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Statement of Purpose for MLIS (Library & Info Studies) Program at LIU


marishkar 1 / 2  
Apr 22, 2012   #1
Please comment on the statement of purpose (below). It is right around the target length, so I will not expand it too much more. I have a dilemma: I had an internship at the research library of a local historical society in college, and seeing that it is so closely aligned to my potential area of study I would like to discuss it somewhere in the essay. On the other hand, I cannot find a proper place to talk about it. Seeing that it is already on my resume, should I even bother to shoehorn it in anyway?

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PROMPT: Describe your reason for pursuing graduate study at LIU, your personal and academic background, relevant experience, and your professional goals.

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I broke my mother's heart when I went off to college to study history. I could not afford the luxury of a degree in something so unsound, she insisted. As a newcomer to this land I had to be more practical than its native daughters. However, I was unmoved. In history, I found the human connection that was denied to me at home torn by constant violence and recriminations. In it, I rediscovered a personal and national self that I lost in the turbulent years of my adolescence and the fateful move from rural Russia to that metropolis of American life, New York City.

In the course of study, I have moved away from retelling historical narrative toward analysis of its construction. I became interested in the role of personal bias and ruling interpretation, availability and indeterminability of source material, process of scholarly review and consensus. To complement this shift in focus I undertook a study of philosophy. By the time I received my BA, I completed a 30-page independent project in history of Russian Orthodox Church during Russian Civil War and a 50-page analysis of the concept of objectivity in historical narrative, earning a joint major in history and philosophy, with honors.

However, before this could happen I had to face challenges that threatened to derail my future. In my third year of college it came to light that my stepfather, whether out of spite of indolence, did not renew my visa effectively rendering me an illegal alien. Despite my immediate best efforts I failed to rectify this situation and Middlebury College asked me to withdraw until I did. It took me four years of uncertainty, around the clock jobs and legal battles but in the end I won and returned to earn my degree.

After receiving my degree I have largely continued in customer service work that I took during my academic hiatus. And while I found it rewarding to work with people I feel that I need refine my qualifications to make my work more meaningful for myself. I want to be able to curate information as well connect it with the public. In seeking MLIS I hope to complete the training I started in Middlebury College--learning to locate information quickly and efficiently, to preserve a record of the present, to put it into proper context and engage the audience. It is for this reason that I am interested in MLIS degree as well as the archive and record management certificate which would allow me to work with collections of historical documents. I plan to complement this with work in digital library courses. Explosion in e-book publishing, development of on-line tools like Zotero, and growing efforts to make institutional holdings available online point to the potential of digital media and growing demand for on-line library engagement. As a library professional of twenty-first century, I want to be able to engage patrons on terms and platforms of their preference.

I know I have an unconventional history, but I also know that I have the dedication and humility it takes to succeed. I have long been interested in how we preserve and present the record of our past. As I turn this interest into a professional pursuit, I hope I can do so at LIU.
EF_Susan - / 2,364 12  
Apr 26, 2012   #2
In history, I found the human connection that was denied to me at home , torn by constant violence and recriminations.

In it, I rediscovered a personal and national self that I had lost in the turbulent years of my adolescence and the fateful move from rural Russia to that metropolis of American life, New York City.---You are an amazing writer!

To complement this shift in focus, I undertook a study of philosophy.

By the time I received my BA, I had completed a 30-page independent project in history...

And while I found it rewarding to work with people, I feel that I need to refine my qualifications to make my work more meaningful for myself.

As a library professional of the twenty-first century, I want to be able to engage patrons on terms and platforms of their preference.

This is really great, and the last sentence is perfect.

:)
Uju - / 2  
May 1, 2012   #3
I think you should state reasons why you are choosing that particular schools for your MLIS because most schools look out for that and I did not see anything about that in your essay other than that every other thing is ok.
OP marishkar 1 / 2  
May 1, 2012   #4
Dear EF_Susan and Uju, thank you for your input. I did think of adding my reasons for choosing the particular program at the closing paragraph, but wasn't quite sure about the benefit of doing so vs. another 60-80 words over the word limit. Which brings me to my other concern: how strict are word limits on these essays? Do admission committees get annoyed and frustrated reading essays that are 100-200 words too long?


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