An overarching theme that I kept coming back to me while engaging in the learning experiences offered in this course was that LME professionals must promote their resources and their knowledge and skills base. The readings from the course drove this point home, while the activities such as our reference evaluation and examination of a reference product provided a chance to practice skills that will be needed, such as advocacy and promotion, on a regular basis in the profession.
The course reflections enabled me to draw up plans of action, taking the course activities and experiences and bridging them into my current practice. Using this medium, a blog format, to present and record my reflections will be an invaluable piece in recalling completed tasks.
A lingering question about the future of reference, sparked by this course is, how to best advocate for the reference services that individuals such as LME’s provide. In this course we examined why and even how to advocate, but never identified research based best practices that have proven effective. I gained valuable insight into effective ways that my peers have advocated, and I know that one way might not be successful in all situations; however, I wonder if extensive quantitative research has been done in this area.
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