Classes
Career Over Curriculum
Posted September 9, 2013 by Sarah Barton
At the beginning of each semester I expect to briefly plunge into a state of anxiety because classes are starting. This semester, however, feels different to me for three reasons: 1) It is my last semester, 2) My current work schedule is staying exactly the same, and 3) I will be physically on campus only a few times all semester. Despite those changes, of late my requisite anxiety has been superseded by an odd state of calmness, bordering on indifference. As auspicious as that sounds, I am suspicious that this calmness is just a temporary placeholder for anxiety…but for now I can’t complain. I have two classes this semester; one fully online and one blended, which means that some class meetings are on campus and some are online. My biggest fear with such a heavy online schedule is forgetting to do the work – it seems all too easy to accidentally skip a class that I need not physically attend. I chose this more remote schedule mainly to give myself extra flexibility at work and…
Whirlwind Summer Wind Down
Posted August 30, 2013 by Emily Boyd
Yesterday I was getting on a plane for Rome, right? It feels that way anyhow. I cannot believe it is the end of August and summer is coming to a close. I don’t remember a summer in recent history where I did so much or went through so many changes in such a short period of time. What a ride it has been and now, just as my routine feels settled, things are about to shift again. I am in the midst of my last full week at my job with the National Park Service and I start my new public library job on September 5th! The fall promises to be full of challenges that come with a new job, new classes, and a new schedule, but I cannot wait to get things started. I will be working a few more hours per week this semester than last and with three classes, my time management skills are going to get a workout. That said, I will finally have personal experience working in a library to…
The Ultimate Group Project: Saving Kingston Part 3
Posted August 14, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I am recovering from the summer term and the intensity of two classes. You may have followed our ground-breaking alternate reality game in my online Management class with Mary Wilkins-Jordan. (See earlier Kingston posts) As fabulous, dedicated Simmons GSLIS students, we did, indeed, save Kingston and all its libraries! We battled blizzards, naysayers, and gloomy politicians to raise the level and value of the library and information science industry of our fictitious town. To do so, we had to be a team, and all flag-waving aside, the collaborative effort was the likes of which I have not seen before in any of my classes. Early in the term, our professor gave us complete flexibility to work alone or in groups related to our organizations (public, corporate, prison, archives, etc.) or across our base groups (our classes – management, reference, etc.). She cautioned us, however, that while working alone remained an option, we might need to work in groups in order to accomplish it all in the compressed summer session. I am pretty driven, but she…
Petition to Proceed into the Library World
Posted August 1, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Most people know what it’s like to have an email inbox that is constantly full of crap. Listservs, gimmicks, promotions, mass emails that may or may not pertain to you but you should probably read anyway just in case…you know. I do my best to keep my inbox as crap-free as possible, which necessitates a fair amount of deleting things based solely on their subject line. Who knows how many emails I delete that I shouldn’t, but I do my best to diligently discard blatant crap emails while still opening anything that is, or might be, relevant. Last week, my usual subject line deletion system was jarred by an email from the GSLIS Student Services Center with the subject: PETITION TO GRADUATE form – 2013-2014. This petition clearly pertains to me as I enter my final semester; thus, the email was granted the esteemed privilege of being opened and read. I expected the petition form to be long-winded and daunting, asking me to list every GSLIS credit that I took with which professor on which…
A Blizzard, Zombies and a Book Sale: Kingston Part 2
Posted July 18, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I attend a fact-to-face class each Saturday and more often than not, I find myself sharing the latest news from fictitious Kingston. (In case you missed it, read here about this unique online learning opportunity that is part of my Management class. Alternate Reality and Library School) So what have we been up to in Kingston? First there was the Blizzard in June! Yes, the temporal instability leads to some crazy weather, and as much as a blizzard sounds good right now in all this heat, such unexpected disasters require good disaster planning by the town’s LIS organizations to weather the storm. All of our libraries prepared amazing disaster plans for the blizzard, but then also for other unforeseen events like hurricanes, fires, floods, and even a prison riot. And then there was Fourth of July! Of course, our organizations all needed floats in the parade. My organization, The Kingston Correctional Facility Library prepared a float of librarians wearing prison garb, promoting the freedom to read. The Franklin Public Library, another organization in town, created…
Sage Advice
Posted July 4, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I wish I could join my peers in talking about trips to Europe or ALA in Chicago, but alas, my summer is being spent working and taking two classes. The rain has washed away many of my herb plantings, but at least the cabbage and onion plants seem happy…as do the weeds. All the warnings that two summer classes would make for an intense experience were true! In my first semester (Jan 2012), I took Technology for Information Professionals (LIS 488) which was initially intimidating and ultimately empowering for a middle-aged career changer like myself. I was a regular user of computers at home, but new advances and I were strangers. In that class, my professor gave us some good advice that I recently shared and used in another class. He encouraged us to use every presentation as an opportunity to try out a new technology. This past weekend, I had to give a presentation in one of my summer classes, User Instruction (LIS 408). I shared this advice with my class as an introduction…
GSLIS Goes to Rome!
