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SLO 8, ARTIFACT 3:
Practicum Experience & WOC + Lib Blog Post Link to post: WOC + Lib Post In the spring of 2019, I worked as a practicum intern on a digital scholarship services project. This project required me to collaborate with another intern on the creation of an image file-naming system and work-process documentation. I later worked with a copyright consultant to determine what copyright statements should be listed with the images on the project website. My work on these two projects -- and the subsequent collaboration that this work engendered -- illustrate my ability to leverage collaborative relationships for the accomplishment of both organizational and individual goals. Working alongside another intern helped me to develop my metadata skills. My intern colleague had more metadata experience than I and introduced me to metadata models used at other institutions that could help us with our work. The copyright consultant, an attorney, shared expertise that guided the copyright statement and documentation recommendations I made to the project team. During the latter half of the internship, we communicated frequently by email and established a good rapport. I asked her whether she would be interested in doing an interview for the WOC + Lib blog, and she accepted. Both of us admire the WOC + Lib project and welcomed the opportunity to support it. While conducting the interview, I learned about the copyright consultant's diverse professional background and her consultant responsibilities. One thing she said that really stuck with me was: “I didn’t come from any one place, and I think people of color especially don’t have these linear lines to a particular profession.” I have quite a diverse professional background myself, but I had not thought about how that might be related to my race. Talking with her made me more confident that my diverse experiences will be an asset to me as a librarian. My experience with the practicum and the resulting interview made me see project collaboration as a form of networking. This type of collaborative networking is especially critical when seeking support for library outreach projects in underserved communities. Public service institutions in these communities are almost always underfunded and understaffed, which makes cross-institutional alliance-building an imperative. As a library outreach professional, I will apply the lessons I learned about collaboration during the practicum to my interactions with colleagues at various service institutions to build strong partnerships in marginalized and underserved communities. |