Classes
Let Me Tell You a Story
Posted January 10, 2014 by Maggie Davidov
As librarians, storytelling is baked into the scrumptious goodness that is our career. It’s not so much inferred that we will all be storytellers with puppets or flannel boards, but anyone who has ever explained a job to a colleague or trainee at work can attest to the regular occurrence of a tale being told: There was this one reference librarian who never looked up from her book…nobody ever asked her a question. Right off the bat you’re intrigued and you want to understand what happened to this librarian and what was it that made her so incredibly bitter. Humans are tellers of tales. There is an incredible amount of research verifying that human beings understand concepts and connect to material more effectively when taught through story. I digress, but my point to you, oh library professional, is that stories make us who we are. I say all this also to underline how amazing I feel after completing LIS 423, Storytelling, with Melanie Kimball. I spent the semester learning about story in its various formats…
So close, I can taste it…
Posted December 4, 2013 by Julie Steenson
This is my last post as a Simmons GSLIS student. For the last several weeks, I have been saying, “The end is so close, I can taste it,” and then I pour a glass of wine and exclaim, “And it tastes like Chardonnay!” But now that my biggest assignments are submitted, with just some revisions and tasks to finish up in the last week, the taste is becoming bittersweet. It is hard to say good-bye. I have debated with myself what profound thoughts to leave behind. Should I write the usual “letter to my younger self” that seems to plague most blogs these days? Other than a brain crammed with Library and Information Science, what should I share with those just embarking on this adventure? Here goes. Prepare to be amazed! Not by my words but by what you will learn from the faculty and your peers. And more importantly, what you will learn about yourself and what you can do. I started my GSLIS career in a spring semester with three CORE courses, and…
Call Numbers: Why they are Awesome
Posted November 26, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
For those of you who don’t know, when one enters the Simmons GSLIS program, there are a number of core classes that they must complete. Besides an introductory course, LIS 401, there is another core course that they suggest we take in our first semester, LIS 415, Information Organization. Within LIS 415, we learn about the processes behind information organizations, which includes topics like classification, descriptive metadata, and resource types. Whenever I’m asked by my non-library friends to describe this class, I summarize it by saying that, essentially, we are learning all the behind the scene processes that make a library function that way it does. Amongst the variety of things that help ensure that a library isn’t one massive chaotic mess, librarians use call numbers to make sure that every book has a place on a given shelf. If you have ever gone to a library to find a book, then I am sure that you are acquainted with call numbers. Without them, it would be like trying to find one specific needle in…
Bring Your Classes to You!
Posted November 23, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
I get a lot of sass from classmates when I talk about my work. Yes, I happen to work at the greatest library on the planet. Yes, my boss is the most incredible mentor and knitter in the continental U.S. Yes, I am rather lucky to be surrounded by a library with unlimited resources. No, you cannot have my job. Still, it has been a year of ogling the wondrous resources at my disposal and I have begun to ask myself: What I am bringing to this incredible community ? Tentatively I have begun to propose small programs and evaluations to my director. And do you know what happened? She was thrilled! Now, I am NOT saying I am God’s gift to programming in the library. However, I have begun to use my projects and papers from Simmons as springboards for ideas to bring to my director. Why is that, you might ask? Simply put, it is because every professor I have ever taken a class with at Simmons has only ever assigned practical assignments…
The Mid-Semester Blues
Posted November 14, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
There is something about this time of year when everyone’s creative juices seem to be flowing – except for mine. It’s right after Halloween, recovering from making costumes (my husband and I were the 11th Doctor [Who] and the TARDIS, respectively!), but it’s too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts (although that hasn’t stopped me…). I’m finding it harder to get out of bed in the morning without a pumpkin spice latte to wake me up; what’s the point of doing laundry, yet ANOTHER load of dishes? I’m even lacking the motivation to start writing the papers that are inevitably due; normally, writing papers comes fairly easily for me, but this time around it was like pulling teeth. Actually… I might prefer getting teeth pulled. With the mid-semester slump, it’s hard to find the energy to keep going, to take the train an hour to campus each day, but luckily family, holiday cheer, and amazing food is right around the corner. Soft snowfalls, happy holiday music, gifts, crafts, and parties will be…
