Fun
SLIS Tavern Night
Posted June 17, 2019 by Katie Carlson
Our amazing end of the year event for SLIS took place at a Tavern Night hosted at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum! Each one of the actors stayed so perfectly in character that when Paul Revere told me to follow him for the “baby shower,” I was frazzled and felt the need to clarify that we were library students here for a tavern night! It quickly became apparent that the “shower” was just a cover for our booze-filled gathering, which was illegal by 1773 standards. I rubbed elbows with John Hancock and his Aunt Lydia, Dorothy Quincy, Samuel Adams, and several other relevant Bostonians. Each actor was believably living in 1773, and kept throwing various “easter eggs” that were particularly funny if you’re well versed in history! I grew up attending Renaissance Fairs, was a “theatre kid” in high school, minored in Art History in college, and have two history-loving parents, so this was quite my cup of tea (pun intended)! As a budding information professional I was ALSO very impressed that the…
Guest Blog Post – MLA Conference Experience – Professional Development
Posted June 13, 2019 by Lindsey Clarke
Hi Everyone! We are lucky enough to have a fabulous guest post from one of our current students in the program — Kerri MacLaury. Kerri was kind enough to share with us her input on the recent MLA conference she attended. I hope you enjoy this exciting guest post! One of the reasons why I chose to attend Simmons University’s School of Library and Information Science program was its support of students’ professional development. Every fiscal year, each SLIS student, courtesy of the Library and Information Science Student Association, receives $250 which they can put toward various professional development activities. Funds can be used to be reimbursed for professional association dues, workshop or conference fees, and travel and lodging expenses. This year I considered using my funds to pay for American Library Association, New England Library Association (NELA), and Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) membership dues, but ultimately decided to use the funds to attend the MLA conference. I made that decision because I know that I will remain in Massachusetts at the conclusion of my…
Summer Reading
Posted June 12, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
Summer Reading Summer is here! My summer class (LIS 404: Principles of Management) doesn’t start up until next week, but the course materials are online, so I’ve been trying to get head start by looking at the readings and seeing what my assignments are. I remember how busy last summer was as summer classes at SLIS are shorter than actual semester-long classes (my summer class this time is only seven weeks long). Even though I’m looking ahead to my summer class, I’ve been enjoying my last few days of summer break by reading and relaxing. I’ve been reflecting on what I used to do during summer break when I was a child. One of my favorite activities was the summer reading program at our public library. I was a voracious reader as a child (I still am–not an uncommon trait for someone in the SLIS program), and I not only did the summer reading program at the library, but also at all of our local bookstores. One of the reasons why I’ve been thinking about…
Trying my Hand at Student Leadership
Posted May 13, 2019 by Maria Reilova
Taking online coureses this semester has been really great in terms of flexibility in my schedule for my part-time job, and for my internship, but it has been not so great for socializing and being involved at campus events. Since I did not have to come to campus as often for class or meetings for group projects, I spent way more time these past few months in my bed then I’d like to admit. So to get out of my comfort zone and really try to challenge myself, I decided to run for a leadership position in Panopticon,(the student art librarianship student organization). Which means you can now call me Madame Secretary! I knew I wanted to get more involved since time is going by so fast and I want to experience as much as a can in grad school before it’s over! Panopticon has always been the student group I have been most interested in, and I am so excited to now be a part of their leadership team. Having a background in art…
Almost There
Posted April 30, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
I can’t believe the last week of the semester is here already! Where did the time go? My only remaining assignment is my group project because I managed to finish my tech project early! I submitted it on Friday, and then I jumped up and down and did a happy dance with my dog ?. I am so glad I got it off my plate because I got to actually relax a bit over the weekend. I had some readings and a small extra credit assignment to do, but nothing majorly time consuming. My part of the group project is done and I’m just waiting for us to put everything together. It’s due on Friday and probably won’t be submitted before then because of all the coordination that needs to happen. But I don’t care when it’s submitted, as long as it’s on time. I also need to double check that I’ve fulfilled all my participation requirements for both classes. I’m pretty sure I have, but it never hurts to double check. So what’s next? …
Searching for the Unknown
Posted February 26, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
We are taught early on how to search for information in a library. You search by author, title, or subject, and find what you need. But the reality is, it’s not always easy to find exactly what you want unless you have a good idea of what you are looking for. In LIS 415, Information Organization, we completed an assignment where we searched for the word “grey” as author, keyword, and title. Predictably, the results were numerous and varied, as “grey” is a fairly common word that can be a name or a color. That assignment gave me a lot to think about. I use the library a lot, both for school and for myself. Most of the time I have an author or title in mind when I’m searching, or at least a subject that can narrow down my search. But how do I search when I don’t know what I want? And more importantly, do I ever search for the unknown? All these questions came up because of my trip to the Needham…
HTML-ove Affair?
