Classes
Don’t Fear the Syllabus
Posted September 10, 2012 by Sarah Barton
One of my biggest issues at the beginning of the semester is that I get myself into a tizzy when the professor goes over the syllabus. I get all worked up about the assignments, even the ones that are due sometime in November. “How am I ever going to have that paper done before Thanksgiving?!” should not be a concern in early September. Thankfully, after the first class I never again need to look at the syllabus as a whole. Instead, it becomes a week-by-week guideline, which just seems so much more manageable. Once the semester gets going, everything more or less falls into place. Readings get read, papers get written, and assignments get done. Sometimes it’s all a blur, and sometimes I decidedly labor over things that are miniscule in the scheme of things. For example, when posting to online class discussion forums I have been known to incorporate parallel structure, consult a thesaurus, and vacillate between using a semicolon or a dash. (Note: the posts are almost never graded on content and never…
The Birth of My First Semester…
Posted May 17, 2012 by Julie Steenson
My first semester with nine credits (all required CORE classes) bore striking resemblance to pregnancy. Being a new student (and an older one), not knowing what to expect, reminded me of the excitement and anticipation of being a new mother. I was so thrilled to be embarking on this new chapter of my life, redefining myself, but it came with some anxiety. The question, Would I be a good student and librarian? felt a lot like Would I be a good mommy? The first trimester (first month of school) came with a little nausea (butterflies), followed by the euphoria of the second trimester (2nd month of school) where I felt great no more morning sickness and a whole lot of confidence and excitement for what lay ahead. Then, as any new mom will tell you, came the hard part — the seemingly never-ending last trimester with its accompanying feelings of being overwhelmed, exhausted, and wanting it to be over. I would like to see my feet again or in the case of school, I would…
Debunking the Conspiracy
Posted April 30, 2012 by Sarah Barton
This morning I saw a bumper sticker with these lovely words of wisdom: It IS as bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you. While I cannot attest to exactly what that Volkswagen-driving amateur conspiracy theorist has in mind, I can assure you that that phrase does not apply to Simmons GSLIS. I have nearly completed my first GSLIS semester (yay!), and not once have I felt that it is really that bad or that someone is out to get me. My undergrad experience left me with haunting memories of walking into class the week after taking a test or handing in a paper and having the professor say that half the class failed and the average grade was a 74. I didnt necessarily feel like my professors were out to get me, but sometimes it did seem that they were going out of their way to put us measly college students in our place. Thankfully, GSLIS has not rekindled that foreboding feeling of failure.
End of Term Projects
Posted April 25, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Holy Overdue fines, Batgirl! I have so much to do this last week of the semester! I could plead an excuse why I dont have time for a fabulous blog entry this week, but then I thought, why not let you see what a sleep deprived GSLIS student has been up to? As part of a larger Tech tutorial project, I created a sample library website using Drupal Gardens. The actual tutorial is still in progress, but please visit my sample website and tell me what you think! I will be adding more content and improving the site in response to peer feedback, including yours. http://steenson123moretutorial.drupalgardens.com/ This website is the product of a How to… I created for my Technology class. Be sure to click on all the tabs, links, and complete the short survey and of course, follow the link at the bottom of the website to Like us on Facebook!
Change in Curriculum for Fall 2013
Posted April 20, 2012 by Maya Bery
Recently, the GSLIS community received news that beginning with the incoming class of 2013, the curriculum will be changing. The core requirements are changing (Evaluation of Information Services will be replaced with a Foundations course), the program will increase to 39 credits, and most importantly to me, that there will be a new capstone requirement put in place. For me as a SLT student, my capstone experiences are my practica, both at the elementary and the high school level. It’s part of the state licensing requirements, but as I draw to the end of my elementary practicum, I realize just how valuable an experience this is, so much so that before this announcement was made, I was going to write a blog post exhorting new students to sign up for LIS 501, a 150-hour, hands-on internship. Here’s why I approve of this change.
