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Posted December 3, 2012 by Sarah Barton
Surprise! I bet you weren’t expecting to hear more about my GSLIS course credits this semester, but this is it, I promise. In addition to my three classes this semester, I had an Independent Study doing an internship at a law firm library. The perks of my internship have been gaining practical experience, building my résumé, bolstering my arsenal of talking points for future interviews, and spending time on the job with a library professional. I spent twelve hours per week at the law firm doing a variety of tasks including research, collection upkeep, invoice organization, and basic cataloging. I did not have any designated internship-long projects, and was, for the most part, subject to whatever tasks cropped up on a given day. It was a great introduction to the life of a solo librarian in a special library environment. The internship culminated in writing an article about the benefits of having an internship. I had almost too much material to work with! With the help of the GSLIS professor who proctored my Independent Study,…
Finishing My School Library Teacher Degree
Posted November 30, 2012 by Maya Bery
If I am not mistaken, this blog entry represents my penultimate contribution to the Simmons GSLIS admissions blog. For I, dear reader, am exactly one week away from finishing my library school career after 2.5 years. I am excited about that, but it’s also bittersweet, but that is not the focus of this post. This post is about how I finished my high school practicum yesterday. Yes, 150 hours, a 22-page practicum log, six lesson plans with reflections, 12 artifacts of different types, and a lot of paper later, I am done. It’s a tremendous sense of accomplishment seeing this giant binder come together with its pretty colored dividers, the cover page, the table of contents. I’ve taught lessons galore on how to find non-fiction books and generate keywords to run effective searches in the OPAC and in the Gale databases. I’ve learned to use iPads and researched a dozen apps that have really, really cool implications for students with special needs. I created a rocking pathfinder for students researching Romney and Obama’s positions on…
Let’s Take This Outside (the Classroom)
Posted November 26, 2012 by Sarah Barton
Two of my three courses this semester have required that I interview a library professional. Those interviews, plus my internship (more on that next week) have provided me with practical knowledge that simply cannot come from a classroom setting. The two classes for which I had to do interviews are “Principles of Management” and “Knowledge Management,” both of which are very theoretical and situation-specific. Talking to people in the field has been a great supplement of my overall understanding of the concepts that have been discussed in class. A write-up is required after both interviews, but frankly, I have found myself less concerned about the grades that I get on the papers than how I might be able to apply what I have learned in a professional setting. Talking to real life library professionals has been an interesting, thought provoking, and relevant addition to the time spent in class. I’m not suggesting that you invent a non-existent class or assignment in order to have an excuse to talk to someone who works in a library….
Reader’s Advisory
Posted November 9, 2012 by Maya Bery
One of the hot topics in reference is reader’s advisory. It’s the reason many people engage in reference interactions with librarians, but it’s often hard to narrow in on exactly what a patron liked about a particular book. And for me at least, when a patron admits that they don’t enjoy reading or actively dislikes it, I feel a lot of pressure to deliver. I have long felt that there is a book out there for each person, it’s just a question of matching the two together. But doing that can be a complicated, frustrating, and sometimes disheartening experience. If I sound down, it’s because I’ve just handled two reader’s advisory interactions which went less well than I would have hoped. In the first case, I had a freshman who “hates reading” looking for a short, funny book, but not one that would make her feel dumb (so graphic novels were out), no vampires (“read my lips: N-O, NO!”), no romances, no chick-lit books, nothing I could suggest caught her interest. “You know who’s…
Who You Gonna Call?
Posted November 6, 2012 by Julie Steenson
I apologize for wimping out, but I am swamped with work this week, both school projects and extra hours at my job at my local library. Please forgive me and enjoy this great view of the New York Public Library Reading Room…ghosts and all!
