I got my MSLS degree...what does that mean?
Successfully completing the degree requirements from the University of Kentucky Library Science program means several things. First, let's consider the program learning outcomes for the program:
What do those four statements even mean? Let's unpack them a little.
Describe how communities and individuals interact with/in information ecosystems
Information professionals need to be able to step back and look at the bigger picture. Knowing the individuals and greater community that you serve, the information they need, how they find information, and what they do with information is key to becoming a leader in the field. It isn't so much that you keep books on the shelf as you understand what you need to have on your shelf - physical and virtual - for your patrons and how to help them interact with it.
Analyze the major tenets of information practice and apply them in multiple contexts
Don't forget the background of the broader information profession. Understanding the reasoning behind why we do what we do, and being able to apply that same reasoning in a school, public or academic library, or information organization makes you more valuable as an information professional.
Connect diverse communities and individuals with appropriate resources
Libraries and information organizations can deal with very diverse populations - young to old, different colors of skin, different socioeconomic backgrounds, different genders and sexuality. You may experience all of that at one location. Or your location might primarily serve one community that is not like your own. Understand their information needs and connect your patrons with the best possible resources.
Explain the dependence of information retrieval on the organization of information
You may have already experienced someone saying "Why do we need librarians? We have Google.". There are several good answers to this response, but this outcome is key. Information professionals understand how information is stored, what metadata is associated with it, and how to most efficiently retrieve the appropriate data. Google is an excellent key word search engine. However, when it comes to understanding context (metadata), it isn't as successful as an information professional with a commercial or open source database where fields like "Author", "Language", or "Date of Publication", can be searched in order to increase the accuracy of the search while decreasing the amount of information recalled (i.e., filtering out irrelevant items).
Getting a degree is your first step. Your growth and development as an information professional will continue as your explore professional opportunities.
- Describe how communities and individuals interact with/in information ecosystems
- Analyze the major tenets of information practice and apply them in multiple contexts
- Connect diverse communities and individuals with appropriate resources
- Explain the dependence of information retrieval on the organization of information
What do those four statements even mean? Let's unpack them a little.
Describe how communities and individuals interact with/in information ecosystems
Information professionals need to be able to step back and look at the bigger picture. Knowing the individuals and greater community that you serve, the information they need, how they find information, and what they do with information is key to becoming a leader in the field. It isn't so much that you keep books on the shelf as you understand what you need to have on your shelf - physical and virtual - for your patrons and how to help them interact with it.
Don't forget the background of the broader information profession. Understanding the reasoning behind why we do what we do, and being able to apply that same reasoning in a school, public or academic library, or information organization makes you more valuable as an information professional.
Connect diverse communities and individuals with appropriate resources
Libraries and information organizations can deal with very diverse populations - young to old, different colors of skin, different socioeconomic backgrounds, different genders and sexuality. You may experience all of that at one location. Or your location might primarily serve one community that is not like your own. Understand their information needs and connect your patrons with the best possible resources.
Explain the dependence of information retrieval on the organization of information
Getting a degree is your first step. Your growth and development as an information professional will continue as your explore professional opportunities.
Cool post Will. The library is definitely not going away, just evolving. I really like your point about the filtering of results in order to achieve a more accurate and meaningful search.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting post, Will. I particularly like the phrase " information professional". This is a really thorough explanation of how library science has changed to keep pace with the information age.
ReplyDeleteAre these 4 tenets the real and published tenets of the program? If so, I love that your team has thought about the learning outcomes in advance.
ReplyDeleteSo many valuable comments...growth and development does continue each and every day. In order to experience this growth, one must possess an enduring commitment to life long learning; it is essential for continued progress.
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