Savor Your Time at GSLIS
Posted November 9, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
Are we there yet? I keep asking myself this question. When I started at GSLIS, I thought I would be at a great advantage over the full-time students. Here they were rushing through a very full and complex curriculum, while I would be plodding along, taking stock of my interests as I went. This, fundamentally is true. However, with both sides of the coin it seems I shall mix metaphors and say that the grass looks greener on their side! I want so much to be DONE. I have learned a great deal here and I’m enjoying my classes. But I’ve finished almost four semesters and the thought of three more is weighing me down. So, what’s the remedy here? Who can I turn to? In this case I turn to everyone and anyone who’s worked full-time and gone to graduate school at the same time. Most of the teachers at the high school I work at completely feel my pain. We sit over lunch and ask ourselves, “When does life get easier?” When we…
Bad Grade? No Big Deal
Posted November 8, 2013 by Emily Boyd
I’ve mentioned once or twice that advising and personal connections with professors was severely lacking from my undergraduate experience. Now in my third semester at GSLIS I’m still amazed by the dedication professors exhibit to each student. My professors not only want me to succeed at GSLIS, they are truly invested in making sure I come out of my time at Simmons with skills to thrive professionally. A couple weeks ago I wrote a literature review as part of a large assignment for my evaluation class. After we turned in our assignments, my professor, Mary Wilkins Jordan, explained to the class that things had not gone well and most of us would need to revise or entirely rewrite. She kindly told the class not to stress about grades, the goal is to learn how to write literature reviews and she offered to help us create literature reviews worth reading. With that heads up, I was not at all surprised to see that my literature review came back with a horrendous grade and I knew I…
Get WISE
Posted October 31, 2013 by Julie Steenson
There has been a lot of blog talk lately about online classes. I have taken all three types of classes in my two years here at GSLIS – face-to-face, blended and online. My personal favorite is face-to-face although with a long commute, blended and online can be more convenient. I love the face-to-face interaction of my traditional classes, but a well-done online or blended class can be just as involved and highly interactive. (See my posts on Saving Kingston and my alternate reality class!) Any kind of long-distance learning requires one to tap into a different skillset and requires good time management and self-motivation. As all styles of learning have their benefits, which vary from individual to individual, I am a big fan of trying them all. I have taken classes on both the Boston and West (South Hadley) campuses, in-person and online. This semester (my last!), I have added the final GSLIS choice and am taking a class online through the WISE program at Syracuse University. WISE stands for Web-based Information Science Education. It…
Not a Group Work Groupie
Posted October 28, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Given my mostly virtual schedule this semester, I figured that group projects would be out of the question. How could I possibly work with a group when nearly all of my classes meet online? I didn’t choose online classes to avoid group work, but as someone who tends to work best alone, I was looking forward to doing solo assignments and projects. Plus, haven’t I already met my GSLIS group project quota? No and no. As it turns out, only three of my twelve GSLIS classes did not involve some sort of group assignment or project. (Two of those were reference courses, which makes sense, as reference is usually not a communal endeavor.) I am struggling to think of a job that does not involve working with other people, and have come to appreciate that this focus on group work is a necessary preparation for the real world. Group work can be easier, harder, more stressful, less stressful, more effective, or less effective than working alone. I have experienced each of those sentiments in the…
I Dream of FRBR
Posted October 26, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
Have you ever gotten down and dirty with the people who put the numbers on books at your library? You know, those call number people who keep to themselves and in the words of Ron Burgundy, “have many leather-bound books.” I assumed with the aid of the World Wide Web, cataloging and classifying would be a cinch. Sadly, I was very wrong and those catalogers that sit in the back room of the library should be revered as Gods who walk among mere mortals. The organization of the data associated with things like books, DVDs, periodicals, and all the other fabulous stuff we house in our hallowed halls can take many forms. And get this: the experts in our field cannot agree on the best way to do it! It is said that the best kind of classes are the ones that make you question many things. All I’m questioning is why organization has to be so difficult. I could talk to you about Dublin Core (not from Ireland, but Ohio), MARC, AACR2, RDA, and…