Evidence of Professional Work -- Assignment 8: Blogging reflections

The reflection on my Youth & Popular Culture blogging assignment demonstrates this ALIA core value:

Information literacy education, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    understand the need for information skills in the community;

o    facilitate the development of information literacy and the ability to critically evaluate information.

As well, the ability to reflect on my processes blogging is a showing of this skill:

o    critical, reflective, and creative thinking

Link to assignment:

Youth & Popular Culture blogging reflections 

Evidence of Professional Work -- Assignment 7: INN330 Information Management Reflections

My personal reflection on information management as both a concept and a subject at university was highly informative for me on my journey as an LIS librarian.

This reflective assignment related to two ALIA core values:

Knowledge of the broad context of the information environment, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    understand and interpret the contexts in which information is originated, stored, organised, retrieved, disseminated and used;

o    comprehend the ethical, legal and policy issues that are relevant to the sector;

o    envision future directions and negotiate alliances for library and information sector development aligned with corporate, social and cultural goals and values.

Information seeking, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    understand and investigate how information is effectively sought and utilised;

o    identify and investigate information needs and information behaviour of individuals, community groups, organizations and businesses.

Link to assignment:

 INN330 Information Management Reflections

Evidence of Professional Work - Assignment 6: INN533 Information Organisation Report

This assignment directly relates to the ALIA core value of information organisation. The report provides the foundations for a database of a movie club's items.

Information organisation, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    enable information access and use through systematic and user-centred description, categorisation, storage, preservation and retrieval.

Link to assignment:

INN533 Information Organisation Report 

Evidence of Professional Work - Assignment 5: INN533 User Experience Evaluation Report

This user experience assignment showcases the ALIA core value of being able to follow information services:

Information services, sources and products, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    design and deliver customised information services and products;

o    assess the value and effectiveness of library and information facilities, products and services;

o    market library and information services;

o    identify and evaluate information services, sources and products to determine their relevance to the information needs of users;

o    use research skills to provide appropriate information to clients.

As well, the analysis of user experience paper relates to these skills & attributes:

o    information and communications technology and technology application skills;

o    appropriate information literacy skills. 

Link to assignment:

INN533 User Experience Evaluation Report

Evidence of Professional Work -- Assignment 4: Video games and player positioning post

This blog post discusses the positioning of a player as both audience and character in video games. I wrote this post for my Youth & Popular Culture elective, and the understanding of wider infrastructure of video games as a means of giving player narrative information, meant that I could talk about the deeper aspects of the video games mentioned, such as the morality questions they pose.

Games criticism is something I'm deeply interested in, and its application as a way of teaching people about life is a valid way to engage and much better than a dry textbook or academia.

This assignment relates to the ALIA core value of Information Infrastructure.

Information infrastructure, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    understand the importance of information architecture to determine the structure, design and flows of information;

As well, this second blog post combining my passion for video games with a critical environment comes under this ALIA generic skill and attribute:

 - critical, reflective, and creative thinking;

Link to blog post:

Video games and player positioning

Evidence of Professional Work -- Assignment 3: Typing of the Dead blog post

This assignment was a personal favourite of mine, and it showed my ability to talk about learning through doing something fun, which is something I see as a great skill in critiquing books, films, games and art. Too often these media are disregarded as mere entertainment, when really if you apply them to certain concepts they can be a great way for someone to learn something they might otherwise have been unwilling to engage in.

After this post was published, it went viral after catching the eye of John Birmingham and being linked on both his Twitter and Facebook page. The post received ~1,500 views.

This assignment relates largely to this core value:

Information literacy education, demonstrated by the ability to:

o    understand the need for information skills in the community;

o    facilitate the development of information literacy and the ability to critically evaluate information. 

Assignment blog post:

Gamification of Touch Typing -- Typing of the Dead

Critical Evaluation of Portfolio

I see my portfolio blog as being a place for me to gather my thoughts and various examples of learning throughout my degree. This has also been the place for my first semester's work through Professional Practice.

Those modules are thoughtfully discussed and academic readings are used reflected upon for the benefit of my LIS journey.

The later entries relate to portfolio elements themselves, and I encountered some issues putting these together as most were in retrospect. For example, the fieldwork journals were needed to be done without having a supervisor's comments, as the placements were either ongoing (my job) or taken place just prior to my degree. But while I needed to fill these in individually and without that external input, I'm sure my supervisor's would've instead seen the fieldwork journals as merely extra work!

My 'development' entries are short, largely because at this time I'm unsure of my development. In all honesty, I don't know what I'll be doing career-wise in 5 years. I tend to bumble my way in and out of things.

This portfolio is a good representation of me as an LIS professional, to the point and using only what's needed.

Professional Personal Development Program

Relevant professional associations I should join:

- ALIA

- SLQ membership

- Queensland Writer's Centre

- ALIA Academic and Research Libraries

Journals I should be reading:

- The Conversation (Online)

- New York Review of Books

- Crikey's Daily Review (Online)

- Griffith Review

- Australian Library Journal (put out by ALIA)

Conferences I could attend:

- ALIA quiz night

- ALIA QLD mini-conference

- QLD National Advisory Congress

- Griffith ILS End of Year meeting

- ALIA Wikipedia and Libraries - Information Evening

I should get involved with ALIA, as my colleagues are and much of the library scene in Brisbane takes place within the organisation.

Statement of Career Goals

Thinking back on my career goals at the beginning of this course, my single career goal was to be employed in the industry. Current employment figures in Australia, and especially Queensland, have not been high. I wanted to have somewhere to go after university, and somewhere to start my journey as an information professional. My main motivation for this was moving out and beginning the 'adult' phase of my life, which nowadays really doesn't begin for someone until their early 20's.

Thankfully, in the penultimate semester of my university degree I was able to land a job as a librarian at a university library. It was an environment I'm familiar with, and dealing with students for me was easier to connect with as a librarian, and the queries I've received have been ones that I myself have had as a student.

In terms of my career, having this footing as a part-time librarian is fantastic. In the next few years, I see my career goals being squarely within this environment and workplace. My team is friendly and treat me as an equal, which is something I value the most, as some of my previous workplaces saw me as merely an upstart uni student.

If I had to nail down any specific career goals, I see myself in the next few years hopefully going from part-time to full-time (now that this university degree will have been done!), then staying there for a few years to get used to the employed life. I was asked by my boss where I saw my career in five years, and I honestly couldn't tell him. This job has been a whirlwind, and I'm still finding my feet in terms of the office life.

I honestly don't know where I'll be outside of a standard librarian at the front desk. Possibilities are endless and I really don't know where I would fit.