Stephanie
Hartman

Final Portfolio & Special Project

Coursework

Special Project

Resume

Final Thoughts

Coursework

After over ten years in libraries, I was excited to finally find out about the world of cataloging (ILS 506). Learning about how an LC call # is put together was strangely fascinating to me. It was a small window into the complex world of cataloging. Since the window of cataloging is now reflected in online catalogs, one very interesting assignment had us reviewing a number of OPACs. They are certainly not all created equal.

While I had done reference work for several years, having a structured class in reference was very helpful. It reinforced things I had learned along the way, and introduced me to resources I wish I had known about before. It did well to remind me of the value of print resources. I also enjoyed being the patron in a library, sizing up the service of others.

While some may assume I chose the Academic Library track, they would be mistaken. I wanted to diversify my knowledge, and for that reason went for the Public Libraries track. I took three courses that were really exciting to me, because they let me see a different perspective of librarianship. These were Materials and Services for Children (ILS 511), Materials and Services for Adolescents (ILS 512), and Public Libraries (ILS 561). In the first two courses I learned first hand about the importance of a well-defined Collections Policy, had fun with programming, and read many, many books that I’d otherwise have little reason to read. After looking at Engineering books everyday, it was a refreshing change to read young adult fiction.

Public Libraries was a wonderful course that really let me see many of the differences between public and academic libraries. I found just about all of these assignments helpful and enlightening. I learned about state libraries; looked at the variety of programming that happens in the public library; services for seniors; critiqued library web sites – the new face of the library; had a very eye opening look at jobs and salaries; learned about the inner workings of a library budget for the first time; and looked at community outreach.

This look into the world of public libraries was very good for me. It allowed me to see many of the issues public librarians must deal with, and made me think perhaps I will stay in academia. I then took College and University Libraries (ILS 560) with Professor Kusack, and was happy that I could use my experience to add to the many discussions we had. In this class we did a very interesting benchmarking project – in which I got to benchmark the MIT Libraries against some of the best academic libraries in the country - with some interesting and eye opening results. I also got to interview an interesting father/son faculty duo at MIT about their thoughts on the MIT Libraries.

A second course with Professor Kusack, Library Management (ILS 565) was easily one of the most useful courses I took during this program. I have been a “manager” for four years, and wish I had taken this course long ago. I really felt I was learning things that I could put into practice immediately. The cost-finding assignment and “in-basket” assignment were two of my favorites - taking very practical, real world issues and situations and working through them.

Two of the most challenging courses were Digital Libraries (ILS 655) and Evaluation & Research (ILS 680). In Digital Libraries I took on a project that at times had me pulling my hair out – but I was determined to see it through. Prior to this project I had only bad experiences with scanning, digitizing, etc. Now I was looking to digitize an entire collection – small in size, but substantial in content. I worked closely with the MIT Libraries Archives staff to find a collection that both I was interested in and they were interested to see digitized. We settled on Ellen Swallow Richards, the first female student at MIT. I happily got to dust off my historian hat for this one. The MIT Museum also held many photographs and personal letters from Ms. Richards - and I worked with their staff to select some of the most interesting for digitization. The Ellen Swallow Richards Digital Library was born. This site is something I'm quite proud of - and could be built upon by myself, or Archives staff in the future.

Evaluation & Research raised the bar in terms of sheer workload and brain power needed. I raised the bar along with it. For my research proposal, I proposed looking at the relationship between Library/Information Science degree length, work history and student satisfaction and preparedness. For my research project, I took on the complicated task of learning first about linguistic "hedges" - and then using this knowledge to analyze the discourse in the Library/Information Science education forum, JESSE. The resulting paper, Gender and the use of Linguistic Hedges in Computer-Mediated Communication: An Examination of JESSE, the Library/Information Science Education Forum is one I'm quite proud of -- both in terms of what I learned about writing a proper research document, but also in what I learned about gender, language, and linguistics.

Finally, through the World Library Partnership and the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, I participated in "Inform the World" -- Library Skills Exchange program. In this program I spent four weeks in the summer of 2003 in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa -- helping to get a High School library up and running, as well as improving services to adult learners. This experience, as well as the documentation thereof, has culminated in my Special Project.

Proceed to Special Project...

Submitted to the Department of Information and Library Science
--
Southern Connecticut State University

©2004

Updated on: April 26, 2004