Classes
That Time Already?
Posted October 18, 2013 by Emily Boyd
It’s hard to believe, but yes, this week I chose my courses for the spring semester! My new classes don’t start for nearly three months but I’m sure that will go by in the blink of an eye. I did not sign up for any online courses but who knows if that will change in the coming months. While looking through past course evaluations to determine which professor might be the best for the dreaded and difficult LIS 415 Information Organization, aka Cataloging, I got some great advice from the all knowing Student Services Manager Richard Gates. Prior to Wednesday I had never interacted with Richard other than reading his many emails providing students with crucial information about course registration and events on campus. He is such a wealth of knowledge and I gladly accepted his advice about potential courses and professors. Once again I was reminded how different my graduate school experience has been compared with my undergraduate. At Simmons it seems like there is always someone available to help, from advisors to professors…
Course Registration Jitters
Posted October 13, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
So it seems that it is already that time of the year again, that magical time when we the students are asked to pick our next round of classes for the following semester. During my undergrad years, course registration went something like this: at the end of October, the course list would be released and we would have about two or three weeks to figure out which courses we wanted to take. At Simmons, this process is a wee bit different. In the course of this upcoming week, not only will the official spring semester course list be released, but by Friday, I’ll officially be registered for the spring semester. Talk about covering a lot of ground in just five days! Although I, like my peers, do not know which courses will be offered this spring, I am thankful that I was able to sit down with my advisor to discuss registration. Fortunately, since I am still only in my first year, I still need to complete LIS 407. One class down, two to go. To…
Better than Thanksgiving or Christmas…It’s Registration Season!
Posted October 12, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
If you’re like me and you’re finding the Christmas fliers in your mailbox irritating, then I invite you to celebrate a new season: Registration! Yes, ’tis the season to be planning your future. What classes will you take, and with whom? Talking to friends and colleagues is a great way to get started but another option when checking out professors is look at their ratings. Ever wonder why we fill out those reviews in the tech lab at the end of every semester? It’s so people like you can say, “Hey, I’ve heard that Storytelling (LIS 423) is a hoot and a holler. Why shouldn’t I take that? It should be an easy A.” If you read the evalutations though I’m sure it would say the opposite. Storytelling is an intense class involving a lot of research and performance. I know this because I’m taking it, and I also reviewed the class in those handy binders outside the student lounge on the second floor of the Palace Road building before I took it. It is…
31-36 of 36
Posted October 7, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Well, here it is, folks: The last installment of my “What classes is Sarah taking this semester?” posts. I suppose it is bittersweet (for lack of a better cliché), although at this point it definitely feels more sweet than bitter. I think that I have taken about all I can from GSLIS, and am ready to start applying my newfound knowledge and skills to a full-time job. But enough about me, what about my last two classes? Online – LIS 401; Foundations of Library and Information Science This is a new core class, and all students are now required to take it in their first semester. So why am I taking it now, as one of my last classes? Well, it fits my schedule (my class is completely online, but there are also sections that meet exclusively in-person), and I thought it would be patently poetic to finish the program by taking a course that is now required to start the program. Not surprisingly, many of the lecture topics are familiar to me, but the…
How smart is your dog?
