[nabs-l] Grad School Essay

[Beth]

There's one small edit you could make in your essay.  Take the 
sentence where you said that document delivery services are also 
available to patrons/physicians etc etc.  You could have put that 
sentence and the previous sentence together somehow.  Other than 
that, no grammar errors.  Youdid a great job on this essay and I 
wish you good luck in getting in to your grad school thingy.
Beth

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Deb Mendelsohn <deb.mendelsohn at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:24:43 -0700
Subject: [nabs-l] Grad School Essay

Hi all,
Stephanie suggested I have others read it.
So here it is:
750-1000 words why I want MLs degree from University of AZ and 
what I think
is the future of Librarianship.
Thank you!
Deb

In today's fast-paced world, access to information and technology 
is
critical. To apply and understand our current complex array of 
information,
it must be organized, accessible, and presented in an intelligent 
manner.
Furthermore, contemporary organizations have intellectual 
property, which
the user must be able to choose which available format serve 
their needs.
My previous work and educational experience have crystallized my 
desire to
become a library scientist.


My initial experience in the field of library science began in 
junior high
school. I checked out books to both students and staff. I was 
amazed at the
sheer number of books, yet they were all organized and easy to 
find. As a
student at Northeastern Illinois University, I worked as a 
student aid and
assisted in the library reserve, interlibrary loan, and 
circulation
services. Specifically, I searched the shelves for the material
requisitioned by the requesting library and packed the books for
Inter-library loan delivery. I also checked in returned material 
shipped
via interlibrary loan. While working at the circulation desk, I 
realized
that circulation desk clerks are on the front lines of library 
customer
service, servicing the patrons, checking in materials, and 
collecting
fines. Fortifying Patron relationships at the circulation desk, 
where a
happy patron is a returning patron. Through my work experience in 
college,
I realized that I wanted to become a librarian because I was so 
attracted
to the challenge of organizing information to make it accessible 
to the end
user.


After graduating from Northeastern Illinois University with my 
B.A. in
Liberal Arts, I began my five-year career with the American 
Medical
Association (AMA) as a project assistant in the Office of the 
General
Counsel’s Information Center. As a project assistant, I created a 
filing
system, or file bank, from a controlled vocabulary using the AMA 
news
publication. After analyzing the printed articles, reports, and 
other
materials to determine their subject matter, I added subject 
headings as
necessary. Each attorney had his or her own specialty, which 
required a
separate file bank. Attorneys from the Health Law and Corporate 
Law
Divisions utilized the materials that I assisted in compiling.


The Vice President of the Health-Law Division promoted me to 
Research
Assistant in 1997 within the department. My responsibilities 
included
reference and research requests from member physicians and 
association
staff. Document delivery services were also available to staff 
and members.
In addition to these duties, I managed the daily activities of 
the library,
including ordering materials, was responsible a yearly budget of 
$25,000,
labeling, shelving, routing materials to attorneys, as well as 
other
projects as assigned. One of my other projects was scanning amici 
briefs,
Latin term meaning, “friend of the court” making them website 
accessible.
These briefs were only available to AMA staff. Since  the 
association
served member physicians, this was not a particularly 
user-friendly system.
This led me to realize that information is useless unless made 
available to
the people who need it in a comprehensible format. Print format 
is only a
small part of presenting information. Podcast, websites, and 
audio files
are a few examples of the modalities that require professional
organization.


Presently, I am interning at SAAVI (Southern Arizona Association 
for the
Visually Impaired). I am involved in organizing the SAAVI’s audio 
books,
which number over 1,500, into a system that is accessible to 
blind and
low-vision users. This project consists of sorting the audio 
books into
different media formats, such as compact disc (CD) or cassette, 
braille,
and large-print labels. Then, I catalog them in braille, large 
print, and
electronic format. An Access Database will serve as the catalog 
available
to both clients and staff. The library at Saavi, will house the 
audio books
with both braille and large-print signage. By organizing, the 
collection by
genre and alphabetically by the author will make the collection 
user
friendly to everyone.


I find my work at SAAVI to be an fascinating project because 
blind and
low-vision users are part of a community, which has unique needs.
Information needs to be accessible, in not only braille and large 
print,
but also in electronic format. Interestingly, many visually 
challenged
persons utilize screen readers to access this material. Screen 
readers pose
specific challenges for conveying information to the blind and 
low vision
user, one of which is interpreting the images on the audio book 
cover. Most
screen readers do not read pictures, graphs or charts. Blind 
users often
denied access to these data.  As a librarian with my MLS degree, 
I would
like to work in the academic world, organizing information to 
ensure
accessibility to special-interest groups, such as the blind. In 
view of the
many limitations of technology, it is crucial that we make these 
data
available in additional formats.   Without awareness to these 
special
needs, we neglecting to communicate critical information to many 
unique
needs
groups.





-- **
_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
for nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/thebluesisloo
se%40gmail..com