Posted February 11, 2019 by Katie Carlson
This week in LIS 488, we learned the basics of HTML. As my last post shows, I was really quaking in my boots for this course! This week went really well, as we worked through a Code Academy tutorial, and coded a simple HTML site about bears! My (very minimal) experience with HTML stems from a tumblr blog I’ve been updating since I was 14. I remember the excitement of selecting my first theme, and writing my first little bio. With the help of the Wayback Machine of www.wayback.com, introduced to me by Danielle Pollock, I don’t have to just fondly remember my blog in 2011: I can see it! And now, on display, my greatest pride and greatest shame, all rolled into one. Check out this screenshot of my blog from November 6th, 2011. My first background was a wicked cool purple and black flannel. I “hated people,” and loved tea. I remember sitting in a newly funded computer lab in 3rd grade, and wondering why I was being forced to complete my report…
Spring 2019 Kickoff
Posted February 4, 2019 by Katie Carlson
With the first week of classes coming to a close, I thought I’d give my first impressions of my second SLIS semester so far! On Tuesday I had my first section of LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals (my final core class). I was extremely nervous about this class, so it’s not a coincidence that I saved it for last! I am someone who loves technology and is always excited to learn new things, but after a few too many attempts at troubleshooting, I go into meltdown mode. Danielle put my mind at ease when she started class by having us go around the room, share our tech backgrounds, and rate our feelings about technology on a smiley face scale ranging from love to hate (just like this one). Most of us placed ourselves on the scale at “meh,” with various justifications for why. Some rationales for not providing a more positive score were frustration, privacy concerns, and lack of sociability. Danielle stated that the course would take on all of those subjects! We…
First Impressions
Posted January 31, 2019 by Megan Ondricek
Over the past week my semester has truly gotten underway and I think it is going to be exactly what I need for my final semester at Simmons. The most exciting thing to happen this week was the first meeting for my internship! I sat down with the senior reference librarian & instruction coordinator at Fairfield University and we hashed out introductions, expectations, and scheduling. For the next few weeks we will be meeting to discuss readings, instruction techniques, and lesson plans. I’ll get to observe a few classes, and then, I WILL GET TO TEACH ALL BY MYSELF. Yep, you heard that right (because I was yelling excitedly). These kind people are going to let an inexperienced library school student teach undergraduate freshman English classes. In fact, I’m going to teach about ten classes over the course of the semester! Yay for real life experience! I AM SO EXCITED. Readings and discussions have begun in my online metadata class and I’m getting pretty good vibes about it. Many of the students are in their…
And We’re Back!
Posted January 23, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
Happy 2019 everyone! The Fall 2018 semester wrapped up a little over a month ago and school is officially back in session. Additionally, because I work in an academic library, I got almost three weeks off of work because of the intersession. I must say, as much as I love school and work and libraries, it was nice to not think about any of that for a few weeks. So, what did I do during my time off? I had such grand plans for my break, because I wasn’t going to have any homework, and I wasn’t going to be at work, and I had a nice solid chunk of time off where I could actually do things and go places. However, absolutely none of my plans came to fruition. I did absolutely nothing over my break and it was wonderful. I have no regrets. I did see Mary Poppins Returns if that counts as doing something, but aside from that, I really just spent most of my time hanging out at home in my…