Provision of Information Services

Students will be able to perform effectively in the library and information professions by demonstrating competency in the provision of information services. By the conclusion of the master’s degree program, students should be able to:

• design a variety of information services to meet the needs of diverse users, including onsite, remote, and underserved users

• identify, evaluate, manage, and use information resources and sources effectively

• apply critical-thinking, information-seeking, and problem-solving skills to analyze users’ inquiries and match them with appropriate and accessible resources

• provide users with professional consultation during the information service encounter

• apply up-to-date technology strategically to improve services and enhance access to information resources

• adapt and apply learning theories and principles in the design and delivery of best practices to promote information literacy

Description - Analysis - Reflection

Update (4/30/26): I have just completed ISCI 703 with Professor Dick Kawooya so LibGuide has been added! In the process, I also included the Reference Resource Selection Assignment which informs the final submission in this course. The topic stated there centers on the relationship between semantic web structures and controlled vocabularies in archival description. This felt like an important (if incredibly dynamic) focus considering the proliferation of AI tools in browsing traditional repositories. I am also taking ISCI 735 Metadata this semester, so the resources selected here are relevant to the application profile I am working on in that context. It was especially interesting to compare database searches with GenAI results…a virtual chat with a reference librarian at Thomas Cooper Library confirmed my initial impression that AI is not the best way to find relevant resources, or even accurate citations for that matter.

The most useful revelation from this assignment was the discovery of conceptual reference models which are commonly used to connect metadata schemas/controlled vocabularies to semantic web structures. One such model is CIDOC-CRM, which I generally explain and provide resources for in the assignment. There are certainly others but (as stated) a deeper dive seemed out of scope here. Regardless, such methods have become very interesting to me and will be useful in future work. As I fill out the LibGuide in weeks to come, I will include other resources which could be helpful to anyone who would like to map ontological systems onto existing metadata. This list of publications might be a good way to understand the current discourse and landscape, but I would like to add some more functional methods for real world application. One example might be Getty Vocabularies Linked Open Data Queries, which suggests ways to directly explore interconnected terms and understand hierarchies.