Goal 1: Develop a professional identity and philosophy within the library and information sciences.
Outcome 1A: Describe the evolving nature of the core values and ethics within diverse information environments.
In this LIS 701 (Core Values, Ethics, and Issues of the Library and Information Professions) issue paper, I argue for libraries to respect the ALA Core Values and the history of libraries. While professional librarians have values that align with being pro-literacy, pro-community, and pro-equity, the library has not always been a space that includes everyone. Librarians have to reckon with the sometimes-uncomfortable past while recognizing the current political climate. Though this was written in Fall 2022, the American political landscape has become even more tense and less bipartisan in 2025, making this paper even more applicable. Relying on political neutrality will never help libraries or libraries so long as their patrons’ freedoms are under attack. Understanding the evolving nature of our core values helps us better understand our positions to encourage equity for all.
Outcome 1B: Demonstrate how a philosophy, theory, model, and/or major perspective of the library and
information profession guides practice in diverse settings.
In LIS 707 (Leadership, Marketing and Strategic Communication), I completed 3 case studies in which Dr. Dunbar provided guidelines about a fictional town and library in that fictional town. The “Leadership Case Study” was the first of these case study responses, where I pretended to be the Middletown Public Library Director. As Director, I was required to explain to my Board the library’s position on critical race theory and critical theory more broadly. Though the major philosophy here, critical theory, is not only a library and information perspective, I believe it is necessary to our field. Not only can we be prepared to defend our collections, services and policies, but we must understand that critical theory allows our work settings to be diverse.
Outcome 1C: Participate in professional activities and associations, such as professional conferences and meetings,
internships and practicums, and professional email discussions and social media.
During my LIS 775 course (Introduction to Archival Principles, Practices and Services), I was given an opportunity to work with Laura Mills, archivist of Roosevelt University. Laura was kind enough to listen to my passion for performing arts and allowed me to work on processing records from the Music School within the university. The main ideas taken away from this practicum are: 1) archival work is a lot of work for one person to do, 2) the RU archives, like many archival repositories around the world, are in various states of completion, and 3) the performing arts greatly complicate archival work in almost every way. For this outcome, the artifacts are the final presentation slideshow and script.
Claire in the Library 