Carrie Vacon Reflective Essay

I have always loved libraries, from my patronage as a child, to volunteering as a teenager, to

eventually finding employment in them. My work at Oak Park Public Library and the MLIS courses I

completed at Dominican University have cemented my passion for lifelong learning and my belief

that everyone has a right to access information and resources that they need or would like. I hope

that my coursework and learning at Dominican University has given me good perspective and skills

to help people in my community access the information and materials they are looking for.

There are five goals for MLIS student learning at Dominican University. Goal 1 is to develop

a professional identity and philosophy within the library and information professions. The first

outcome of this goal (1a) is to describe the evolving nature of the core values and ethics within

diverse information environments. The second outcome of this goal (1b) is to demonstrate how a

philosophy, theory model, and/or major perspective of the library and information profession

guides practice in diverse settings. The third and last outcome of this goal (1c) is to participate in

professional activities and associations, such as professional conferences and meetings, internships

and practicums, and professional email discussions and social media.

I accomplished Outcome 1a through my Reading Critiques for the LIS 701 Core Values,

Ethics, and Issues in Library and Information Professions. In this artifact I am reflecting on the

required readings about diverse types of libraries, library work, competencies and skills, and core

values like lifelong learning and diversity. I describe what I have learned from the readings and

relate them to my own experience and observations in library work. I also describe the ALA Task

Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the ways my workplace and other libraries have been

trying to improve in these areas, which shows the evolving nature of these values within diverse

information environments. This was one of my earliest library science class discussions, but shows

my beginnings of understanding core values and ethics in Library Science and relating it to my

experience in that area.

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I achieved Outcome 1b through my Diversity & Inclusion in Libraries Reflection

presentation for my LIS 702 Facilitating User Learning and Information Needs class. I created this

PowerPoint presentation to answer the question of why diversity and inclusion matter in libraries.

This dives a bit deeper into what “diversity and inclusion” means, why these concepts are

important, and what practicing this philosophy looks like. I define the concepts and offer

information or guides, or demonstrations, on how to model this in diverse types of libraries. All

libraries offer access to resources to the communities they serve, and therefore all libraries need

diversity and inclusion efforts to meet those access needs. In creating this presentation, I learned

how the lack of diversity and inclusion can harm those who need a library's resources most. I also

learned how more diversity and representation is needed within the library profession itself.

I met Outcome 1c of by participating in the professional conference Reaching Forward in

May of 2022, which was the first post-pandemic conference I have attended. Oak Park Public

Library sent me, along with two of my coworkers. The artifact related to this is the write-up I did

after attending, with my notes on each breakout session I went to and my thoughts on the session

topic in relation to my work and community. I attended four breakout sessions: Silver Linings:

Innovations from the Pandemic, The CPS Libraries’ Critical Cataloging Project, Challenges to Library

Books and Materials, and finally Workplace Trends for 2022 and Beyond. These all provided a lot of

insight into what has been happening in libraries since the start of the pandemic and reinforced my

passion that diversity and equity are extremely important.

Goal 2 is to understand the essential nature of information and its relevance to our diverse

society. The first outcome of this goal (2a) is to describe various definitions and concepts of

information. The second outcome of this goal (2b) is to explain the impact of information policies

on intellectual freedom, access, literacy, information behavior, and other aspects of library and

information science. The third and last outcome of this goal (2c) is to develop appropriate

responses to assessed information needs within diverse communities/organizations.

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I accomplished Outcome 2a through my Metadata Definition and Discussion for LIS 882

Metadata for Digital Resources. I chose this for my artifact as metadata’s simple definition, “data

about data,” is more confusing and leaves more questions than it answers. I was asked to attempt to

understand and define the concept of metadata in several classes, but I chose this particular

response as we were to describe metadata’s definition in several different articles as well as asked

how to explain the concept of metadata to others. I am both describing other’s definition of the

concept, as well as making my own definition in lay terms.

An example of how I met Outcome 2b with my Intellectual Freedom & Censorship: LGBTQ+

Resources paper I completed in LIS 707 Leadership, Marketing, and Strategic Communication. In

this artifact I discuss the concepts of intellectual freedom and censorship and how it relates to

access to LGBTQ+ resources in libraries. Intellectual Freedom is part of the Library Bill of

Rights and is defined by the ALA as "right of library users to read, seek information, and speak

freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment." There are many reasons that LGBTQ+ materials

should be included in libraries, but they are often challenged and there are continual attempts to

remove these materials from libraries, which would remove access to these materials. Removing

access to these materials and resources would violate users Intellectual Freedom and would be an

act of censorship on the part of the library or information institution. Since writing this paper,

LGBTQ+ programs and materials have been even more challenged and protested by various groups,

so impact of this issue remains important.

I achieved Outcome 2c via my Core Collection - Children’s LGBTQ+ List I created in LIS 748

Collection Management. For this assignment, the professor asked us to assess a fictional library and

create a core collection in an area of needed resources, within a certain budget. For my project I

assessed a fictional library and its community and found them lacking in LGBTQ+ materials in youth

sections. I then created a list of materials to purchase to fill this information need within a certain

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budget. In this list I show costs and reasoning for each of the recommended materials, including the

questions I asked myself in the selection process and resources I used to make the selections.

Goal 3 is to navigate, curate, and create information across the spectrum of human records.

The first outcome of this goal (3a) is to design resources or tools that facilitate access to

information. The second outcome of this goal (3b) is to utilize resources or tools to manage

information. The third and last outcome of this goal (3c) is to evaluate resources or tools that

manage and facilitate access to information.

