INTRODUCTION

“LITERA SCRIPTA MANET (The written word endures).”

Introduction
      This e-portfolio was created as part of the requirement for a master’s degree from San Jose State Universitiy's  SLIS program. In order to demonstrate my knowledge of the library profession SLIS has created a list of 15 core competencies that every student should master before they graduate. Coursework is submitted to show evidence of my mastery for each competency.
      My goal for each competency is to show not only how I have mastered the requirement but also how the competency has reflected in my professional philosophy and personal experiences, as well as giving me an opportunity to share my coursework with everyone.
      I started the intricate process of creating my e-portfolio during my first semester at SJSU. I had a tip from a former student who explained how much easier the process would go if I created folders for each competency and saved my work accordingly from the beginning. With this thought in mind I created a separate folder for each competency and placed all the folders in a special e-portfolio folder. I realized during my third semester that just saving my work into the folders was not good enough. Each file name differed and I had a hard time figuring out what class the work came from or what the work represented if it had a generic assignment name. To minimize my confusion I started saving my work with my last name, class number, and one word to describe the assignment.  My next step was to create my professional philosophy, introduction and then I went through the competencies in order to keep track.
      I chose to use D2L to create my E-portfolio. I wanted my E-portfolio to be unique to my experience while in the SLIS program. I had a difficult time deciding how to express this to the public. Looking through my classwork from the SLIS program through my undergrad I found one distinct link. The Library of Congress. I studied the building and architecture as well as using the Library of Congress website countless times while pursuing my undergrad. When I started in the SLIS program, my family and I took a trip out to Washington D.C. to visit the Library of Congress. The Jefferson building was magnificent with paintings, sculptures and inscriptions throughout. I chose to use inscriptions from the walls of the Library of Congress to represent each of the 14 competencies, as well as the introduction and conclusion.
      I started at SJSU in the fall of 2009. I currently have a B.A. in History, although I started out my college career in the architectural field. My main concentration has been on children's library classes and I have been fortunate enough to have worked in a high school library this past school year. I appreciate you taking the time to view my e-portfolio.





References

Library of Congress (2006). On These Walls. Retrieved July 20, 2011 from http://www.loc.gov/loc/walls/