December 12, 2010

I thought that it would be nice to include some of my Reflection paper here, especially to show appreciation to those whose blogs and comments and Proposals have helped me so much!

Since I have started graduate school a little over a year ago I have tried a few things that I never have before. This year I conducted reference interviews on Second Life, created a website, started my first blog and read manga! This class has helped me to try new things, like blogging, that I have never done and I have been surprised that real-world research is even something that I would enjoy! Blogging is now something that I would consider doing in the future without any qualms, which is a big step for someone who owns a typewriter and does letterpress!

In terms of the final product of the Research Proposal, I surprised myself with the topic I chose. I am not the biggest video game player, but I noticed that something was lacking in the environment that I work. Since starting the SLIS program I have discovered a lot about myself and whose needs I am finding I care most about – young adults. This project reaffirms for me that I want to be part of a community of librarians who believe that teens may need help in advocating for their needs. I loved the line that I included in Proposal, “Young adults become lifelong library users and supporters when they are enthusiastically engaged in planning and decision-making. They play a key role in attracting their peers to the library” (Massachusetts Library Association, 2005). This proposal revealed to me that it is not impossible and it is worthwhile to find out more about one’s community and look to fill in the gaps in services.

I also found that going to my first library conference (NELA) was essential in making my Proposal what it is. If I did not go to the conference I would never have met Beth Gallaway, an unbelievable resource on the topic of libraries and gaming.  She would never have given me the recommendation to check out Scott Nicholson’s Library Game Lab nor would I have found out about the Library Gaming Toolkit, which were vital to my understanding of the current atmosphere in libraries surrounding videogames. This experience verifies that involvement in one’s professional community is essential to growth as well as change. I can only see from my limited perspective when I look only to myself for answers.

Along those same lines, I learned a lot from the experience of others in this class and especially from reading their processes on the Research Diary blogs and by reading Proposal drafts. Seeing how others were working out their ideas helped to guide me to look at the way I was approaching my project in a different way. I read someone’s blog who was working on getting young adults into the library and this helped me make the connection in my own research that adding video games to the library helps to address this issue of serving the sometimes disadvantaged YA population.