Students are innovative, ethical, problem-solvers able to lead and manage through communication, collaboration, and reflection.

I.a. Students are able to evaluate critically, reflect, and problem-solve individually as well as collaboratively.

—6271 Research Methods in Lib/Infor science (core)

Throughout an entire semester in LIS6271, the group of four students including me, tackled researching LIS professionals’ stances on AI in archival science. While most of our personal ethics were against AI, we each had to put aside our opinions and look at the data as neutrally as possible and come together with different ideas of how to execute research methodologies and evaluate possible pros and cons of AI in the field. Names were redacted for group members’ privacy.

I.b. Students demonstrate effective communication skills.

—5020 Foundations of Library Science (core)

Writing essays is one of my favorite methods of communicating my ideas, especially if it is a long topic but needs to be understood in a limited time. Succinct, calm, yet optimistic, this essay discusses something currently controversial in this socio-political environment but something all librarians are deeply familiar with; diversity of ideas and DEI. Communicating about controversial topics in a calm and quick—though not rushed—way is key practice for effective communication skills for customer service and book challenges, skills which are crucial for today’s librarian.

I.c. Students participate in professional and community engagement activities in the field.

—6603 Basic Information Sources/Services (core)

Engaging in Palm Harbor Public Library’s Young Adult activities, I was honored to interview a quasi-mentor of mine concerning the breadth of reference librarianship work and interactions, in-house clerical practices, and how patronage needs define a librarian’s experiences from one library to the next. Using my experience as a Youth Services librarian, I compared and contrasted our clerical practices, reference departments, and patron engagements. Names were redacted for group members’ privacy.

I.d. Students demonstrate leadership skills and innovation in a diverse and global environment.

—5268 Applied Library and Information Science

This essay was an academic execution of my spreading awareness Dungeons and Dragons’s adaptations post-COVID-19 to both library users and non-library users alike. Barbara S. Ponce Public Library hosted Dungeons and Dragons traditionally as an activity for the preteens, and thus was unsustainable. Introducing an early draft of this paper to my assistant manager, I advised continuing it online as a form of keeping the digitally native preteens engaged, integrating it with their digital lives, connecting it to contemporary trends, and being a more accessible vehicle math and rule wise to both younger children and people who weren’t math inclined. This made the bar for entry lower and the initial intimidation at the complexity lessen to nil.