Sometimes, 'Showing Up' is the Necessary Skill

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Section 1 of 4:

An Introduction to What Competency M Means to Me and to Library and Information Science​

 

Why Competency M is Important to Me as a Professional:

          I feel that leadership and communication skills are critical tools for information professionals, and that they tie in deeply to issues of accessibility. Much like accessibility, all of the work, effort, knowledge and time information professionals put into creating resources, deliverables, programming, and services is all for naught if they fail to effectively communicate what they have found. Also, in a culture that is becoming more and more polarized regarding important social justice issues (the Black Lives Matter movement, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn movement, issues of racism, sexism, ableism, antisemitism, discrimination against Asian and Middle Eastern peoples, and LGBTQ+ rights, among others), it is imperative that information professionals demonstrate effective leadership in providing equitable, accurate, and supportive information and services. I ask myself, “what good are my services if I cannot use them to contribute to the greater good? To help those who need assistance because they are struggling to stay afloat in a sea of oppressive systems?” I realize that my value and my own struggles are important on their own, and that I am affected by oppressive systems as well. But to use my professional skill sets of communication and leadership to try and help make the world a better, more accepting, equitable space for the generation that comes after me (my cousins, my niblings, and the children of my friends) feels like a good way to spend my time.

 

Why Competency M is Important to the Profession as a Whole:

          Having effective leadership and communication in the information sciences is critically important. Once again examining how our culture is becoming severely polarized, the American Library Association has issued official public statement after statement of support for historically excluded groups of peoples such as trans peoples, LGBTQ+ peoples, People of Color, and the Black Lives Matter Movement, among others. These public statements issued by the ALA demonstrate leadership and effective communication skills, but they also provide useful tools to librarians and information professionals across the country. There have been many cases of libraries and librarians facing push back and discrimination from their own library administrators and from communities, when implementing events such as Drag Queen Story Time, putting up signage that supports the Black Lives Matter Movement, or ordering titles and creating displays that support queer youth. I myself have faced issues like these, as have many, many, of my friends who work in libraries. Using the ALA’s public statements that provide an official, supportive, stance for these causes and groups of peoples (especially when many library systems must remain ALA accredited to receive funding), is a great way to push back against library staff and communities who take a hate-filled or ignorant approach to inclusion. Demonstrating the leadership to use available communications and resources to ensure that services, programming, and information available within an individual professional’s purview are equitable, supportive, inclusive, diverse, and joy-filled is what will keep the information professions relevant and meaningful.

 

What Excellence in Competency M Looks Like to Me:

          When I see professional leadership and communication skills being embodied by an information professional, I see them choosing to use any social privilege they have to the advantage of others. In the profession of libraries, which is largely made up of white individuals, that may look like white librarians ensuring that their library displays support for the Black Lives Matter Movement. It takes librarians navigating push back from authority figures and administrators. It may look like male information professionals intentionally lifting up the work of womxn information professionals when other mxn try to speak over them or take credit for their ideas. I see information professionals incorporating equity, diversity, and inclusion into all aspects of their work, across different areas of the field: public libraries, remote work settings, researcher roles, academic libraries, school libraries, resource creators. To do this in a polarized society shows great leadership and to do so effectively takes excellent communication skills. It therefore makes sense that information professionals, a profession which excels in communication, should lead the way for a more supportive and equitable culture. 

 

Section 2 of 4: 

The Discussion of My Evidence

 

Evidence A:

          As my “Evidence A”, I am presenting the “Cultural Awareness and Exploration Text Set for: Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal” that I created.

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How and Why I Created Evidence A:

          For my “Information 237: School Library Media Materials” course, I was tasked with providing resources to support diverse student needs.

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The Process of Creating Evidence A:

          To create Evidence A, I wanted to choose a topic (an essential question to structure my project around) that was meaningful, that I felt I could effectively address, and that would allow me to design a resource in which the communications presented supported a specific audience. I chose the essential question, “What happens when people do (and don’t) see themselves positively represented in the media that they enjoy?”. I knew of many wonderful resources regarding issues of representation. I was able to evaluate and select the best 8 choices that I felt would be appropriate and helpful communications for 9th grade students. I also made sure to include a variety of media formats (print, audio, video, links, etc.) so as to have resources available for different communication preferences and learning types. 

