Fall 2024 was my first semester as President of the Information Science Student Association, or ISSA. During the summer, my fellow ISSA officers and I created different ways to connect with our organization members such as social events or field trips. One idea was to create a space for SOIS students to work on their ePortfolios, due for all SOIS students midway through their last semester of school.

After seven sessions in the Fall, attendance numbers were lower than what the officers thought they would be. Near the end of the Fall semester and throughout our winter break, many of my fellow students asked if I would continue to host these sessions. During all of this, I also continued my Instruction Internship at Rebecca Crown Library. When I brought student’s excitement about these sessions to Ben DeBiasio, RCL Instruction Librarian and my boss during this internship, he suggested I continue the sessions in tandem with my work at the library. That way, for the Spring sessions, we can emphasize library resources and services and I can get paid for hosting this space.

Professionalism

For the first session back, we had 1 attendee, though this student is not turning in an ePortfolio this semester. They specifically asked about what platforms to use when creating ePortfolio websites. I had an interesting thought-spiral on what’s worth it and what isn’t when it comes to preparing for the job market. I selected WordPress to host my ePortfolio, but it came at a financial cost. I am, however, hoping to use this website for more than a simple portfolio, though. No guidelines require blog posts and yet, here I am writing blog posts. I want this portfolio to be something I can both send to future employers and also maintain as I grow as a librarian.

For students who simply need the Pass from the Pass/Fail grade that ePortfolios receive, GoogleSites works well. Free versions of Wix or Square Space work well. Anything that is very accessible and very free works really well for graduate students who are more than likely in a little bit of debt. These types of sites, too, can be added to as they grow in their careers. However, to me, there is a level of professionalism that comes from having an ad-free website and a catchy URL. This is classist though. I should not have to spend money or yield to annoying ads in order to produce content, and an entire product, I am proud of. (Professionalism as classism is not a new idea, just exasperated here. Needing WordPress for this ePortfolio feels the same as needing a new outfit for a job interview, or worse: a new wardrobe for a new job.)

The other option for ePortfolio hosting is to brick by digital brick, create your own from scratch. Of course this requires coding skills. I think if I really tried, I could produce an acceptable product based on my coding skills in LIS 756: Internet Fundamentals. This would be an extremely simple HTML/CSS/Java-based website, which also doesn’t scream professionalism to me. Sophistication would be lost to chunky text blocks, framed images, and the all-too-possible broken link. For this Spring semester, I’m in my second coding class, LIS 786: Advanced Web Design, and I still don’t believe I could build the ePortfolio of my dreams. Perhaps that’s because we’re only halfway through at this point. Perhaps it is also because I know there are tools at my disposal that could make my vision come to life, as you see it now.

I am lucky to be able to spend money on this. I am lucky to have planned to spend that money, and thought about that money while I was requesting loans in Fall 2024–loans that I’m also lucky to receive. Why is education so expensive? Why does professionalism always have financial costs? (I know why. I am really asking what we’re going to do about it.) By using WordPress for this major assignment, I am contributing to the idea that professionalism requires payment up front. I am also creating a digital presence for me that could impact my job opportunities and how my future colleagues, students, peers, teachers might view me. Living in this morally gray area–between doing something cool though possibly damaging–is natural in our capitalistic nation that glorifies grind culture and materialism and perfection. These are ideals I always try to resist, or at least watch out for as I move through this world.

TLDR: Having, spending, using money does not a professional make. Money helps a lot though, and that sucks.