Classes
Taking Care of Business
Posted February 28, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
So, the first half of this semester was a little unusual. I’m just thankful I didn’t take any Monday classes, because between snow days and holidays, they have only met once. How crazy is that? By the end of last semester I figured out that things worked best for me if I had big blocks of time for each part of my life. A day here for work, a day there for homework. From 3:15 – bedtime, all my focus was on the kids. Weekends were family time, unless there was a big assignment on the horizon, in which case I carved a few hours out of precious family time so I wasn’t freaking out. It was a little hard to keep to that schedule at the beginning of this semester, as I got used to the slightly different rhythm of an online class. Still, I was keeping a positive attitude and trying to figure out the best way to get things done. I mapped out the dates for all the group projects in…
Time Management
Posted January 30, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
About ten years ago, I had a very high profile job. I carried a Blackberry (when that was a new, cool thing), was on call all the time, and regularly handled work issues at night and on the weekend while doing something else. It was not unusual for me to be working while I was at book club, or away for the weekend with my husband, or at the beach. I totally thrived on the stress and excitement. Then I had kids, and realized that talking to a newspaper reporter while my children were in the bathtub was not something to be proud of, so I left that job. I stopped multitasking and honed my scheduling and time management skills. I ditched the Blackberry, and waited several years before I got an iPhone. I realized I not only loved doing just one thing at a time, but I performed better when I did things one at a time. I was present, in the moment, with my kids. I found interesting freelance work that fit my…
Welcome to 2015!
Posted January 25, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Fourth semester at SLIS. Here we go! Indeed, it seems that the month of January has just flown on by. But unlike some of you, I have spent about 95% of it here in Boston rather then home with my family. The reason? Well, it’s because the offices at my job, as a student worker at the student services center (haha shameless plug), were open as we prepped for both the New Year and new students. With so much to do, I’ve lost track of the time. Instead of spending the days at home, lounging around, I was on my feet, running around and performing key tasks. Working from the perspective of being behind the scenes, I must vocalize my respect for all of those who are part of SLIS faculty and staff. These men and women are some of the most dedicated individuals I’ve ever seen. In the days leading up to the Spring 2015 Orientation, I watched as everyone in SLIS came together, both student workers and members of the faculty and staff,…
So it Begins
Posted January 24, 2015 by Samantha Quiñon
There is not much to say this week. Classes started, and work and my internship continued. Reading through my course syllabi and writing all the due dates for each class’s papers and presentations into my planner next to my work hours, suddenly the new semester became real. Seeing everything on paper like that made it click, so to speak, in my brain. Apart from being overwhelming, there were also a lot of good moments in my week where I got to catch up with peers whom I hadn’t seen since last semester. Now that I’m further along in my program, it’s pleasant to be in courses with people I’ve gotten to know in previous semesters, either through classes or student groups. A lot of my projects involve group work, so it’s nice to be able to eliminate the anxiety I felt in the past over not knowing who would make a good teammate. In retrospect, I can say that previous anxiety was entirely unfounded. I think one of my favorite parts of SLIS and information…
Who Am I Scheduling For: Me or My Kids?
Posted January 23, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
Well hello, second semester! It’s nice to see you. And I think I’m going to enjoy your courses, even though I picked them based on what was offered at a time that still allowed me to pick my kids up at school every day, and not really based on what I actually wanted to take. Sigh. Last fall, when we were registering for the spring semester, I had a list of things I needed in my schedule. Not one of them was an actual class. I didn’t want to take a Monday class, because of all the Monday holidays. I didn’t want to take a Friday class, because my kids have several Fridays off for teacher professional development and Parent-Teacher conferences. I wanted morning classes, because my husband can drive the kids to school if I take a 9am class, but I’d have to find a babysitter if I took a 1pm or 6pm class. At some point, I know, I’m going to have to take classes that are only offered at one certain…
Just like they said in class!
