Libraries
Library School Changes the Brain
Posted June 4, 2012 by Maya Bery
I recently returned from a trip to see my parents, who have just moved continents and countries from India to the Netherlands. When I arrived, they had just received their shipment of possessions from India, and were still in the process of setting up. My parents are lifelong readers, and for as long as I can remember, our house has had endless numbers of bookcases overflowing with books, sometimes several levels deep, and not counting boxes in the garage or basement. When I got to college, I enrolled in a major program very similar to the one my dad had done more than thirty years earlier, and to my delight, I was able to use some of his vintage books. Nobody else had inherited copies of the Communist Manifesto, the Marx-Engles Reader, or even The Protestant Work Ethic, but I did. Yet, there was never a set method of organizing the books in any real or meaningful fashion. This never bothered me before, but it bothered me now. My librarian brain, fresh from the experiences…
The Post-Semester Life of an Unemployed Aspiring Librarian
Posted May 29, 2012 by Sarah Barton
The calendar tells me that the semester ended three weeks ago. Instead of harping on how that does not seem temporally possible, I will briefly detail the post-semester life of an unemployed aspiring librarian in all of its glory. The day after my final final I started volunteering at the Somerville Public Library. I had the opportunity to shadow the library director, and came away with all kinds of clichéd what they dont teach you in library school-type knowledge and insights about what goes on behind the scenes in a public library. I sat in on meetings, met interesting people, and did research for a grant proposal. In less glamorous news, I spent four days going through random documents that past library directors had left in the office. Im pretty sure that experience solidified my lack of interest in archives. I also spent some time helping at the Friends of the Somerville Public Library Book Sale. On the last day of the sale, all VHS tapes were $0.25 each or five for $1. A little…
Suggestions for a Disgruntled Patron
Posted May 15, 2012 by Sarah Barton
My hometown newspaper published a letter to the editor from a woman who thinks that the public library budget could use substantial cuts. She writes that high school students should replace the six gossiping and squawking librarians with master’s degrees who are checking out books on any given shift, and that the library director and assistant director are grossly overpaid. I am in no place to comment on the library’s budget or staffing structure (although I find it hard to believe that six librarians are constantly manning the circulation desk), but I was glad to see that community members have commented on the letter itself and written their own letters extolling the library and its services. I don’t know what side of whose bed that woman woke up on before writing this letter, but I would like to think that she is an anomaly in a world full of grateful library users. Fortunately, I woke up on the right side of my own bed this morning, so I will offer her some things to consider:…
Opportunites at Simmons
Posted May 6, 2012 by Maya Bery
One of the amazing things about Simmons is the people it puts you in touch with – faculty, students, and visitors. For instance, last week, Susan Ballard happened to be on campus. If you don’t know who Susan Ballard is, she’s the president-elect of the American Association of School Librarians. Susan was on campus because she’s also an instructor at Simmons (and an alumna!), involved in the post-graduate, online instructional technology program that launched this past January. While she was here, she asked to meet with the SLTP and IT students, which is how I came to be in a classroom with about ten other students and faculty members discussing the future of school librarianship with the head of my national organization. That’s pretty amazing, if you ask me.
How Running a Marathon is (sort of) Like Attending Simmons GSLIS
Posted April 16, 2012 by Sarah Barton
I want to make the Boston Marathon relevant to GSLIS. I really do. Library school is like a marathon. The last two weeks of the semester are the final sprint to complete a marathon. The Boston Marathon is awesome, and so is GSLIS. As much as I enjoy figurative language, those statements just dont quite get it done. I couldnt watch the Boston Marathon last year, but two years ago it was one of the most inspiring things I have ever witnessed. Despite being a certified stoic, at one point I found myself holding back tears. The combination of beautiful weather, everyones positive energy, and the camaraderie among the runners and spectators created an experience that I will not soon forget. There is something overpowering about watching 27,000 people meander 26.2 miles from Framingham to Downtown Boston. A marathon is hardly about winning in the traditional sense. Everyone out there, whether on the course or alongside it, wants every single marathoner to succeed. In a marathon, to succeed is to finish and to finish is…
Building a Fancy CV
Posted April 15, 2012 by Danielle Geller
This semester, Ive been trying to take advantage of all of the opportunitiesbeyond Simmonsthat living in Boston has to offer. Three weeks ago I attended the NEA Spring Meeting, and this week I attended a conference that on the service might not seem strictly relevant to our field: the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PC/ACA) conference in Boston. True, there were a lot of panels on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, World of Warcraft, and other popular fandoms, but the conference itself was huge! The program was over 450 pages long, and I managed to find a few sessions that were on the intersection of popular culture, research, and archives, special libraries, and museums. So of course I attended! Ive found that some panels on an archives holdings can turn into a form of show and telllook at these awesome things I have in my collections!that never evolve into a discussion on methodology, theory, or issues of access publicity, etc., which can be frustrating. One of the most interesting presentations, in fact, was on…
So…why library school?