Posted June 28, 2013 by Emily Boyd
Ciao! I’ve been absent from blogging for the last few weeks because I have been on a whirlwind tour of Europe. My travels took me to Rome and the surrounding countryside; including day trips to Florence, the Mediterranean Sea, and a day of wine tasting in Orvieto. After the course ended, I extended my visit further east to Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary. I’ve returned to the states inspired, overwhelmed, and reassured once again about how much I love GSLIS. This was the first time Simmons has taken GSLIS students to Rome and while the trip was not without its glitches, overall the experience was wonderful. We stayed in a beautiful neighborhood full of cafes, wine bars, and restaurants and had easy access to all of Rome’s historic sites. Highlights of the trip included our day trips outside of the city, a fabulous tour of the colosseum, and eating my way through the city of Rome. Lest I forget, I should also mention that we were in Rome to take a class. My Intellectual Freedom and…
Alternate Reality and Library School
Posted June 17, 2013 by Julie Steenson
When I started my summer classes, I walked into an alternate reality – literally. I have never been a gamer, but this summer, I am joining my colleagues in LIS 404 Management, LIS 407 Reference, and LIS 450 Management in Public Libraries in an online alternate reality game to Save Kingston, a fictitious town in central Massachusetts that suffers from time and space issues; It appears and disappears due to the instability of its Library & Information Science (LIS) industry. A team of talented Simmons GSLIS consultants have been tasked with saving Kingston, by providing their services to the many LIS organizations in this town – Kingston has public libraries, a school library, high school library, corporate library, hospital library, law library, an archive, an art museum, and of course (my personal favorite), a correctional facility library. This is, by far, the most creatively designed and empowering class I have encountered anywhere. Our leader in this endeavor is our very own Dr. Mary Wilkins Jordan, who explained her motivation to create this alternate world for…
25-30 of 36
Posted April 1, 2013 by Sarah Barton
I think I’m a bit overdue for telling you about my courses this semester, so here goes. I am only taking two classes right now, as last May’s weeklong class and last semester’s independent study got me a bit ahead of the game. I’m pretty sure I have already referenced both of my current classes in some recent posts, but this post will serve as their official coming out party. Wahoo! Mondays, 9am-noon – LIS 403; Evaluation of Library Services This is currently a core class, and one that anyone who entered the program before Fall 2013 must take. That means that those of you who will be starting in the fall will not need to take this one…but you’re going to hear about it anyway. The idea behind this class is that in order to optimize library services for both patrons and the library itself, librarians must perform evaluations on different library programs and processes. These evaluations can involve surveys, a case study, or action research, among other things, and are often lengthy and…
Midterm Madness
Posted March 25, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Last week I had my first ever GSLIS midterm. It was open note, so beforehand I spent a few hours going through my notes and the slides from class to create a four-page cheat sheet of sorts. Compiling everything into one document like that works wonders for reviewing how much I have actually learned, and it was refreshing to have a succinct four-page final product rather than dozens of pages of printed slides that I hadn’t looked at since the class in which they were presented. I felt pretty good going into the exam. I felt pretty good upon leaving the exam, too. My cheat sheet came through for a few nit-picky details and definitions that I would have not so eloquently remembered on my own, and the time that I spent making it was definitely well spent. All things considered, it was pretty painless. But enough about the midterm – where is the madness? The madness is not directly related to the exam; rather, it’s a reflection on how completely crazy it is that…