Community Profiles
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.
Student Engagement Librarian Uses Data to Better Connect With Students
“It is important to find meaningful ways to connect with and support our users that we haven’t historically served as well, especially in the nation’s current climate. To me this means having cultural competency, knowing who your users are, having skills that support them and making sure you are meeting their needs in a way that is relevant and useful to them.”
Steven Deineh, Instruction and Student Engagement Librarian
MiraCosta College
Oceanside, CA
MLIS Graduate Advances Career as Collections Assessment Specialist
“Take advantage of the one-credit classes and internships while you are a student. There are a lot of interesting topics and opportunities that you might not know about otherwise.”
Kayla Kipps, Collections Assessment Specialist
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
MLIS Student’s Career Objective is to Empower Others
“In terms of the program, what has surprised me quite a bit is how responsive the professors have been and how much they seem invested in how their students succeed. I know there are a lot of students so I can see how it could be difficult for professors to show that they care for each individual, but I got the sense that they all want us to succeed in this field and to grow and gain as much knowledge as we can while we are taking courses with them.”
Andrew Chae
Substitute Teacher and MLIS Student
East Bay, CA
Stanford E-Resources Coordinator Values Community at the iSchool and Beyond
“Being a part of the student chapter of SLA was very helpful in making connections, some of whom I keep in contact with still. There are two other librarians on Stanford campus who are members of the local SLA chapter. Being a member is something that is appreciated at my job by people in higher positions, who understand the value of taking part in these associations.”
Yael Hod, Electronic Resources Acquisitions Coordinator
Stanford University Libraries
Palo Alto, CA
Metadata Librarian Stays Current With Post-Master’s Certificate in Web Programming
“As a metadata librarian, I like to work on projects that will be beneficial to my institution, but also in areas where I see a need. I like to collaborate with others and stay up-to-date on what is new in the field. It is so important to keep yourself connected with the professional community.”
Marina Morgan, Metadata Librarian
Florida Southern College
Lakeland, FL
Teacher Librarian Gains Credential and Connections at the iSchool
“I think that being at SJSU has made me more open minded about all the things technology is allowing us to do. I also enjoy having the freedom to work at my own pace in my own time. I think that has been really convenient and helpful as a working professional.”
Indira Chakrabarti
Teacher Librarian
Union City, CA
iSchool Blog Writer Looks Ahead to Career in Content Management
“I recommend getting a student assistant job and getting involved with whatever looks interesting to you. Join student groups, be on a committee, do things to help build your resume while you are in school. I learned so much from being the blog writer and just talking and interviewing other people about what they do, what they did, what they are interested in, what their advice is, etc.”
Priscilla Ameneyro, ‘18 MLIS
Content Specialist at VSP Global
Sacramento, CA
Post Master’s Certificate Student Presents on Book to Action Program at CLA Conference
“This program has given me the opportunity to do something that I have always wanted to do in a structured way and also provided me with the framework for my sabbatical project.”
Anthony Lin
Librarian, Irvine Valley College
Irvine, CA
Community College Librarian Looks to the iSchool’s Open Classes for Continuing Education in the Field of LIS
“It has worked extremely well for me to be able to continue to take classes and be involved in academic studies but not be a degree seeker. It is a great opportunity to continue my education and be excited about my career.”
Anne Chernaik
Librarian, College of Lake County
Grayslake, IL
Sarah Edwards Obenauf Uses MLIS and Advanced Certificate as Librarian at New Mexico Tech
“I am putting the [advanced] certificate to good use now at the library at New Mexico Tech. We are trying to figure out how to get our archives up and running online. The classes that I took in digital asset management are definitely going to translate over into the real world sooner rather than later.”
Sarah Edwards Obenauf
Public Services and Instruction Librarian, New Mexico Tech
Albuquerque, New Mexico
MLIS Student Joy Kim Expands Experience with Multiple Internships
“Every internship was so unique and different. The greatest takeaway is that librarianship comes in all shapes and sizes! I was grateful to experience so many ways to be an information professional and I loved all of them! It will be really hard to decide where to end up after I finish the program this fall.”
