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Christian Reynoso
LIS 890 E-Portfolio Requirement
E-Portfolio Essay
E-Portfolio Essay
Introduction
The following gives context and reflects on the artifacts chosen for my E-Portfolio,
demonstrating who I am as a future librarian and what I have learned at Dominican. Each artifact
has already been separated into one of the five GSLIS learning goals and into its respective
outcome for convenience.

Goal 1: Develop a professional identity, including commitment to

core values of LIS.

Outcome 1c: Identify the core values of and ethics of the library and information
professions.
School Library Mission and Vision Statement
One of my first assignments for my School Libraries class was to construct a Mission and
Vision statement for my ideal school library. The assignment was simple enough: I had to
familiarize myself with the ALA ethics guidelines and the states local guidelines to construct the
statement in a way that reflected said guidelines as the creator as an individual. Because of the
assignments autonomy, I created a statement that gives the reader a better understanding of who
I am, and honors ALA ethics. This simple artifact is one of the best examples of who I am, and
what I want to contribute to the library profession: providing all people a learning environment
with free access to information.

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Outcome 1d: Articulate a personal professional philosophy of the library and information
professions.
The E-Portfolio as an Artifact
My next artifact is the E-Portfolio site itself. My personal philosophy is not overtly stated
in this artifact, but the items inside illustrate who I am as an individual and what I want to do
with my career. Most of the items here show my desire to work with youth: The book review
illustrates my enjoyment of reviewing youth materials; the story-time artifacts illustrate how I
already work with youth and how I want to better these services; the Drop-Out artifact focuses
on troubles facing young students and some possible solutions librarians can employ to help
them. I could go on and on. As an added bonus, this site illustrates the meticulous work I do to
make sure everything is perfect, which is the same type of dedication that kids need from a
librarian. Another added bonus:

Outcome 1e: Participate in professional and activities and associations.

Folktales Retold Story-time
The third item I chose is a story-time plan I performed at work with the theme of retold
folktales. The story-time includes the books I read to the children, the stretchers and activities
used in between, and a craft. The plan demonstrates what I do on a regular basis with children.
This program reflects the types of programs I currently manage and enjoy. I included this
artifact because it was the first professional story-time I did that made me love the profession
even more. This plan was based off of what I learned from 723 and it was a plan I submitted to a
prospective employer. Obviously, based on the aforementioned, I got the job as a result.

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Goal 2: Understand the essential nature of information and its

relevance to society

Outcome 2b: Interpret information policies from local to global levels in relation to their
impact on intellectual freedom, access, literacy, and information behavior.
Affordable Care Act Power Point
The fourth artifact is a Power Point presentation a group of us worked on to try to explain
the detriments of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was in its infancy at the time. The
Power Point illustrates how we interpreted the act and some of the more negative ways it impacts
the library. The presentation was part of a two group exercise that had two groups discussing
opposing viewpoints on real local and global issues in relation to the library. The presentations
led to a Q & A session in which both groups had to make their case against or for it. Afterward,
we discussed and reflected on the assignment.
This was a realistic assignment on a very real issue. As a group, we scrutinized the ACA
in an effort to better explain it to the patrons of the library. While the assignment did call for us
to be a bit one sided issue, the assignment did give us a chance to break it down in a way that
patrons could comprehend. This was our chance as students to dissect local policies and law for
the benefit of the community. Moreover, we were able to give the neighborhood access to
information that most were unaware existed. As a librarian, it is ones job to be able to provide
the community with information regarding how things will or can change for them at the local or
global level. I appreciated the one sided nature of the assignment because it shows the types of
concerns that people had. The assignment taught me to set aside biases for the benefit of patrons.

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Outcome 2c: Assess community information needs and interests.

