From behavioral health researcher to LIS professional
How I Got Here
I began pursuing a Master's in Library and Information Science (MLIS) at the University of South Florida (USF) in Fall 2023. My past and current work focuses on behavioral health and criminal justice research and policy, work I began at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health while completing my Ph.D. in applied/experimental psychology (with an emphasis in social psychology) at Saint Louis University. I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at USF. My goal is to transition to a second career as an LIS professional.
Roots in Genealogy and History
I focused my MLIS program on health sciences librarianship, archiving, and genealogy. My interest in genealogy began in childhood, during summers spent in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where my Italian and Cornish ancestors worked as iron ore and copper miners. That time in Michigan grew into an interest in history during college at Purdue University Calumet, and later into a fascination with city planning and architecture from the hours I spent walking Chicago's Loop during the year I worked there. That fascination later became the subject of a LibGuide I built for LIS 6603, Basic Information Sources and Services.
My interest in history grew through courses I took with my favorite college professor, Lance Trusty: Revolutionary Era, Northwest Indiana History, and two general education survey courses that felt like watching the History Channel before such a thing existed. My undergraduate experience engendered a love of reading non-fiction.
Why Archiving
Archiving grew naturally from my interest in genealogy and history, as well as from managing and archiving millions of paper and electronic records as Director of the Baker Act Reporting Center. USF's MLIS program and co-curricular activities deepened that interest. This includes an internship in archiving at the University of Tampa, which showed me what it means to apply "More Product, Less Process" to a real collection, rather than discuss it in a paper. A long-term research and writing project has led me to archives in Michigan. The 100th anniversary of the Barnes-Hecker Mining disaster is in 2026. My Italian paternal great-grandfather was one of 51 men who died in this disaster. I am seeking primary sources after extensive review of digitized newspaper records. This includes contacting archives to determine whether Coroner's inquest testimony, workers' compensation claims, Cleveland Cliffs company records, and non-digitized newspapers are available, including at Northern Michigan University and Michigan Technological University. I also traveled to the University of Florida this year to view the Maxine Baker Archives. She was a legislator wrote the original Baker Act in 1971. My direction of the Baker Act Reporting Center has focused on what she started. Learning more about her life has given new context to my current work.
A Health Science Information Professional
Health sciences librarianship is the most natural next step after my career in mental health services policy and research. That interest is further shaped by a childhood steeped in medicine. My mom was a nurse for four surgeons and worked in an emergency department throughout my childhood. And by my early jobs as a medical receptionist, in a hospital dietetics department, and managing an otolaryngologist's office in Chicago's Loop. More recently, I participated in several studies at the NIH campus in Bethesda, as well as immersed myself in health care as a learner and advocate. I began completing online training offered by the Network of the National Library of Medicine, which sparked my interest in health care communication and literacy, both as a profession and as a broader topic.
How the Program Built These Skills
Each course in the MLIS program built toward the four program-level learning outcomes that structure this portfolio on the competencies and student learning outcomes page of this ePortfolio. The four learning outcomes are: leadership and innovation, systems and services, knowledge representations, as well as theory and praxis.
What Comes Next
Looking back across the program, I have learned skills, but also a way of thinking. About how to move between the conceptual to the real world. I appreciate how USFs MLIS program focuses on both the conceptual and on real-world application. I am looking forward to applying what I have learned!
This website includes artifacts from each course and information about co-curricular activities that demonstrate how I met the program's goals.