#mid-semester reflection

[eaverylis-blog]

Mid-Semester Reflection

Towards the middle part of the semester, I had an epiphany.  I realized that I don’t want to pursue a MLIS degree.  Quite honestly I feel bad for even typing that sentence now. In 2010 graduated from Wayne State with a MEd.   I deliberated back in 2008 between the MEd and MLIS programs.  When I had that “itch” to return back to graduate school, I figured that this was the sign to pursue the other program that I was interested in.  However, through taking courses this semester I realize that I’m not the same person I was six years ago. I’ve changed jobs, my state residency and overall I’ve grown and changed my outlook on things I thought I knew for sure.  

I have to credit my classmates for helping me reach this understanding. Reading their responses to our weekly Discussion Board Questions and Think Tank articles helped me see my uncertainty about my place within the program. Everyone is excited and ready to become future librarians or archivists.  With every post that I read, I could see their certainty and passion for receiving a MLIS degree. Towards the “half-way point,” I realized that I don’t share those sentiments.  While I appreciate this course, as it sets a wonderful foundation to understanding the LIS profession; I’m more excited about the Information Management specific courses. Then I realized that it would be a better option for me to pursue a Graduate Certificate in Information Management.

I’m excited about this realization.  I don’t want to collect another Master’s degree (or the letters) for the sake of saying that I have them. I’m happy that I’m in graduate school again and I want to apply what I’m learning professionally.  The best way for me to do this is to complete a graduate certificate that complements my MEd.  After researching the IM certificates - Web-based Information Systems seemed to be a perfect fit for what I want to do.

This isn’t what I expected I to write about back in January, but things change and I’m waiting to see what revelations the second half of the class brings...

[kironlis6010]

Mid-Semester Reflection

Well, it is the middle of the semester. Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, it is the end of the semester, but I can remember how I felt at the middle of the semester. That was the moment that began to feel overwhelmed about the whole process. At first things felt easy, but the assignment started to become due rapidly. I never had a problem with the difficulty of the assignments, there were just so many of them with so many different parts. It was hard to keep everything straight. What I also surprised me were our discussions about ethics within librarianship. Before the beginning of the program this was something that I did not think about much. I found it interesting that the American Library Association had set of ethics.

Another question that I began to ask during my assignments and Think Tanks was who or what was going to fund great idea or programming that was brought up during our discussion. I began to think in real terms about the heavy financial constraints that many libraries and archives faced. While this should not limit the ideas that people have, it is something that has to be thought about when implementing plan.

So close but we still have a long ways to go and a lot to think about.

Citations

Code of Ethics of the American Library Association. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2014, from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics

Photo credit to Kiron Johnson