a much deeper level.
Management in Information Organizations focused on the American Library Association's (ALA) Leadership and Management Competencies including communication, team building, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and problem solving, adding to my years of experience working with the public and in libraries specifically. This added knowledge has strengthened my leadership skills and helped me towards Goal 4: To gain the knowledge and skills to be a successful librarian and public servant. One of the unofficial duties I have taken on as part of my job at the Noble Public Library is to give tours of the branch to people who are interviewing for an open position. This serves as an opportunity to do an informal interview with the candidate, giving me a feel for that person. This is important because the Noble Public Library is a small operation that generally has about 12 employees on staff at a given time. In that kind of environment, personality and how someone fits in is extremely important. We can teach candidates skills, but if the vibes are bad... This course gave me new ways to think about this process.
Organization of Information gave me a much better understanding of cataloging and specifically the system used by the Pioneer Library System, SirsiDynix’s WorkFlows. This course helped me to better understand MARC records. The course’s final project was to develop a cataloging system for a collection. It was a challenging and enlightening project that I enjoyed. More than any other class, this one helped me toward Goal 2: Develop deeper understanding of information resources and information organization.
Public Librarianship focused on three areas that are at the core of public libraries: people, ethics, and programming. This course touched on most of my goals, but I felt that its biggest contribution was to Goal 4: To gain the knowledge and skills to be a successful librarian and public servant. This was the first course in the program that I felt like applied directly to my job. Because so much of the focus to this point had been on the academic literature and philosophical/theoretical ideas, it was hard to translate how those concepts would help me with assisting a customer who needs to print a document from their phone. This course was designed to put the student in the shoes of a public librarian and did so masterfully.
Chappell, B. (2021, March 2). Dr. Seuss enterprises will shelve 6 books, citing 'hurtful' portrayals. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972777841/dr-seuss-enterprises-will-shelve-6-books-citing-hurtful-portrayals.