With a bachelor’s in history from Auburn and a law degree from The University of Alabama School of Law, Kate Britt began as a legal assistant in a small law firm in Birmingham, Alabama. She then decided to pursue her Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) from the University’s College of Communication and Information Sciences through their highly respected online program. Earning her MLIS ultimately led to her current role, neatly tying together all her education and experience to qualify her for the career of her dreams.
“Like a lot of law school graduates, I was trying to find my place in the legal profession,” she explained. “I had a couple of friends who had gone to Alabama for their library degrees, and I realized it was something I was interested in and could be good at, and that it could supplement my existing education so I could go into the world of law librarianship. Even though UA was in my backyard, the distance program specifically has this great reputation.”
Additionally, the online MLIS program though UA Online was perfect because while Kate worked full time for the law firm, she could go to school virtually two nights a week and complete the MLIS. The program only required her to visit campus one time for orientation, but she remembers making important connections with other students from her cohort.
“It was this incredible three days because I got to meet my classmates from all over the country. Almost all of them said they chose Alabama because the distance program is so good. It wasn’t like other programs where you don’t really have any contact with fellow students or professors. It was an active classroom-type setting. It was fantastic to have orientation because then I had faces for all the names of my classmates, and I made friendships that continue to this day, even if I haven’t seen those people in person since orientation or graduation,” Kate recalled.
Coursework is delivered through live, online lectures that are set up like a virtual classroom. Kate remembers conferring with her peers during class, having side conversations and helping each other through the coursework, just like students would in a campus setting. Kate explains that the technology more than compensated for any distance issues.
“A big part of library school is group projects. It seems weird to some people I’ve talked to that I could do a group project from Alabama with someone who’s in Vermont, but it was facilitated really well with the technology available to us. And because we had developed those relationships already, it wasn’t awkward to all of a sudden start working one-on-one with my classmates. It was a really good library school experience, even if it wasn’t on campus.”
The same week she graduated with her MLIS in August 2017, Kate interviewed for and secured her current role as reference librarian for the University of Michigan Law School. She notes that the course concepts she learned from John Burgess’ class on reference interviews are a foundational part of librarianship and her day-to-day activities. She’s also grateful to Sybil Bullock, who helped connect her to her internship opportunity and whose experiences gave her a clearer expectation of what it would be like as a librarian in a special library. Both of these were particularly valuable to Kate since she had never worked in a library before the program.
“I think very highly of the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), and it has been very important to me. I had my undergraduate degree and my law degree already, but it wasn’t until I earned my library degree that I found my dream job. SLIS has been a really positive force in my life.”
Published: August 30th, 2020