School Library Action Plan
The next item is my action plan, a multi-layered assignment that had me assess the needs
and interests of a community and its school library. I researched a school, and afterward,
interviewed the school librarian in order to develop a better understanding of the student body,
the student bodys interests, what students want to see from the library, problems facing the
library, and materials, resources, and technology needed to better the library. The plan contains
background about the school, information regarding the interview, a plan to help develop the
library based on the needs of the library and its students, and a list of the materials purchased for
the librarys improvement. For this assignment, we were only allowed to use $1,500 to spend for
the recommendations.
This assignment gave me a great sense of what it takes to develop a library collection
based on students needs. The whole process had me cultivate the library to see what it needed in
terms of technology, resources, and materials. It also gave me practice in acquisitions. Because I
was limited to $1,500, I realized how much effort I had to put into shopping thriftily. As it turns
out, $1,500 is not a lot of money. Finding cheap books that fit into the interests of the students
was tedious and difficult, yet absolutely necessary if I wanted to buy more.

Outcome 2d: Develop appropriate responses to information needs.

Transgender Materials Website
For my next artifact, my 722 Childrens Materials professor asked us to create an
electronic resource that focused on a genre or theme that would help kids. I decided to make a

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website for kids who are interested in transgendered materials and resources. The idea came from
conversations I had with classmates from my 721 and 722 classes.
I was fortunate to have taken both the YA and Childrens Materials courses in the same
semester. In both classes we discussed transgender issues, and in both, we came to the conclusion
that books with transgender characters and issues are scarce as is, and there arent too many
resources that highlight these types of books. Sadly, though many transgendered kids and teens
suffer with identity crises because they do not read things with characters with which they can
identify, or at the very least, see that it is okay to be transgendered. I decided to find books
written for tweens and younger. Unfortunately, there are not that many resources in that age
range, so I tried putting in as many as I could to helping kids providing them access to books
with which they may relate and enjoy. This resource demonstrates my commitment to all youth.

Goal 3: Navigate, curate and create information across the spectrum

of human records from local to global contexts

Outcome 3a: Utilize the resources needed to manage information.

Reactive Website Recreation
My seventh artifact is a website I created for my Internet Fundamental class. The purpose
of the assignment was to look at a pre-existing and obsolete website for the 21st Century Institute
and recreate a few pages from it in a reactive manner that accommodates whatever screen size is
used to view the site.

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I chose this artifact because of its rudimentary nature. Internet Fundamentals is a basic
beginners class for students that are learning to use HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. It is literally
learning how to utilize the resources needed to manage information. In this case, the
information being managed is the organizations personal information. Some prospective libraries
for which I may work in the future have small budgets and their hired librarians may have to do a
little bit of everything. This artifact shows that I can potentially help make a website from scratch
if a library requires it so patrons can access the librarys information. I also added the website
because of pride progress: Prior to this class, I had never created a website from scratch.
Moreover, I had never worked with HTML, CSS, or Bootstrap.

Outcome 3b: Design tools that facilitate access to information.

Mainstream Batman Subject Guide
My next item is a mainstream Batman subject guide. The assignment focuses not on
Batmans adventures, but rather on non-fiction and bibliographical works and information on
Batman and his role in pop culture.
This assignment was literally a tool I designed to make finding information on Batman
easier. Because it is online and free, everyone has access to it. As I librarian, I want to make
finding information free and easy for people, even for Batman fans that share my interest. I
decided to incorporate this into the portfolio because it was the very first website I ever created
from Google Sites. It shows how much work I put into it even though this was the first time I had
done something on the web. Moreover, the artifact gives a better sense of who I am: a comic
book nerd whom puts in a lot of effort into his work.

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Outcome 3c: Evaluate tools that facilitate access to information.
InvestorGuide Power Point Walkthrough
This next artifact is a Power Point that mimics how I would help a visitor wanting to
know where he should invest his money. I walked this theoretical person through
InvestorGuide.com as I would during a patron interview.
This assignment was relatively easy, yet profound. I was able to evaluate this information
resource and use it in conjunction with what we learned about patron interviews to answer a
likely question a librarian might hear. I added this artifact to show that I am willing to learn a
myriad of resources to help visitors with whatever query they have. This artifact familiarized me
with this tool and prepared me to deal with patron questions at length, even when it requires a
substantial amount of patience and time to answer.

Goal 4: Synthesize theory and practice within dynamic and evolving

information

Outcome 4a: Articulate theories and concepts in relation to professional practice.

