SLO 2

This outcome emphasizes the evaluative and analytical skills that graduates should have in order to apply best practices in future managerial roles. As someone who aligns themselves with workers and has been active in the labor rights movement, the managerial outlook behind this outcome does not come naturally to me. I was able to better understand and implement this outcome by thinking critically about what it means to administer policies, projects, and people.

My first assignment for this outcome was completed for the required course in Collection and Access Management. This course required students to individually propose a strategy for analyzing an existing collection. I developed a plan for analyzing the criminology and criminal justice collection at Webster University, where I was previously employed as an assistant professor of sociology and criminology. This assignment allowed me to apply my training in librarianship to an area of established expertise, i.e., the criminology curriculum, and to consider how accreditation requirements regarding library resources may be a sticking point for some programs. While I had previously been aware of the challenge to achieving accreditation that Webster would face due to its heavy reliance on adjunct faculty, I had not adequately considered the library perspective before completing this course and assignment. Doing so enabled me to see that the university would likely not meet accreditation requirements regarding library resources due to an insufficient collection budget and reliance on interlibrary loan resources.

My second assignment for this outcome is taken from the required course on Management of Information Agencies. As a signature assignment for the course, the library service assessment required students to critically evaluate a library for its response to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. I chose to examine the St. Louis County Library, a local public library system that has been in the news recently due to organizing efforts by workers. As I discuss in the paper, Libraries for All STL emerged in mid-2020 as a coalition of library workers honoring widespread demands within the Black Lives Matter movement by calling for library divestment from the police. I outline recommendations for the library system, including investing in social workers within libraries. Increasingly, libraries and librarians have been expected to fill the ever-expanding gaps left by a defunded social welfare system. While I am skeptical of the notion that underfunded libraries can singlehandedly save democracy, our values are much more closely aligned with social work than with policing. Both library users and workers would benefit from an approach that borrowed more heavily from a social service mindset than a punitive one.

My final assignment for this outcome is from an elective course on Digital Libraries. The major assignment was a group project in which students were tasked with creating a digital exhibit in Omeka and developing comprehensive documentation. The project was a fantastic example of working collaboratively and remotely to solve problems; teamwork skills that were fundamental to this project include communication, responsibility, honesty, and collaboration. As a team member, my substantive work focused on rights management, use and usability, and long-term preservation, which are discussed in pages 7-12. Though I was not the team member tasked with project management specifically, everyone on the team played an active role in making sure the overall project displayed a high level of technical skill. Having worked on many group projects during my MLIS coursework, I am most proud of the work that we achieved in this group.

As I apply for librarian jobs, I have been reflecting on my approach to management and supervision, considering the style of management that works well for me as a worker and as a manager. I have supervisory experience related to my previous roles as head of an undergraduate sociology program at a small liberal arts college and as an instructor in a large state university. In those respective roles, I have overseen a large team of adjuncts and a small team of teaching assistants. I take a people-centered approach to management, focused on identifying how an individual can best contribute to the institution while also supporting their own growth and development. Throughout all of this, the diversity and social responsibility principles of librarianship stand out as critical considerations.