Evidence of Professional Work

The following list is a compilation of work I have completed over three semesters of my Masters in Library and Information Science at Queensland University of Technology. The majority of this work is from assignment work done both individually and within groups. I have attempted to align each piece of work with the core knowledge and skills for library and information professionals as outlined by ALIA.

1. INN533 - Information Organisation.

This assignment required us to explore the usability of two websites and compare them. This was my first foray into design and user experience testing.

JB Hi Fi and iTunes Store User Experience Report

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Understand and interpret the contexts in which information is originated, stored, organised, retrieved, disseminated and used.
• Identify and investigate information needs and information behaviour of individuals, community groups, organizations and businesses.
• Understand the importance of information architecture to determine the structure, design and flows of information.
• Systematically gather and analyse data and disseminate the findings to advance library and information science theory and its application to the provision of information services.

2. INN331 - Management Issues for Information Professionals.

This assignment was the first time I interviewed a library manager. Using this information against the literature I was able to draw conclusions about management practices.

Conversation with an industry professional report

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Comprehend the ethical, legal and policy issues that are relevant to the sector.
• Assess the value and effectiveness of library and information facilities, products and services. 
• Demonstrate a commitment to the improvement of professional practice through a culture of research and evidence-based information practice.
• Ability to build partnerships and alliances.

3. INN333 - Information Programs

This assignment demonstrated my ability to work within a team and develop a program for implementing a social media plan for a public library.

Implementing Facebook for a Regional Library Report

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Market library and information services
• Understand the need for information skills in the community
• Project management skills
• Systematically gather and analyse data and disseminate the findings to advance library and information science theory and its application to the provision of information services

4. INN333 - Information Programs

Creating and maintain a blog was a requirement for a number of my subjects. The blog I was required to keep for INN333 allowed me to explore different technical aspects of the internet. My exploration of Screen-Cast-O-Matic for example, has been beneficial to my learning and professional development.

Information Programs Blog Site

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Comprehend the ethical, legal and policy issues that are relevant to the sector
• Understand and investigate how information is effectively sought and utilised
• Provide and promote free and equitable access to information and client services
• Facilitate the acquisition, licensing or creation of information in a range of media and formats
• Relevant information and communications technology and technology application skills

5. CLN647 - Youth, Pop-culture, and Texts

Another blog I was required to keep detailed aspects about youth and popular culture. This was a small passion-project of mine and allowed me to connect with issues facing youth service librarians.

Youth, Pop-Culture, and Texts Blog Site

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

•  A commitment to life-long learning
• Appropriate information literacy skills
• Market library and information services
• Identify and investigate information needs and information behaviour of individuals, community groups, organizations and businesses
• Comprehend the ethical, legal and policy issues that are relevant to the sector

6. INN531 - Information Management

This assignment was my first experience of information management outside of a library science perspective. The assignment as a group assignment on the information management practices of a charity organisation in Brisbane




ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Understand the importance of information architecture to determine the structure, design and flows of information
• Facilitate the acquisition, licensing or creation of information in a range of media and formats
• Professional ethical standards and social responsibility
• Business acumen
• Effective team relationship skills

7. INN530 - Online Information Services

Exploring issues relevant to academic libraries was one of my favourite aspects of studying this degree. The following website was created demonstrating not only my technical abilities in using various programs but also my abilities to research.

LibGuides Presentation Site

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Envision future directions and negotiate alliances for library and information sector development aligned with corporate, social and cultural goals and values
• Forecast, plan, facilitate and evaluate appropriate resource management to library and information services
• Use research skills to provide appropriate information to clients
• Effective communication skills
• Relevant information and communications technology and technology application skills

8. INN532 - Information Literacy Education

I enjoyed working in groups and pairs for assignments. One of the best learning experiences I had was working with a partner to reflect on readings for a particular subject.

Information Literacy Journals

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Self management skills
• Effective team relationship skills
• A commitment to life-long learning
• Understand the need for information skills in the community
• Facilitate the development of information literacy and the ability to critically evaluate information

9. LCN617 - Children's Literature: Criticism and Practice

Using skills developed over the course of the degree, I have been able to successfully demonstrate my technical skills through this book trailer.



ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Design and deliver customised information services and products
• Comprehend the ethical, legal and policy issues that are relevant to the sector
• Market library and information services

10. INN690 - Summer Minor Project

This was easily the hardest assignment I have ever completed. This was a self-directed minor thesis on the impact of open access on academic libraries.