Posted October 2, 2013 by Julie Steenson
My dog has been my best audience for all the presentations I have had to prepare over the last two years. One of my big surprises when I started graduate school was how often I would be presenting to my peers. There are many ways that people practice public speaking, and while I am very comfortable speaking to a group of kids in the classroom, speaking to a group of adults can be a little nerve wracking. I don’t do well talking to a mirror because I can’t help but notice a new grey hair, and I find that totally distracting! I like to imagine my younger self is giving this talk, as that gives me more confidence, so the mirror is definitely out. I have found, however, that my dog is a very willing audience. My dog has learned the following over the last 2 years: He knows how to make a website. He can define the role of a system librarian. He knows all about the value of a good survey instrument to…
Five Things I Have Learned Joining GSLIS
Posted September 19, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
Before I packed up the family car with dad to drive up to Boston for school, my mom decided to impart some advice for me to mull over during the course of my four and half hour long car ride. She said “Keep your mind open, everyday you are going to be learning something new, in and out of school.” I’ve got to give my mom a hand; she doesn’t normally offer such thought-provoking advice. However, since I was unable to go back home to Long Island for the Jewish high holidays, I’ve been thinking about my mom a lot lately, especially what she said to me two weeks ago. So, for my first official blog post for GSLIS, I’ve created a list of the top five things that I have learned since becoming a member of GSLIS. *The following is in no particular order and can probably apply to the experiences of students outside of the GSLIS program* Moodle is your best friend: Although this seems like an obvious one, Moodle is a resource…
You Could Technically Be A Better Librarian Than Me
Posted September 16, 2013 by Sarah Barton
The GSLIS curriculum offers four specialized programs: Archives, Dual Degree Archives/History, Dual Degree LIS/Children’s Literature, and School Library Teacher. If none of those “tracks” suit your fancy, then you are considered a generalist and essentially create your own track. Given the sheer number of course offerings, you can cater your classes to get down and dirty with a particular topic of interest. Given my interest in corporate/special libraries, technology is one aspect of the GSLIS curriculum that I essentially neglected. I took the one required tech class during my first semester, and that was it. GSLIS offers fourteen technology courses, which is more than enough to fill the eight electives that you need to graduate. Technically you could earn a GSLIS degree having only taken three library-specific courses, which would technically make you a better librarian than me. And I’m ok with that. There are all kinds of IT, systems, information architecture, web development, and other technology-oriented jobs out there, and I’ve heard that they generally pay quite well. Some of those jobs are in…
Back to the Grind
Posted September 13, 2013 by Emily Boyd
One week of commuting down and three months to go… Does that sound pessimistic? I really don’t mean it to. On the contrary, my week of commuting went better than expected! I used both two hour bus rides to catch up on my leisure reading and had three full days in Boston for classes, schoolwork and catching up on errands (including lunch and a shopping trip to the Copley Plaza with my aunt). After a full semester in the spring and my trip to Rome over the summer, GSLIS is finally starting to feel like home. I already know at least one student in each of my classes and a couple of my professors as well. As I mentioned in my last post, I have signed up for four courses with the intention of dropping one and this decision is proving more difficult than I had anticipated. I had hoped after the first week of classes I would have a clear idea of which course I should drop. That was not the case, I absolutely…
Last Semester Blues
Posted September 11, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I started the GSLIS program in January 2012, and with the completion of my three courses this semester, I will have finished my degree program. Woohoo! Well, mostly woohoo. I think I have the last semester blues. I know that sounds totally ridiculous. I will be done with homework, done with long class commutes, done with tuition, and I will have my MLIS, which will hopefully be my ticket to the job of my dreams. What in the world am I sad about?! I think I am more afraid than anything. Will it be too easy not to learn new things? Will I get tired, complacent and frumpy? Will I turn into deadwood? Will I stay committed to knowing what I need to know to be the best librarian I can be? I know these fears are unfounded. I will never stop learning with so many opportunities for continuing education through Simmons and ALA, and other LIS universities like Syracuse (where I am taking a WISE course this semester). I even have my eye on…
Database Management
Posted September 10, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
It feels so odd to be back in the swing of the graduate program. The transition from working full-time to the calendar of a graduate student…well, let’s just say there are pros and cons (pro: lots more time to refill prescriptions, go to the post office, make dinner, sleep… cons: well, a moth just flew out of my wallet. Oh yeah…this is why I need a job). I actually accidentally have been waking up at 5 am, which is odd because even when I was working I didn’t wake up at 5 am. I guess it’s my brain’s way of protesting at the schedule switches. But time presses forward, and what I really want to talk about are DATABASES. Databases are awesome wonderful tools that almost everyone on the planet uses daily. I was recently talking with a friend of mine, who complained that every job she has worked uses Excel spreadsheets, and why did everyone think they were so useful. Honestly? It’s because they’re primitive databases – data storage with lists of attributes and…