General
Spring 2021
Posted February 1, 2021 by William Crouch
The new semester is right around the corner and I just finished up my intensive course this January so I thought it would be a good time to write about it. This January, LIS 439, Preservation Management, was offered as a two-week intensive course instead of taking it the entire semester. Over the past two weeks, our class has met 6 days to learn about and discuss the best practices for preservation techniques in historical institutions and libraries. I’ve learned a lot about what I didn’t realize is necessary to protect our records. For example, we learned about how to store different materials like cellulose nitrate film, which when stored improperly can burst into flames! We also learned about disaster preparation in case our institution is hit with a major disaster like an earthquake or fire and how to recover from that. One of my favorite parts of this class was an assignment that had us find 5 different items we owned that were damaged in some way and analyze the damage, what possibly could…
Creating a Character Database
Posted January 19, 2021 by Isabelle Raposo
This finals period was challenging but fun, and encapsulated what I’ve enjoyed about my courses at SLIS. I had a lot of latitude in choosing topics for my final projects in each course, but enough structure that I felt challenged by the assignments. For Database Management (LIS 458) with Professor Danielle Pollock, I designed and built a database about the characters in George Eliot’s Middlemarch, my favorite Victorian novel. Developing this database was one of the most intellectually challenging projects I’ve done at SLIS. Professor Pollock set us up to succeed by requiring us to turn in different elements of our database design throughout the semester, so I was able to revise my design and structure based on her feedback. I wanted to capture detailed information about every character in the novel, including clues to their socioeconomic background. Sorting out the technical details of how to display that information pushed me to grapple with the topics we covered during the semester. I ended up scaling back my project as the semester went on. Middlemarch is…
Welcome New Blogger Isabelle
Posted January 13, 2021 by Lindsey Clarke
Hello Readers, We have a new blogger starting with us for the semester. Here is a little bit about Isabelle. You will start seeing Isabelle’s posts next week! I studied English and Classics at Wellesley College, just outside Boston, and moved into the city to attend Simmons SLIS in 2019. I came to the program with some library and museum experience, as well as an interest in the role of technology in the field. I’ve taken courses on a wide variety of topics, from User Instruction (LIS 408) to Data Interoperability (LIS 487). Getting to know other students at Simmons has been a great experience, and I’ve learned so much from my SLIS classmates as well as my professors. It’s always interesting to hear my peers’ perspectives on material we’re covering in class, since everyone comes to the classroom from different professional backgrounds. I’m excited to be sharing my last semester at SLIS on Student Snippets.
Virtual Internships: Fun, Valuable, and Worth Going For!
Posted January 8, 2021 by Guest Blogger
It is 2021 now and thank goodness last year is over! As 2020 ended, I completed my coursework at SLIS and I have been reflecting a lot on how positive my experience was at Simmons University. While I enjoyed all the courses in the Leadership and Management track I was on, my absolute favorite course was LIS 512-Advanced Field Experience in LIS and the virtual internship with Boston Public Library’s Teen Central that I got to do through it. I must admit, I was skeptical of doing a virtual internship. With so much uncertainty in 2020 and so much of everyday life shifting into a new, virtual environment, I had so many questions about what a virtual internship would entail. Would I be able to get a sense of how the library functioned? Would I be able to contribute to the work being done? Would interaction with staff and patrons be possible? Would the experience be as beneficial as I perceived in-person internships to be? After wrestling with these questions, I sought the advice of…
One Month Left
Posted November 18, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
I was surprised when I looked at Moodle the other day and saw that there were only four more weeks left in the semester. It’s only three weeks of class, though, since there are no readings or assignments over Thanksgiving. It’s really getting down to the wire! I have two papers to write between now and the end of the semester, and luckily both of them are very interesting. The paper due first deals with analyzing a fictional library’s collection of young adult materials. To do this, we’ll be using a spreadsheet from our shared Google drive. The spreadsheet is a list of 25 books and corresponding information about publication dates, checkout data, renewal data, and various circulation information. We can use this information to determine a lot of about the collection, including which books are the most popular, the least popular, or the oldest. We can also use it to find areas of the collection that need to be weeded or expanded, or to deduce whether the collection is adequately meeting the needs of the community. But this assignment deals specifically with…
It’s That Time Again!
Posted November 2, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
We’re coming up on everyone’s favorite time of the semester—registration! We’re going into the registration period for Spring 2021 with a bit more information than we did for Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 regarding COVID-19. When we were registering last spring, it felt like we were going into this huge unknown, and admittedly it still kind of feels that way, but at this point we have a lot more information about what next semester is going to be like both from Simmons and from SLIS. After this semester, I have three classes left so I have to really think carefully about what class I choose for Spring 2021. Here’s the problem: there are a lot of classes that I want to take being offered next semester. As of right now, here’s what interests me: LIS 408: User Instruction and Information Literacy, LIS 414: Special Libraries, LIS 417: Subject Cataloguing and Classification, LIS 445: Metadata, LIS 450: Public Libraries, LIS 490: International and Comparative Librarianship, and LIS 532: Reader’s Advisory. I think I’ll probably end up taking LIS 408—it was my back up class…
New School Year and New Job
Posted September 21, 2020 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
Hello, and welcome back to a new school year at SLIS. I have now been in this library science program for three years. I was originally planning to graduate with both my Masters of Library and Information Science this January with my certification to be a K-12 Library Media Teacher. As with lot of other things going on right now, that is not possible. I miss being on campus for classes, and so do the professors. My professor for my LIS 410 course on Library Services for Diverse Users did a live Zoom class with us last week, and we may have a couple more this semester. The “live” class sessions make it feel a little more like it is in-person. As of early September, I have moved to a new apartment and started a new job. With public schools, there are some pros and cons right now for new teachers. The big downside is I could not find a placement for student teaching this fall. I came to this decision with lots of support…
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…
Staying Positive
Posted May 15, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
So we are a few weeks in to the break between the Spring 2020 Semester and the Summer 2020 Semester, and it’s obviously a bit different this time around with COVID-19. Last year around this time I was on a trip with my family, and this year we’re in the middle of a pandemic and Massachusetts is still under a stay-at-home advisory. One thing I’ve thought a lot about during the past few weeks is stress caused by the outbreak, and the importance of staying positive. Here are some of my tips for staying positive and coping with stress during this difficult time: Remember that this is only temporary and you are not alone! Maintain a sense of routine! As much as I love staying in my pajamas, I have a more positive attitude when I get up, get dressed, and go about my everyday routine. Take a break from COVID-19 news, media, and other pandemic-related content. I disabled news notifications on my phone a while ago, and I’ve been trying to limit myself from…
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…