Steven Gurney
MLIS, University of South Florida
Welcome to my e-Portfolio!
Hello! My name is Steve Gurney, and I am very pleased to share a summary of my academic and professional journey as I pursue my master’s in library and information science. After over a decade of working in public libraries, I decided to enroll in the University of South Florida's MLIS graduate program. Throughout my academic career, I have gained invaluable knowledge and experience that will enhance my life professionally and personally. Inside this e-Portfolio, you will find my academic and professional achievements, showcasing vital elements that reflect my educational journey and commitment to the field of librarianship.
This website is an e-Portfolio containing a curated group of artifacts that demonstrate my recently acquired knowledge in the areas of leadership and innovation, library systems and services, knowledge representation, and theory and praxis. Also, to provide further insight into my career, my resume is available below.
My Narrative
Even though reading, education, and access to knowledge have been a part of me from early on in my life, I never really considered a career as a librarian for myself until relatively recently. I’ve had people tell me that I should consider being an educator or something along those lines, but I was sure that I didn’t want to teach. So, I bounced around from job to job in my 20s and 30s with no real plan.
Eventually though, I got hired by the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative as a library aide, which is an entry level position. I then moved up to the circulation department as a library assistant. At my next career move, I was promoted to the level of Library Technical Guide 1 and worked in what HCPLC called the Hive, which is what HCPLC calls their makerspaces. They have 3D Printers, recording studios, STEM classes for kids, and other collaborative tools. After a few years of doing that,
I eventually made my way up to managing the HCPLC Interlibrary Loan Service. I did that for about 10 years, developing new ILL workflows, ILL training materials, and lead the transition from ILLiad to Tipasa. After doing everything that I could do as ILL manager, I decided that if I really wanted to move up any further, I would have to get my MLIS. So, I enrolled in the MLIS program at USF in 2023. Despite enjoying learning about library science, I was still restless.
So I began to look outside of my Library Cooperative, and I was very fortunate to land my current position as the Night Supervisor of the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library which is right in the heart of the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg. My duties include hiring, training and managing the night-time student workers, managing the ILL service and the UBorrow Program, and stacks maintenance.
I. Leadership & Innovation
LIS 6409 Introduction to Library Administration
Librarians are innovative problem-solvers who are able to lead and manage through reflection, collaboration, and communication.
Dr. Stites was my professor in this very interesting course. In this collaborative project, my project partners and I collaborated on a project proposal to increase the number of item hold pickups which were declining over the course of several years. Our solution was to roll out a 24-hour locker program which would allow our patrons the ability to pick up their holds at any time. The project proposal has problem and solution statements, and identifies the required resources, project partners, implementation plan, and assessment procedures following the completion of the project. A detailed budget and timeline are also included.
II. Systems and Services
LIS 5937 GIS for Information Professionals
Librarians must understand systems and technologies that facilitate the management and use of information resources to serve their patrons' diverse needs.
For my technology elective, I took GIS for Information Professionals. I am so grateful for the experience! Professor Kim Lersch prepared me for designing my portfolio by making me familiar with site-building platforms such as ArcGIS.
For our final project, we were required to design a story map about whatever subject we wanted. I decided to design a story map based on my love of monster movies.
III. Knowledge Representation
LIS 6711 Organization of Knowledge I
Librarians are adept at cataloging and metadata principles and can implement those skills with real resources. They understand that information organization is an ever-evolving science in any chosen area of specialization.
One of the most challenging courses that I have taken in the MLIS program is Dr. Niu’s Organization of Knowledge I course. We covered it all: taxonomies, classifications, controlled vocabularies, ontologies, and metadata. One of the subjects of the course that interested me the most was Bibframe.
It’s a data model created by the Library of Congress and powered by Linked Data, which takes random data and turns it into a meaningful, organized network. BIBFRAME allows bibliographic records to be machine-readable and connected across the web, not just inside a library catalog. For my final project, I wrote a research paper on Bibframe. To see my thoughts on Bibframe, please review my artifact.
IV. Theory & Praxis
LIS 6511 Collection Development
Librarians must be able to utilize what they have learned in the MLIS program about the theoretical teachings on information organization, management, and research of the information sciences and apply it to their profession.
One of the reasons that I stopped working at the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative was that I felt that I had learned everything that I could at my previous position. And I had learned all of these new things in the MLIS program, but I was unable to apply any of that knowledge to my then-current job. Now that I am a supervisor at USF-SP's Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, I can use what I learned from Dr. Taylor's class, and I can apply it to my role as a member of the Library's Programmatic Planning Group, where we are making decisions on how the collection is developing.
Statement of Integrity
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All artifacts, narratives, and examples presented in this e-Portfolio are my original work, unless explicitly noted as part of a group or team project. This portfolio has been prepared exclusively by me.
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To safeguard the privacy of its contents, I am submitting the e-Portfolio through Canvas for this course, or sharing the URL solely with my assigned advisor.
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Before making this portfolio publicly accessible, I will take care to protect the privacy of individuals and institutions by omitting any identifying information related to team members.
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To the best of my knowledge, all clip art used in this portfolio is free from copyright restrictions and available for use without permission.
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I affirm that all content reflects my original scholarship, and I have adhered to the academic integrity policies and ethical standards of the University of South Florida.