Final Reflections

I have to admit that I was not really sure what to expect when I first joined the MLIS program at Wayne State. I had a specific goal in mind, and that was to be an archivist. This course only briefly touched on the role of archivist, but I learned much more about what it means to be an LIS professional. I learned a lot about the possibilities that an MLIS could afford me once I finish. I also learned that if I want to get a job, I will need to get a lot of hands on experience. Time and again it was shown to me that what I learn today will most likely be obsolete by the time I finish. However, knowing where those processes and procedures started, will help be better understand where they are when I start my job. They will also help me better to create my own path in the LIS profession.

I also have to admit that I thought of librarians and archivists as working alone. I thought that it would be a solitary job. It does not bother me to work with others though, and I was happy to see that I was wrong about the solitary nature of the job. I found out that librarians and archivist have many social interactions in their jobs and with their colleagues. All LIS professionals should strive to be an active member of the communities that they belong to. It is through their interactions that LIS professionals will find out how to best serve the communities that they work in. Which is something that I think all of us in our class agreed was important.

I was happy to find out that my love of teaching would be something that I could still pursue as an LIS professional. As a librarian and archivist, my job is not just to save history. My job is also to make it available and more usable to my patrons. My job as an LIS professional is to continue to instill in others a love of learning, and to help provide them with all of the materials they need to continue to explore the world in which we live.

As an LIS professional I will have many challenges ahead. I will have to struggle with ethical questions that will challenge me on a career, spiritual, and human level. I will have to dedicate myself to staying abreast of new changes in technology, and try to adapt each to help me in my job. I will have to deal with changes in public attitudes towards my efforts to save history, and struggle with finding funding to support those efforts. I will have to find ways to work with my colleagues and the communities I find myself.

Nothing will be easy, but I have never been one to walk the easy path before. I love to be challenged, and I can see being an LIS professional as a noble challenge. My love of history and my love of sharing knowledge will keep me steady on my path. I end this class looking forward to my next steps, and though I may go slower than many of my classmates, I know I will reach the end. I will not race to the end of my degree because I know even the end of my degree will not be the end of  my learning in the LIS field. When I get my MLIS, I will just enter into a new phase, that has a new footnote to my abilities. The challenges will keep coming, and I will keep looking forward to the next challenge.