ETL507: Study Visit Report Reflection

The Study Visits have helped me professionally by highlighting how different Information Studies fields can be impactful on the local community. I really enjoyed the Study Visits conducted by Katie Haden (Study Visit 2: Supreme Court Library Queensland), Krystal Gagen-Springs (Study Visit 1: Mount Alvernia College), and Justine Hanna (Study Visit 8: Moonee Valley Libraries). This is because I am a Legal Studies teaching major and hearing how Katie Haden works in the Supreme Court Library really ties into the area that I teach – it makes another link between my degrees that I didn’t expect nor did I know of. In an ideal world, I’d love to be able to work in a secondary school library and hearing from Krystal Gagen-Springs highlights what the current climate is in a school library and gives me ideas for what I could possibly try if I were in her position. It has made me consider the different possibilities and consider the impact that I could have on the low literacy students, in terms of what resources I could bring into the collection. I have also had a real love for my public library; however, my council area only has one site, not several like the Moonee Valley Library. This study visit, highlighted how different sites can help different patrons but also help the wider community, as seen with COVID-19. I learnt a lot about how they operate on a multi-site system and how you need to consider the local demographic in all that you do.
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Personally, I really enjoyed the Study Visits and they were a good alternative to face-to-face ones. Ideally, I would have loved to have the face-to-face Study Visits as I found the different times that they were held difficult to manage and keep track of. Having a consistent time for all study visits would be of benefit, especially for those who are in a different time zones to the majority. Overall, the Study Visits were enjoyable and well worth the time and effort.