As we prepare to ring in a new year (and ring out a most unexpected and difficult 2020), SJSU ALASC Board members reflected on their experiences in iSchool this last semester. We want to share some of these reflections with you and hope that this two-part blog post offers you some information — and maybe some inspiration! — as you continue on your iSchool journey.
Natasha Finnegan:
“This past semester I took a small class on copyright. I will never look at anything the same again! This is by far the most useful class I’ve taken in terms of my work as an interlibrary loan specialist, and the copyright toolkit I created is already proving its use. In this class, I finally nailed down what Fair Use actually is (very flexible), what protections libraries and librarians have (Section 108), and how to navigate the minefield of orphan works and digitizing. There is no easy way to sum it up, except that anytime you have a question on copyright, there are librarians who can help! For a good LibGuide on general copyright, you have the Copyright Crash Course by Georgia Harper and University of Texas Libraries – including a section for librarians. For a excellent print book, check out Kenneth Crews’ “Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators” (2020). A blog that answers copyright questions is the Dear Rich blog, very helpful! I highly recommend taking this class, it is very important in our future roles as librarians!”
Amelia Smith:
“I’m a newbie — this was my first semester. I took INFO 203, 204, and 200. There were big takeaways from each one, but I have to say the most significant lesson I’ve learned this semester was the important role information professionals play in our society. The trends we have to watch in order to accommodate the growing needs of our communities is both a huge responsibility and a fascinating undertaking. Researching the trends and communication habits of my chosen information community for INFO 200 felt more like fun than work. It reignited my passion for understanding human behavior and what makes us tick. Needless to say, being a librarian in today’s world is more exciting than one would think.”
Alyssa Key:
“This semester was my second-to-last semester ahead of me completing the e-Portfolio next semester. I took INFO 254 and INFO 240; as well as completed a 3-unit internship (INFO 294) with San Francisco Public Library Jail and Reentry Services’ Reference by Mail program. In INFO 254, I learned how to be a better instructor as I created instructional screencasts, a partnered split-screen tutorial, and, ultimately, held a live instructional session in front of my classmates and professor. Then, in INFO 240, I learned how to become an effective coder as I cultivated my skills to work with, among other things, HTML5 and CSS3. Before taking this particular course, I felt that coding was too technical for me; but over the course of the class, I learned that I actually enjoy coding! Finally, in my internship, I learned how to complete asynchronous reference work and how to better advocate for and explain the incarcerated person’s right to information as my internship focused on connecting incarcerated people to credible information. In turn, I feel I grew a lot as an early career librarian this semester; and look forward to starting both the e-Portfolio and a remote metadata internship with the Law Library of Congress next semester!”
Stay tuned for Part 2 of SJSU ALASC’s year-end reflections, and send us your comments at sjsualasc@gmail.com.
