# data[].attributes.body
Hello Virtual Mates,
I am Kiran Teja Kolli, and I am in my second year 2 semester. It is great journey in my life studying in Dal and in MLIS course. I have learnt many things and got excellent experiences with many of my classmates during group projects and assignments. Being an international student, I never felt alone but always got treated with lots of love. My hobbies are watching Basketball(NBA- Milwaukee Bucks) and Baseball. I work at a convenient store where I meet lot of people from different backgrounds. This is the place where I learned how to communicate with people at different situations and with different strategies. I have an year experience working in CGI ( IT company) in SAP domain and I would like to extend my career in IT or Government bodies where I can serve people using my skills. I always tend to utilize my resources in a productive manner which in return gives me profit( may not be money but satisfaction). My under grad is in Electronics and Communication Engineering. I love to be in Halifax as it is my second home and primary home city as of now. To be frank. I never missed my home place back in India after coming here, but when I went for a vacation I missed Halifax a lot. I love to roam around and party but always my primary motto will be to respect others and make others happy. This gives me more pleasure !!! All the best for the summer term..

# data[].attributes.body
Hi all! My name is Jess and I'm in my second year of MLIS. I grew up in a family that still is very active in my home community, and it's something I've tried to do in other communities I become a part of. I found it helps me feel more at home to be part of something. I'm excited to learn about programing for different communities, and am hoping to learn more about services and programing for rural areas. These areas don't always have to same resources and opportunities bigger areas may have, and it would be interesting to learn how smaller communities can use the resouse they habe to creat stronger programs.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello everyone! I am going into my second year of the MLIS degree, and am very interested in Academic Librarianship. I took this course because I want to learn how to better serve minority groups in academic libraries. I would particularly like to focus on inclusiveness for the LGBTQ+ community.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Dan and I'm in the community led services course. (Class in unison: "Hi Dan".)
If someone makes their intro in the style of a 1980's VideoMate cassette, it would make my day!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi all. I am heading into my third year as a part time MLIS student. I currently work full time in the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University. My interests reside in the forum of public programming, more specifically in a museum or art gallery setting, and I believe that this course will be extremely beneficial for my future plans. I am particularly interested in equitable access and how to best create inclusive and welcoming spaces, both online and within bricks and mortar, that provide equal learning and participatory opportunities for everyone.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Lydia Hunsberger, I'm going into my second year of MLIS. I'm taking this course because I'm really interested in food literacy and security programming- I'm going to be doing two reading courses on this topic next year. Food programming is not only important to create a shift to more sustainable food practices and increase food security within marginalized groups, I also believe that sharing food helps create strong communities through sharing experiences and culture. I'm also working as a research assistant on an LGBT seniors community archive and hope that this might give me a bit of insight into community archives.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi team. I am going into my 2nd year in MLIS, with an eye towards public and academic libraries. I currently do work with a volunteer library that runs programs to the women's unit of Burnside prison and have done research around information resources as tools of prison abolition. I also do work at my local library with adult literacy and English language learning. Excited to get into the course!

# data[].attributes.body
Hello gorgeous MLIS friends!

My name is Mark. I am excited to enter the second year of my MLIS program and third year of my part-time studies.

All throughout my career before entering the library world, I had been involved with different communities especially the underserved. Before moving to Canada, I was working as a program coordinator for an international Non-Government Organization (NGO) advocating for access to education for children in the most impoverished communities in the Philippines. I also worked with another organization providing land and houses to people who lived in unimaginable living conditions. The impact that these previous experiences had made in my life is incredible which I continue to work despite the distance. I am still largely involved with these groups. Currently, I am advocating for literacy in my hometown in the Philippines and we will be launching our very first community library kiosks as my personal project, construction and book donations are on-going.

Back in Halifax, I would like to focus on the immigrant (newcomers) group. As I myself as an immigrant, settling in a completely new location is quite a struggle and truly overwhelming. I would like to accurately represent the information that immigrants need to be successful in their newly chosen home. I hope to find the answer to my question of how, when, or what to start with this objective in this course.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello everyone! I am an MLIS student and will be returning for my second year of full-time studies in the fall. I currently work as a library assistant with the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA). The library and braille production department provide alternate format materials and adaptive technologies to support students who are blind or visually impaired in Atlantic Canada. I am also interested in exploring how public libraries can become more welcoming and inclusive spaces for people with diverse needs, backgrounds and life experiences. I can see the value of taking a community led approach and I’m looking forward to learning how this model can be applied in different settings.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am an MLIS student going into my second year this fall. I am very interested in working in Collections Management, particularly in the public library system. I grew up in a very small community (less then 100 people) and went to school in a town of less then 800. So, I learned very early just how important having a positive public space like a library is to a community, and just how damaging it can be when certain members of the community are made to feel unsafe or unwelcome. I am taking this course because I think that a library that does not do its best to work for and with its whole community is a library without purpose or meaning, and so it is important that I understand how to actually accomplish that in a way that works for both the library and the people who use it. I am really looking forward to the coming weeks. See y'all in the discussions board!

