Part of my summer internship with GIS involved my own curriculum mapping project. The project was to begin some basic curriculum mapping for the college where I am going to be serving as the Electronic Resources and Reference Librarian. Since the college has their own educational framework my plan was to map a course from their core curriculum to the college’s framework and to ACRL’s Framework. I also began an attempt to map the two frameworks to each other. However, I was unable to get a copy of a syllabus and the college’s catalog did not provide in-depth learning outcomes for the course; and I would have liked to map an individual assignment. So instead of mapping a course I began to map the goals of the entire Core Program. Mapping at a high level like this proved challenging, but was also very helpful. I am glad I was able to do this project because it allowed me to put into practice some more of what I worked on at the beginning of the summer, and the internship readings. It also gave me a much better understanding of the college’s Core Program so I can arrive on campus with some more well formed thoughts on how I can serve the community as a new librarian.

As always, I get used to receive knowledge passively as a student but the transitional point comes when I get this internship. To work with instructional libraries on mapping curricula makes me think about curriculum design actively at the point-view of curriculum developer.

In the project, a comprehensive process of mapping consists of establishing learning goals and assessment. Learning outcomes are increasingly tended to focus on employ-ability skills as a result of broader skilled needed by graduate employees.

According to Oliver’s article, I know the process of mapping curricula goes through five phases from initial request to course changes approved and course learning outcomes consist of several units. (2007) Learning outcomes are aligned with employ-ability so that the curriculum engages students to develop work-readiness.

However, there are a lot of complications and challenges around this pedagogical philosophy. Academic staffs are too busy to do extra work on reviewing curriculum. Also, changes in a wide variety of courses will largely affect the teaching system, which may pay costs. Nevertheless, in my point of view, the quality of learning is worthy to invest time and money. With employ-ability embedded, employment of graduates are improved which will widen the intake of universities, creating a virtuous cycle.

How time flies these days! I do not even recognized most time of the internship has passed. What I also don’t realize is my remaining hours of internship will be changed to spent in reference work at the information desk. I’m so excited and surprised because I have only sit in the library as a student, but never sit as a consultant. Based on the true experience of helping students, I learn some fundamentals of how to provide excellent consultant work as a qualified librarian. I’m very honored to be assigned this glorious task as whether or not the reference service is of high quality affects the image of the whole library.

From this work, I find the role of librarians has a change. Traditional librarians are just information providers who spend all day sitting in the middle of the library and provide services to readers. However, as a modern librarian, he/she should evaluate, collect, and distribute information more actively. Some tasks are just seemingly easy but have to be accomplished very carefully. For example, in the simple action of answering the phone and scanning the file, there are plenty of truths and mysteries waiting for us to explore. To transfer the call accurately and quickly, I have to memorize many phone numbers and their associated departments. It took me a lot of efforts to find that only when the paper is placed on the top left corner of the scanner, it can be scanned in full.

In the coming days, there are a lot I have to learn and improve. I’m expecting to learn something new everyday and enjoy feel connected with students. Happily, an increase in collaboration with colleagues also emerged as a result of seeking guidance from them.