Throughout my time as an Honors College student I have had the opportunity to use these projects and experiences as a way to explore my interests academically and push my limits in terms of technical skills and field expertise. As an emerging professional, these experiences have reinforced by love for community collaboration, promotion of accessibility, and the enhancement of knowledge and community understanding.

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Through honors projects like how specialized information systems outside of libraries and how archival methods can support archaeological techniques, I've cultivated skills in not only critical thinking but also problem solving. In both of these cases, I had a vision in my mind of how these library sciences tools can be used and modified in an effort to create technology systems that are more community beneficial. It also connects back to the honors college learning goal of "Civic Minded Leadership" because of my interset in making a difference through unique technology implementation and use.

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Throughout my time in Honors College I have become more sure of myself not only in my career interests, but the kind of impact I want to make in my community. When I started honors college, I said I wanted to "contribute" to the IU Indianapolis and broader Indianapolis community, but I wasn't sure what that meant or how I wanted to achieve that. Through field and research exploration, I have solidified this vague idea of public service into something much more concrete in regards to information access and authentic representation of communities within archival collection description and care.

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The artifacts as part of this showcase not only show my growth as an academic and a member of my community, but my continued commitment to intellectual exploration and technological innovation. I've had the great priviledge to work with many professors throughout my academic career who supported the research and projects I felt would best push my understanding and expertise. Some of my favorite courses I've taken are not necessarily degree related, but allowed me to think critically about society and how we function within those social structures. ​A reading from Terry Cook, "Evidence, memory, identity, and community: four shifting archival paradigms" shaped the way I thought about my role as an archivist. It showed me the kind of professional I wanted to become.

 

Often described as "neutral" parties that are conservators of history, archivists realistically play an important role not only in the preservation of cultural memory, but how these stories are conveyed. It is our duty not only as individuals, but stewards of these communities, to ensure that these glimpses into humanity are accurate and reflect the nuance of the people we serve. Cook addresses this very well in their article. Other authors like Dorothy Berry, ML Casswell, and Lauren Haberstock also had great articles and readings which informed the way I thought about archives and my role as an archivist in my community.

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"...archives are constructed memories about the past, about history, heritage, and culture, about personal roots and familial connections, and about who we are as human beings; as such, they offer glimpses into our common humanity," (Cook, 2012).

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Through projects like my capstone where I explored the documentation of gender and gender transitions in archives from a decolonial perspective, I had the opportunity to connect with individuals across the country from various institutions to learn more about queer representation. This also offered me the opportunity to learn more about the personal experiences of these individuals, deepening my own understanding of the queer community. Something that really resonated for me from these interviews was the perspective of "archives as activism" and teh way in which archives are not only able to preserve marginalized voices, but also hold groups perpetuating oppression accountable.

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This is all to say that my honors experience greatly influenced the person I am today and allowed me growth that I might not have otherwise experienced. I challenged myself not only intellectually but technically to push my expertise and technique to learn more about how library sciences tools and techniques can be harnessed to support local communities. Projects like the SQL database gave me perspective on backend programming and the amount of planning and skill it took to build something functional from the user-end. It also showed me that if I had a goal, even if it was lofty, I can achieve what I put my mind to. These projects, amongst others in my collegiate career fostered a value for education, accessibility to knowledge/learning, and the value of community involvement. This crystallization in personal and professional values has helped expand my understanding of the world around me, grow my skills as a professional, and mature as an individual by having me critcally reflect about my own experiences throughout my life that have led me to this point.

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These experiences have set me up for success afer graduation by giving me a jumping off point for future graduate school research/projects, professional connections that have supported hands-on experience, and the critical thinking and communication skills I need to be a competent professional in my field.