Cadence Cordell was inspired by her undergraduate work experience to pursue a degree in library and information science. She followed in her mother’s footsteps by selecting the iSchool for her MSLIS. After completing a recent research poster presentation, she combined her scholarly pursuit with her hobby by sewing her fabric poster into a squirrel plushie.
Why did you decide to pursue an LIS degree?
I first fell in love with library work as an undergrad, where I was fortunate to get a job at the circulation desk at my college’s library. I found I really enjoyed working with patrons, especially students and faculty who needed help finding library resources for their research. I later applied for a position in my undergrad library designed for students interested in pursuing an LIS degree, and it helped cement my decision to go to graduate school.
Why did you choose the iSchool?
Part of it was prior knowledge of the iSchool. My mom is also a librarian, and she went through the Leep (MSLIS online) program while I was in high school—I remember her sitting at our kitchen table working on her assignments. So, when it came time for me to apply to LIS programs, I remembered her experiences and decided to apply to the iSchool too.
I was also drawn to the iSchool for its graduate assistantship opportunities. I was excited by the prospect of not just learning about library work in my courses but the opportunity to directly apply that knowledge while working in a library position.
Which particular LIS topics interest you the most?
I was first drawn to LIS because I was interested in reference and consultation. I really enjoy the process of working with patrons to find resources and research, and I love learning about new topics I hadn’t heard of before through reference interviews. I’ve also become interested in the field of scholarly communication and publishing. Lastly, I’m interested in accessibility and improving online access to library resources.
What do you do outside of class?
Over the past year, I’ve worked as a graduate assistant for Illinois Open Publishing Network, the library’s open access press. My main tasks involve communicating with scholars to edit and publish their work, performing technical and accessibility checks for publications, and preserving published journals and monographs in our catalog. I also work with Mary Ton, the library’s digital humanities librarian, as a graduate hourly, helping run workshops on digital humanities topics like AI and text mining and creating asynchronous resources for researchers.
Through my work with Mary, I presented a poster during the 2024 LOEX Conference. My poster was about our hybrid “Gentle Introduction” workshop series, which discussed strategies and best practices for designing hybrid workshops. When I first started looking into printing options for my poster, several colleagues suggested fabric, since it wasn’t much more expensive than printing on paper and was easier to transport. I also liked the fabric option because I enjoy sewing, and I knew I could reuse the fabric after the conference.
Since squirrels are popular at the library, I decided to make my poster into a squirrel plushie, so I would have a memory of my first conference presentation and the University of Illinois library.
Outside of class and work, I like to read and craft. I always have several crafting projects in progress; right now, I’m learning to crochet, and I’m also planning to sew a snake stuffed animal. I also enjoy going out to restaurants and trying new foods and drinks. I’m always excited to find out about new, local restaurants to try!
What career plans or goals do you have?
I’m currently applying for positions in academic libraries, with a focus on scholarly communication, digital humanities, and reference.