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It’s the Final Countdown!
Posted January 27, 2020 by Maria Reilova
Happy 2020, everyone! I’ve been kind of absent from the blog last semester, so I am way overdue on given y’all a HUGE life update. I’m officially in my final semester and I am busy. Last semester I had the opportunity to work for the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University as well as intern for the Museum of Fine Arts Registrar’s Office. Now for anyone who doesn’t know me, this was a dream come true! My background is in art history and I have always seen myself working in either a museum library or a specialized academic library. At Harvard, I was working as the Collection Assistant and was able to learn so much about how they run their library and also see first hand some of the incredible things that the Fine Arts Library collects. I also on a few occasions got to work with the paper conservator on flagging some materials for preservation. All the things I loved learning about in my classes were really coming into play in my new role. …
Bits and Pieces
Posted November 19, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
I thought I’d give some updates on things I’ve been working on lately! I registered for my spring classes last week. I had always planned to sign up for Metadata (LIS 445) and I did, but I was uncertain on my second class. I took an leap and signed up for Info Services for Diverse Users (LIS 410). This wasn’t on my list of classes I wanted to take, but it struck me as very interesting and worthwhile, and I’m glad I chose it. I’m excited to learn about all the ways libraries address people with different backgrounds and abilities, and what can be done in the future to make them even more inclusive. I’m really excited for it. I finished paper #2 for Social Informatics! I submitted it on Sunday even though it was due on Tuesday. It ended up coming together faster than I thought but I spent a lot of time editing. I love the editing process, particularly playing around with wording and making my sentences cleaner and clearer. I went through…
Who Knew Fidelity Investments has a Library?
Posted September 6, 2019 by Maria Reilova
Hello, Student Snippet readers! Long time no see(read?)! Happy start of the new semester, I have had one of the busiest summers of my life this year. For a quick recap: I had to put my on-campus job in the SLIS admissions office on hold since I was working at Fidelity Investments full-time as their Research Services Intern, while also taking Metadata online which was offered this summer as the SLIS travel course to Yonsei University in South Korea! Since I could write about my trip to South Korea for ages, I thought I’d focus my first “back-to-school” blog post, on my internship this summer. I found and applied for my summer internship using the SLIS jobline. I was fortunate enough interview, and be offered the internship at Fidelity Investments in Boston, where I would be working with their research services team. Now I’m sure I am not alone in that I had no idea that Fidelity even had a library, and with it some super cool librarians! Because it was a corporate library, the…
SLIS Career and Networking Fair – Come for the Networking, Stay for the Swag & Brownies
Posted April 29, 2019 by Maria Reilova
Every spring, SLIS Student Services puts on the annual SLIS Career and Networking Fair for the students and alumni of the program. I am have been looking for some summer internship or part-time opportunities in Boston and I really wanted to attend this event as an informative experience, and a chance to practice my networking skills (something that still stresses me out constantly and I am always trying to improve). I am so happy I went. Even though I did initially have to hype myself up a bit with some caffeine. It was really nice to attend a career fair that was actually catering to my specific field. In undergraduate, I attended one career fair and since my college had a lot of business and technology students I did not feel too well represented as an art history student. There were definitely ways I could apply my liberal arts degree to different careers at the fair but it was nice to have that taken care for me at the Simmons SLIS Career Fair. Some of the…
The First 100 Days – Guest Blogger – Hanna Soltys, ’17
Posted October 19, 2018 by Lindsey Clarke
Hi Everyone, Please join me in welcoming our one time, guest blogger Hanna Soltys! She recently had the most exciting opportunity at the Library of Congress. Bio: Hanna Soltys ’17 MS, Archives Management is one of five in the Library of Congress’s pilot Librarians-in-Residence Program. She was placed in the Reference & Instruction track, within the Prints & Photographs Division, and began her six-month appointment in late June 2018. The First 100 Days As a Librarian-in-Residence at the Library of Congress Since I’m now in DC, it only feels right to reflect on my First 100 Days. Let’s be real, a residence program at an institution such as this is intimidating. The anxiety and doubt bubbled up as that plane took off from Logan Airport with just my luggage in tow. Though from Day One, I quickly saw how Simmons and my experiences throughout Boston had prepared me for this program. The work I completed with Simmons students and former professor Martha Mahard in the Boston Public Library’s Prints Department ensured I wasn’t too green coming…