Posted April 14, 2012 by Maya Bery
If you are currently contemplating the decision to attend library school, chances are at some point in your search process, you have heard some helpful individual say something along the lines of “Libraries are dying/e-books are rendering books irrelevant/why do you need a degree for that/fill in your own silly reason here.” This issue irked me so much, it actually wound up being the introduction to my admissions essay for Simmons. Are e-books and the internet changing the way in which libraries operate? Of course. But the library as an institution is far from becoming irrelevant, and in fact, I think this is a fascinating time to choose to enter our noble profession. For a start, there’s so much potential that technology and the internet opens up for us, and a simple Google search is just the tip of the iceberg. When your friends and family learn that you actually know how to extract useful information out of Google in a method more refined than random keyword searches, their estimation of you will rise. If…
And You Thought I Was Kidding About the Superhero Thing
Posted April 11, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Last week, in talking about career paths for librarians, I reminded everyone that Batgirl was, after all, a librarian. The day after that post, I headed off to the University Of Rochester in New York, to join my daughter on a grad school visit. The purpose of the visit was my daughters admission there this fall, but I had just read about the University of Rochesters Undergraduate Research Project for my Evaluation class (LIS403). This qualitative study was a fascinating account of how this one academic library adapted both their physical space and information access to better meet the needs of the population they serve. Naturally, I went off for a little library tour of my own to see the spaces I had just read about in the study.You can imagine my surprise at turning a corner in the Reference Room and seeing an amazing display of the League of Librarians: Research Superheroes at Your Service.
Librarians in Disguise
Posted April 9, 2012 by Sarah Barton
On Wednesday I went to an Alternative Career Panel sponsored by the Simmons Special Libraries Association (SLA). The panel consisted of three women, all of whom graduated from Simmons GSLIS in the past ten years and none of whom are employed in a library. (Gasp!) One of the panelists researches potential litigation cases for an economic consulting firm, and the other two, whom I will call techies for lack of a better/more creative term, work in the user access/user experience area of technology. On the most basic level, the first panelist does research (duh), and the techies collaborate with web engineers and graphic designers to simplify and enhance user interaction with a web interface. One of the questions for the panel was How do you define yourself professionally? The researcher said librarian (although no one she works with would refer to her as such), one of the techies said information scientist (but sometimes librarian when she really wants to blow someones mind), and the other techie said information architect. Technically, they are all librarians. Technically,…
Librarian or Batgirl?
Posted April 4, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Library and Information Science that is the degree program we are pursuing and the name says it all. The Masters degree program years ago was just Library Science, but as the world changes, so does the role of librarians. We are not just librarians, but information and technology specialists scientists, in fact. If you think you know what your librarian does, think again. This is a much bigger world than checking out books. We are Superheroes of the Information Age! Earlier blogs discussed our personal journeys to discover what area of Library and Information Science we wish to pursue. I, like my peers, have changed my mind countless times in these first few months. Why? Because there are so many choices! Here is my short list of career paths I have considered: Tradition public librarian with a modern technology twist database management, technology public outreach (iPads, kindles, etc.), web development, social media. Reference librarian in an academic library. Faculty librarian in an academic setting Yes, librarians are now embedded in university departments, as…