INFO 289 ePortfolio – Dr. Patricia Franks
SJSU School of Information / Fall 2015
Patricia Ayame Thomson
Competency M
Demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for professional work including collaboration and presentations
The ability to communicate is essential to professionals in any organization, but it is particularly imperative in the librarianship profession. For example, the information professional’s daily communication can range from helping patrons at the reference desk, reading a children’s book at story time, presenting a strategic plan to supervisors, to writing a letter to receive financial support from the city’s governance.
For the definition of communication, the Merriam‑Webster dictionary states, “1. a: information transmitted or conveyed. b: a verbal or written message.” Since the library is a warehouse of information both physically and virtually, it is the information professional’s duty to transmit or convey the information requested by patrons. Thus, the terms communication and information are interrelated, integral, and inseparable in the librarianship profession.
In addition, unless the information professional is working alone in a very small library, being able to communicate and work well with others is essential including with patrons, supervisors, co-workers, stakeholders, and volunteers. Even if the information professional is working alone in a library, he/she still has to hold the expenses accountable to the board of directors, city government, and community tax-payers to receive continued funding. Thus, the ability to communicate and collaborate well with others is a critical trait and skill for information professionals to possess. As with any other skill, I believe communication skills can be improved and strengthened.
In the world of technology today, the ability for information professionals to communicate online is also necessary and imperative. Virtual communication can be transmitted and conveyed in writing, visually, and/or audibly. Additionally, information professionals also have to know how to communicate their thoughts visually by using Photoshop and other software programs to create posters and flyers to promote library events. This type of visual communication is the most complex form due to the fact that the creator/presenter has to convey the story or theme of the library event using only a few, simple, but universally understood visual images.
There are many types of communication tools and methods available online, and it is easier than ever before to create slide presentations synced with pre-recorded narration. Being in the San José State University, MLIS long-distance program, I learned so much about using technology to create slide presentations, websites, spreadsheets, databases, posters, flyers, blogs, and many other technological tools used to communicate verbally and virtually.
Three Artifacts Presented as Evidence for Competency M
I respectfully present three artifacts as evidence to prove my competency for Competency M.
First Artifact
LIBR 266 – Collection Management – Part 1
The first artifact is from the San José State University, School of Information course, LIBR—266 Collection Management. Dr. Loerstcher’s assignment instructed us to choose a library that we wanted to investigate. The topic of my focus was to examine the Santa Monica Main Public Library. The most difficult part was to gather the data for each collection in the Santa Monica Main Library and convert the numbers into visual “collection maps.” The underlying intention for this assignment was so that patrons, stakeholders, and colleagues can easily understand the collection size and depth much better, if the quantitative statistics were converted into visual aids. Dr. Loerstcher informed us that we could make two parts of the slide presentation, but each part could not be longer than five minutes.
For the first artifact, I am presenting Part 1 of the slide Presentation. Part 1 is about the demographic survey conducted including statistics such as race, age, gender, and other relevant information about the surrounding coastal community of Santa Monica. I created the slide presentation on the Google Presentations program and the accompanying narration was recorded using Jing Video. Then, I used Screencast to sync the slides and the narration together.
Before going back to further my education, I had never created a slide presentation in my life. As a result, I had to learn how to use the Google Presentations program as fast as I could. Simultaneously, I also had to convert the statistical data from the various library collections at the Santa Monica Main Public Library into “collection maps.” I was challenged and inspired by the art and creativity required to convert numerical values into visual representations.
Overall, I believe it was extremely good experience for me to complete this assignment. I am now proficient with using Google Presentations to create slide presentations. Finally, I wrote and recorded the narration, which I believe demonstrates my verbal and written competency.
Second Artifact
LIBR 266 – Collection Management – Part 2
The second artifact is also from the San José State University, MLIS course, LIBR—266 Collection Management. This artifact is Part 2 or the second five minutes of the same slide presentation for Dr. Loestcher’s course mentioned above. As stated above, Part 1 primarily focuses on the demographic survey about the City of Santa Monica. In Part 2 as in Part 1, statistical information was converted into visual representations on each slide. Dr. Loestcher thought it would be a lot more interesting and easy to understand for everyone if we could convey the information in graphs and other types of visual aids, as opposed to presenting pages full of numbers and statistics.
I believe each slide has comprehensive and ample information in visual form. We were required to submit one slide each week and write the accompanying narration, so I had six days in between to fill in each one completely. In hindsight, I would keep the slides a little more simple and sparse to accompany the rapid pace of the narration.
In Part 2 of the slide presentation, the Santa Monica Main Public Library’s (SMPL) fiction, non-fiction, children’s, young adults, periodicals, DVDs, eBooks, books on CDs, and special collections were all converted from numerical values into visual images. Overall, I was extremely pleased with Dr. Loerstcher’s grade and comment about my slide presentation(s) saying that “It’s good enough to be on the homepage of the Santa Monica Public Library system’s website.”
Third Artifact
LIBR 210 – Reference and Information Services
The third artifact presented is from the course LIBR 210 – Reference Information and Services at the San José State University, MLIS program. Dr. Cheryl Stenstrom instructed us to do a group project to create and promote reference services to a specific group. In a group of five, we decided on the topic of internet safety for seniors and we agreed on a hypothetical date to give the presentation.
In order to promote the event, the assignment required us to create a physical flyer to pass out and display in the library’s lobby. Thus, the third artifact presented is the flyer we created as a group. We used the Google Presentation program to create the flyer. Collectively, an image was selected to convey the topic of the presentation and then we added the date, time, location and other pertinent information on the flyer.
To create the flyer as a team required collaboration and compromise, as well as a lot of give and take when working together. I learned to yield to the other team members’ ideas sometimes, while standing up to advocate for my own at other times. With only a few bumps on the road, the collaboration of the team was organic, fluid, and converged successfully. Consequently, the results emerged based on a little bit of everyone’s ideas—which I believe is the true definition of teamwork and collaboration.
Along with collaborating as an employee at the Santa Monica Main Public Library for eight years and interacting with patrons, working on the team assignment confirmed the fact that I work well with others. As mentioned in Competency M, I believe this artifact is evidence that I can collaborate with others to create highly effective visual presentations.
Conclusion: Verbal, Written, and Ability to Work with Others
I believe the above three artifacts illustrate my verbal and written communication skills necessary for professional work. Due to the fact that I wrote and recorded my own narration for my slide presentations, I believe it shows my verbal and written competency. In addition, in the third artifact, I demonstrated my ability to collaborate as a team to create a slide presentation for a specific demographic group. Therefore, I believe the above three artifacts combined demonstrate my verbal and written communication skills, ability to collaborate with others, and ability to create effective presentations.
References:
Merriam‑Webster: Definition of communication
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communication