I accomplished both Outcome 3a and 3b with the same artifact of my Cataloging Portfolio for

LIS 730 Cataloging and Classification. For this project I had to utilize the resource or tool of OCLC

Connexion to design records for five different types of items. I then made a website for my work

which has pictures or screenshots of each item, the original cataloging I did, and the process and

resources used to create it. I chose a personal signed copy of a book I own for the print book

example, to give myself practice on the notes field. I found a physical audiobook from my workplace

for my sound recording example. I chose a personally owned DVD for my video recording example.

For my 3D artifact I picked a stuffed animal. Last, for my digital recording, I selected an educational

recording from archive.org. This was one of my favorite projects since it was so complex, and I

learned a lot. I had to create the records all from scratch and utilized the tool of OCLC Connexion to

do so. I then had to design a website to facilitate access to the information that I created.

I accomplished Outcome 3c with the Searching Information Retrieval Systems paper from

LIS 702 Facilitating User Learning and Information Needs. In this paper I evaluated three different

search engines on the results they would give me for the chosen topic of “Sinsinawa Dominican

Sisters.” I used the one available from SWAN (System Wide Automated Network) from my public

library for OPAC, the EBSCO databases available through the Rebecca Crown Library, and Google.

To achieve results I could evaluate, I played around with different search options on each to see

how different, similar, and useful the search engine results would be. This was useful practice both

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in knowing how to find information for myself, but also in knowing how to find information for

patrons, or how to teach them to find adequate information themselves.

Goal 4 is to synthesize theory and practice within a dynamic, evolving, and diverse

information environment. The first outcome of this goal (4a) is to apply library and information

science theories, principles, and research to professional practice. The second outcome of this goal

(4b) is to evaluate current and emerging technologies for information capture, organization,

dissemination, access, and/or curation to meet the variety of information needs of diverse

communities. The third and last outcome of this goal (4c) is to demonstrate teaching and learning

principles in relation to professional practice.

I achieved the Outcome 4a by applying the principles learned in my LIS 763 Readers

Advisory Services course to actual practice with a reader’s advisory interview with another person.

Learning is one thing but getting to apply what you learned to practice is important. This artifact is

the write up of the reader's advisory interview I did, and how the interviewee felt about my

suggested reading. We did this interview virtually due to the pandemic, however I still applied all

the same principles and hope for more chances to provide reader's advisory in the future, either

virtually or in-person. I researched each genre of interest to try and find applicable materials. I

learned how rewarding and difficult it can be to find an item the patron has not read but would like

to. Not all suggestions will be hits, but you have served the patron well if you can find at least one

book for them.

I met Outcome 4b through my Review of Digital Preservation Literature for LIS 713 Intro to

Preservation and Conservation. In this review I am evaluating articles and information about

current and emerging technologies regarding digitizing items as a preservation method. Many more

things are going digital, and it is becoming more and more common to try and digitize items to

preserve them. There are many benefits to doing so, like better access for patrons as they do not

need to be in the same physical location to access the materials. However, there are some issues to

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keep in mind, which I tried to evaluate in the literature review. I've learned a lot in several of my

classes about the pros and cons of digitization and the ways to try and upkeep this system as well as

potential ethical issues and the articles in this review provided good insight.

I accomplished Outcome 4c to with my Basic Resin Casting Lesson Plan from my LIS 702

Facilitating User Learning and Information Needs course. In this course we became more

acquainted with learning principles and teaching in a library setting and, in this item, I created a

crafting lesson plan and fulfilled it virtually, demonstrating what I was trying to teach. The artifact

is the original lesson plan that I did. I love crafting and I learned resin casting during the pandemic

and decided to choose my new skill to teach to others. I also came up with the idea of creating an e-

gallery of completed patron pieces, to better foster engagement in pandemic times.

The last goal, Goal 5, is to effectively communicate and collaborate to deliver, market, and

advocate for library and information services. The first outcome of this goal (5a) is apply marketing

and/or advocacy principles to demonstrate and promote the value of libraries and information

agencies. The second outcome of this goal (5b) is to demonstrate effective professional

communication to achieve common understanding as an individual or in group settings. The third

and final outcome of this goal (5c) is to demonstrate leadership principles in an educational,

professional, or community context.

I met both Outcomes 5a and 5c with the same item, which is a storytime I did for Oak Park

Public Library. The artifact is my plan and my reflection on how the storytime went. This storytime

took place outside of the library at a nearby park. I demonstrated leadership principles during this

storytime as I led the attendees in learning new pre-literacy songs and rhymes to do with their

children. I also advocated for the library as this event took place outside of the building and I took

time to talk about our summer storytimes and programming and promote them to the local

community.

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I met the final Outcome 5b during my Metadata Group Project for LIS 882 Metadata for

Digital Resources. This was a difficult and complex project as we all had very different schedules,

and the resulting collection we were creating had to be cohesive. I included as the artifact the group

write-up on creating the project, as well as my personal reflection of the process. I feel all my group

demonstrated professional communication in how we worked together to create and finish the

project. It was my favorite group project I have ever done due to the complexity and how well we

worked together.

I hope my ePortfolio showcases how much I have learned during my time at Dominican and

shows I can apply my learning to actual library settings. While I had experience in libraries before

starting the degree, what I’ve read, learned, and created during this time has given deeper

understanding to all aspects of library work. My feeling of the importance of libraries has expanded

and I hope to continue working in libraries and move up from my library assistant position to a

librarian position.

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