       What was included in Evidence A:

• My Flipgrid book talk and transcript that I chose to incorporate towards the beginning of Evidence A uses visual and audio communication elements to appeal to different types of learners, so that all of the resources presented are not text-based. This element was important to include so that it can add a more personalized feel to the assignment and to students. It also demonstrates my oral communication skills.

• The designated audience, essential question & standards: I provided these elements of the resource to further explore a theme related to EDI. I felt that this would work very well for this assignment. There is so much excellent material out there, focusing on EDI creates a tangible product and resource that can be used in the future.

• Anchor text: Using Ms. Marvel as the anchor text was important to me because I feel that comics and graphic novels are a wonderful and heavily underutilized resource. Focusing on Ms. Marvel through the lens of EDI provided so many excellent insights.

• Supporting texts selections: There were so many wonderful resources to choose from when creating this text set. I honestly had trouble narrowing them down, there were so many facets of EDI I wanted to address. I enjoyed finding different formats (podcasts, academic papers, articles, videos).

• Supporting texts annotations: I wrote these annotations to be understandable and clear. I very much enjoyed focusing on the EDI aspect of these annotations.

• Citations & links: Having links throughout the assignment is a very useful tool. I enjoyed finding excellent items to link to, as well as vetting them for accuracy and reliability.

• Digital presentation: Doing the digital text set on a platform like Google Sites, where it can be viewed by anyone, allows it to be utilized by students and teachers. Making the presentation online really helped me to better organize and to create a final, deliverable, product. I chose to make the privacy settings of Evidence A public, as I feel the communications presented are important, and anything I can do to help push issues of representation further towards equity, I am all for.

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Why I Chose to Feature Evidence A and How Evidence A Shows Competency:

          Evidence A demonstrates my extensive knowledge of published resources for school curriculum, such as reference materials, selection tools, state and national standards, and websites, as well as the value of entertainment or recreation based resources, especially for a 9th grade audience. Evidence A also demonstrates my excellent communication practices being implemented through the teaching skills present. Evidence A is an educational resource. I designed and created it to educate and inform the viewer on an important and specific topic: representation in recreational media. I presented the information on the anchor text, essential question, standards, audience, and supporting texts in a strategic way that benefits the teaching of this information. The presented resources in Evidence A follow a logical flow of information, from start to finish, designed to assist in maximum absorption of information.

           Evidence A demonstrates leadership and communication expertise delivered through my oral presentation skills. I catered my demeanor and presentation to be appealing and appropriate for 9th grade students. I am informal, enthusiastic, passionate, engaging, and informative. My communication style would have been different for a more serious, academic, oral presentation (such as my video presentation at the beginning of my “Diversifying the Library Sciences” website), and different again for a storytime’s oral presentation (such as the storytime videos I incorporated into my children’s library programming site). Evidence A also demonstrates leadership in tackling an important and timely issue head on, making itself publicly available so that it leaves the realm of being just an assignment with no future applicability, and persistently putting in extensive work to create a valuable resource.

          Evidence A also demonstrates communication skills such as collaborative ways of creating, inventing, and sharing ideas. Evidence A is not just content created by me. Evidence A creatively stitches together presentations and content from Creators of Color such as Akilah Obviously, LeVar Burton, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Kamala Harris. There is an easy-to-digest article by Jodie Rodriguez that provides important information on representation. There is a very personal reflection piece written by Raha Murtuza on the important, representative, role that Ms. Marvel plays for her. There is a fascinating academic paper written by Ashika Prajnya Paramita about Ms. Marvel and American identity. Evidence A brings all of these wonderful, individual, resources and ideas into a new, conglomerative, resource in which they all support each other.

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Evidence B:

          As my “Evidence B”, I am presenting the “Activism Work” section of my "Diversifying the Library Sciences" website, presented at the end of the site and accessible by clicking the “Activism Work” header in the site’s menu bar.

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How and Why I Created Evidence B:

          For my “Information 230: Issues in Academic Libraries” course, I was tasked with creating a demonstration on a relevant and timely topic of my choice, tying it to a specific job posting, and including a recorded presentation in any format. 

