Final Reflections

Over the course of this semester I have learned many new things.  After working in libraries for the past eighteen years I was under the foolish assumption that this class would be predictable.  Instead I found that this class introduced me to trends in libraries in other states and countries that I was unaware of.

To begin, I really enjoyed our team Think Tank activities.  They presented many topics that I do not encounter in my daily work.  It was a great way to work with other students and learn not only from my teammates but also the other teams. They also helped me to think about distance learning and collaboration.  Throughout the semester I did not meet in person with anyone from my class.  The team I worked on for this class decided to collaborate because we all live in the general vicinity of each other.  We thought this was a good idea in case we needed to meet in person.  But, as it turns out we were able to accomplish all of our activities through Blackboard and email.  This really opened my eyes to the knowledge that distance learning and collaboration can be just as beneficial as in-person education.

Additionally, I found that many of the topics discussed often turned to public libraries.  While I worked in a public library for many years, my current goal is to work in a medical setting.  I tried to gear my course work towards a health sciences view.  I felt I struggled sometimes to do this, especially with the ethical situations.  However, it did help me to realize that health and e-sciences is definitely the direction I want to follow.  I would also like to learn more about technology, research and management of libraries. 

Furthermore, the library visit assignment was very valuable to me.  I was thinking of taking classes towards the archival field.  After visiting a medical library archive, I realized that the need for archivists in medical libraries is not in high demand.  If I choose to take archival classes, it will be because I am interested in the preservation of books or other media.  I do not anticipate aiming my education towards archival studies as I had previously considered.

Finally, I am very thankful this class is included in the curriculum.  For someone who thought she knew exactly the plan of study she wanted to follow, this class presented to me a view of library science I had never envisioned.  If not for this class I may have taken classes that would not help me in my future career.  I was able to greatly narrow down my decision on what area of library science I want to aim towards.  I had anticipated a class that would be redundant to me but happily found it was quite the opposite.