Personal Goal for my Studies

My personal goal in my studies is to become a Medical Librarian.  My undergrad major is history.  So, I may also like to earn the Certificate in Archival Administration.  I plan on visiting a hospital library that employs a archivist.  A archivist in a hospital library maintain a collection of historical medical documents, photos and even medical equipment.  I find the history of medicine very interesting but, I also desire to help physicians learn about new advancements in the medical field. 
It is my personal philosophy that medical librarians serve a great purpose.  My work in the public library was fun and always I encountered a new challenge daily.  However, my work in the medical library is  much more rewarding to me.  To think that some of the assistance I supply can help to save a life makes me feel terrific.  I feel a real purpose working in the medical library.   
Physicians and other hospital staff are busy with patient care.  So, I feel a medical librarian is necessary.  Physicians do not have the time to navigate through the countless sources.  It is a medical librarians designated job to spend hours searching for the information requested.  The goal is to enhance the patient experience.
At a recent hospital celebration for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., I was reminded of this quote from Rev. King, “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”.  This quote describes how I feel about becoming a Medical Librarian.  I aspire to do great things, but I know that even the seemingly small act of helping a physician with research can lead to a better patient experience.      

Introduction & Assumptions/Assertions

Welcome to my blog.  My name is Kimberly Kelly and I am a student in the LIS program at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.  My education background consists of a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Madonna University.  The LIS 6010 class requires that students create and maintain a journal blog.

            This is my first foray into the world of blogs.  New experiences can sometimes be daunting but I am excited to try my hand at this.  I hope I will become proficient in the use and creation of blogs quickly.  In fact, one of my beliefs about the LIS professions is that knowledge of internet navigation will/has become increasingly important.

I assert that the vast wealth of information available only makes librarians more important.  In my own experiences at the medical library it has become clear to me that physicians need librarians, trained in research, to run literature searches on various topics.  Literature searches require patience and time to look through the information available and filter out what is needed.  Physicians are busy with patient care and do not always have the time to learn the various databases.  I believe librarians, in both public and private libraries, have a dedicated duty to take the time to filter through the results and narrow them down to the best available material for the library patron. 

At the same time, I also agree with the growing idea that the role of all libraries is changing.  More and more patrons are looking to the library to assist them in ways not often thought of as library duties.  I have found in my work both the public and medical library, I was/am asked multiple times a day for assistance with making copies, faxing, scanning, and various other questions.  The average person does not have the time to commit to learning these skills unless their job requires it.  Patrons need assistance with these machines because they are not always intuitive.   

            Finally, I have been asked by people why I would commit to a program in this field.  It has been presented to me, by people not in the library science discipline, that this degree is not a wise investment.  After researching the LIS degree I have made the pleasant discovery that it is more marketable than people suggest.  I know there are different types of librarians, but only recently have I been introduced to the other NON-librarian careers that a MLIS can open to you.  One could use the skills they learn in the LIS course work to become a museum curator, an archivist or even a research analyst.  The courses offered in the LIS program make available to the students an opportunity to learn many different techniques of preservation and digitization.  Those skills can be put to use in a multitude of professions.  I am excited at the opportunity to receive hands on training with various digitization machines.  While I am not certain if my future career will be in the archivist field, I would love to obtain more knowledge of the skills involved in digitization and preservation.