# data[].attributes.body
Hello, my name is Erin. I have just completed my first year of the MLIS program and I’m from Prince George BC. My area of interest is working in public libraries and I just completed my practicum working with both branches of my local public library today. The town I am from is reasonably diverse, particularly in regards to spoken language. This led to some interesting experiences, with regards to my practicum, in the difficulties presented by multilingual collections management. I have a good deal of interest in making libraries more inclusive and welcoming to the communities they serve. I hope that this course will provide me with better skills and insight into how to do that.

# data[].attributes.body
Greetings everyone. I'm a part time MLIS student somewhere in my second year (4 courses to go after this) -- I commute from Saint John NB and was proud to receive the SIM Student award for "Most Dedicated Commuter" last year (LOL!). I am a mature student (but not old... I got my first motorcycle at 49) and work full time at University of New Brunswick. My "day job" gave me the opportunity to head up the campus library for over 2 years (temporarily, we call that in university "admin-land") and that planted the seed to wanting to pursue this librarian thing more seriously. I'm a lifelong public library user and I'm intrigued to learn more about how that world works -- my professional experience has been with academic libraries so I've much to learn! A few other tidbits: I'm originally from Cape Breton and still have family there. I lived many years in Toronto and then Halifax (and try to visit the HPL each time I'm in town). Looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and learning lots.

# data[].attributes.body
Greetings! I'm Kira and heading into my second year of the MLIS program. I've lived in a few places in Alberta, most recently Edmonton, but grew up in a small town in the northern half of the province. The library there was great and the librarian is amazing. She did a really great job of making the the library very welcoming and I'd like to learn more about doing that for different community groups. Also, I love knitting, travelling, reading, baking, and a few other things. I have a few options in mind for where I'd like to end up after finishing the program, but my current obsession is with rare book collections and schools.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello, everyone!  I’m Ridley from Tallahassee, Florida. I’ll be starting my second year in the MLIS program this Fall, and I just completed a practicum at NSCAD making Novanet video tutorials and a LibGuide for their Artists’ & Rare Books Collection. My undergraduate background is mostly Studio Art, Art History, and Museum Studies. I have several years’ experience working and volunteering in a public library back home, and I’ve also worked in the education department of an art museum writing lesson plans, doing school outreach, and designing/running children’s activities for public museum events. This combination of experiences has really sparked my interest in how art, crafting, and other creative activities like cooking might be used in libraries to connect with communities. There are very few library programs in Tallahassee and little overall community engagement (when I asked why I was told that there was just no community interest). I want to work in public libraries back home so my goals for this course are to hopefully learn some methods for working with local communities that could really benefit from more relevant, inclusive, and welcoming services (especially teens and people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or experiencing homelessness). Looking forward to learning from everyone!