All the Things that are Good for You: Broccoli, Shoveling Snow, and Group projects
Posted April 18, 2012 by Julie Steenson
You probably remember being a kid and being told, Eat your broccoli its good for you. As a parent, I have had said my fair share of Its good for you moments in raising my daughter. A couple of specific examples stand out: Stacking wood builds character, and I know it is hard to work in a group, but it is good for you. While I have no problem eating broccoli and I love to stack wood, I have had to eat my words on the group project thing. Just two days ago, on a visit home, as I was stressing about an end of term group project, my daughter gave me a sympathetic smile and reminded me that group projects are good for me. I have to admit that I wasnt prepared for group projects at GSLIS. I know we will work in a collaborative environment and so learning how to reach our goals with our peers is important, but there have been some real challenges.
What It Means to be Blended
Posted March 7, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Blended and Online classes offer amazing opportunities to learn from practicing professionals who genuinely want to share their knowledge and experience with the next generation of library professionals. What could be better than learning from real world librarians! Being my first semester, I had no idea what a Blended class actually entailed. I knew there would be some face-to-face meetings and other meetings online, but I wasnt sure what that actually meant in practice. Face-to-face is what it implies a class meeting on campus in the traditional sense. My blended class combines face-to-face meetings on Simmons West (Mount Holyoke) campus with synchronous online sessions. Synchronous means that we all log in at class time either from home in our PJs or some of us choose to log in together in an empty classroom or in the GSLIS West office. While PJs are appealing, I enjoy the group gathering as it has allowed for some excellent peer interaction and good company with my morning coffee.
Library School Dissection
Posted February 1, 2012 by Katie Olivo
It’s only the second week of classes and I feel like this semester is already flying by. I’ve been making tons of to-do lists and definitely checking them twice. Today, I can submit my choices for my sixty hour internship for LIS 438: Introduction to Archives. I’m pretty sure I’ve got it narrowed down to Beverly Historical Society, Sudbury Historical Society, and Walden. Hopefully, no matter where I end up, I get the chance to work with archival material and process at least one entire collection. Some of my friends that took the class last semester were less than pleased with their internship sites and I’ve made sure to do some basic research before submitting my decisions. With any luck, I won’t just be scanning documents or shredding paper the entire time, but interns certainly don’t always get the glorified jobs. Besides the internship excitement, I got to dissect a computer in technology class on Monday (LIS 488). It was awesome! I have to admit, I was slightly intimidated by all the wires and the…
So much to talk about
Posted April 12, 2011 by homerj
Where will I start? I guess I should start by letting all the readers know why I have neglected blogging this semester. I took over the responsibilities of the “Fellow for Dean’s Initiatives” while they hunt for the new fellow. (The past Fellow got a ‘big kid’ archives job in RI.) So I have been planning all of the events around GSLIS. This is a really fun job, but there are so many events it takes up all of my time! We have these programs called “Lunchtime Lectures” and they are informal ‘classes’ but instead of learning about the reference interview, you learn about happiness. You are also welcomed/encouraged to bring your lunch to any of these series. There are some refreshments available and a number of professors attend the event. Another notable aspect of these lectures is the fact that you get to have an introduction of a topic even though you are not in a specific concentration. For example, a few weeks ago I attended a lunchtime lecture about censorship in children’s literature….
Get lost in the Reference stacks
Posted April 4, 2011 by turcios
This semester for my Reference (407) class, I have two sample reference question sets. These have been my favorite assignments so far because they let me practice something I’m really starting to enjoy doing. My favorite question to research so far: What are some variations of the old saying a penny saved is a penny earned? Now, this isn’t necessarily because I love random knowledge (although I do), but more because of HOW I found the answer. By the time I’d reached this question in the sample set, Id spent lots of time just sitting and looking through several online databases. I deserved a break! I got up just to stretch my legs and browse the shelves for fun. I started browsing through the New York Times bound collection of film reviews to try to find the print version of the Gone With the Wind review I cited for another assignment question (no luck) when a nearby title caught my eye: The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs: Meanings and origins of more than 1,500…