Social Media Library Infographic
This tenth item is from my Social Media class. I created and infographic on Easel.ly that
demonstrates Chicago Public Libraries, with a focus on the Rudy Lozano branch, problems and
social media usage. I used the theories regarding the use of social media to improve the library
based on what libraries should be offering their patrons. This infographic presents information
and statistics regarding how the library uses social media to promote itself, the libraries typical
posts, existing problems, and solutions to these problems using social media.

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This infographic illustrates that I can display a great deal of research and classroom
theories on fixing the library through the use of social media in a succinct fashion that is more
likely to grab someones attention.

Outcome 4b: Demonstrate application of theory to practice.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty Book Review
The next assignment I chose is a book review on Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside
Shorty. Writing helps librarians focus on dissecting books impartially by focusing on books in
relation to other works and the way they are written. I used this artifact because it shows my love
for books geared towards children and young adults and how I am able to use what I have
learned in class to review a book in a manner that may benefit a librarian or person who wants to
know whether the reviewed book is worth purchase.

Outcome 4d: Facilitate formal and informal learning.

Classroom Story-time Plan
Next, I added a complex plan involving a class story-time I performed as my next artifact
because it is the perfect mesh of informal and formal learning. I learned to write a proper plan
that focuses on what exactly makes a program a library program and how does it serve people.
The plan was a great learning experience, but it also allowed me to teach my fellow students how
to perform a story-time in my facetious way by using funny voices appropriate to the characters
in the text. As silly and informal as the presentation may have been, my classmates learned how

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to present a story-time and why it is important to use books that reflect ones personality after we
formally dissected what they had just seen.
This plan is special to me because of three reasons: 1) It shows my silly side that kids see;
2) I learned how to properly plan something out; and 3) I used what I learned in the planning
stage to create a story-time plan for a job interview. I wound up landing the job because it
showed the consideration I take into planning, even for something as small as a story-time.

Goal 5: Effectively communicate and collaborate to deliver, market,

and advocate for library and information services.

Outcome 5a: Articulate the critical value of a marketing approach to delivering services.
Veggie Attack
My thirteenth artifact is a group project we worked on to market our fictional library. In
our campaign, we planned an attack on Veggie Fest to market our services to children. The
plan focused on promoting books relating to the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles to parents so
they can share their love of veggies and use it to develop child literacy. The program included a
quick story time for kids, painting with apples, and a display of veggie loving books that we
promoted to visitors.
I currently work at a library that does not get as many visitors as it should be getting. The
library was not marketed well by the old director. When the new director came, things started
turning around for the library. He made me see the value of why marketing the library is so vital
for the librarys viability. This artifact was something to which I honestly enjoyed contributing. It
gave me the opportunity to promote a library, and ready me to fight for whatever library in which

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I get a librarian position. This artifact demonstrates that I can work well with my coworkers/classmates for the benefit of the library and its patrons while having fun.

Outcome 5d: Speak to achieve common understanding.

School Dropout Prevention Power Point
The next artifact is my School Dropout Prevention Power Point. I gave this
presentation in my School Libraries class to inform my classmates of a particular issue relevant
to schools and teens. I focused dropouts and prevention. The presentation gives some statistics
about dropping out, who is at risk, and what librarians can do to keep them in school.
I added this to my portfolio because it is a topic dear to me. I was a high school dropout
and could have used some more help and motivation from people to continue with school. This
assignment reflects who I am, and who I want to be: an individual that wants to help potential at
risk students through the library and its resources and activities. This presentation also gave me a
chance to teach my classmates about a real concern that faces teens and schools, then offering
advice on how one might help these youths.

Outcome 5f: Listen to achieve common understanding.

Kims Sensory Story-time
This last item is a transcript of my classmate Kims sensory story-time assignment for our
LIS 723 class. I learned a great deal about these story-times and learned much about the
difficulties our little cognitively hindered visitors face.
As a librarian, one has to be willing to listen in order to better him or herself and
understand the needs of the community. Kim taught me some very important techniques and

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made me aware of signs that a child might have challenges. I placed this artifact in here because
it shows that I am willing to listen and learn about better serving my librarys users, especially
our littlest ones.
Conclusion
These artifacts will undoubtedly illustrate my commitment to the library and youth
services.