Posted December 18, 2014 by Alison Mitchell
Yesterday, at work, there was a dilemma. It was a fairly sticky issue, and had multiple perspectives and points. (I know, you’re rolling your eyes, thinking: what kind of crazy problem could there be in a Children’s Department? Just take my word for it.) As the librarians debated how to handle the situation, reviewing library policy, professional ethics, and good sense, I said “This is exactly the type of thing we discussed in my 401 class! I can’t believe things the professors teach us actually happen in a real library!” Actually, I can believe it. The SLIS program is a professional degree, and the focus is on teaching the skills we need for a particular job. Our professors know what employers are looking for, and they make sure that we’re exposed to the practical, applicable parts of library science. We learn how to handle problems, use particular skills, and take what we’ve learned and apply it to different situations. We are getting a top notch education that can be put to work in the field…
Semester by the Numbers
Posted December 11, 2014 by Hayley Botnen
The end of the semester always makes me think about numbers. The big GPA looming over my head. How much time I spend wasting instead of working on my finals like I should be doing. This week, I decided to do a little bit of calculating and submit for your perusal the important numbers from my semester. 4: The number of classes I took (That’s 14 credits. Yes, I might be crazy. No, people usually don’t take that many classes.) 29: The number of hours I volunteered at Boston Arts Academy / Fenway High School Library. 160 : The approximate number of hours I spent physically sitting in a classroom. 53: The number of books I had on hold at my local library. 101 : The number of books I read (YA, middle grade, beginning readers and picture books). 168 : The number of articles I read. 27, 251 : The number of words in all my papers. 6: The number of presentations I did. As you can see, it was a lot of work….
That’s All, Folks! (For Now)
Posted December 6, 2014 by Samantha Quiñon
I’m finished!!! I turned in all of my work for the Fall term and did all of my presentations. I think everything went well, but I won’t know until I get my grades in a few weeks. Technically, I still have one more week of class for LIS 407 (Reference), but since I gave my presentation last week, I can basically just show up in my pajamas and kick back while other people get stressed out. I won’t, but I am enjoying that I could, hypothetically speaking. My presentation last week, which I gave with four other people, lasted forty minutes and was about PubMed, which is a public medical database run by the National Library of Medicine. A small percentage of our grade depended on how professionally we were dressed during our time in front of the class, so it was pleasantly unusual to see everyone looking so nice. It’s not that people in the program are slobs or anything, but around this time of the year, everyone is looking at their laptop and…
Happy Study-mas!
Posted December 3, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
Well, this is it. The final weeks of the fall semester have finally arrived! Yes that’s right, the end is finally in sight; what we see up ahead is the light at the end of the tunnel. Now the only thing standing in our way from kicking off winter break: Finals. Ah finals. Like Christmas, finals is that magical time of the year when everyone comes together and collectively moves into the library for a week or two. Instead of putting up decorations and baking cookies, we get to write essays and stand before our peers and present our group projects. While some people eagerly check off the days until their respective winter holiday begins, we’ll be busy checking off the number of hours we have before the dropbox on Moodle stops accepting submissions. The season of giving and joy might be upon us, but so is the season of all-nighters, study groups, and the feeling of triumph one feels when everything is finally completed. I recently researched the month of December just to see…
Sweatpants and lovin’ it
Posted November 10, 2014 by Alexandra Bernson
I made it through high school without drinking coffee. Despite all of my friends running to Starbucks after school (but before theatre rehearsal), I only developed an addiction to the little packets of honey. I thought I was being sneaky, but soon the employees began to notice my pocketing the honey packets and soon I was no longer welcome in the downtown Annapolis Starbucks location. My refusal to drink coffee only lasted until sophomore year of college, when I was forced to pull an all-nighter and my roommate convinced me to have a cup. She soon regretted giving me the caffeine, and I ended up bouncing around the room all night, somehow managed to finish my paper, and then passed out hard around 5:30AM. I was thinking about that first cup of coffee when I purchased my first pair of sweatpants. I know, I know, I don’t know how I’ve managed to live a full 24 years without outright owning a pair of sweatpants – I think it was because I didn’t want to disappoint…