Reflective Essay

I write this from my seat on the Metra, during my daily commute on the Milwaukee District West Line from my home in Chicago to my workplace in Hoffman Estates. This train has served as my temporary office, where I have completed dozens of readings, written countless discussion posts, and drafted essays including this one. The past two and a half years in the Master of Library and Information Science program at Dominican University (DU) have taken me on a professional and personal journey.

When I applied to the MLIS program in the fall of 2021, I was a budding museum collections professional who worked at the Motown Museum in Detroit. As the Associate Collections Manager, I cared for the artifact collection and helped develop exhibitions about a musical legacy that personally inspired me, as a lifelong musician. Working in a smaller institution showed me the value of a diverse skillset. The museum held archives in addition to artifacts, and I observed that my supervisor’s MLIS gave her the confidence to manage both collections. My desire to learn the standards, theories, and methods of archives and libraries drove my decision to pursue a library and information science degree with a concentration in archives. 

I enrolled in the program the following year, four months after I moved to Chicago to work at the Barack Obama Presidential Library as a Museum Technician. The opportunity was an unexpected one that serendipitously aligned with my goal to start graduate school. Since 2022, I have inventoried more than 6,000 gifts for the Obama Family from heads of state and the public, photographed 4,000 artifacts, and assisted with the launch of the Library’s public artifact database. Working full-time while in graduate school has been challenging, but the lessons I have learned from my talented colleagues about artifact photography, art handling, and interpreting NARA policy have been invaluable.

In my second semester, I enrolled in LIS 775: Introduction to Archives alongside LIS 888: Community Archiving. The combination of courses allowed me to apply archival theories and standards to a project with real-world impact, one that became the most significant learning experience of my degree. As part of a student team, I archived 11 episodes of the podcast Free ‘Em All Radio using DU’s ArchivesSpace repository according to the DACS standard. Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. of the Black Panther Party Cubs hosts the call-in podcast, which amplifies the voices of incarcerated people and community activists. I recognized the importance of the historical record we were creating in service of the Chairman’s goals. While I was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan, I worked on a public history project that documented the early Black Power movement’s resistance to police violence in Detroit during the late 1960s. Our sources were limited because traditional archives failed to collect the activists’ records, creating an archival silence. The Free ‘Em All Radio Archive proactively documents the work of contemporary activists in DU’s community. While we were unable to fulfill the Chairman’s request to fully transcribe episodes, we created indexes and subject tags that will help others find his work. The experience of using my training and skills for a community-driven archival project motivated me to seek opportunities to create a more complete historical record.

My coursework has helped me understand the complexity of the core values of the library and information field and apply them to practice. In the Signature Assessment for LIS 701, I analyzed the conflict between the core values of access and privacy in relation to the legal case Ahmad v. University of Michigan. In the case, UM’s Bentley Historical Library faced a challenge to its donor agreement with the anti-immigration and environmental activist John Tanton, which closed a portion of the collection to researchers. As I expand upon in my reflection, I had a personal connection to the case as a student researcher and grappled with the implications of the library’s decision.  

One of the assignments I found most challenging was the leadership case study for LIS 707. The assignment’s scenario required me to take a stance on a fictional library’s decision to offer programs and collection materials related to anti-racism and Critical Race Theory. I had to balance my personal belief in the value of these concepts with the need to protect the public’s right to access information. I feel proud of the statement I produced, which de-escalated the conflict and emphasized the core values of access to information and intellectual freedom. As book bans have swept across the country, library and information professionals need to be prepared to face such challenges. The assignment showed me that leading requires one to learn to push through uncertainty in service of a greater mission.

Given my background in museum collections cataloging, I looked forward to learning the standards for library cataloging and metadata creation. In LIS 703, I learned conceptual models such as FRBR and RDA and gained experience applying these models to catalog materials using metadata structure standards including MARC21 and Dublin Core. I found it fascinating to compare the library field, with its many standards, to the museum field, where there is far less consensus on cataloging standards. In LIS 882 the following fall, I dove deeper into metadata standards. The Metadata Application Profile group project tasked me with collaboratively developing a guide for cataloging a digital photograph collection using the metadata schemas of Simple Dublin Core, Qualified Dublin Core, and Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS). I took the course concurrently with LIS 707, and as a result, I recognized the assignment as an opportunity to practice applying my leadership philosophy. In group settings in the past, I have shied away from my instinct to lead out of fear of others disliking me or criticizing my decisions. During the project, I took the lead in organizing group meetings and facilitating discussions. It ended up being one of the most positive group project experiences of graduate school. I decided to include the anonymous feedback from my group members as an artifact in my e-Portfolio because it validated my leadership style and approach in a professional context.

I sought opportunities to apply the knowledge I gained from coursework to professional practice in diverse settings, including at the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives and the Obama Presidential Library. In March 2024, I began volunteering on Saturdays at the Gerber/Hart, which holds the largest collection of LGBTQ+ materials in the Midwest. The director assigned me to process the collection of Equality Illinois, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ Illinois citizens. I began with an inventory of the twelve boxes of materials, which include business records, notes, awards, and media in formats ranging from flash drives to Betacam SP tapes. I hope to complete the inventory this year and begin arranging and describing the collection according to DACS. 

