I understand this POL objective as being vigilant, understanding your collection and community. As well as understanding the need of the people you are currently serving and those you hope to serve. I have demonstrated this through my course work in a couple ways, one being an Advocacy Essay in IST 511 Cultural Foundations Info. Studies course and another a Library Community Issue Analysis project done in IST 672 Public Libraries as Institutions. The IST 511 Advocacy Essay I had identified an area where I felt information inequality exists regarding Native American Cultural Materials in libraries outside of reservations. The argument was a drawn-up plan for a cultural depository off reservations for native cultures and paving the way for depositories of other cultures in libraries. The other project mentioned here was IST 672 a Library Community Issue Analysis in this project I identified an area of my local community that was underserved. Here I found that my community lacked information resources or lacked spreading awareness of these resources to the local youth community. My analysis looked at youth crime and the lack of services towards youth. Identifying information inequality is the first step in providing equitable information for all.

To me this tells me to always interrogate my ethics, values, standards, and principles, not to put them into question but to examine and probe them to see if they good or if they need improvement. It means to always stive for professional ethics, values, standards, and principles in my work. I believe that I demonstrate this in a few projects. The first being the Final Reference Scenario Project from IST 605 References & Info Literacy Services, and the second being a Philosophy & Goals of Librarianship paper from IST 511 Cultural Foundation of Information Studies. The first project, the Reference Scenario, saw me in the shoes of a reference librarian in an Academic library helping a student with their reference question. In this project I must stay partial and not give them bias information while at the same time providing good information to help them with their project and question and not draw then my own personal conclusion about their project direction but draw them to their own. The second project was a personal Philosophy & Goals of Librarianship paper. In this paper I explored and interrogated my own beliefs starting out in the MLIS program. This paper saw me put into words my beliefs, my vision for the future, and my expected role as a information professional.

Policies are what drive the success of libraries and other organizations, show the community and staff the mission of an organization, how that organization conducts themselves and handles situations. A lot goes into creating a good policy that is just and equitable and I believe that I have demonstrated the ability to look at and investigate policies and create policies through a few projects. The main one being a Strategic Plan written in IST 672 Public Libraries as Institutions. While the other was a group project the Final Project: A Policy Manual for IST 616 Info Resources: Organization & Access. The Strategic Plan from IST 672 saw me write up a strategic plan for my local public library about a community issue regarding youth crime. This had me looking into existing policies and the mission statement of my local library and working in a policy about addressing youth crime in the area. The second project was a Policy Manual for a action figure collection, in this project my group members and I worked together to develop a collection policy on action figures that were given to us organize and catalog. This saw us develop a policy from start to finish coming up with schema, identifying attributes others could use to catalog the collection, definition, and guidance and instruction for others could replicate for future items in the collection.

I am 100% sure that my learning is not over yet, I am unsure if I will do more schooling after I graduate but there will always be something to learn on the job, new information practices to adapt and new technologies to use. It is easy to get stuck in your own ways, if something works why risk changing it, but that is not how information or the world works. New information is always being collected, new ways to access it are always being developed and I am committed to always updating my arsenal of tools to help my patrons. I hope that being in the Syracuse MLIS program demonstrates my commitment to lifelong learning, but I also have more specific examples from my time in the program. While I have yet to engage with users and communities I have met with colleagues in school and other information professionals and have developed a network with some local librarians in my area. These projects while in the MLIS program have allowed me to interview and work with library professionals on the job. The first being the Library Leader Interview Project from IST 717 Library Leadership & Management, and the second being the Reference Librarian Interview Project from IST 605 Reference & Info Literacy Services. The first project the Library Leader interview I got to inter the Library Director of my local public library, she also happened to receive her MLIS from Syracuse University, from that I got to learn what it meant to be a library director and what it meant to be in a management position. Some takeaways were being flexible, having a peer-support network, and be prepared. As someone still in school it was nice to talk to someone who became a director that also happened to graduate from the same school. The library director from this meeting also put me in touch with my current Partner Library and Libarian for a project for IST 613, Library Planning & Marketing assessment. The second project was the Reference Librarian Interview, this was my first interaction with a degree holding librarian outside of being a library user. During this interview I learned about the behind the scenes of being a reference librarian and it was my first introduction to getting an in-depth look at library systems outside of the classroom.