Fun
A Three-Part Guide to Daylight Savings
Posted November 9, 2021 by Abbey Metzler
On Monday evening, or really what I would call at most late afternoon, I sat at my desk in my office building watching the sun go down. Spring forward and fall back, daylight saving time has come to an end here in the United States. I know that I am somewhat alone in loving winter. Five lake-effect snow laden years living in Central New York will do that to a girl. But, even I felt the spike of dread at watching the sky darken at an early 4:30pm. I know that a lot of Simmons students aren’t from New England, myself included. Winter here is not the same dusting of snow that shuts down major Southern cities. Before we also start to resign ourselves to hibernation until Spring, I thought I would share my plan to make our long, cold nights a little less daunting. Maybe these three tips will make you winter people yet. We are always looking for converts! Step 1: Read. I know. I know. We are all here in the…
An Ode to Western Mass.
Posted November 8, 2021 by Erin Finn
Western Massachusetts is one of my favorite areas to explore in my free time! Maybe I’m a bit biased as I grew up here, but it’s an area rich with history, the arts, beautiful scenery, and plenty of other things to see and do. If you are a student at SLIS West, whether new to the area or visiting to take a library course on the Mount Holyoke campus for the first time, here are some of my recommendations of things to do in the surrounding area near the SLIS West campus! If you enjoy being out in nature, whether that be biking, hiking, walking, or your preferred nature activity, there are many trails and conservation sites to spend some time basking in the outdoors. My personal favorites are the following: Hiking up to the Summit House on top of Mt. Holyoke (if you want to see the beautiful views of the valley, but can’t do the hike, you can drive and park at the top when the road is open). Check out the view…
Half-Time
Posted October 25, 2021 by Abbey Metzler
In October, I know how I am supposed to be spending my weekends. I’m not talking about the fabled New England leaf peeping or the apple and pumpkin picking we wait all year for. I mean that mid semester rush of projects and presentations and paper deadlines that loom large over the first half of the class and rush to arrive before any of us know it. The midterm season in graduate school is less defined than its undergraduate counterpart. While I used to have midpoint tests to look forward to, now my calendar is filled with a handful of assignments worth increasingly more percentages of my total class grades. It’s less a midterm schedule and more a mounting panic at how quickly the semester runs by. I spent the first few weeks at Simmons feeling like I wasn’t doing enough. And now, I wonder if it is worth bringing my laptop to work with me so I can look for entries for my next paper’s bibliography on my commute home. With my mental and…
Planning Your Move: Spreadsheets, Time Machines, and Lime Skittles
Posted September 12, 2021 by Johnna Purchase
With only three weeks until term begins and the annual “great lease renewal” of Boston September 1st, if you have yet to plan how you are moving yourself and belongings to your new apartment, the time has come. I moved to the city cross-country from Texas in early August and so, with 1,839 miles and nearly thirty hours in a Kia Niro hybrid worth of experience, here are a few suggestions I have about how to prepare for your move if you, like me, need to cover a long distance: Utilize Google Sheets. There are many variables when planning a move so instead of relying on your potentially-running-on-overdrive-thanks-to-all-the-change brain to remember everything, start keeping track in Google Sheets. You can use formulas to tally costs, project budgets, make checklists, and organize it on separate tabs. It’s also a great opportunity to brush up on your Excel/GSuite skills. If you need more help, check out the resources provided from Simmons in the Technology Competencies Guidelines which was emailed out to students in mid-June. Choose your mode…
Fall 2020 and Welcome Week
Posted September 23, 2020 by William Crouch
It’s pretty crazy to think about how different the start to this fall semester is compared to last year. At this time last year, I was moving to Boston and now the whole world is somewhat frozen with the pandemic while Simmons is not having anything on campus this fall. But that hasn’t stopped us from trying to establish a community for our SLIS students as at the beginning of the month we had a series of digital welcome events for our new students. We had students talk with professors about the upcoming year, meeting with our Simmons librarians to help with research, a meeting for students to get to know each other and chat, and we even had a drawing for SLIS clothing at the end of the week. It was a lot of fun and if any incoming students are hesitant about attending these events the next time we have them, hopefully in person next fall, I would highly recommend going to help establish connections with professors and fellow students before your grad…
Summer of Covid
Posted September 9, 2020 by William Crouch
Hey everyone. I thought I might share a little bit of what I have been doing aside from classes during this strange summer. I’ve moved back to Texas to wait out this pandemic which has been insanely different than what Massachusetts has experienced. Obviously, Texas experienced a massive spike in cases around the end of June and throughout July. Thankfully, I’ve been able to isolate myself for the most part to hopefully limit my exposure. One of the benefits from being in Texas this summer is that I’ve been able to start playing tennis again. I played tennis in undergrad for my school, Austin College, but for a number of factors, I wasn’t able to continue playing when I moved to Boston. To try and get some fresh air and exercise, my dad and I have been playing almost every night which has been really beneficial for my mental and physical health. Due to how tennis is played, it’s really easy to maintain social distancing, so if anybody is looking for a way to get…
Book Repairs!
