It’s That Time Again
Posted April 9, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
Fall registration is this week. I always love registration time but this year I’m a little stressed out because the Fall semester is my last one at Simmons! I only have three classes remaining–one summer class and two fall classes–but I’m interested in a lot of classes. I’m trying to narrow it down and I am not succeeding. For the summer semester, I’m taking LIS 447, Collections Maintenance. It was supposed to be an intensive two week in-person class, but it, along with all the other summer courses, was moved online due to coronavirus. It’s going to be interesting to do it online because it’s traditionally a hands-on class where you work directly with the books. However, the professor emailed all of us who registered and said that she’s made some changes and is confident it will work online. I was considering taking LIS 484, Theories of Information Science, to get the Information Science and Technology concentration, but I’ve decided not to do that. I think I’ve taken a great mix of technology centered classes as well as more traditional library classes, so I feel like I’m well rounded in that way and there are other classes that I am more interested in taking.
As for the Fall semester, I am pretty sure one of my classes will be LIS 458, Database Management. That leaves one other class. I am intrigued by LIS 483, Library Collections and Materials for Young Adults. I read a fair amount of YA literature and it would be very interesting to do an in-depth class on the topic. I loved dipping my toes into reader’s advisory and reference services in LIS 407, Information Sources and Services, and LIS 408, User Instruction, would provide more information about both. And then there’s LIS 419, Indexing and Thesaurus Construction, which seems challenging and interesting. I’m sure I’m going to be changing my mind frequently up until my registration time on Thursday, and probably even until the first day of the Fall semester. But the fact that I’m struggling with my decisions really is a testament to how great the library science program is at Simmons. There are so many options and the classes touch on all aspects of library science. It’s definitely not a bad thing to have a lot of choices, and there is no bad choice in this case. I know I will be happy with whichever classes I choose. I just have to make the decision!