• Introduction
• Philosophy
• Competency A
• Competency B
• Competency C
• Competency D
• Competency E
• Competency F
• Competency G
• Competency H
• Competency I
• Competency J
• Competency K
• Competency L
• Competency M
• Competency N
• Conclusion

Introduction

I have assembled this e-portfolio to demonstrate my achievement of competency in fourteen core areas of librarianship. When I started library school in August of 2006, my notion of what it meant to be a library professional was nebulous, to say the least. I remember being struck almost immediately with how strongly workers in the information field seemed to be bound by a sense of professional identity. More than any other profession I've had opportunity to participate in or observe, we think about what it means to be librarians, what our responsibilities are to our society, and where the future of our profession lies. In the process of preparing this e-portfolio, I've had the opportunity to look back over the last 32 months of my time at SLIS and see how my tenuous grasp on the meaning of this profession has coalesced into my own sense of professional identity. I hope that the evidence presented herein will give you some sense of that identity, and of what I've learned so far about our profession and the core set of values and skills that form its underpinnings.

In preparing this e-portfolio, I began by creating a system of folders on my computer, one for each competency. Each folder contained a Word document that began with nothing but the competency itself cut and pasted at the top. I considered each competency's meaning, then combed through my class work and professional experiences for evidence supporting my achievement of the competency - in the case of multi-part competencies, I tried to find evidence supporting each component. I placed a copy of each evidentiary item in the appropriate folder. I also listed a description of each item, a brief explanation of why I thought it supported the competency, and my preliminary thoughts about the competency in the Word document. Although my understanding of the competencies, and of the project as a whole, evolved as I progressed, this initial process provided me with a useful starting point when it came time to write each competency.

I decided to present my e-portfolio as a website so that I could exercise some creative control over the look of my e-portfolio, and so that I could exhibit my abilities with XHTML and CSS. The portfolio itself consists of this introduction, a statement of my professional philosophy, the fourteen competencies, and a conclusion. For each competency I discuss my interpretation of its meaning and its importance to the information profession. I then describe the evidence I have selected, and how it demonstrates my achievement of the competency. I conclude by discussing the ways in which I have applied, or will apply, my understanding in this area to my present and future career.

I'm grateful for the opportunity that preparing this e-portfolio has given me to reflect on my time at SLIS, to recall how far I've come, and to solidify my ideas about librarianship and my goals for the future. I'm grateful to all who have helped me along the way; my instructors, my supervisors, my coworkers, my classmates - who have contributed to my professional growth by challenging me and engaging with me. And most of all, I'm grateful to Ken, Kris, Victor, and Arty for their never-flagging love and support.

And I'm grateful to you, reader, for taking an interest in my work! Thanks for visiting my e-portfolio, and welcome!

Raven image courtesy of Creative Commons license-holder Rick Leche