Relaxing
Baking Fun!
Posted October 19, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
If you haven’t noticed, we are already more than halfway through pumpkin month! It is kind of hard to believe that October is nearly over, meaning that I’ve already been a student at Simmons for two months. Time certainly flies when one is busy at work with their studies. But between learning about MARC, RDA, AACR2, and how to create a finding aid, one needs a little time to unwind. Well, considering that I love to bake and it is almost Halloween, I decided to take some time off between writing papers and MARC to try my hand at something new. Whoopie pies are something that I have known about for a long time but have never had an opportunity to make. Well, this past week I decided to take a break and try something new. Well, the whoopies pies I ended up baking turned out to be not only phenomenal but super easy to make. So the next time you feel like taking a study break, give this recipe a try. The results are…
Winter is Coming
Posted August 19, 2013 by Sarah Barton
I watched the first episode of Game of Thrones on June 22 as an escape from the afternoon heat in Washington, DC. Fast-forward 24 hours, and I had watched five more. The only thing stopping me from completing the entire ten-episode season by dinnertime on June 23 was my flight back to Boston. I hurried home from the airport and immediately went to my library’s webpage to request Seasons One and Two on DVD. When I saw that there were 100-something holds on 90-something copies of each season (my library is part of a network of libraries in the greater Boston area, hence the large numbers), I added myself to both hold lists and vowed to start reading George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series upon which the Game of Thrones television show is based. It didn’t take long to become so immersed in the books that I forgot about the queue for the DVDs. The novels initially intimidated me, as there are currently five (with two more forthcoming) that…
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Posted May 29, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
The summer is always a great time to capitalize on opportunities that escape during the cold, hard, rainy winter season. For me, I ended up getting a summer internship in an aspect of GSLIS that I had never before considered – records management. While I am super excited just to have an internship – and a paying one at that – I am even more excited to try out what is the “hors d’oeuvre” of the meal of one’s career (sorry, this metaphor is kind of falling apart…). I’m pretty excited to be trying out this new career path, and I have super high hopes (expectations) that this will end up being THE NEW CAREER FOR ME. I have very little expectation that this career won’t work out. But it is the last in a long line of internships that I have tried in my still juvenile career – I have worked in financial planning, in support and administration, in publishing. I have worked at Harley Davidson Motor Company, law firms, and for various academic…
Summer Slowdown
Posted May 27, 2013 by Sarah Barton
In my last post (which seems like ages ago), I posited that it would take a week or two for me to adjust to the semester being over. In retrospect, I think my estimate was off by, well, about a week or two. I adapted to my newfound classlessness in no time by picking up a few extra hours at the library and altering my internship schedule so I have Fridays off. In short, the real adjustment has been acclimating to three-day weekends, which, as you might expect, has not been all that much of a challenge. The summer of 2013 won’t be quite as liberating as that of 2012 when I wasn’t working or taking classes, but it is not in my best professional or monetary interest to completely check out of the library world for another summer. (And frankly, three-day weekends are pretty liberating.) Plus, an unforeseen perk of my summer schedule is that I have more time to put toward my local Friends of the Library group. I spent the last two…
Let the Adventure Begin: Summer 2013
Posted May 22, 2013 by Emily Boyd
This week has finally arrived! I leave for Rome on Thursday and I could not be more excited to get this adventure started! I look forward to sharing all my stories when I’m back from my European travels. I’ve spent the last few weeks recovering from my first semester at GSLIS, preparing for my trip to Rome, and getting a kickstart on my summer reading list. Other than the short course I am taking in Rome (LIS 493 Intellectual Freedom and Censorship), I will have a school-work free summer and I plan to spend the extra time reading everything I can get my hands on. I recently stumbled upon a great blog called “Beerbrarian” by a librarian in the DC area named Jacob Berg. “The Four-and-a-Half Types of People I met in Job Interviews in May” is a recent post that caught my eye about his experience interviewing candidates for a position at his library (check it out here http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-four-and-half-types-of-people-i-met.html). The post raises a lot of really interesting points about the interview process in general…
We’ll be back!
Posted May 9, 2013 by Katie Olivo
Hello readers, I gave our bloggers a few weeks off to recover from the spring semester before classes start up again. They’ll be back to regular posts the week of May 20th, which is when our first summer session begins. Check back to find out how GSLIS students spend their summer. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment with questions or suggestions!
Time to refuel…
Posted May 1, 2013 by Julie Steenson
Classes ended on Monday. Tuesday should have been a day to relax, but then there was that Call for Submissions that I had been thinking about for months, due on Wednesday…so between all the academic pursuits, my public library job, and my volunteer time at the men’s prison library, I am only now coming up for air. This semester was my most rigorous. I only took two classes, but I balanced more than usual, as my cluttered house and cobwebs will attest. My day job expanded, I added volunteering, started a regular exercise routine, and had some pet and family health issues. I would be lying if I didn’t admit to being exhausted. I am sure my family and friends are tired of my response to most invitations, “In May…can’t do anything before May.” I am not trying to scare you away. Some great results came out of this: I discovered minimalist running shoes, and my knees don’t hurt anymore. After 18 years of marriage, my husband learned to do laundry. I found my calling…
Library Laryngitis
Posted April 29, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Last week I had a case of acute laryngitis and could not speak any louder than a whisper, if at all. It wasn’t a huge deal (aside from being annoying), and actually led to some unintentionally comical and unfortunately stereotypical interactions when I was working at the library. People would come in and speak to me at a normal volume but I would respond in a whisper, thereby prompting them to start whispering. (It is a library, after all.) One woman even apologized after becoming self-conscious that she was speaking too loudly, at which point I assured her that I was the one having volume control issues. Speaking exclusively in a whisper is not particularly conducive to most occupations, but librarian is one of the few where it’s not that bad. Being a student, however, is not ideal when laryngitis strikes, as my five-minute final presentation was not particularly pleasant for my poor classmates who strained to listen to my hoarse, raspy voice. Needless to say, I am glad that’s over with. Wait a second…my…
Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
Posted April 26, 2013 by Emily Boyd
It seems like only yesterday I was starting my first day at GSLIS. This semester has flown by and left me invigorated to learn more. All four classes I took this semester have reassured me that the GSLIS program is absolutely the right place for me and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. I started this semester with no friends in the program, very little knowledge of the library profession, and no specific academic focus. Only a few months later, I am finishing my first semester with good grades in all my classes (fingers crossed!), a great group of friends, and a decision to focus on public libraries. When I first started classes in January, I had no idea how much my life was about to change. I leave for Rome in just under a month and could not be more excited. In addition to taking three classes in the fall and continuing to write for this blog, I have also accepted a leadership position in a student organization. I have been…
How Cool Are You?
Posted March 27, 2013 by Julie Steenson
At this point in my education (just past the halfway mark), I am bursting with ideas of how to be a game-changing librarian. I am also eager to turn ideas into actions. After all, being a 21st century librarian is about a lot more than storytime (not that I don’t also love storytime!). In fact, no matter what your interest as a librarian, an opportunity exists for you to make a difference. If you need a little motivation, check out these cool librarians!