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The Process of Creating Evidence B:

          After sitting down and thinking about all the work I’ve done, the events I have seen unfold, and my own experiences, the statement I came up with to center the entire website around was this: To ensure that libraries (academic, public, private, school, and otherwise) are genuinely acting as centers of equity to their patrons, the voices of the libraries' staff, administration, policy makers, collections, and programming must be examined under a microscope. To embrace diverse peoples, these voices must be comprised of diverse peoples. There are so many important facets to the goal of diversifying the library sciences. They start with acknowledging that government, and many other, historical institutions in the U.S. operate within and perpetuate oppressive policies, histories, and mindsets. Not only do policies and practices need to be revisited under the lens of working to dismantle oppressive systems internally, the people holding the lens need to have diverse voices and identities.

          The Activism Work section of the website goes into some of the work that I have completed over the past several years. I provide links where available, and include photos. Some of the items I chose to include in this section were: Guest Speaker and Activist for Sexual Assault Awareness and Reform, Participating in Womxn's March and LGBT+ Pride Protests, Panelist speaker at the Mayor of Baton Rouge's Listening Session addressing Law Enforcement Officials with how they can better respond to sexual violence and handle rape cases more effectively. I also created handout materials for law enforcement in order to help them better work with survivors of sexual violence. My handout included a recommended reading section. I was a guest speaker for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Regional Task Force Meeting, addressing how medical and social work professionals can better recognize and assists survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking. I created handout materials for DHH to help them recognize and assist survivors, which many of the professionals in the room had no awareness of previously. I was featured in STAR's Truth Out Loud workshop and video series, addressing rape culture and how the public can better interact with survivors of sexual violence.

          Though in the end I chose not to include them on the site as they were projects I was paid to do at my job and were not activism work, while creating Evidence B I also reflected back on projects I’ve completed when I was working in libraries in the past, that demonstrate leadership and communication skills. I re-designed existing library resources for those in my library’s community who were experiencing homelessness. The existing, digital-only, library guide for homelessness was not being utilized as it was not easily accessible to the demographic it was created for. It used outdated, non-inclusive, language and terminology throughout. I designed a cover page explaining how to use the guide, used inclusive and supportive language, and created a printable PDF document of the guide. I formatted, printed, collated, and stapled hundreds of the physical guides and placed stacks of them in prominent, easily accessible, areas where our patrons could see them and not have to feel uncomfortable asking for them. They were utilized heavily.

          I also created resources to connect my library’s community with free meals. Many of our children patrons were lacking in lunches when out of school for summer. I found a free-meals program in our city that offered lunches to school children in the summer. I created a physical, paper, packet that listed every free-meal site in the city, their contact information, address, who they were serving meals to, what hours each site was open, and what meals they were serving. This took extensive research, verification, and formatting of documents. I also designed a cover page explaining what the lunch program was and how to use the packet. I placed stacks of the packets in the children’s room and main circulation areas. We consistently ran out of the packets and I had to ask for other staff to volunteer to help me keep the stacks available. Our library system later partnered with the free-meals program and several branches became meal-distribution sites.

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Why I Chose to Feature Evidence B and How Evidence B Shows Competency:

          I chose to create this section and to add the specific items in it that I did because they demonstrate my ability to show leadership, as well as to find or make opportunities to provide important and effective communications on relevant issues. Creating these resources and doing this activism work is not easy on me. But I refuse to not try and make our culture better for others. I may not change the world or even make a significant dent, but by standing up and trying I provide an example to others who may one day make bigger changes. Since I started speaking publicly about my experiences and about my activism work, I have had many opportunities to help both friends and strangers who chose to confide in me. That in itself is important. I was able to assist many people who had never discussed the traumatic events that had been perpetrated onto them and who were able to seek resources and assistance because they were comfortable talking with me. The ability to provide that help holds true meaning to me.

          Evidence B also contains links to content that demonstrates my prowess in oral communication and leadership, such as the Truth Out Loud video I did for STAR. Evidence B demonstrates professional leadership by highlighting my presentations at professional conferences and meetings (such as when I was a guest speaker and resource creator for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Regional Task Force and for the Mayor of Baton Rouge's Listening Session addressing Law Enforcement Officials). Evidence B also demonstrates my communication skills in collaboratively creating, inventing, and sharing ideas. I collaborated with STAR to produce the video I was in, with Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to create a relevant and helpful presentation and resource guide for them, with Listening Session administrators to help facilitate my presentation on their panel, and with emergency rescue groups across south Louisiana to pair flooding victims with available rescue boats.

