ILS582 - Library Science Practice

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ILS582 Library Science Practice
Dr. Elsie A. Okobi
Summer 2009

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Student Learning Outcomes

During the 2009 Summer semester, I was extremely fortunate to be able to intern at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in their Electronic Resources and Information Services Department, headed up by Debbie Herman. My responsibilities included working with the Veterans History Project (VHP), an oral history digital archive created by the Center for Public Policy & Social Research in conjunction with the library at CCSU and the Library of Congress. I had the opportunity to work with contentDM software, adding items to the collection and creating and adding descriptive information for oral history interviews, photographs and ephemera. Metadata was added using LOC Authorities as well as the genre terms they have developed for cultural heritage materials.

In addition to adding to the VHP, I created a collection of archival yearbooks that are held in the Special Collections Department at CCSU Elihu Burritt Library. This collection was created using Contentdm and entailed scanning images and adding descriptive data for five of the books.

I was also fortunate to be able to design a digital portal for the CCSU digital collections. This portal was created using Adobe CS3 Dreamweaver and Photoshop software. While I had dabbled in Dreamweaver previously, this was my first serious attempt to create a webpage using CSS and HTML code. Since CCSU had recently redesigned their university website, I kept the feel of the new design elements while creating a signature look to highlight the digital collections.

Finally, I had the opportunity to create a Citation and Plagiarism study guide using Libguides software. I had not worked with SpringShare LibGuides software before, but the format is easy to use and well designed. Since this is an area I feel strongly about, it was a pleasure to pull all the resources together.

This internship was an invaluable experience that allowed me to pull together all the aspects of Library and Information Science I feel passionate about; collecting and preserving historical and heritage materials, access to digital information, website usability and design, and ethical issues surrounding intellectual property rights. 

In my professional work, I am the only librarian at an independent day and boarding school in Northwest Connecticut. This internship gave me the opportunity to work in a collegial environment with knowledgeable librarians. I am indebted to Debbie Herman, Sarah Lawson, Edward Iglesias, and Norm Ferriere of the Electronic Resources and Information Resources Department at CCSU for their generosity of time and guidance these past four months.