Joy Kim
MLIS Student, SJSU
Bay Area, California
Melissa Ward Brings Tech Experience and Energy to the ALASC
“Being a part of the ALASC has been a highlight of my time at SJSU. I love the library tours that the ALASC hosts at various libraries including the one where I work at Blizzard Entertainment. Being able to go behind the scenes to see what everyone is doing that is so different has been really fun.”
Melissa Ward
Chair, ALASC
Irvine, California
Megan Price Takes on Role as Editor-in-Chief of the School of Information’s Student Research Journal
“Our goal at the Student Research Journal (SRJ) is to further the scholarship of LIS and MARA students. We want to provide the opportunity for graduate students in our program to go through the peer review experience and become published authors.”
Megan Price
Editor-in-chief, Student Research Journal
France/San Francisco
Digital Assets and Metadata Librarian Boosts Knowledge With Post-Master’s Certificate in Digital Curation
“I’ve gotten a really great foundation and deep look into what digital curation truly is. There’s a lot of perceptions out there that digital curation is just digital preservation and digitization but it’s much more than that. It’s the whole life cycle of a digital object. I’ve come to an appreciation of that life cycle and how you manage those materials. Thanks to the iSchool, SJSU, and all my professors for a great experience. I couldn’t be prouder to be a graduate from the iSchool.”
Megan Tietjen
E-Library Coordinator, The International Baccalaureate
Washington DC
iSchool Professor Dr. Michael Stephens Returns to Australia to Give Closing Keynote at an International Conference
“Any exposure a soon to be information professional or information professional can have to international librarianship issues in global settings is wonderful. If you are lucky enough to go, whether for a formal or informal experience, you will learn so much.”
Dr. Michael Stephens
Associate Professor in the San José State University School of Information
Traverse City, Michigan
iSchool Alumnus and Departing Community Profile Writer Summarizes His iSchool Experience
“One of the best things about SJSU’s iSchool is that it connected me with LIS professionals across the world and right next door. It actually took me going to a school online in California to meet and connect with LIS professionals working right here in Philly; which is weird, I suppose, but also kind of affirms the global network connectivity that librarians have going on.”
Nick Perilli
MLIS Graduate 2018
Philadelphia, PA
School of Information Alumnus and Archivist Hosts Genealogy Event and Looks Ahead
“I think the number of interesting dead people is greater than the number of interesting living people. I value the opportunity to help keep alive the memories of previous generations by arranging and describing historic records.”
Sebastian Nelson
MLIS Graduate 2007
Sacramento, CA
Recent Alumna Extends Her Preservation Skillbase as a Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellow
“The best part about the program is being able to go to school remotely in order to continue earning an income as well as being able to actually have an internship or a fellowship to gain hands-on experience. So much of the information field is online at this point that I don’t feel like I am missing anything by not being in a classroom. If anything, it has taught me how to better interact in digital forum [and] deal with time zones and different technology interfaces.”
Tanya Yule
MLIS Graduate 2018
San Francisco, CA
Teacher-Librarian Gains the Formal Skills He Needs in Web Programming Through the San José State University School of Information
“All of my course work in the iSchool was challenging and relevant. The courses required the ability to learn programming languages and solve increasingly difficult problems with those languages. The teachers created learning experiences that required in-depth knowledge and the ability to solve problems in a systematic way.”
Al Walker
Post-Master’s Certificate Graduate 2018
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
San José State University School of Information Student Reaches Beyond the Classroom to Compound Her Professional Skillset
“The range of concentrations that SJSU offers was also extremely appealing. The scope of areas that are included within the field of librarianship alone is appealing. My work experience in librarianship thus far has been in a military community library and a public library. The courses available in general librarianship provided me with the accepted best practices relevant to collection development, collection management, cataloging, and research/reference needs.”
Kate Eminhizer
MLIS Student
Emporia, VA