It’s the Final Countdown
Posted April 3, 2017 by Amanda Pizzollo
* 26 days until I finish at SLIS West (our campus has to end a bit earlier than Boston because we use the Mount Holyoke Campus classrooms) * 26 days until my digital libraries class presents at our graduation party, till I celebrate with SLIS West students and alums for our end of the year celebration, and till I get my special SLIS West tote bag signifying I am an alumna 🙂 * 29 days until I finish my SLIS Boston class * 46 days until I walk at commencement in Boston * 44 days until I figure out what to put on the top of my hat for said commencement (ideas welcome) * an unknown number of days until it really feels like spring * 1, 418 days (if I’m calculated correctly) until Amherst College celebrates it’s bicentennial (I’m the Bicentennial Project Metadata Librarian, so this is an important countdown for me) * and, well, I think this should end here- I’m getting a little nervous counting down the days of my life. My…
The Interview Process
Posted February 10, 2017 by Amanda Pizzollo
I’m in my last semester at SLIS West, and that means it’s time to start applying for professional jobs! Woohoo! Especially because I’m primarily interested in working in an academic library, I’ve got to be applying for things pre-graduation whenever possible. Sometimes the academic library hiring process can take a little while, and I’m hoping to have a professional level job immediately after graduation if not before it. Of course, this all depends on jobs available and all that jazz. I have been lucky enough to get a few interview opportunities for professional jobs this semester, and the hiring/application process for academic librarian jobs is quite different compared to what I experienced as a nurse or as a library student. Sometimes it involves 2 interviews- one with just a search committee, and then if you’re invited back, a longer interview day with more library staff. Sometimes it’s just one interview. Often, for the longer interview day, you’re also required to present on a topic assigned by the search committee. So, yes, I know that having…
Pleasant Suprises
Posted November 7, 2016 by Amanda Pizzollo
Whew! Busy week with a couple penultimate assignments and a presentation in my classes, plus attempts to get back in shape and return to meditating daily. It seems as though my new year resolution phase has kicked in a bit early. Or maybe I’m just excited for cookie season. So, I thought this week I might share a bit some of my pleasant surprises from my role as a metadata intern. When I started library school, I honestly didn’t really have an intention of becoming an information organizer to the extent of a metadata creator or cataloger. I found I really like my 415 class though (information organization), and suddenly I was considering resource description as a potential career. A piece of me thought I was just getting excited about something new to me, not really finding a new career path. So, I looked in other directions course and internship-wise for a while. Yet, the allure of info org has been too strong my friends — and it has remained a consistent presence for me…
Introducing — Amanda Pizzollo — A New Blogger for Simmons SLIS
Posted October 24, 2016 by Amanda Pizzollo
So, I’m coming up on my 10 year nurse-a-versary. Yup, it’s almost been 10 years since I took my boards and got my first job as a nurse. What? Oh, this is a blog about librarianing you say? I know, I know. I’m getting there. I’ve been getting, there, in fact, since I started training to be a nurse. Well, getting here that is, and by here I mean the library world. I loved nursing, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t what I would have chosen in college if it weren’t for outside pressures and a certain measure of indecisiveness. Don’t worry, I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not. I don’t think. Well, maybeeee… No really. I’m very sure about this whole library thing. But being a nurse is still a big part of my life, and a big part of who I am. As much as I try not to, I somehow end up telling people in library school that I’m also a nurse within about 2 minutes of conversation. It’s just…
Playing the Waiting Game
Posted April 1, 2016 by Katie Caskey
I have good news and bad news. The (very very) good news is that I am graduating in less than 7 weeks! Done! Finished with school! And while I have absolutely loved my time at Simmons, and in academia in general, I am very ready to begin the next (paper- and homework-free) season of life…which brings me to the bad news. As I am learning, this next season may be aptly titled “The Waiting Game.” I’ve been applying to internships and job positions since late January, and so far, no nibbles. The hardest part is that with the company I’m applying to, I can track my application progress on their website. So while I can see that my application is being considered, I have no way of knowing how long that might last or how serious that consideration is. So, I’m having to re-learn the art of patience that was drilled into me by my kindergarten teacher. This is enough to drive a planner like me crazy, by the way. So I’ve decided that I’m…