[nabs-l] Grad School Essay

Tue Jul 17 14:37:31 UTC 2012

Hi Beth
I will combine them.
Thank you.
Deb

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 9:12 PM, Beth <thebluesisloose at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
*Deb's Cell:  520-225-8244*