Student Snippets A Window Into The Daily Life & Thoughts of SLIS Students

Relaxing

Let the Adventure Begin: Summer 2013

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!

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…

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

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

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?

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!


Slow Cooking and Library School

I have a special relationship with my slow cooker.  It all started when my daughter’s community theater involvement required me to be in the car, rather than behind the stove at meal time. I was not very creative back then, and we had a few standby recipes that I could throw in the pot early in the day and then pride myself on serving my family a healthy meal 8 hours later. Then came library school and my library job.  Working in a public library often means odd hours.  Public libraries are usually open some evenings, and that night shift is often shared by staff on a rotating basis. To add to it, my classes are all a long distance from home on either the main or West campus, so my school days are long days. By 7 or 8 pm, when I get home, I want a good meal – no canned soup or grilled cheese.  I am tired and hungry and want to be greeted to the aroma of simmering spices and a glass of…


Ode to Spring Break

As a graduate student, I feel a little awkward telling people that this week is Spring Break. I mean, Spring Break is soooo college, right? Last year I felt better about discussing my Spring Break plans, as I spent a week in the great outdoors of Arizona and Utah – far, far from the dreary New England winter. This year, however, my Spring Break involves a trip north (but not too far north) to my parents’ house in Portsmouth, NH for a few days. It isn’t going to be any warmer or less snowy in Portsmouth, but a different setting will certainly be welcome. This year will make for a far less exciting Spring Break story, but I am looking forward to it just the same. I am not generally a restless person, but this year’s winter weather has made me quite edgy. I have been spending an excessive amount of time wasting away in my apartment, and my weekly routine has been feeling even more routine than normal. Enter: Spring Break, exactly the elixir…


On Starting A New Year, and A New Semester

I cannot believe that Christmas break already came and went.  I spent my time tanning in the Floridian sun, crafting all of my Christmas presents, catching up on some quality sleep time, and enjoying hot beverages… I am especially enjoying the newfound glories of a proper cup of English Breakfast tea, and the new delights of the French Pressed coffee. As 2012 ended and 2013 begins, I always find that a few New Year’s Resolutions make their way into my habits as a student.  Read: I WILL read all the readings this semester.  I WILL go to office hours if I need help.  I WILL start papers and projects well-enough in advance.  Like many students, procrastination is a good friend of mine, who pops in more often than I’d like to take up way too much of my time with persuasions of nail-painting and dessert-baking instead of paper-writing and presentation-practicing. Typically, I despise trendy productivity techniques.  But over Christmas, I found myself reading an interesting article about the benefits of the small, self-indulgent pleasures in…


All but the best laid book plans…

A few posts ago you may or may not recall my assertion that what GSLIS students should be doing during their break was to take some time to professionally develop. Well develop I did, but in the exact opposite way I intended. You see, over the break I read prolifically (for me, anyway). I read books I had been dying to take home and snuggle with. I read when I woke up every day. I read after my luxurious mid-morning naps. I read next to my family’s Christmas tree with a cup of tea in hand. ‘Twas glorious! Now, while this wasn’t strictly professional reading. I think it’s SO VERY important for librarians, who have very little time for pleasure reading (BIG misconception about the profession in my opinion), to read their hearts out. To read until their eyeballs pop right out of their sockets. Readers advisory is a skill to be honed and the only real way to get anything done on that front is to read and share. This, I have done. This,…


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