Systematic Review of Open Access in Academic Libraries.

ALIA Core Knowledge and Skills

• Problem-solving skills
• Project management skills
• Self management skills
• Systematically gather and analyse data and disseminate the findings to advance library and information science theory and its application to the provision of information services
• Envision future directions and negotiate alliances for library and information sector development aligned with corporate, social and cultural goals and values

My Final Reflection

I believe this portfolio is an accurate representation of me as an information professional however I still remain unsure of whether or not I will use it professionally in the future. I have found that contributing and compiling evidence of my work is a useful exercise for reflecting on my experience as an LIS student and as a new graduate. This portfolio shows the breadth of my work as a student whether it is from using social media, writing reports, or showing my technical skills. It also shows my ability to reflect and critically analyse my work and events I have attended and find out how they help me become a better information professional.  My ability to reflect and learn from different situations is my best attribute as an information professional and my portfolio accurately depicts this. Reflecting on events was the most entertaining aspect of keeping this portfolio and I truly believe it has helped me become a better professional.

I sincerely hope I have the motivation to keep developing my portfolio after graduation. If I am being honest with myself I will probably not remember to keep updating it unless something extraordinary happens. With my apathy being the case the most important lesson I have learned from building and maintaining the portfolio over the past 1.5 years is how important it is to reflect on significant professional events or even the seemingly insignificant reflection on using a new piece of software. Keeping the portfolio has taught me to reflect on everything and if I can at least do that mentally I think I will be on my way to becoming a good information professional.

All in all I enjoyed compiling data for this portfolio. My intention is to maintain it for as long as I can into the future. I believe using a program like Blogger which is tied to my Gmail account increase the chances of me updating the blog into the future.

Witty Lama - Professional Development Event

Of all the professional development events I attended as part of this course the presentation by Liam Wyatt (or Witty Lama) was the most surprising. I came into the presentation with no expectations or even any idea what it would be about. When Liam began to talk about Wikipedia I was intrigued. Wikipedia is a tool that I have used almost every day of my student and personal life, if I need some quick information on a subject I know that Wikipedia will give me the answer. The first interesting tid-bit that he shared with us was that “wiki” was actually the name of a bus in Hawaii that the founders of wikipedia used. Liam then went on to tell us about the features of Wikipedia and how knowledge curation by ordinary people is contributing to this very large and popular website.

Professionally, I saw this talk as enlightening and surprising. I attended essentially on a whim and came out of the event with a new respect for Wikipedia and the people who strive to make it as true and informative as possible. This made me realise that personal development events are worth going to because you never know what you are going to learn. After watching Liam I think I have become an advocate for Wikipedia and although I haven’t gone as far as editing to the website, I have a deeper appreciate for it than I did before the talk. I like to think of myself as an open-minded person and the fact I was so resistant to coming to this event in the first place only to have my views changed was a really interesting experience for me.

ALIA Resume Build Workshop

At the beginning of the course I subscribed to the ALIA New Grads Facebook page and email list. I have never been part of a professional organisation before so it is nice to know that ALIA has programs available to support library students. I was alerted to the resume workshop via the Facebook page, it just happened to pop-up on my newsfeed. At the end of 2013 I had applied for role as a library assistant however I did not get the job. I needed to address selection criteria and having never done this before, I was unclear about how to go about it. I thought going to the ALIA resume workshop would be a good opportunity for me to ask questions and assess my current CV.

The ALIA team organised for those attending the workshop to have about 20 minutes with a professional working in the library field. I was lucky enough to speak to a lady who had significant managerial experience in a large academic library. My resume was forwarded to her upon my application so she would have time to look over it and bring out points for discussion.

Meeting in the cafe at SLQ probably added to the conversational tone of the workshop. Usually I am nervous about letting people see my resume but I was very comfortable in this situation. The manager gave me a number of key points to look out for when writing up  my resume, they were:

1. Show personality. The manager said that when she looked at my resume she could see what I had achieved but she could not see what my personality was like from merely looking at dates and names of degrees. The majority of this would be conveyed in my cover letter but it could also be added to my descriptions of work experience.

2. Contextualise. This was in relation to my references, which I had just listed without any indication on their role or how they were related to me. I needed to give more contextual hints so the reader of my resume didn’t have to do any guess-work.