 

Section 3 of 4: 

How Creating the Evidence Helped Me Gain Expertise in Competency M

 

How Creating Evidence A Helped Me Gain Competency in the Area of  M:

          Creating Evidence A allowed me to explore and incorporate a variety of multimedia resources that 1) appealed to different communication and learning styles, 2) were excellent examples of clear and informative communication practices, and 3) were presented largely by creators from historically excluded groups, thus providing positive representation. While I created Evidence A itself and it includes a video that features me, as well as annotations that are written by me, Evidence A allowed me to feature and highlight the work of many other people who provide important perspectives and media artifacts regarding issues of representation. Orchestrating and designing a resource to address an important, timely, and relevant issue, as well as researching, exploring, and featuring the work of other leaders in the field demonstrates my leadership skills and my communication prowess.

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How Creating Evidence A Changed My Way of Thinking on Competency  M:

           Creating Evidence A helped me to evolve my own perception of how leadership skills can manifest. When I thought of “leadership skills” previously, I mainly associated them with the supervisory employment positions from my past, such as a bookstore manager or direct caretaker. Creating Evidence A allowed me to demonstrate leadership skills in a way that did not include my direct supervision of other individuals, which to be honest, is my preference. I am fully capable of excelling in traditional leadership roles, and I know that this competency statement features my ability to do that. However, it is my preference to not directly supervise others. Creating Evidence A allowed me to demonstrate leadership in tackling what could be considered a “sensitive” issue by some. The U.S. has experienced significant levels of hate crimes, negative stereotypes, legislation against, and dismal media portrayal of Middle Eastern Peoples over the past 20 years (Kishi, 2017). This is not acceptable. Addressing issues of representation in media and focusing that examination on the comic book, Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal, which features Kamala Khan, who is a Muslim, Pakistani-American, womxn, teenager, allowed me shine a light on the importance of positive representation. To me, that is a strong display of leadership. 

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How Creating Evidence B Helped Me Gain Competency in the Area of  M:

          Creating Evidence B really helped me to reframe my own perception of my leadership and communication skills. I consider myself an introvert. I do not like the spotlight. I do not like public speaking. I do not like being in or interacting with large groups. Yet in the process of consolidating the activism work I have done into a presentable format for Evidence B, I realized that I had opened myself up to doing a lot of public speaking, sharing, and activities I generally am not comfortable with. I did these activities because I saw a need that sharing my experiences and creating resources could help to address. I am not a trained public speaker. I am not a trained advocate. I am not a trained graphic designer or a trained first responder or emergency dispatcher. Yet time after time, I found myself the only one in the room who had a comprehensive understanding of what was lacking and a plan to fix it. So I would. Somehow, this has led to my having a body of activism work. 

          A local organization that provided free counseling to survivors of sexual violence knew me and saught me out to participate in a “think-tank” pilot program to help educate our state on issues of sexual and domestic violence, a state where the “rate of women murdered by men remains 85% higher than the national average” (Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2021, para 1). So I collaborated with them to design and participate in a series of videos where local survivors told our stories. The program has gone on to expand past its second year now and has created some truly outstanding and valuable artifacts.

          I was talking about unrelated topics with someone I knew who happened to be on a Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Regional Task Force. She decided she wanted me to be a guest speaker for a group of medical and social work professionals, regarding how they could better recognize and assist survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking (both of which were/are huge and very significant issues in our city). So I did. I had never spoken about something so intimate in front of a group of strangers before. I was shocked to learn that no one in the room had any training or awareness of these issues. So I also created a resource for all of them with basic, important, accessible information they needed. 

          The Mayor of Baton Rouge created several community and professional listening sessions addressing the city’s law enforcement officials, who had historically and consistently failed at addressing issues of sexual violence and who had largely perpetrated it themselves. I was invited to be on a guest speaker panel for the law enforcement's listening session. All three womxn on the panel had been sexually assaulted by law enforcement officers in the city. It was probably one of the most difficult, terrifying, and infuriating things I have ever done. But I did it. And I came to the session with informational handouts for everyone in the room. 

