Students are innovative, ethical, problem-solvers able to lead and manage through communication, collaboration, and reflection.

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I.a. Students can evaluate critically, reflect, and problem-solve individually as well as collaboratively.

 

Foundations of Library & Information Science - LIS5020: Emerging Roles in LIS: Librarians: Managers in Digital Curation

Throughout the Foundations of LIS course, exploration of the field, as well as the emerging roles within, were done through active practice in evaluation, reflection, and problem-solving skills. Researching job listings, identifying required skills and trainings, and reviewing new career opportunities all while reflecting on the field in relation to my personal interests and abilities allowed me to grow in these skillsets. This course allowed me to learn the necessity of LIS professionals skilled in digital curation as the LIS field adapts to the constant evolution of technology. From this, not only did I learn the importance of digital curation but this led to future courses selected relating to this growing subject.

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I.b. Students demonstrate effective communication skills.

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Introduction to Library Administration - LIS6409: Strategic Plan

The ability to communicate effectively is a key skill among those in management that engage in leadership practices. Providing clarity for an organization's mission, vision, and goals to both those within and externally is a mark of strong communication skills and leadership. This clear communication can promote unity within the organization and community, as well as impact the decisions of funders in a manner that could have positive effects. By creating a five-year strategic plan I learned the importance of evaluating a LIS institution, its environment, and anticipating user needs. This allowed for an understanding of the far-reaching impacts that being able to both understand an organization's mission, vision, and goals, as well as effectively communicating them to best meet user needs.

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I.c. Students participate in professional and community engagement activities in the field.

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Cultural Heritage Institutions & Libraries - LIS5120: Updating/Correcting Wikipedia Articles

Wikipedia is a go-to search for many people, regardless of age, education, socioeconomic status, or any other characteristics. Wikipedia is a quick, easy to use, and easily understood method for an individual to gain relevant information on a wide variety of things in one location. Often, students begin their research and query with Wikipedia in order to learn about a subject in simplistic terms as a way to support their identification of relevant key terms and topics prior to engaging in research through scholarly resources. Because of these reasons, it is vital for librarians and information science professionals to support this quest for knowledge through ensuring quality information. Within the course of Cultural Heritage Institutions & Libraries, the importance of LIS professionals engaging in outreach and collaboration in order to support their communities (including the global community) came through strongly. This was done through engaging in exploration with our local community heritage institutions and using reflection to identify how these institutions are supporting the community, as well as what ways they could better do so. By visiting three cultural heritage institutions in my local community in person, engaging in research on their online presence and relevant scholarly articles, then reflecting on how these institutions interact (and can better interact) with the community I was able to make positive updates that provide more neutral and fleshed out information to their Wikipedia pages. This was done in hopes this information will provide relevant base-level knowledge to the viewers, as well as piquing their interests to visit these institutions themselves. These semester-long activities helped me to realize the importance of engagement with the community, as well as the necessity of promoting outreach and education globally with open-source information such as Wikipedia.

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I.d. Students demonstrate leadership skills and innovation in a diverse and global environment.

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Seminar in Special Libraries - LIS6472: Grants to States - Alaska Proposal

Libraries are tasked with ensuring ethical handling of artifacts and information. This is especially the case within Universities and other LIS institutions where special collections reside. Through reviewing a variety of special libraries, I was able to learn the necessity of promoting leadership in diverse cultural environments ethically. In an accumulative three-part assignment, I was able to evaluate the cultural representation of Alaska Natives (Indigenous Peoples) in relation to the Consortium Library for the University of Alaska and the Alaska Pacific University. Identifying the community needs and the importance of staff training for increased ethically proactive behaviors within an economy of dwindling annual budgets, I created a Marketing Plan to identify new funding measures, a Training Webinar Proposal that showcased the needs of the community and the manner that the consortium library can support this, all culminating in identifying a state grant that would cover the expenses and compiling data for a grant proposal. This course and the cumulative projects allowed me to develop skills in assessing diverse community needs, budget reviews and recognizing ethical dilemmas within an institution, reviewing grants and preparing proposals, and most importantly how to lead an institution through these actions into being more ethically knowledgable and supportive.