"Allow me to re-introduce myself..." ;)

Hello All! 

My name is Raquel Flores-Clemons and I am a proud daughter of the Westside of Chicago! I just completed my first semester as a Masters student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences (GSLIS) in Spring 2013. Although Spring 2013 was my first official semester as a GSLIS student, I had taken GSLIS courses prior as a Continuing Education student to fulfill requirements of the Masters program as well as that of a graduate minor in Museum Studies and Special Collections Certificate. I am also a L.A.M.P scholar, a diversity initiative offered through GSLIS.


Although I began my undergraduate career at Howard University (go HBCUs!), I received a BALAS in Art History here at the U of I in 2006. I became interested in pursuing a graduate degree in LIS because I have always been intrigued by how art and LIS together not only enable one to organize and display information (visually and musically) but can foster the embracement of social differences. As an undergraduate, I helped research and provide outreach to both students and community members for “A Saint in the Museum”, an exhibit at Krannert Art Museum of urban Senegalese art influenced by the dimension of Islamic culture known as Sufism. Through this experience, I witnessed first hand how art created dialogue between various communities in a post 9-11 society. Also, in my roles as a Mentor and Library Assistant at Champaign Public Library’s Douglass Branch, I challenged youth to video-document key issues in their communities and introduced youth participants to cultural practices of various indigenous populations that they unknowingly adopted due to its reinterpretation in popular fashion, art and music. As lofty as this will sound, visual and cultural arts has been a constant mirror and critique of the world we live in; Art is a form of information that, too, can serve as a catalyst for change. 

I have a strong interest in art museums (Modern & Contemporary/ Urban Art and Culture), with a strong emphasis in Design. My goal is to become an archivist of graphical and auditory material, and a librarian with specializations in art, reference services, and user experience. I seek to build on my interpretative abilities and develop skills necessary to contribute to the collection and preservation of audiovisual and printed material, particularly related to the experiences of marginalized communities, urban history, and the continuing development of Hip-Hop. Despite common misperceptions of only being violent, misogynistic, and hyper-materialistic, Hip-Hop is a youth-developed and diverse culture, born out of the African-American as well as Latino-American experiences, that creates visual, digital, and paper records of urban narratives. These narratives serve as lyrical and graphical evidence of social ills ravaging urban communities, which are largely ignored or misrepresented in mainstream media. Scholars are already studying Hip-Hop’s impact on society, with elements of the culture being incorporated into primary, secondary, and university curriculums.  Museums now host hip-hop exhibits. Archives dedicated to researching and preserving the culture are developing nationwide. I am a proud product of an urban community that has witnessed the positive impact Hip-Hop has had on youth. I am excited about the burgeoning interest in enriching academics with Hip-Hop, and the prospect of applying LIS theories and practices in this environment.

Additionally, studying Library and Information Sciences has introduced me to a slew of search and discovery tools as well as cataloging systems. I have become increasingly more interested in issues surrounding naming authority in these tools/systems and how representation of various information can not only impact the retrieval of information but also how it has the potential of reducing the quality of information retrieved. If the language of a particular audience is not represented in these tools, information can become inaccessible or misunderstood.  Additionally, it beckons the question(s) who has authority to name and label ideas/information within these tools? Is the importance of accurate representation information extended to how content creators choose to represent their work and themselves? In providing access to information, what is being represented/misrepresented? For example, according to the naming conventions of Library of Congress (LC) cataloging system, author bell hooks is represented as "Hooks, Bell" with her intentionally lower-cased name capitalized. This may seem small, but LC's representation of bell hooks name disregards the author's purpose in not capitalizing her name, which she sees as keeping the focus on the substance of her work instead of who she is, and, in essence, it strips away her authority of self-representation. Also, if a user searches for "bell hooks", their search may be limited due to her name being misrepresented as "Hooks, Bell" in a search/discovery tool that cataloging system is following LC standards. This is important for any content creators (including us budding researchers/professors/educators/etc. in SPI) because most creators want their content to be accessible. Mislabels/misrepresentation of someone's work can prevent that access. 


For SPI, I hope to somehow explore these interests further and synthesize them in some meaningful way. I will be working with Dr. Safiya Noble, however, I have not worked out the exact focus/topic for the culminating research project. I'll be sure to keep you all posted! :) 

On a personal note, in addtion to being a student and archivist/LIS professional-in-training, I am also the mother of two daughters: 10 year old Delilah (a.k.a Lilah-Bear), and 4 year old Nilah (a.k.a Nilah Bear, a.k.a Lil' Baby-Lady (lol) :) ). I am also the life partner to Nathan, my husband of 10+ years, who is an MCB grad student and research assistant here at the U of I, as well as an SPI alum!

I’m looking forward to connecting with you all and working more with my wonderful R&W fam.!

Peace,

Raquel