My work as a Museum Technician at the Obama Presidential Library has included three core projects: inventory of the artifact collection, digitization, and eMuseum development. As my team has developed standards and workflows for our projects, I have offered resources and ideas I have learned about in courses at DU. For example, I noticed that our database’s list of terms for describing the relationship between artifacts and their creators was very limited. I sought out the Library of Congress vocabulary of relator terms and presented it to my team. As a result, we adopted a new set of relator terms that more accurately describe relationships between artifacts and their creators.  

While the Gerber/Hart and Obama Library share a goal of preserving and providing access to their holdings, there is a definite contrast between the resources of a small nonprofit that relies on grants and volunteer help and the resources of a well-funded government archive. The experience of working for both has taught me to adjust my work to the institution’s priorities and resources.

Last spring, I decided to pursue certificates in Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Digital Curation in addition to my certificate in Archives and Cultural Heritage Resources and Services. As I have observed in my career, many organizations are underprepared to manage the vast quantities of digital files they now produce. I am the daughter of a software engineer and a teacher, so I have always been somewhat tech-savvy. I took computer science classes in undergrad and frequently found myself volunteering to research the technical aspects of digital preservation when I worked for the Motown Museum. This past year, I took courses in Database Management, Digital Asset Management, Digital Curation, and Information Policy to fulfill the requirements of the certificates. The certificates in DAM and Digital Curation have built upon my skills and will serve to communicate my proficiency to future employers.

Throughout the program, I looked for opportunities to turn academic assignments into projects with real-world impact. When tasked with developing a Digital Asset Management Strategic Plan for an organization, I immediately nominated my department at the Obama Library. As the first Digital Presidential Library, we have a mandate to digitize the artifact collection. Our digital footprint has exponentially increased, but our technical capabilities have not expanded to match. I spoke with my supervisor and colleagues to understand how a DAMS would benefit the department. The plan has kick-started a conversation at a higher administrative level about how the Presidential Library System will upgrade its systems to meet the digital future. 

Similarly, when my professor for LIS 881: Advanced Archives required us to write a grant for a fictional organization, I chose instead to write a grant to benefit the Free ‘Em All Radio Archive. After discussing the project’s needs with its founder Kaitlyn Griffith, I found the Envisioning Justice grant from Illinois Humanities and wrote an application and budget. Last summer, with input from other Dominican units, we submitted the application and were excited to learn we were selected to receive $10,000 in funding. The grant will purchase recording equipment for the archive and pay a stipend to the podcast host Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr. and his mother Akua Njeri to speak at an event on Dominican’s campus in February 2025.

In addition to projects that serve the needs of cultural heritage organizations, I completed assignments that address the diverse information needs of people from outside the sector. Two projects that demonstrate this are my essay on podcast preservation for LIS 889: Digital Curation and my policy brief on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transcribe the audio archive of WBEZ Chicago for LIS 755: Information Policy. My essay on podcast preservation is intended as an invitation for podcast creators and enthusiasts to take steps to ensure that their favorite shows are not lost forever. My policy brief for WBEZ has an intended audience of administrators who see the audio archive as a potential source of revenue for the station. In my policy recommendations, I acknowledged their priorities while urging a mindful and cautious process for adopting AI technology. I believe my role as an information professional is to advocate for equitable access to information and lower barriers for others to preserve what matters to them.  

The MLIS program has pushed me out of my comfort zone, which lies squarely in the storage rooms and galleries of archives and museums. I am grateful for assignments that introduced me to other areas of the field. The marketing and strategic communication case studies for LIS 707 taught me to design public programs, develop targeted messaging, and create graphics with Canva. The service evaluation plan for LIS 708 required me to seek public data sets and create PivotCharts in Microsoft Excel. The Comparative Country Report for LIS 755 led me to delve into the complex history of telecommunications policy in India. Each of these experiences gave me a new skill or perspective that may be useful later in my career.

My ePortfolio includes artifacts that demonstrate how I have stepped up as a professional, including presenting at the 2023 Caritas Veritas Symposium and participating in the 2024 Society of American Archivists (SAA) Annual Meeting. During DU’s annual research symposium Caritas Veritas, I presented with Kaitlyn Griffith and Leah Kirchhoff on our work with the Free ‘Em All Radio Archive. Delivering the presentation built my public speaking skills and gave me experience translating archival concepts for a non-specialist audience. With a scholarship from the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board, I attended my first in-person professional conference, the 2024 SAA Annual Meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of meeting archivists from organizations around the country and discussing important topics. I walked away with fresh ideas about incorporating technology into exhibits, engaging communities in archival practice, and taking on projects with limited resources. The experiences of presenting at Caritas Veritas and attending SAA gave me a growing sense of confidence in my professional identity. 

Graduate school has been a challenging but rewarding journey. With each course and assignment, I became more certain that I chose the right path and profession. I am grateful to my professors for sharing their knowledge and my peers for sharing their experiences. My training and education in archives, libraries, and museums has equipped me with the skills to be a versatile information professional. As I look to the future, I hope to pivot to work with archives in a museum setting, where barriers to engage with history are lower. I hope to use my skills in service of my community to create a more diverse and accurate historical record. 

In my personal statement for graduate school, I wrote that I viewed my role as “a caretaker of stories.”  At the end of the program, I remain committed to caring for stories, whether they take a two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or digital form.