February 2011 Archives
Posted February 28, 2011
We are well into the semester, almost at Spring Break even, and classes are in full swing. So far, my second semester has been quite different from the first in that this time around Ive had to balance the demands of a new full-time pre-professional library job in addition to my GSLIS course-load. I am absolutely excited about the opportunity to gain some valuable experience while Im in pursuing my degree, but this also means that Ive had to really take a step back and re-think my approach to school. I initially signed up for two courses for the Spring semester, just to keep the momentum going from the Fall. A few days into my job, though, I had to face that maybe taking two courses while I was still learning the ropes might be a bit more challenging than I thought. Especially since those two courses happen to be two core classes that I was told could be quite a mental workout to take together: 407 (Reference) and 415 (Information Organization). When I registered,…
Posted February 22, 2011
1 year ago almost to the day, the Acting Keeper of Prints, Rare Books, Manuscripts and Archives from the Boston Public Library (Susan Glover) called in to WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan to explain what she does. Quick context; this came up after the release by the Boston Herald of the salaries for all state employees; which led to a discussion (if you listen to WEEI you might use that term loosely) of “why do taxpayers pay for the Boston Public Library”, i.e. “what is so great about libraries, why should MY hard earned tax dollars go to a library. WHY!! So kids can play World of Warcraft? Old books suck!” etc… For all the hackle raising this might produce, Callahan reveals a crucial point; if people are asking these kinds of questions, then someone at the library is not doing their job. If the popular belief is that google and wikipedia can reveal the answer to everything then libraries are not doing their job (if just joining, then due to intellectual property rights alone, the…
Posted February 16, 2011
The semester is in full swing and I thought I would write about some of the classes I am taking. I have already finished my requirements and now I get to pick some electives! This is my last semester here at GSLIS (and I am devastated) and I am taking three (3) classes to close out my Masters of Science in Library and Information Science. Class 1: Medical Libraries I am very much interested in Special Libraries (my career goals involve government libraries). Medical Libraries sounded immensely interesting and was recommended to me by a number of GSLIS Alums. We are a few weeks into the class and I love it. Everything about Medical Libraries is interesting. We just took a field trip (yes this building is on the same street as the Palace Road building but still it was a grad school field trip!) to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Library. There we spoke to the director of the library and its head of reference services. It was interesting to…
Posted February 7, 2011
Had not thought of this point recently raised by Marilyn Johnson (author of This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All) but worth noting, and potentially tough to reverse. Libraries are invisible to people in power. Politicians [and corporate bodies generally i would say -ed.] have their own research staffs and IT support and newspaper subscriptions; they dont see how dependent the rest of us are on that shared information. –Marilyn Johnson Endnote: I always come back to a quote from my tutor Alan Smith, worth repeating; “Show me a town that denies funding to a library, and I’ll show you a librarian who stays in the office. Show me a town that funds its library, and I’ll show you a librarian who takes donuts down to the fire department. Who goes down to the city hall and goes into offices asking if they need anything. You have to be proactive. It might come as a shock to some of you, but a large part of the success of that library…
Posted February 7, 2011
On Friday LISSA (Library and Information Science Student Association) had a GSLIS Mixer and Trivia night at the Bell in Hand Tavern here in Boston. LISSA is a student group you are automatically entered in once you start here at Simmons GSLIS and they plan different types of events, everything from Guest Speakers to Trivia nights. Let’s just state that my group had the best name of the night. I had some pretty funny names (being somewhat of a trivia connoisseur) but we decided to go with “This is how we Dewey it” (which I thought was weak to my other suggestion: “Junk in the truncation” [which is hysterical I might add]) but majority rules and we went with Dewey. Clearly we won the name contest. Then the trivia began. What do you ask a bunch of Library Science students you ask? Oh just some facts about Libraries/Librarians. The first round asked pop culture related questions. One such example is the quote: “Look, I… I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a…
Posted February 2, 2011
I commute to school and work on the T and/or the bus. This means some walking and standing around waiting for a bus or T in the elements, while carrying around my daily essentials: coffee, water, food, reading materials for school and for fun, and sometimes my gym clothes. And as my fellow bloggers have all mentioned, we’ve been getting crazy amounts of snow lately. If you plan on commuting too, you might want to think about investing in a few things to get you through the snowy, slushy wonderland. 1) You’re gonna need a good, waterproof backpack. Not a shoulder bag. Shoulder bags are fine when the weather’s warmer or when there isn’t any slush, snow, or ice on the ground, but on a snowy day it just becomes something else that might throw you off balance. A good backpack with lots of compartments, including those side mesh pockets for easy access to your water bottle or coffee mug, has worked really well for me. 2) Good waterproof boots with textured soles. Uggs are…
Posted February 1, 2011
In the Fall 2010 semester, my student loans allowed me to pay for the mandatory health insurance not only for me, but for my husband and 17-month-old son as well. Thats a pretty big chunk of change, but the insurance covers a calendar year, and I was able to take two classes with the money left over. Since I dont have that expense in the Spring 2011 semester, Ive taken on a third class, and boy, does my plate feel full! Ive got Picture Book and Childrens Lit and Media Collections back to back on Mondays thats six straight hours and Management on Wednesdays. For me, the LIS courses come naturally, because theyre about doing, and they train me to accomplish something practical, but the CHL classes are much more challenging in that I must force my brain into academic/analytic mode. Im more comfortable there than I was last semester (CHL 401 whipped me into shape pretty well), but I still find it hard to get those gears turning. I feel so…
