Today marks two years since my graduation from Valparaiso University, the event which inspired the launch of this blog.
Especially in the past year since the one-year anniversary of this event, I've noticed a shift in the way I relate to the Valparaiso University community as an alumnus. In my first year as an alumnus, I had many connections to campus in the number of people I knew there as students. But those relationships I had with fellow students are now heading beyond campus. Indeed, there were a number of times in the past year I visited with ValpU friends in other places beyond campus, as they have now become alumni themselves. So the campus is no longer the primary setting for the interactions I have with fellow members of the ValpU community, but is nonetheless what inspires me to maintain them, and what brings them alive when I get together with friends who are now alumni. (I even enter a celebratory mood as I think about the new batch of graduates of the class of 2015, as I had some very good relationships with a number of people in that class in particular.)
Furthermore, it fits well with other events I attend with ValpU alumni, as we share the connection of a common experience on campus. And I've found myself to be among the youngest of the alumni at such events. Once, when I attended a concert of the ValpU Chorale at a church in Chicago while they were on their Spring Break tour, a woman turned to me during the intermission to ask if I was a ValpU student proper, because of my apparent age. My connections to campus are still fresh, and serve as the foundation of memories of good days there.
And it still fills me with a sense of excitement when something like the Department of Geography and Meteorology alumni newsletter shows up in my e-mail inbox. It's exciting to see what's happening on campus, and to hear about the meaningful experiences students there are currently having, because it takes me back to what I experienced.
I've also shifted more focus to living out what I gained, especially the big take-away from my ValpU experience, that of my overall life's vocation, merging my education, job, and other involvements, in my community, church, and family. My college experience was about more than an education--it was about living life to the fullest.
This is what I've been living out day by day since my college graduation. It led me through a discernment process to start pursuing my MLIS degree at Dominican University--and the process of applying for the program there gave me reason to turn back to the many relationships I forged during my ValpU experience. I see this new phase of my life's vocational journey as in line with what ValpU taught me, that work is not the only part of life, but one piece of a larger whole that drives me to live with meaningful purpose.
This vision for life has also inspired me to become very involved in ministries at my home parish. Being part of a faith community is a highly important part of my life, because of the opportunities I have to build relationships, and to serve others. My renewed sense of and appreciation for faith that I gained during college inspired me in particular to be involved in the Religious Education program, as I put my strong sense of faith in interaction with young people who are developing their own sense of faith.
Indeed, college was an extraordinarily significant time in my life, and its influence continues with me as I chart my course through life, to be a good person in my relationships with others, contributing positively to the world around me, and living righteously before God.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Master of my Destiny: Installment 2
I have just concluded my first semester of studies for my MLIS degree at Dominican University. As usual, this update on my graduate studies is entitled "Master of my Destiny", for those of you specifically following my progress through MLIS studies.
Getting beyond the usual annoying attributes of school, I am enjoying the program so far, as I have learned much this semester. As I said in my installment 1 post, most of what I learned is not necessarily new material, but is a means to step back and think more deeply about what I already know and what is frequently present.
In my Introduction to Library and Information Science class, one of two online classes I had this semester, the syllabus gave a good round-up of the topics covered, including the Education/Recreational/Information infrastructure, of which libraries are an important part; library history and development, the profession of librarianship and core values, information organization, information-seeking behaviors, information policy, intellectual freedom, collection development and access, library service environments, marketing and outreach, and library advocacy. The textbook for this class was a particularly wonderful read, and gave some good overview for all these topics--thus making it a read well worth my while. I had opportunity to reflect on these issues through discussion posts and journal entries I wrote week by week, based on the text and other articles that addressed these important issues.
In Reference and Online Services, my other online class, we learned how to provide effective reference services, and about the materials we use in doing so. The references services we learned about are answering reference questions, focused on non-fiction matters, and reader's advisory services, which focuses more on finding fictional materials for patrons. We actually had a couple of assignments experiencing these types of services: One involved actually doing a reference interview with a librarian, in-person, by phone, and via electronic means. The other was a simulation of reader's advisory service based on a case study.
In addition, we learned about effective searching techniques, providing services to special groups like children/young adults, which gave me opportunity to read up on childhood development; and web-based/social media tools in reference services.
The resources we looked at include indexes, databases, bibliographic resources, encyclopedias, dictionaries, ready reference resources, government sources; health, law, and business resources; geographical resources, and biographical resources. As an aside, providing reference services is usually for complex inquiries like, What were the stances on major foreign policy issues taken by the candidates of the 1876 US presidential election? Ready references refers to inquiries like, What is the capital of Burkina Faso?
For these resources, we had assignments in which we would actually inspect one example of the given type of resource and evaluate it based on factors like accuracy, currency, the scope, and format. I examined many interesting resources, including the Canadiana, the National Bibliography of Canada; The Columbia Encyclopedia on Infoplease.com, and Biola University's Unbound Bible.
