Events
SLIS West Career Night at Hampshire College
Posted March 18, 2016 by Katie Olivo
There will be a panel of librarians who are Hampshire alums who will come back to campus and speak about their career trajectories. The event is on Thursday, March 31 at 5 pm in ASH auditorium on the Hampshire College campus, and it is free and open to the community. Come hear about diverse paths and where these librarians landed and the sort of work that they do! Check out the link below for more information: http://sites.hampshire.edu/theharold/2016/03/16/down-the-rabbit-hole-hampshire-graduates-as-librarians/
NDSR Residencies and Digital Repositories
Posted January 26, 2016 by Alexandra Bernson
Yesterday I had the opportunity of attending the NDSR Mid-Year Event, where NDSR Residents gave presentations regarding the progress of their projects at their host institutions. If you are like me and know nothing about this program, you would be completely lost as to what any of this means. Don’t worry – despite my own interest in digital preservation, digital stewardship, or any other areas within the ever-expanding world of digital libraries and repositories, I hadn’t been aware of this program either. Originally hosted by the Library of Congress, the National Digital Stewardship Residency (or NDSR) assigns its residents to libraries or repositories looking to improve or originate their own digital stewardship program. This cohort model, where residents and their “hosts” work together to analyze and implement new theories and programs, has resulted in successful programs at past host institutions. Potential applicants are all recent graduates from various iSchools or MLIS graduate programs, and many of them did not have digital stewardship tracks at their graduate program. Currently, the NDSR Boston has residents at Harvard,…
ALA Midwinter
Posted January 15, 2016 by Tara Pealer
A scene: You walk into the Boston Convention and Exhibit center. It’s 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and the sun is still struggling to break through the dawn and clouds. You rush to the table you’re staffing for the day, check in, and then head over to pick up your pass. You made it. You’re at ALA Midwinter. It’s official. You have a pass and everything. They even gave you a free tote! And then, as you’re heading back to the table, you see it. A wonderland. A dream come true. A place better than Neverland. It makes you feel how Cinderella must have felt looking upon the Prince’s Castle. You’ve caught your first glimpse of the ALA Midwinter Exhibit Hall. Above the crowd of stations and booths, rise recognizable signs for Ebsco, JStor, and McFarland. Hidden in this huge arena, you know, reside the numerous tables for Penguin and Random House. Authors and illustrators are preparing for signings. Free books, posters, and tote bags are just within reach. Already, the scene is alive, bustling…
Attending ALA
Posted January 13, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
This past Friday I attended the American Library Association’s mid-winter conference which was held at the Boston Convention Center. Not only was this my first time attending an ALA conference, this was actually my very first library conference in general! Talk about exciting. While I had known that the ALA mid-winter conference was going to be held in Boston for quite some time, at first, I wasn’t certain if I should go. Since my focus within the field of library science is archives and cultural heritage, I was slightly concerned that, despite being a wonderful opportunity, I wouldn’t have too much to do beyond wandering around the exhibit hall. However, after speaking with a cousin who is a librarian in the Queens, NY area, I reconsidered a few things. To begin with, the conference was being held in a city that I was currently living in. One of the primary reasons I had opted out of attending the Summer ALA conference (previously held in San Fransisco) was the cost of finding a place to stay…
Attending a SLIS How To Panel
Posted November 12, 2015 by Tara Pealer
I’ve been to conferences before, so when one of my friends expressed an interest in going to the How To Attend a Conference event put on by SLIS groups, I was a little hesitant. It wasn’t that I didn’t find the topic interesting. It’s that when you do something once, you kind of assume you know how to do it. I went to a national conference. I presented for a whole fifteen minutes. I had it down pat. But I’m a sucker for peer pressure and free food, so I went with her. I’m so glad I went. It made me address some of my preconceived notions. One, there’s a difference between attending a National Conference as an undergraduate. When you go to a conference as an undergraduate, no one really expects anything out of you. You’re like a little baby to people who are Professionals In Their Field. They love that you’re so excited but they know that you don’t know half as much as them. Two, there’s a difference between an academic conference…
Trivia Night at Thornton’s
