Final Reflections

As I’m wrapping up my first semester of my MLIS degree I looked back at all that I’ve gained. I’ve always been interested in technology and throughout this course I’ve learned just how much technology plays a role in the LIS profession. Librarians help others access and find information, and because technology keeps evolving this is a main resource in helping others find what they need. It is so important for librarians to stay up-to-date with current and new trends in order to properly and effectively serve their patrons.

I’ve also learned a lot about the Code of Ethics librarians are to follow. One of the assignments I completed this semester pertained to an ethics scenario. I thought this assignment was very beneficial in helping me learn about what is expected of the profession. For this assignment I looked at various sources and read about the Code of Ethics. There were statements that I had never thought about before in regards to access, privacy, and personal beliefs. I feel that I am a very empathetic person, so reading that librarians are to set aside their personal beliefs in order to do what is right professionally really stood out to me as something I need to work on. After reading various ethical scenarios, I found that it is very important for me to put my personal feelings and beliefs aside in order to do what is right for my patrons. This is something that I hadn’t previously thought about, but after completing the assignment I learned a lot about what is expected of me as a librarian.

There was a lot of talk about community outreach and engagements from our team blog assignment. This stood out to me because I work with one of the librarians at my public library. I researched a lot about the benefits of collaboration between school and public librarians and read about different programs that helped students excel in school. This made me think more about my position and how I can work to collaborate more with the public library. I want to see my students continue to grow throughout the summer and partnering with the public library can help this happen.

In thinking about my future I plan to continue working as a school media specialist. This is my first year in this position and I absolutely love it. I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of the students at my school and teaching them library and technology skills. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher since I was little and this is a job I would like to continue for some time. However, after researching different job postings I found some positions that were very intriguing that I hadn’t thought about before. I believe I will always want to do something associated with education, so working at a college to develop instructional technology programs was very interesting to me. I think this is something I could work up to after working as a media specialist. I would love to be on a decision making end of technology programs that would benefit student achievement.

I’ve learned a lot this semester about the LIS profession and I look forward to the next few years. I hope to develop an even deeper understanding of all that this profession encompasses and see where it leads me!