I particularly enjoyed spending time looking around at government websites for the assignment for that week's material, as well as looking at geographic resources, because I enjoy perusing them for leisure anyway.
My one in-person class was Organization of Knowledge. We learned about how means of organizing materials developed in libraries, and what methods are used today--and in our very last class, a little bit about the future of these methods. Part of learning about the methods was a concept called Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, or FRBR, pronounced "Fer-ber", which is a building block for organizational methods. We also learned about how to do cataloging MARC code, step by step through the various fields, to create full records for items by the end of the semester.
The professor went out of her way to make this class fun, especially with the items we used to practice cataloging code--most especially the fake items she used.
Indeed, I covered a lot of ground this semester. The workload wasn't too bad, especially as I set out with a routine to accomplish what needed doing each week.
I also had many wonderful interactions with my classmates. Certainly this was the case for Organization of Knowledge, especially as we worked together on class exercises. But I also developed some good relationships in my Reference and Online Services class, even though it was online, thanks in part to the way the professor structured our class activities.
Overall, this semester has proven that this program is a fascinating journey of learning about the nature of information, something that surrounds us all the time.
And when I step back to think about, I really enjoyed it. I got to have some fun exploring materials and ideas. I look forward to continuing, as I craft more concretely an understanding of how my future career can be about serving others by helping open up the wondrousness of information to them. I pray it may be service in the Spirit of faith in Christ, the almighty servant of God, who is ultimately Master of my destiny.
Getting beyond the usual annoying attributes of school, I am enjoying the program so far, as I have learned much this semester. As I said in my installment 1 post, most of what I learned is not necessarily new material, but is a means to step back and think more deeply about what I already know and what is frequently present.
In my Introduction to Library and Information Science class, one of two online classes I had this semester, the syllabus gave a good round-up of the topics covered, including the Education/Recreational/Information infrastructure, of which libraries are an important part; library history and development, the profession of librarianship and core values, information organization, information-seeking behaviors, information policy, intellectual freedom, collection development and access, library service environments, marketing and outreach, and library advocacy. The textbook for this class was a particularly wonderful read, and gave some good overview for all these topics--thus making it a read well worth my while. I had opportunity to reflect on these issues through discussion posts and journal entries I wrote week by week, based on the text and other articles that addressed these important issues.
In Reference and Online Services, my other online class, we learned how to provide effective reference services, and about the materials we use in doing so. The references services we learned about are answering reference questions, focused on non-fiction matters, and reader's advisory services, which focuses more on finding fictional materials for patrons. We actually had a couple of assignments experiencing these types of services: One involved actually doing a reference interview with a librarian, in-person, by phone, and via electronic means. The other was a simulation of reader's advisory service based on a case study.
In addition, we learned about effective searching techniques, providing services to special groups like children/young adults, which gave me opportunity to read up on childhood development; and web-based/social media tools in reference services.
The resources we looked at include indexes, databases, bibliographic resources, encyclopedias, dictionaries, ready reference resources, government sources; health, law, and business resources; geographical resources, and biographical resources. As an aside, providing reference services is usually for complex inquiries like, What were the stances on major foreign policy issues taken by the candidates of the 1876 US presidential election? Ready references refers to inquiries like, What is the capital of Burkina Faso?
For these resources, we had assignments in which we would actually inspect one example of the given type of resource and evaluate it based on factors like accuracy, currency, the scope, and format. I examined many interesting resources, including the Canadiana, the National Bibliography of Canada; The Columbia Encyclopedia on Infoplease.com, and Biola University's Unbound Bible.
I particularly enjoyed spending time looking around at government websites for the assignment for that week's material, as well as looking at geographic resources, because I enjoy perusing them for leisure anyway.
My one in-person class was Organization of Knowledge. We learned about how means of organizing materials developed in libraries, and what methods are used today--and in our very last class, a little bit about the future of these methods. Part of learning about the methods was a concept called Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, or FRBR, pronounced "Fer-ber", which is a building block for organizational methods. We also learned about how to do cataloging MARC code, step by step through the various fields, to create full records for items by the end of the semester.
The professor went out of her way to make this class fun, especially with the items we used to practice cataloging code--most especially the fake items she used.
Indeed, I covered a lot of ground this semester. The workload wasn't too bad, especially as I set out with a routine to accomplish what needed doing each week.
I also had many wonderful interactions with my classmates. Certainly this was the case for Organization of Knowledge, especially as we worked together on class exercises. But I also developed some good relationships in my Reference and Online Services class, even though it was online, thanks in part to the way the professor structured our class activities.
Overall, this semester has proven that this program is a fascinating journey of learning about the nature of information, something that surrounds us all the time.
And when I step back to think about, I really enjoyed it. I got to have some fun exploring materials and ideas. I look forward to continuing, as I craft more concretely an understanding of how my future career can be about serving others by helping open up the wondrousness of information to them. I pray it may be service in the Spirit of faith in Christ, the almighty servant of God, who is ultimately Master of my destiny.
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