          When south Louisiana was decimated by unexpected flash flooding in 2016, I lost my house that I had closed on the day before, as well as my car, most of my belongings, and any financial stability that I would have for the following 10 years. The flooding was so significant however, that the 911 call centers were underwater, cell towers were down, and many were without ways to call for help. Like many in south Louisiana, I had a lifetime of living in and surviving natural disasters, including Katrina. In my old, empty, apartment, I was able to use social media, which many were still able to access, and pair hundreds of people who were stranded in houses, on roofs, in trees, to locals and volunteers who had boats and were trying to find people to rescue. There were few reliable ways to coordinate rescues or communications. So myself and several others were able to contribute to a large part of that while contingency plans were made. I also ended up saving my coworker's dog and two cats. My coworker, her partner, and their child had been evacuated from their flooded home by emergency boat and there was no room in the craft for their black lab or two cats so they had to leave them on the unflooded second floor and hope for the best. Three days into the flood, I found one of my old roommate's old coworkers who had just found a paddle boat and posted that he was looking for someone in the area to help. I got to him first. I sent him to my coworkers' townhouse and he was able to safely rescue all of their pets, who had been trapped without food or safe water, and had been exposed to high temperatures, floodwaters, snakes, and alligators for 3 days. He was able to get them all out safely, at which point I coordinated a meet between him and my coworker for their return. 

How Creating Evidence B Changed My Way of Thinking on Competency  M:

          Consolidating and reflecting on my activism work when creating Evidence B showed me that even though I am an introvert who does not like leadership roles...I had already done it. I had led, I had communicated effectively. Even if I wasn't perfect, or great at it, even if I wasn't the best person for the job or the most qualified: I was a person who showed up. I was someone who was there, was present, and said "I will do this thing because I can and because I'm willing to". And I think that means a significant amount.

         I struggle with perfectionism, and by that I don't mean I struggle with being perfect (hahahaha! Oh nooo, not at all). Quite the opposite. I hold myself to very high, sometimes very ridiculous, standards. I have often felt that if I can't be "perfect" or "the best" at something, then there is no point: someone will always be better/why try if it wont matter? I am self-aware that I engage in this negative self-talk, and the older I get, the better I am at telling it to buzz off. I have learned to do things for enjoyment, not because I need to be perfect at it. Creating Evidence B showed me that I don't have to be a natural born leader, or public speaker, or resource creator, or emergency preparedness specialist. Sometimes, just showing up and saying "I will do the work" is the most needed leadership and communication skill available.

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Coursework That Has Prepared Me for Competency M:

          In my “Information 237: School Library Media Materials” course, I used my coursework to go further than required and I successfully completed and published a Literary Text Complexity Qualitative Measures Rubric for Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak, through TeachingBooks.net. In my “Information 260A: Programming and Services for Children” course, I completed further coursework demonstrating my oral communication skills when I again went above and beyond the assignment and course requirements and created a section of my programming website strictly for free, virtual, storytime videos that I planned, created, and performed. This actually led to a partnership between a public library system and I, in which their professional videographer and I collaborated to create high-quality virtual storytime videos. 

         In my “Info 286: Interpersonal Communication Skills for Librarians” course, I wrote an exploratory essay, examining how communication styles and language can help dismantle oppressive systems. In my “Information 204: Information Professions” course, I wrote a paper demonstrating leadership and communication skills when navigating issues of equity. In my “Information 263: Materials for Children” course, I conducted a study on equity, diversity, inclusion and white privilege in children's books, which demonstrates leadership and excellent communication skills in its presentation. In my “Information 269: Early Childhood Literacy” course, I have created a year-long programming plan in which leadership and clear communication are present throughout.

          Further examples of how I demonstrate professional leadership are my professional memberships in the American Library Association, Intellectual Freedom Round Table through the American Library Association, and the Research Data Access and Preservation Association. I also demonstrate professional leadership through work-related positions. I supervised and directed a staff of 42 employees for Barnes & Noble, participated in interviewing and hiring employees suited to specific positions, created daily employee tasks and projects, ensured all employees knew their responsibilities and were achieving them, was available to answer questions and provide coaching, issued quarterly performance reviews and career goal-tracking plans that my employees and I worked on together, and was in charge of the building and facility needs (such as scheduling maintenance, following up on repairs, and ensuring workplace safety).

