This was a research paper for my Information Literacy course. I chose to do my research on how information literacy is being taught in public libraries now and how it might be taught in future.

Portions of the conclusion:

"Public libraries have the capability of reaching populations that may never be served by academic and school libraries, and raising the information literacy of their patrons is beneficial to those individuals, their surrounding communities, and the world at large. We know that public libraries already are making efforts to provide this service, but guidelines on how to do so need to be implemented by professional organizations, and more research needs to be done into how this could be best handled to have the most impact. ... Public library patrons need information literacy instruction as much, if not more, than patrons of other types of libraries."

This is a research paper that I wrote for my Foundations in Library Science class. I had learned from volunteering at New Hanover County Public library in their open computer lab that digital literacy is a passion of mine.

A portion of the conclusion:

Public libraries play an important and irreplaceable role in access to technology and educating people in how to use it. However, this problem is too big for public libraries alone to solve. More help is needed from the government, and new initiatives involving partnerships with private organizations have also proved fruitful. With a lot of hard work one day maybe these terms and issues will be less relevant than they are now, but until then public libraries offering access to computers, the internet, and training in how to use these things is beneficial to both libraries and the communities they serve. “Without the public library as capable intermediary, the gaps between the digital haves and the digital have-nots will quickly escalate as digital inclusion becomes more and more central to participation in education, employment, government, and many other areas” (Jaeger et al, 2012, p. 16).

As the final project for the Management and Systems Analysis class we had to write out our personal management philosophy.

The concluding paragraph:

Overall, the author intends to utilize an employee-centered style as much as possible, while always employing the contingency approach to attempt to make the best possible response to any given situation that arises. She will focus on proper staffing, feedback, and fostering an environment where employees feel communication is welcome by management and that something will be done to address their needs. Although some aspects of this may be difficult to do in libraries which tend to be somewhat bureaucratic, she will adapt this style to whatever organization she works for as much as is appropriate.

This was the senior thesis for my MLS.

A portion of the abstract:

This paper considers the connections among user experience, marketing and library user surveys.

It seeks to answer the following questions: 1) How might academic libraries better meet the

needs and wants of their patrons with their resources and services in future? 2) Are surveys an

effective way of determining how libraries can provide better user experiences?

This was the final project for my academic library class.

A quote from the plan on why such a program is important:

A recent study has suggested that those who are hyperpartisan are most affected by fake news. (ACRL, 2018) College aged-students, especially undergraduates, may be especially prone to falling prey to fake news as their brains are not yet fully developed (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2019) and they are very passionate about aiding causes they believe in, even more so in the current political climate (Smith, 2017). Not only is this population vulnerable to being taken in by fake news, but they are also potential future leaders and voters in this country who will be more successful in every way if they are well and accurately informed on what is going on in the world. This is a critical time in their development of identity (Long, 2012), self-expression, and leadership/life skills, and therefore it is of utmost importance to teach them to avoid the pitfalls of fake news early.