Welcome to Patricia Ayame Thomson’s ePortfolio. This website is created as a final culmination of my work over six years in the School of Information at the San José State University. The primary reason for creating this ePortfolio is to demonstrate my proficiency of fourteen core competencies as stated in the Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree—which constitute the required competencies to become an information professional.

This ePortfolio provides evidence of my proficiency for all fourteen competencies, Competencies A-N. As evidence of my proficiency, each competency was submitted, reviewed, and approved by Dr. Patricia Franks over the course of the semester. Mastering these core competencies that cover all fundamental aspects of librarianship demonstrates my capability and readiness to become an information professional. In addition, the ePortfolio is equivalent to a thesis and a requirement to graduate from the San José State University, School of Information.

Organization

The ePortfolio is divided into several sections including the Introduction, Competencies, Professional Philosophy, Conclusion, and Affirmation. The tabs with each of the headings are displayed across the top of the web page. The tab with the heading titled “Competencies” has a drop down menu listing the fourteen competencies from A-N.

At the top of each competency’s page, the Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree’s competency statement is listed above each of my reflective essays. Next, the meaning or definition of each competency is described. In each competency essay, at least one to three artifacts are included. Artifacts are previous assignments from my educational career in the SJSU School of Information, appropriately presented as evidence to fulfill the particular competency.

The evidentiary competencies are followed by my Professional Philosophy which includes the subheadings, Background and Work Experience. Finally, the conclusion and affirmation both have separate web pages.

Process

I decided to create this ePortfolio on a content management system (CMS) called WordPress. Learning how to use the various modules to design the ePortfolio website on WordPress, considering the limitations of the theme was extremely challenging. Also, creating links to link the artifacts to the competencies was difficult at first. Overall, creating the ePortfolio and articulating the competencies proved to be very good experience for me technologically, as well as an ideal project for review and reflection.

In the beginning, I was daunted when I looked through all the assignments I had saved from all the courses I took over six years. This brief investigation gave me a general idea of what I could use as evidence for the competencies. Sometimes I had the exact assignment in mind and at other times I came across the assignments I needed when I was searching for something else.

I wanted to present and include as many different assignments as possible in my ePortfolio, so I tried not to repeat the artifacts unless absolutely necessary. Another challenge was describing the artifact in words so they connect with and support the requirements of the competency. For example, a single artifact may prove one part of the competency but does not fulfill the entire requirement. Then, the next artifact that I selected had to cover the missing requirement of the same competency.

For each competency, I had to gather my thoughts and attempt to remember everything I learned about each competency. There was a steep learning curve in the beginning when I first started my ePortfolio. It took me a while to get on track and understand what was required, where I could fulfill my competencies on my own without major revisions by my advisor, Dr. Patricia Franks.

Certain competencies came easier than others, and I could tell which competencies needed improvement. If I lacked knowledge in certain areas, I had to rapidly learn the missing aspects in order to continue proving my competencies for the ePortfolio. Developing the ePortfolio was like putting together a jig-saw puzzle, but the hard part was creating the pieces first.

I hope you enjoy the various essays I wrote as evidence for each competency. Basically, each competency includes artifacts from my previous assignments to demonstrate my proficiency of the fourteen competencies. Although it took a lot of energy, effort, and time creating the ePortfolio, it was an excellent review of the most important competencies in librarianship.