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How I Have Changed From the Person I Was Before These Courses, to the Person After, to the Person I Am Now:

          Before I took these courses, completed these assignments, and created these pieces of evidence, I honestly was not aware of the leadership skills I had been displaying. Again, I thought of "leadership" as a supervisory or management type role. Having the opportunity to channel my passion for issues of EDI into two years worth of academic work and research (especially in a volatile political climate that was contentious and sometimes felt all-consuming) allowed my leadership skills to shine in a way that was applicable to who I am as a person and how I interact with the world. I did not back down from issues that I received pushback on. I listened and considered negative and opposing feedback, instead of engaging in unproductive arguments designed to create a "winner" and a "loser" in the conversation.

          I have always done well in the realm of communication. I am an excellent writer. In the 5th grade there were no elective courses that I liked and we had just learned how to write "Persuasive Arguments" in English class. So I created a formal proposal for my school's administrators to convince them to create a creative writing program. They did it (as an adult, I look back and speculate that I was probably a tiny little terror to deal with and they must have exhaustedly wished me well and cried in relief after 8th grade). I am creative, analytical, and I strongly value clear and direct information. These personal attributes have served me well. The past two years of graduate level courses and work however, have allowed me to evolve and hone my communication skills to (truly terrifying, if you ask my middle school) new levels.

          I have never been one to be overjoyed at group projects, or at having the responsibility of directing others. I do well when left to my own devices. I would not have thought of myself as someone who extensively collaborates with others. Yet this competency statement has effectively presented years and years of projects, working relationships, and collaborative ways of creating, inventing, and sharing ideas that I have not only participated in but often have instigated and designed. My understanding of what "collaboration" can mean has significantly evolved and expanded.

 

What I Have Learned:

          I have learned that excellent leadership skills can manifest themselves in different ways. There is no one right way to possess leadership skills. I have learned this through examining, and being surprised by, my own history of activism work. I do not have to supervise a staff of 40+ employees to be an effective leader (though I have). I can display and affect excellent leadership skills by showing up to the hard things, by saying "I will do the work", by not backing down from what I believe to be helpful or useful services for historically excluded peoples, and by listening to and respectfully working with those who disagree, in pursuit of solutions, not pride. I have learned, through the creation of Evidence A and B, that excellent leadership and communication skills manifest differently with me (an introvert) than they would with someone else who perhaps enjoyed interacting with large groups or supervising others. Just because these skills manifest in different ways through different individuals, does not make any one particular method of expression "the right way". 

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Section 4 of 4: 

How the Knowledge I Have Gained Will Influence Me in the Future, as an Information Professional

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What I Bring to the Position, in Terms of Competency M:

          I bring with me the ability to discern how leadership skills manifest themselves in different people. I bring impeccable communication skills and the ability to effectively apply them in a multitude of situations, formats, methodologies, and mediums. I bring a passion for working to move our culture further down the road towards a more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and accepting society. I bring the ability to persevere and maintain a clear focus on a goal. I bring extensive knowledge of available communication resources and technology as well as the ability to utilize and apply them. I bring with me always a willingness to show up and to do the work, even if it is difficult.

 

How My Learning in Competency M Will Contribute to My Professional Competence in the Future:

          I am an excellent communications professional because I can assess specific situations to determine the best communication practice. I learned how to do this by creating communications deliverables for different audiences and situations, such as my video presentation in Evidence A, at the beginning of my “Diversifying the Library Sciences” website, and for the storytime videos I incorporated into my children’s library programming site. I can create professional communications in written, digital, multimedia, verbal, and many other mediums. I have learned how to do this over a lifetime of developing my writing skills, persuading my elementary school administration to implement a creative writing class, and completing two years worth of graduate level work and research across an extensive array of formatting and medium options. I possess strong leadership skills that display themselves in ways concurrent with my own personal strengths. I have learned to understand the unique ways in which my leadership skills manifest by reflecting back on years and years worth of my own activism work and on two years of graduate level coursework in which I maintained a strong focus throughout on how the information sciences can help to dismantle systems of oppression. Learning how to further hone and develop my own communication and leadership skills has taught me to recognize and appreciate the unique ways that individuals can display the same sets of skills. My understanding of communication and leadership skills has evolved significantly over the past two years in this MLIS program, including my own perception of what constitutes leadership. My ability to communicate in exemplary fashions and to recognize and value what different individuals bring to the table make me an outstanding candidate for communications and autonomous positions.