Classes
School and Stress
Posted April 4, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
I’m in the final push of my first semester of grad school. I just checked Moodle for my online class and I only have four weeks left. FOUR WEEKS. This semester has been so amazing, but unfortunately it is currently the most stressful part of the semester with readings, essays, online forums, and final projects being due soon. Add real-life interference and Fall 2018 class registration being this week and that leads to stress. Here are some things that I am doing to combat stress that may be useful in your life: Make a list: Making a list of everything that needs to be done and checking things off of it as those things get done actually can be very soothing because you can really see what has and has not been done. Walk: My mom has always stressed the power of walking, and how much good it can do for you, and I never actually believed her until I went to college, and I got stressed while writing a paper. I went on a…
Online Classes
Posted March 21, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
Simmons SLIS has a variety of ways you can take classes. They offer classes on the ground at the Boston campus, SLIS West (South Hadley, MA), and the Eric Carle Museum (Amherst, MA), blended classes with some sessions on the ground and some online, and fully online classes. The flexibility in class scheduling is something that is unique to Simmons and was one of the factors that helped me select Simmons as the place to get my graduate degree. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I am going the online route this semester. One of the great things about taking online classes is that you can do it from anywhere. Well, anywhere that has a Wi-Fi connection that is. One of the reasons why I decided to go to school online was because I am new to Massachusetts and I wasn’t sure if I could get from my home, which is about 20 miles outside of Boston, to classes in Boston in the snow. The way the past few weeks have gone, with…
Experience in an Archive
Posted March 9, 2018 by ShanTil Yell
In my Introduction to Archival Methods & Services class, we were charged to write an overview of our experience using an archives, and part of that assignment meant coming up with our own research question and doing some digging into the resources we found. I chose to use the local history room at the Somerville Public Library. I chatted with a fellow librarian about some popular topics people come to research there, and one he mentioned was the Ursuline convent riots that took place in the summer of 1834. This really peaked my interest, and even though I don’t have the space to go into all the details, I’d still like to give a brief run-through of what happened and the impression it left on me. Riding the wave of an increasingly anti-Catholic feeling in the community, a Protestant mob rallied and destroyed the convent over the course of two nights, everything from furniture, books, and religious items to the surrounding gardens. In their frenzy, they even desecrated the tombs of nuns buried on the…
A Pleasant Surprise
Posted February 27, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
As a brand-new grad student, and a brand-new Massachusetts resident, I must admit I was extremely ambivalent about taking an online class my first semester. I don’t know anyone in Massachusetts except my parents, and I really wanted to get out there and mingle with my fellow students. Also, I only took one online class my entire time in undergrad and it was very much an individual experience, as in, I did not talk to my classmates, ever. I’m finding myself to be pleasantly surprised by my online LIS 407 course. I’m getting to know so much about my classmates and there is a lot of group discussion in the forums. In addition, while I was worried about not having the “student experience,” again, I was pleasantly surprised. Simmons is so good about sending emails about networking events through their student organizations like LISSA (Library and Information Science Student Organization), so I can come to campus and participate that way. I’m sure the next few years of grad school will be full of more surprises…
Leadership in Libraries
Posted February 26, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
Nature is teasing me right now with some shockingly mild and beautiful weather for February, making everyone think that spring is coming. As such, I’ve been thinking about seeds. Not the kind that are already trying to sprout in my backyard, but rather, the kind that germinate in one’s mind to invoke new ideas and ways of thinking. This semester has planted the seeds of some new ideas in my mind – ideas that I never thought I’d have. Our professor for Academic Libraries is currently the Dean of Library Services at her institution, which is academic-speak for “the boss.” As such, she brings the very interesting perspective of library management and library administration – one that I have not gotten much of in my other courses at Simmons. What makes this doubly interesting for me is that my dad, who has spent his entire professional career as an English professor, has also recently found himself in a position of leadership and administration. Both my Academic Libraries professor and my dad have been thrust into…
Bookish Thoughts:
Posted February 13, 2018 by Josie Snow
This semester has introduced me to many books, here are some of the books I have enjoyed or found interesting so far: Books that taught me things I didn’t know before Danza: Amalia Hernandez and the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico by Duncan Tonatiuh The Noisy Paint box: The Colors and sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy by Richard Michelson Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerta Taro and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism by Marc Aronson Books that provoked an emotional response: Unleaving by Jill Paton Walsh Push by Sapphire Shizuko’s Daughter by Kyoko Mori House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Old favorites that I get to see in a new light: Marcello in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
Educational Experience
Posted February 8, 2018 by Josie Snow
The semester has only just begun, and already, I can tell that this is going to be a semester that makes me think. So how do I know that I will be really thinking deeply this semester? Well, in my Narrative non-fiction class we got into a discussion about biographies, and how they sometimes present a person as an inspirational ideal which raised some new questions for me: How do we pick the people we want to hold up as heroes? How true can an account ever be? What makes a person extraordinary? What if the heroes we hold up in biographies are not actually the great people we believe them to be? Do the actions they are famous for cancel out the actions they are not famous for? Should we be more realistic in presenting them? Are we creating role models, or modeling life in these portrayals? Then I went to my class, Contemporary Realistic Fiction for Young Adults (Realism) and, before the first class even began, more questions floated up: How do I…
Technology Courses: My “Happy Surprise”
Posted February 5, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
In my last post I promised that I’d write more about my technology classes at Simmons. Like many students, I entered LIS 488, the technology core class, with some trepidation. After all, the technology components of library work had scared me away from the LIS degree for some time. I knew I wanted to obtain an education that would help me get a job somewhere in the library/archives/museum field, and I knew I wanted my degree to be flexible, adaptable. Museum studies seemed too specific and limiting, and I was afraid Library & Information Science would involve too much science and technology. That was me before I took LIS 488. Now as someone who has finally gotten her feet wet in the world of IT, I find myself embracing a very different mindset. First of all, technology is just another skill, another subject that can be learned. Learning to code is a lot like learning a new language. You don’t have to possess any particular personality or disposition to understand technology. You don’t even have…
Winter Break
Posted December 30, 2017 by Josie Snow
A few weeks ago, before winter break began, I received an e-mail that filled me with trepidation. Enclosed with the message from the professor for my Realism class in the spring was a booklist. The professor suggested that students make sure they are familiar with the twenty books on the list, as they are touchstone books for the subject. Out of the twenty, I have only read three. I had thought I was pretty widely read, but this list revealed just how much I have neglected the realism genre, and made it clear that I had some catching up to do. As a result, I spent my break trying to make sure that I was able to discuss at least some of the books. I was surprised to find the books very engaging and compelling, and as I read them, I was relieved to find that I had read similar things, so I hadn’t completely neglected the genre, I just missed some of the historically significant texts. To my surprise, I was truly enjoying myself….
Libraries Are Awesome!
Posted December 7, 2017 by Megan Ondricek
We had quite the festive end to the semester last Saturday with fresh bagels and muffins in the classroom and SNOW!! I realize this is New England where snow is more a matter of course and a mundane winter inconvenience, but I am from Virginia and still firmly in the “snow is awesome” camp. It started around 11 am in South Hadley and I left immediately after class to start my two-hour drive back to CT, where it had started around 8 am. Golly it was a beautiful (albeit messy and slow) drive! I listened to Christmas music and thought about the holidays and relished in my new freedom from homework. This was one long semester, but thankfully the end was much easier than the beginning. With the biggest assignments out of the way I’ve had some time to reflect on what I’ve learned from both my classes. It may not surprise you to hear that in library school you will learn a lot about why libraries are so awesome. I am definitely coming away…