MLIS Portfolio
My MLIS portfolio was created according to the guidelines outlined by the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. The portfolio consists of several components including an issue paper, professional development statement, three examples of coursework, a list of courses I’ve taken, my advising history, CV, and a few other projects that I’ve completed as a student. Each section below contains a synopsis and a link to the full document. You can also view the entire portfolio in PDF form. Thank you for looking!
Issue Paper
My issue paper, Interrogating the User in LIS, is the culminating work representative of my studies throughout my degree.
Issue Statement
The user in LIS is complicated by emerging technical platforms which are premised on “common sense” notions of race and capital and also predicated on logics of accumulation and surveillance, commodifying and reifying precise and scalable versions of the user. Critical information literacy and community archives, as sites of critical inquiry and identity making, are spaces that interrogate the relationship between users and these information platforms.
Professional Development Statement
My professional development statement outlines my professional trajectory after completing my MLIS degree, highlighting the steps I will take to continue my academic and professional journeys and establishing aspirational outcomes.
Coursework
My coursework contains a list of classes I took while an MLIS student. The following three documents are examples of output from select courses.
Major Paper
My major paper, titled Literacy in the Library: Contingent Identities of Information Professionals, explores notions of pluralistic identity representations necessary as information professionals especially in light of digitally mediated information infrastructures. The paper was written for IS 213: Current Issues in Librarianship and was submitted to the GSE&IS Research and Inquiry Conference.
Abstract
This paper explores how information professionals are required to have multiple professional identities in order to carry out their duties in an information space. On the one hand, librarians are guided by frameworks put in place by the ALA and other professional organizations. On the other, Paulo Freire reminds us that pedagogy must be formed with, not for, the oppressed. As neoliberal pressures continue to mount in the library, external notions of success impact internal values. Simultaneously, communities are shaped by a logic of accumulation and algorithms of oppression which comprises notions of everydayness remediated through biased processes. If a librarian is committed to social justice and acknowledges the constructedness of information systems and of individuals through these information systems, they are committed to multiple evaluative criteria, both extrinsic and intrinsic. Rather than calling these notions of success paradoxical or contradictory, queer theory suggests that these identities are contingent.
Elective Paper
My elective paper, Analog Game Metadata Schema (AGMS) is a more practically oriented paper that explores a personal interest of mine, analog games, in an informational context. This paper aims at establishing a framework for a metadata schema specifically focused on analog games, such as board games, card games, and role playing games, for use by information organizations and researchers. It was written for IS 464: Metadata.
Abstract
Tabletop games have increased in popularity over the last 20 years among hobbyists, collectors, librarians, and scholars. This metadata schema is intended to support cataloging efforts of tabletop games as cultural artifacts for use in libraries and research. While the website BoardGameGeek has served as the defacto metadata source for board gamers, the metadata and vocabulary they collect and make queryable falls short for purposes such as classification, circulation, and tracking trends in design and distribution. Issues include inconsistent and vague use of categories, mechanics, an absence of role playing games which are described on a separate site, RPGGeek, and an absence of most card games. This paper builds on the work done by BoardGameGeek as well as the Video Game Metadata Schema developed by University of Washington Information School Game Research Group.
Core Course
My core course paper, Libraries, Politics, and Communities: Inflection Points, is a case study of the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library. There was turmoil between the library and the city of Monterey Park in the 1980s spurred by shifting demographics. Exploring the records left behind reveals how public officials and librarians see and respond to community changes and needs and explores how both are political. This paper was written for IS 212: Values and Communities.
Abstract
Libraries are bound by responsibilities to serve their communities. Part of serving a community is providing resources, including books and programming, aimed at producing informed and engaged community members (Lankes, 2016). This paper is an investigation into how one library, The Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library, pushed back against “common sense” (Omi and Winant, 1994) after the Monterey Park City Council voted to disband their library board of trustees. In exploring this topic, an understanding of how the values of a political organization and the social norms of a community may or may not align with the values of libraries and librarians who, due to their professionalization around sensitivities of the constructedness of information, promote ideals of information access and literacy (Cooke, Sweeney, & Noble, 2016). Amid changing demographics and a hostile political climate, libraries serve as points of inflection, pushing up against and shaping normative forces in social, political, and technical systems.
Advising History
My adivising history is a list of conversations and meetings I had with my advisors, Professors Shawn Vancour and Jonathan Furner.
CV
My CV contains my academic and professional experience, skills, organizations, awards, and a list of volunteer and service work.
Supporting Documentation
This section contains other projects I worked on throughout my MLIS degree. A few of these are more experimental, some stem from work I did in the Digital Humanities program, and others were group projects.
Accessibility Statement
This portfolio strives to be accessible in two distinct ways. First and foremost, the portfolio aims to meet all standards set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) so that the site is accessible to all kinds of users. These guidelines ensure that web content is not created for a universal user, but has many users of all kinds in mind. Furthermore, following these standards ensures that the content is maximally compatible with many kinds of devices and on various types of internet connections. To this end, I created this portfolio using a Jekyll theme AcademicPages, which is forked from the Minimal Mistakes theme, all hosted on Github. By using a moderately popular theme on an established platform I am ensuring that my site meets the standardized accessibility guidelines as much as possible.
Secondly my portfolio aims to be sustainable, or accessible through preservation. It is known and understood that the digital medium is volatile and corrupts more quickly than analog counterparts. Complicating these matters further is the rapid pace of change to digital standards and platforms. Again, my choice to host the portfolio on an established platform with an established theme was made to hedge against these digital dimensions. I also link to an accessible PDF version of my portfolio that can be downloaded and printed. While the PDF version cannot be interacted with in the same way, the tradeoff is a more static and sustainable medium.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Jason Taksony Hewitt who gave me a home at UCLA Extension and encouraged me to explore places he knew I wanted to go. Your kindness and guidance is the reason I am where I am now. I would also like to thank Andrew Lau for your example, compassion, and friendship. You continue to be a source of inspiration and awe to me. I owe Jason and Andrew so much for believing in me and helping me do the same.
Thank you Jonathan Gingerich for your friendship and mentorship. Your generosity and good presence are always with me, wherever you are. Thank you Thi Nguyen for helping me to see differently when I was looking for a new way to see. Your ideas opened my world and I continue to play with them. Thank you Hannah Sutherland for your companionship and encouragement. You have likely read through almost everything in this portfolio. Thank you Katie Elliott for being my bridge partner in those times I desperately needed it. Thank you Dandi Meng for your friendship and generative conversations. And thank you to all my friends who have been with with me on this journey: Mel Hughs, Sherwood Hatchman, Krista Frank, Eve Elliot, Derek Ross, Rodney Black, Tamar Weber, Kevin Lande, Lucas Matthews, Matt Ribkoff, Christina Kilbane, Judith Campbell, and Andrey Nikolayev.
I would also like to thank my colleagues and fellow students for their support and encouragement, especially in light of the ongoing pandemic. Their kindness and collaborative spirit have been saving graces throughout this process. Likewise I would like to thank my advisor Jonathan Furner for excellent conversations and suggestions, and previously Shawn Vancour for getting me off the ground when I started the program. Finally I would like to thank all the faculty, especially Johanna Drucker, Gregory Leazer, and Jean-François Blanchette, as well as the wonderful staff of the IS department.