Simmons in the Autumn

Posted September 23, 2026 by Abby Edgecumbe

Crunchy leaves on the ground, overcast, a slightly chilly breeze, the return of my Blundstones, and the purchasing of three more black Moleskin Cahiers… yes! This means what you think it means, school is back in session. 

We haven’t spoken since last May, and I’m happy to reconnect with all my current and potential SLISters. I’m sorry about not reaching out sooner, but summer was busier than I anticipated. I interned for a great environmental public radio show, Living on Earth, and continued my work at the Schlesinger Library as a reading room assistant. At the same time, my partner was preparing to begin his PhD journey, and I had to try and factor in enough time to curse the heavens for smiting us with all those heat waves. 

But now, autumn has seemingly arrived, and with it comes my second (and last) year in the SLIS program. What! Crazy, I know. I am enrolled in three courses, all electives:

• LIS 420: Modern Publishing and Librarianship taught by Professor Anita Silvey
• LIS 451: Academic Libraries taught by Dr. Rebecca Stallworth
• LIS 505: Foresight and Futures Thinking for Library Professionals taught by Dr. Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

As of the time I’m writing this, we are smack-dab in the middle of week 3, and I have some unfortunate news to share: it might as well be week 2 for me, since I was knocked out cold all last week with a case of COVID-19. Let this be your reminder, folks! Get the booster if you so choose and always wash your hands, because 2020 felt real recent to me. I’m happy to report that all is well, and after squirreling away for a week, I am back and better than ever. 

As for schoolwork, Simmons does not go gentle into that good night, and so we jumped right in! All three of my courses have semester-long projects. For 420, I’m doing archival research about the publication history of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. For 451, I’ve joined with several of my classmates to form the Programming Committee, and together we will spend the semester focusing on possible academic library programs and events. And for 505, I’ve begun conducting a futuring report focusing on the future of public libraries’ community resources in response to climate change. Phew! And that’s all buzzing in the background. The foreground consists of– and I don’t mean to scare you off here– approximately 150ish pages of readings across all three courses per week. I am a busy, busy bee. 

I don’t particularly mind the workload at the moment. Not sure about the rest of you, but I tend to start autumn off full of promise, verve, and commitment. Although my summer was hectic, those months are always tinted with a slow, humid ennui. Lazing on a beach, sweating, reading, eating popsicles. But when the temperature drops below 70 degrees fahrenheit, I am Donna Tartt, I am Rory Gilmore, I am living in a campus novel.