Passed spring, 2009, by the ILS faculty
Special Project Requirement
for the MLS degree
The Special Project and Capstone Portfolio Requirements
All students enrolled in the MLS degree program are required to complete a Special Project in lieu of a thesis or comprehensive exam as one of the University requirements for graduate degrees. The Special Project proposal is developed in ILS 580 Research in Information and Library Science. Students should see Graduate School's Special Project Proposal guidelines and project requirements on the ILS Website.
The Department of Information and Library Science requires all candidates for the MLS to
complete an electronic Capstone Portfolio as one of the exit requirements for the degree. The Capstone Portfolio is a well-organized Web- and CD-deliverable demonstration of the body of work a student completes in the MLS program and how this work relates to professional competencies. The portfolio includes the Special Project and samples of assignments and projects from all courses completed for the MLS degree. See ILS website for Capstone Portfolio template and specific guidelines.
The completed Capstone Portfolio is valuated, using a rubric, by the student's advisor
or ILS 580 professor. The approved Capstone Portfolio is submitted to the ILS Depart-
ment on a CD and kept on fi le for review by faculty and accreditation agencies.
Deadlines for Graduation Application and Special Project Reviews
Degree Application Deadlines:
- Check the graduate calendar for graduate degree application deadlines, generally the semester prior to the semester in which you intend to graduate: http://www.southernct.edu/registrar/applyforagraduatedegree/
- In order to be eligible for graduation, a student must submit a Graduate Degree Application to the Registrar's Office by the established deadline
- All MLS students must complete the departmental Student MLS Degree Audit Checklist form and file one copy with the department office and one copy with the MLS Program Coordinator within the first two weeks of the semester in which they will complete their program/graduate. The form is available on the department website.
Special Project Reviews:
- A complete review of the Capstone Portfolio/Special Project is required at least two weeks before the end of the semester in which the student expects to graduate.
- Upon approval of the Capstone Portfolio/Special Project, the student submits the Portfolio with the Special Project documentation on a CD to the ILS Department office.
Additional Information:
The Special Project demonstrates the application or drawing together of
knowledge and skills acquired in the MLS program and is documented in
the Capstone Portfolio.
The Capstone Portfolio is a well-organized Web- and CD-deliverable demonstration of the body of work a student completes in the MLS program and how this work relates to professional competencies. Significant projects are typically completed in connection with upper level courses and result in a written report or other product.
The Capstone Portfolio should include: a narrative overview; courses
taken (with catalog descriptions), with links to samples of work;
professional competencies appropriate for beginning professionals and
the student's area of specialization, with links to work that
demonstrate each competency; reflection on the student's program of
study and preparation for the information profession; and a
professional resume. A template and sample portfolios as well as links
to helpful resources are available on the department's website.
In preparation for successfully assembling and submitting the Capstone
Portfolio as the Special Project requirement for the MLS degree,
entering students are advised to gain early in their studies the skills
needed to produce a Web- and CD-deliverable portfolio, to begin
collecting work in at least a rudimentary digital portfolio, and to
remain familiar with current professional competencies and how course
work relates to these competencies.
Comments concerning the Special Project requirement for the MLS
The capstone portfolio represents a body of accomplishments to be
used as the Special Project requirement in a 36-course-credit
professional program.
The capstone portfolio presents a strong program assessment tool to
view individual courses across students, interconnections among
courses, and overall programs of study compared to nationally derived
professional core competencies.
Concepts concerning and supporting the Special Project requirement for the MLS
- ILS 501 should include an exercise in creating a template for the portfolio and skills needed to establish and maintain a website, upload web pages and files, including images and sound.
- ILS 503 should include an exercise in identifying professional competencies appropriate to the student's professional goals.
- ILS 580 should include a review of the capstone portfolio to insure that is meets the listed criteria.
Preparing the Capstone Portfolio
The suggested general structure of the capstone portfolio is:
o Home (with narrative overview)
o Courses taken (with catalog descriptions)
o Links to samples of work in selected courses
o Core Competencies (with applicable competency statements)
o Links to work that demonstrates each competency
o Reflection on program of study and preparation for the profession
o Resume
You can be creative with the capstone portfolio including a range of
media from Word documents to sound to images (still and moving). It
should be unique to you while retraining the prescribed structure.
The capstone portfolio is logically organized, condensed information
that catches the reader's attention and delivers the message almost
instantly.
The capstone portfolio should begin with a well-written overview that
is a clear, concise, and relevant account of what you hope a visitor
will learn from your portfolio (about you and your educational career);
this will likely highlight the learning achieved over the course of
your program of study and perhaps how that learning lead to and/or was
applied to research you have conducted in the field.
The reflection is a personal statement that explains who you are, where
you come from, and where you are headed in your career. It is an
opportunity to reflect on your educational and career goals as you
think about your MLS career. Here you have the opportunity to examine
and reflect on your learning in a broad context of people, career,
culture, and experience.
Course catalog descriptions can be found it the Web version of the Graduate Catalog
The American Library Association has published a draft proposed set of
eight core competencies areas, with specific competency statements
under each competency area. These competencies are intended to be for
the beginning generalist librarian; they can be used to identify and
assess the knowledge or concepts and skills you have acquired over MLS
studies.
Students who have taken specialized courses such as in medical
librarianship or children's services may want to include Competencies
relevant subject competencies. Some of the published competencies are:
YALSA competencies for Youth Services Librarians
ALSC competencies for Children's Services Librarians
ASERL competencies for Research Librarians
SLA competencies for Special Librarians
RUSA professional competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians
AALL competencies for Law Librarians
cross-sectoral competency analysis for Information Resources Management
Specialists in Archives, Libraries and Records Management
core competencies for Music Librarians
Sample Template for the Portfolio