3. A unique resume. The biggest point my managerial mentor emphasised was the need to tailor my cover letter AND resume to every job I applied for. While I had been told to tailor just my cover letter, my mentor suggested to tailor my resume as well ie. descriptions of work detail and achievements.

Overall I found the information passed on to me as very useful and something that will benefit me in my future search for employment. Attending the resume workshop not only validates my efforts in professional development but also justifies the ALIA New Grads group as being helpful to new librarians. I enjoyed meeting other library students and chatting with other library professionals over coffee, it was a great networking opportunity.

Penguin Teen Australia Live - Professional Development Event

Earlier this year I attended the Penguin Teen Live event hosted by SLQ in Brisbane. I found out about this event through an email subscription list and through my Twitter feed. This was the second event I sought to attend through my own professional network and I believed it to be a very rewarding experience. Attending the live event  gave me a unique perspective into the young adult (YA) book market.

Upon arrival we were given a free book and asked to sit in a large auditorium. I was both surprised and not surprised to find that the majority of guests were teenage girls. There was a couple of boys thrown in and a couple of supportive mothers too. I sat with one of my friends and observed the event with interest, trying to look at things from the perspective of a young people’s librarian or even just a public librarian.

The host of the event talked about books that had been published earlier in the year and books that would be published later in the year. Many of the teenagers in the room voiced their opinions on their favorite books and often squealed as pictures of book covers flashed up on the big screen. I was taken aback by how visceral the reaction was, the teens were so passionate about the books and the characters, it was easy to get caught up in the emotion of the moment.

Although I understand that book selection is generally up to vendors now, I believe it is still important to touch-base with young people to see what they are reading and what they are passionate about. An event like Penguin Teen Live Australia offers teenagers the opportunity to connect directly with publishers and validate their love of reading with like-minded people.

I didn’t leave the event with any new skills or particular insight into the world of librarianship, but I did find out that teenagers are enthusiastic about books they read and get excited about new books they haven’t even heard of. The fact that this event was hosted by SLQ shows that library support exists for these kind of events. I can see events like this being held at small public libraries by librarians to entice new readers and engage old readers. I am glad my efforts to maintain my personal network allowed me to discover and attend this event.

YLibrary: What's next for libraries? Panel - Professional Development Event

One of the professional development events recommended to library students via email was to attend YLibrary: What’s next for libraries? panel at SLQ. The panel consisted of four guests who each had their own unique view of the future of libraries and books. The event is recorded and available via the ABC website.

When I first began telling people I wanted to become a librarian they were all very concerned that I may not have a job in the future: “But libraries aren’t going to exist in the future.” or on the other end of the spectrum: “Why are you studying a Masters in Information Technology when all you’re going to be doing is reading books all day?”. For the most part I try to point out that information will always need to be stored somewhere and in some way and it’s a librarians job to help access that information. I also try to emphasize that physical books aren’t going to become obsolete anytime soon and that even if they did, librarians would still be needed!

There were many interesting and thought-provoking points that were brought up during the panel discussion. One of the topics covered was the role of the physical library as a community hub, which is a concept that has become familiar to me during the course of my study. People don’t come to the library just to read books anymore, they come for educational courses, to meet like-minded people, or just wi-fi! I did one of my fieldwork placements at a library that functioned as a community hub and it was great to see how seamless the integration was between library staff and those responsible for other cultural events.

Another point that stuck with me throughout the lecture was the idea that although preservation of books and other materials is important, it is not the questions that libraries should be asking themselves now. This point resonated with me as part of me believes that librarians and other archivists should aim to preserve information for future readers. As I thought about this topic more I began to realise that what is the point of preservation if there is no-one available to help readers access information. Even though I think it is sad, the need for librarians to remain relevant and constantly validate their role in society is the more pressing issue at hand.

Attending the Y Library event was probably the most inspiring and informative professional development session I have attended to date. I’m looking forward to attending more!

Fieldwork Placements

During the course of my studies I completed three professional fieldwork placements. My initial plan for fieldwork placements was to work in a public library, an academic library, and a specialised/corporate library in order to get the most experience possible. In the end, I completed placement at Bond University Law Library, Helensvale Public Library, and QUT Gardens Point Library. My fieldwork journals are included for perusal.

Bond Fieldwork Journal

Helensvale Fieldwork Journal

QUT Fieldwork Journal