Skills
A list of particular skills I have cultivated during my time in the MIS program can be found below.
Leadership:
My knowledge of and experience with leadership comes from my time as head of the Librarians Without Borders University of Ottawa chapter. As head of the group, I was responsible for organizing meetings, recruiting fellow MIS students, and collaborating with them to host trivia nights to raise money for the charitable organization Twice Upon a Time. I also volunteered my time with Twice Upon a Time on weekends when possible. Both organizations fuel my desire to help people, free of charge, through literature.
Reference Services:
To earn my Master's in Information Studies, I chose the Co-op path, and worked a four month term at the Library of Parliament and another four month term at Joule, both times working as a reference librarian. In both positions, I was responsible for responding in French and English to research requests from clients; I was to provide the resources that had been requested, or offer references to other peer-reviewed material that might be of use. Helping clients with research requests will be a key duty as a librarian at the public library. I believe the experiences and knowledge I gained from performing reference services at the Library of Parliament and Joule have greatly prepared me for that task in a public library setting.
Ask a Librarian: Joule's template for members to submit research requests to reference librarians.
Evaluations from my co-op placement supervisors.
Knowledge Organization:
I gained experience with knowledge organization during my co-op placement with Joule. I had to compile and insert metadata about Clinical Practice Guidelines into Joule's CPG Infobase. This task required close attention to detail and careful analysis of resources sent to Joule for the Infobase. Having this knowledge should be useful for reading and organizing public library catalogues.
Digital Preservation:
My knowledge of digital preservation comes largely from my time with the Library of Parliament and Joule. At the Library of Parliament, I updated and digitized a catalogue from 2006, including digital links to its resources. Meanwhile, at Joule I catalogued old journals and textbooks as well as helped to launch Joule's new website. This required that I take screen captures of the old catalogues and website and archive them in Joule's company database. I also tested all the new reference services pages on the website and analyzed the layout.