# data[].attributes.body
Hello everyone! I'm Nathan, and also starting my second year of the MLIS program. I just finished my practicum at Alderney Gate Public Library, where I got to see some community-led programs in action. My background is in both technolgy (computer science/math) and education. I'm a Newfoundlander, gaming nerd, and a dog lover. I'm particularly interested in community-led services for the LGBTQ+ population. Back home in NL for the past several years I've attended an annual leadership camp for LGBTQ+ youth (as a camper, youth leader, and now an adult mentor), which holds a special place in my heart. I'm hoping to incorporate some of what I learn in this course in my involvement with that community!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi everyone. My name is Talent Ndlovu (which means elephant) hence I proudly refer to myself as part of the big 5! I am from Zimbabwe somewhere in southern Africa and came to Canada last August. I did my undergrad at Monash University’s South Africa campus and specialized in International Studies and Criminology. In 2013, I was awarded a scholarship by the Monash Australia for a seeking Justice course that focused on post genocide Rwanda and post apartheid South Africa. Post graduation I worked for a non-profit organization that sought to empower local communities through public discourse and civic engagement in addressing various issues. All these experiences have led me to Canada as an African Leaders of Tomorrow (ALT) Scholar in the Master of Public Administration program at DAL. I just started my summer co-op as Junior Policy Analyst at the Department of Community Service’s Transformation Support Unit. The department is currently undergoing some transformation and digitalization of its services. With no prior knowledge of MLIS I figured Community-Led Services would be a great course to not only complement my current work experience with DCS but also will enhance my knowledge as I prepare for a career in the public service. I hope to learn so much from all of you. Thank you.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi everyone! My name is Kelsi Godin. I just finished my first year of my MLIS degree. I am originally from Hatchet Lake, NS, which is a small community just outside of Halifax. I love to cross stitch, read, watch movies/tv, and spend time with my family, including my 2 family dogs. I have an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Geography from Saint Mary's University. In 2017, I came to Dalhousie for my MPA but decided to pursue an MLIS and a graduate diploma in Public Administration instead as I felt this program better aligned with my interests in information management. While I do not plan to work in a public or academic library setting in the future, I am very interested in working for in the public sector. I would like to better understand service delivery and how to make services meet community needs.  I am particularly interested in services related to people with invisible disabilities as someone who struggles with this myself. I just finished my practicum working at the Killam Library with Morning Star Padilla, the Indigenous Services librarian, and gained some valuable insight into service delivery for Indigenous peoples, which is another reason I decided to take this course. I look forward to learning plenty of new things and interacting with all of you throughout the semester!

# data[].attributes.body
My name is Karuna Varakuti and I am from Hyderabad which is one of the big city in the southern part of India. After completing my undergraduate degree in  Electrical and Electronics Engineering, I have joined TATA Consultancy Services  and worked for 7 years as an IT Analyst. and want to use my knowledge to serve different people. Now I am in my second year first semester of MLIS program. This program provided me numerous opportunities to work in groups and made me understand different perspectives to work.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello everyone! My name is Kate McClintock and I will be starting my second year of the MLIS program this fall. I just completed my practicum at Halifax Central Public Library, where I learned a lot about the library's involvement with different HRM community groups including youth, families, and those experiencing homelessness. I am very interested in working in public libraries, as I believe they have the amazing capability to provide a variety of beneficial resources to their communities. I am originally from the High Park neighborhood of Toronto, but have also lived in a small rural town in Illinois (population 3600), suburban Massachusetts, and Charlottetown, PEI, and I am excited to explore more communities in the future! I'm also a big fan of art, music, & food, and would love to incorporate those things into my library career somehow. Really looking forward to this course! :)

# data[].attributes.body
Hi everyone!  I've been enjoying lurking on this engagement forum and reading all your introductions.  I know many of you already, but I still learned a lot about your background and interests.  I'll be monitoring the Week Two discussion while Alison is away and I'm looking forward to sharing ideas with you.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello everyone! My name is Nicole Slipp and I've just completed the first year of my MLIS degree. I'm writing this post from my desk at Halifax Central Library, where I have worked for 2.5 years (it's before my shift!). I am also currently a full-time intern at the Killam. I am interested in both public and academic libraries, with a slight preference for academic. I hope to learn more about how to serve the vulnerable communities I see working at Central and to learn about how community-led principles apply to academic libraries as well.
My background is in medieval literature, queer and feminist theory, and comics studies. I'm very much looking forward to the course!

# data[].attributes.body
Sorry I'm late! I'm Samantha, I'm from Halifax, and this is my last MLIS class before I (hopefully) graduate in the fall. I have 0 public library experience but I'm interested in learning about program development for marginalized communities (in particular Indigenous populations, newcomers, and those in the justice system).

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Mike! Sorry for the delay as my life feels more busy than when I was a full-time student. I've been in Halifax for about 4 years and I am going into my second year of the MLIS program. I am interested in librarianship specifically because of courses such as this one. I believe firmly in R. David Lankes' ethos that librarians can be agents of "positive radical change" and I try to imbue that into everything I do. On my personal interest side, I love pop culture, baseball, independent music & movies, and talking very quickly.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello! I apologize for the delay in my post! My name is Liz and I have been living in Halifax for the last 5 years while attending school at King's previously, and now Dalhousie. I just started interning at the Sexton Library of Technology and Design and am very excited to experience academic libraries! I'm interested in accessibility issues in libraries, and especially what further changes can occur through approaching library assessment in terms of various accessibility issues. I have an interest in cinema and creative writing!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creating the innovative and open library of the 21st century, BSF is dedicated to the education and information of those who are most vulnerable.