Posted July 7, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
I’ve had a busy and fun two weeks of book repairs. My tasks included rebacking (replacing the spine of a book) and recasing (re-attaching the text block to the book cover). Both of these repairs were invasive and required cutting into the book. That definitely scared me at first. Taking a knife to a book seemed like sacrilege. I had to remind myself that cutting into the book would not harm it—in fact, it would save the book. And it did! The end result of my repairs was book that was fully functional again, and ready to get back into circulation. I can see how knowing how to do these minor repairs would be beneficial for librarians, because they could fix a lot of book problems without having to spend money buying a new book. What amazes me is how much book repair is about precision. It takes a lot of practice to make straight, even cuts, align pages, and trim accurately. But once you know how to do this, you can make repairs that…
Surprise Online School & (Not-So-Final) Farewell
Posted May 14, 2020 by Katie Carlson
If being a grad student in my final semester during COVID-19 showed me anything, it is that my friends and future librarian colleagues are amazing and ADAPTABLE. With life suddenly thrown online, I saw recorded modules, voiced-over power points, sing-a-long zoom meetings, virtual coffee dates, Animal Crossing birthday parties, YouTube story hours, interactive book club Moodle sites, WEDDINGS, and so much more! I’ve also witnessed so much patience that warms my heart! From what I’ve seen, everyone has been great about adapting their expectations and making accommodations! Now for the second part of this little post: I’m done! I’m a whole MASTER in the field of library and information science! These two years have absolutely flown by, but I wouldn’t do anything differently! To make at-home-graduation even more special, my girlfriend made diplomas, organized a photoshoot, and even conducted a ceremony for Adaliz and me! Grades are in, and as I write this, I have my Zoom-uation Virtual Graduation tomorrow! It might be a little unconventional, but we made it through! Signing off for now…but…
How-To Cope During COVID-19: Katie Style
Posted April 8, 2020 by Katie Carlson
Learn how to propagate plants from your favorite Student Snippets blogger: me! Host virtual coffee hours//dance parties with your friends. Gather mailing addresses for everyone you know. Doodle. Send said doodles to your friends (pineap-PALS) via mail with the Gwen Ifill stamps you’ve purchased from USPS. Suddenly become someone who enthusiastically participates in chain Facebook//Instagram challenges. Keep your nails looking IMMACULATE even though only your roommate will see them. Don’t forget to show your plants//pets//kids on Zoom meetings. We could all use the break! Make LOTS of buttermilk pancakes. Use chocolate chips. (This is essential.) Hate-watch Love Is Blind. Love-watch Full House. Host your own version of chopped with pantry items! Binge watch all of Tiger King. Videochat your parents about Tiger King theories. Play endless games of Yahtzee! (Mail your girlfriend some dice so she can play along!) Jazzercise. Do a chemical foot peel. Feel nothing but regret (and very soft skin). Break out the watercolors you bought for a costume design class in college. Force your roommate to craft with you! Take advantage…
ICA: We All Shout Hooray!
Posted March 4, 2020 by Katie Carlson
A few weeks ago, I was able to snag a spot to attend the LOVE IS CALLING exhibit at the ICA with Panopticon (Simmons’ resident art libraries interest org) for FREE. It was one of the coolest installations I’ve seen in a while! LOVE IS CALLING is an installation by Yayoi Kusama that premiered in Japan in 2013. Kusama is a 90(!!!!) year old artist who has been active since the 60s. She is most known for her sculptures, massive installations, and blunt red bob. Polka dots are a common thread that run through Kusama’s sculptural work, and for good reason: Kusama was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive neurosis in the 70s, and states that the dots are a visual representation of hallucinations she has experienced since the age of 10. Kusama calls these clusters of polka dots “infinity nests,” while the full room installations are referred to as “infinity rooms.” LOVE IS CALLING (seen left) is a prime example of one of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity rooms, which use mirrors to make rooms (and polka dots)…