A Hurricane Can be Good for Library Business
Posted October 30, 2012 by Julie Steenson
In honor of Hurricane Sandy, my Monday class at Simmons was cancelled so I filled in at work at my local library for a colleague who has a long drive. All the local NH schools had also cancelled and to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be a busy day. What a surprise! With the winds still mild and the showers light in the morning in NH, we did a brisk business as everyone scurried in to stock up on books the way squirrels stock up on nuts. The last storm left us in the dark for ten days so we had to be ready. When Governor Lynch urged us all to go home and get off the roads by 3 pm, we reluctantly closed at 2:30 pm, just in time as the winds really started to howl. Power and phone were knocked out a couple of hours later and I am writing this on my laptop with my DSL modem hooked to the generator. It was a good day at the library. It…
Fathoming the Frankenstorm
Posted October 29, 2012 by Sarah Barton
I tend to not get too hyped up about storm forecasts. I recognize that people need to be alerted about the potential severity of a storm so they can prepare accordingly, but I personally don’t get caught up in the 24-7 Weather Channel or local news coverage. (Confession: in small doses, I do enjoy watching the live reporters who can hardly stand up due to the driving wind and rain. And how do their microphones not pick up any of the wssssh sounds from the wind?) On Sunday morning I picked up some bottled water and non-perishables, tested my flashlight, and collected some candles, so I felt like I was more than prepared for Sandy the Frankenstorm. Sunday evening I was surprised to see that many Massachusetts schools announced Monday closures. Then I received an email from my Monday morning professor that she was cancelling our in-person meeting and putting the lecture notes online. Then Simmons called, texted, and emailed me to say that the campus would be closed on Monday. Are people overreacting to…
Current Trends and Topics in School Librarianship
Posted October 29, 2012 by Maya Bery
One of the best ways to get a sense of whether or not school librarianship (or really, any aspect of LIS) is right for you is to explore what the current trends and topics are in the field. The school library field is a particularly rich one to investigate from the comfort of home because even if you don’t have database access to the leading journals, there’s a lot of great stuff out there that can give you a sense of what we school librarians spend our time thinking and talking about, and better yet, they’re free! Blogs: The wonderful (really, I’ve met her in person, she’s fabulous!) Joyce Valenza can be found over at NeverEnding Search, her blog at School Library Journal. Buffy Hamilton blogs at The Unquiet Librarian, and closer to home, Michelle Luhtala publishes her thoughts at Bibliotech.me. SLTP Professor Rebecca Morris is also active in the blogosphere at School Library Monthly. There’s so many more diverse and interesting voices from the field out there, so go explore! Webinars: YALSA offers webinars, both for free and for a…
Seriously Folks, It Only Takes ONE
Posted October 27, 2012 by Maggie Davidov
I wonder if it’s common for anyone in their chosen profession to watch someone else in the same field with trepidation. And when I say trepidation I mean fear. And when I say fear I mean an acute sensitivity. Pre-Story information/philosophy: I’m a new resident of Brighton. One of the first things I did upon moving was go to the library to get a library card. For some people, it’s internet or electricity. Me, I wanted to have a library card because that’s how I connect to a community. The library is the place where people can come to learn about what their neighborhood has to offer. The library is a space to see new things and meet new people. None of this can happen if librarians are barricaded behind the desk. I say all this because I believe in libraries. I think that much is plainly true. I go to library school. I work in a library. AND, AND, I don’t buy books on the principle that anything I want to read I should borrow…
Getting Hired
Posted October 23, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Many students writing and reading this blog are Millennials, actively pursuing a first-time career. Yes, you were born digital and your perspective brings one thing to the field of library science, whereas the life experiences and digital growth of mid-lifers bring something different. With all the hoopla over the value of the master’s degree, we are all, regardless of age, concerned about the same thing: Will we get a job? In this economy, every profession seems to share this concern, but a visit to the ALA group of LinkedIn tells us that library graduates across the nation share the same worries about getting a job, getting the experience required for a job, keeping current…and whether gray hair is a detriment or a plus. Graying hair means: Life has been your university. You are mature. You have experience triumphing over adversity and meeting challenges. Graying hair does NOT mean: Deadwood, technologically illiterate, or a lack of enthusiasm or innovation. These less desirable attributes belong to tired personalities that have nothing to do with age. I have…