Diversity in library and information sciences was a concept I had made a very basic assumption about: you should have diversity in library and information sciences. I had no idea of the ethical complications and realities of trying to be respectfully diverse, particularly when the profession has a tendency to be dominated by Caucasians and the holdings in museums and archives were built from less-than-honest sources. Competencies C8 and C10, “Students will demonstrate an understanding of how diversity contributes to the library and information professions and analyze information issues from diverse perspectives” and “Students will demonstrate the ability to recognize and analyze ethical issues and dilemmas in library and information settings and propose reasoned courses of action,” respectively were tackled in great depth in Module Three so that, from that module forward, every new thing we learned required us to take diversity issues into account. At the time, I wondered why we were looking at diversity so quickly, particularly when our foundational knowledge of information science and cultural heritage institutions was in its infancy. I understand now that this was done with intention, creating a second level of study and examination with each new module. We studied first Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress, but then looked at how cultures were poorly represented (or not represented at all) in such systems; if it would be possible to make corrections without imposing personal agenda on information organization; and what must happen moving forward. In the museum world, we learned about the process of building exhibits, but then looked at partnering community members of represented cultures to ensure organization, presentation and description are accurate. We also endlessly debated questions of how to deal with holdings that are sacred and cannot be presented to the public ever or can only be displayed at certain times of the year. Archival accession, processing and description came under the same scrutiny. The right thing to do seemed so obvious, but the realities of trying to enact those solutions were unbelievably complex and we were forced to ask ourselves, “How do we right the wrongs of the past and treat cultures with the respect due them while working within a tight budget and a strict timeline and answering to multiple stakeholders?”

The modules on archives were the most fascinating - the ones I most looked forward to - and where competency B6, “Students will demonstrate knowledge of the management of information resources, services and organizations and apply this knowledge to their areas of career interest,” was emphasized. I knew I wanted to work in archiving but, in reality, had precious little knowledge of the framework of an archives, its traditions and conflicting philosophies. Through this class I was introduced to concepts like provenance, original order, respect des fonds as well as the seminal Dutch Manual of Archiving and Hilary Jenkinson’s staunch beliefs that gripped the field tightly until the 1950s. Professor Macaluoso required us to visit an institution and interview a professional in that setting, introducing me to Mary Graham, then-head archivist of Arizona State Museum. Ms. Graham was gracious enough to answer our questions and take us on a tour of the archives. I had so many takeaways about things like facilities management in archiving; digitizing archival holdings as a potential negative; personal styles of archivists and how they affect the archives and the ethical turmoil that can sometimes result from “more product, less process” methods.

The job project, which ran the length of the semester and culminated in a group presentation, was not only one of the most helpful assignments I had (particularly given that it allowed me to consider the direction and specialty I wanted to pursue in my program) but fully addressed Competency B5, “Students will demonstrate knowledge of types of library and information professions, settings, services, and roles and be able to analyze key issues and potential approaches to these in the areas of their career interest.” About every three weeks, we located open positions within the field, gathering information on location, salary, requirements and the like; we generated four posts total that shared this information and posted them in specific forums. After Thanksgiving, we were placed in groups of four and created a compilation of our jobs. Not only was this a chance to learn how to work collaboratively online but it also allowed me the opportunity to look at my fellow group members’ shared positions. Had we not brought these components together, I don’t think I would have taken as much away from the experience. But the group element allowed me to examine in depth twelve other information science careers I had not considered, including legal librarian, collection development specialists, cataloging specialists and processing archivists. It was almost like participating in a virtual job fair.