SOP for MLIS review
If I could get some people to give me some feedback on my SOP, I would greatly appreciate it. The school doesn't give you much to work with so I modeled mine after some questions and examples a friend gave me. I need some more eyes on it so I can make it better.
I'm certain that it's not perfect and could easily be cleaned up or expanded on in certain areas. It comes in at almost one page and three quarters of the second.
I have been a voracious reader from the time I learned how to read. I truly struggled with reading at first and did not see the appeal. Once I finally got through that struggle, I found myself reading almost anything I could get my hands on. Whether that be a magazine article or a biography, I just loved to read.
My favorite genres are historical romances, particularly anything by Susanna Kearsley, and Urban Fantasy. My favorite urban fantasy authors have to be Patricia Briggs and Illona Andrews. I find myself returning to their series frequently. I also have a deep love of Greek Mythology, I always come back to it and learn something new when I do, even if it’s just revisiting my favorite myths.
The library was my favorite haunt and my safe place growing up. I was a bit of an outcast with my fellow students and so books became my best friends. I was the girl known to always have a book in hand and knew more about books than I did about what was considered common knowledge among my peers. The librarians were always happy to steer me to new recommendations or just let me hunt through the shelves of books that didn’t see as much attention because they weren’t on the Accelerated Reading system. In fifth grade, I created a lot of AR tests for the books I’d read, which gave the students more options on books that would earn them AR points.
When I worked as a sub for the elementary schools, one of my favorite things was getting to read to the children and help them with their reading in turn. I continued to help students with reading when I became an aide at a high school. Having the classics accessible to kids in a format they enjoyed and were familiar with was a joy. I saw many students become fans of Shakespeare and other classic authors through the high school library’s expanding collection of classics told in Graphic Novel formats. It was something I could discuss with them and often did.
I have wanted to be a librarian since I was a child, to give back to the community and help inquisitive children like the librarians I knew helped me. I’m excited to further explore the position of Children’s/Young Adult librarian and learn what that looks like in our ever changing world.
With _, I got a sense of welcome and ease when I was researching their Master of Library and Information Sciences. The website was well laid out, and information was easy to find. They listed the different tracks and a short description. I got the opportunity to go to the in-person information session and felt that all of my questions were being seriously considered and answered as well as laying out what was required and that each student would be assigned a supervisor in the field they were interested in pursuing.
The school encourages students to attend the ALA and TLA conferences, which is something I enjoyed learning about. A chance for students to go to the conferences and both mingle and learn about what’s new or upcoming in the world of libraries sounds like an exciting opportunity. Be that new ways to engage people and encourage them to read or new technologies that might help librarians and patrons alike in the future.
I look forward to learning the foundations of librarianship and am very interested in the Art of Storytelling, as I love to read aloud and tell stories through different mediums. During my undergrad I got the chance to tell the same story through multiple mediums, first as a short story, then through an assignment to create a three act structure for a feature film, and finally as a choose your own adventure via Twine.