Community Profiles

Overview

Community Profiles

Get to know our students, alumni and instructors by reading about their backgrounds, interests, professional goals, favorite courses, accomplishments, careers, and more fascinating experiences. These stories cover a wide range of topics and showcase the talents of our vibrant global community. 

Community Profile

President of the CLA and iSchool Alumna Strongly Advocates for the LIS Profession

Dolly Goyal

“It really helps you understand the bigger picture, keep an eye on the profession, and the issues that all types of libraries are facing. We’re in a field that is constantly being threatened, so it’s important to know when and where we need to advocate for our profession and how to communicate our relevancy in our communities.”

Dolly Goyal
MLIS Graduate ‘07
Sunnyvale, CA

Community Profile

Alumna and Former Student Assistant Strives to Empower the Public Every Day

Julie Whitehead

“For me, I love being able to empower people the most. Many people who come in don’t realize the full range of services we offer or how to really find what it is that they are looking for. Being able to show local students how the databases work or helping a patron understand how to download a library e-book is a thrill for me.”

Julie Whitehead
MLIS Graduate 2013
Dumont, NJ

Community Profile

iSchool Alumna and Academic Law Librarian Continues to Evolve Her Career

Elyse Meyers

“I selected SJSU because of its flexibility, because I wanted to be at a California school, and because once I made the decision to transition out of practicing law, I wanted to get started fast and jump on the next stage of my career. The convenience of online education – I could stay in LA, where I’d been living for quite a while, I could travel some, I could do internships where I wanted, etc. – was a big factor.”

Elyse Meyers
MLIS Graduate 2013
Los Angeles, CA

Community Profile

Global Educator and MLIS Student Values the iSchool’s Diverse Course Offerings and Flexibility

“I took the storytelling course partly because I do some storytelling in Korean schools and libraries. It seemed like a good class for me as a teacher and librarian. I think the class is useful for librarians who want to more effectively perform stories in the library (or other) settings. It had a lot of wonderful techniques to improve storytelling, and the workshopping format with lots of feedback is a great way to sharpen your own performing skills.”

Lewis West
MLIS Student Graduating 2019
Daejon, Korea

Community Profile

iSchool Student Builds a Global and Community-based Perspective on Librarianship

Terra Emerson

“I know that a lot of people think that libraries are becoming irrelevant, but I strongly disagree. The library where I work is always incredibly busy. It’s true that there are a lot of ways for people to access information themselves these days, but it can become information overload and people often need a little help navigating through it.”

Terra Emerson
MLIS Student Graduating 2018
Sonoma County, CA

Community Profile

iSchool Alumnus Climbs His Way to a CEO Position at a Sizable British Columbia Library

“The MLIS program seemed the perfect program for transitioning into more senior leadership positions given its focus on leadership and management oriented coursework.  The fact that I could do it part time and remotely was also a factor, as I kept working full time in my then current job as Director of Information Technology and Support Services at Fraser Valley Regional Library.”

Scott Hargrove
MLIS Graduate 2010
British Columbia, Canada

Community Profile

MLIS Graduate Helping to Archive the Immortal Work of Charles M. Schulz

“My love of history led me down the archives pathway of classes. I chose SJSU’s iSchool because it is ALA accredited, and having an online program was important for me since I was working full time and needed to ‘attend classes’ at odd hours.”

Jennifer Pickens
MLIS Graduate 2014
Santa Rosa, CA

Community Profile

MARA Graduate Uses New Partnership Between SJSU and ICRM to Quickly Obtain CRA Certification

“SJSU’s MARA program curriculum covered every area of records management and I particularly like that the curriculum is continually evaluated and updated to align with the job market and emerging trends in the records profession. The program also really helped me to embrace the changes brought about [in my career] as a result of emerging technologies.  The program offered tools to develop solutions that can be used in any industry.”

Ossie Thomas
MARA Alumna Graduated 2016
Memphis, TN

Community Profile

iSchool Alumnus Ready to Navigate the Vast Archival Field

“I love the fact that all of my professors have experience in the field, whether it’s records administration or the archival field. They help me understand what experiences they bring to the program and how I could eventually apply it to my future career.”

Nikolay Zherebnenkov
MARA Alumnus Graduated 2017
Castro Valley, California

Community Profile

iSchool Student and Artist Dedicates Herself to Cultivating the Relationship Between the Arts and Information Sciences

“I looked at the way that Winnipeg artists gather and encounter information and found that artists and scientists have more overlap than many people would guess. They both seek out data, create organizational systems for retrieval, and dole out information for their networks to encounter as well.”

Kira Koop
iSchool Student Graduating 2018
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Community Profile

A Post-Master’s Certificate from the iSchool Refreshes Dedicated Librarian’s MLIS and Creative Spirit

“What bothered me about other schools, to speak frankly, was that I bet if you looked at their course catalog from 1987, 2007, to today, one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The classes were dated. Even SJSU’s foundation classes are on par with issues and topics libraries are experiencing right now.”

Jennifer Stencel
May 2017 Post-Master’s Certificate Graduate
Akron, OH