Posted September 16, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Last Friday night I attended the trivia event that was hosted by ASIS&T, ALA, LISSA, Panopticon, PLG, SCoSAA, SCIRRT, SLA, and Spectra. Considering the number of student organizations that were involved with making trivia night possible, I think we should really be calling it a super event. I’m not certain how often the SLIS student organizations come together to collaborate on putting together big events like this but I hope that they do more of them in the near future. For those who have never been, Thornton’s Fenway Grill is located on the opposite side of the Emerald Necklace from Simmons, on Peterborough Street. It is conveniently located on a strip of businesses that almost all specialize in food. By the time a friend and I arrived at Thornton’s for trivia, the place was already jammed packed with students. Fortunately, I was able to snag one of the few remaining seats at a table of friends. After ordering a round of drinks (the place was featuring a $5 Blue Shark drink that we all couldn’t ignore), we…
Pen Pal Experience
Posted June 4, 2015 by Hayley Botnen
This last Friday, I had the opportunity to meet up with a pen pal of mine. Back in October or November, Promising Pals sent out an email and asked for pen pals for students at the Timilty Middle School in Roslindale. I loved pen pal activities when I was in school, so I was happy to sign up for the experience. Usually, Promising Pals asks their pals to exchange four letters. Of course, this year, the snow storms made all plans go haywire. The mail was delayed, and I, at least, received two letters within three days. It was difficult to build a rapport with my pal when the mail was so irregular. However, Friday morning and meeting my pen pal for breakfast was exciting. The pals were able to hear a little bit about the history of the program and listen to some inspirational speeches and music. Then I got to collect my student from his classroom. We ate breakfast and bonded over basketball and horror movies. I bought him a book from the…
Innovation and Collaboration at Simmons’s Graduate Alumnae/Professional Day
Posted March 30, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
On Saturday, March 21st, I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Graduate Alumnae/Professional Day. The event, a collaborative effort between Simmons School of Social Work, School of Management, and School of Library and Information Science, featured workshops and and award ceremonies hosted by each school’s alumni association. Additionally, the event kicked off that morning with Bill Walczak, president of the Lewis Family Foundation and the Grad Circle Foundation, as the keynote speaker. Bill was one of a handful of founding members of an initiative that helped re-develop the Codman Square area of Boston beginning in the late 1970s. Through the efforts of Walczak and the other members of this initiative, they opened the Codman Square Health Center, a multi-service center which addressed health and other needs of the community. Since it has opened its doors, the health center has become a major factor in the regeneration of the community. During his speech, Walczak discussed the symptoms of poverty and how his work and the work of others since the 1970s have all been directed…
Graduate Student Symposium
Posted March 29, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
My takeaway from the 2015 Simmons College Graduate Student Symposium: I should go to more events on campus. Logistically, it’s easiest for me to come to campus only when I have class, so that’s pretty much what I do. Earlier this winter I submitted a paper to the Graduate Student Symposium, and was happy to be selected, even though I knew it would require a little schedule juggling on my part. So, this past Friday (not usually a school day for me!), I arranged for my kids to go home from school with friends (thank you, Alenka and Caroline!) and made my way over to Simmons for the afternoon, hoping that the logistical challenge would be worth it. It was so completely worth it. So. Completely. Worth. It. The symposium was well organized and the presentations were professional, interesting and relevant. I ran into several classmates I haven’t seen this semester due to opposite course schedules (hello, Celeste, Gretyl and Jahan!) and met SLIS students with whom I’ve never crossed paths. I was impressed with…
Gearing up for the 2015 Simmons Leadership Conference
Posted March 16, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Last night, I joined a large group of current and past Simmons students at the Seaport Boston Hotel and the World Trade Center to train for the 36th annual Simmons Leadership Conference. For those of you who were at Simmons last year, you might recall this event as the one that Hillary Clinton spoke at last spring. While I could not time find in my schedule to go last year, this time around, I was determined to get involved. Ranked as one of the principle women’s leadership conferences, the Simmons Leadership Conference attracts over 3000 middle and senior level women from companies and organizations across the country and around the globe. Inspired but the mission of Simmons founder, John Simmons, the creators seek to continue his work to enable women to acquire independent livelihoods. The list of past speakers who have been previously featured is quite impressive: Madeline Albright, Maya Angelou, Benazir Bhutto, Diane Keaton, and many more. This year, Sally Fields has the honor of being the final keynote speaker of the day. Seriously, how could I…