SLIS
The Real Numbers for Moving to Boston
Posted October 5, 2018 by Katie Carlson
104 days to panic between graduation and move in 5 inquiries sent to potential roommates//landlords 4 rejections (some last minute) 1 perfect fit 10 pages of the world’s longest packing list — organized by room, and including a physical description of purchased objects 294.8 miles between home and home 2.0 1,000,000 anxious thoughts 2 red minivans packed to the brim, seats all folded down 4 hours and 58 minutes << the anticipated drive time 9 hours and 4 minutes << the actual drive time 1 crucial Dunkin’ stop 1 high school friend I duped into riding to Boston with me (thanks Alex!!!) 1 lovely girlfriend of the high school friend I duped into riding to Boston with me >> who also happens to be a Boston local 1 rolled IKEA queen size mattress 3 sets of too small bed sheets, purchased in a confused panic 1 set of sheets that actually FIT the bed 1 amazing past and future roommate, flying in from Kentucky 1 committed and supremely organized mother 2 air mattresses, 1 sleeping…
Welcome to a New Blogger!
Posted October 1, 2018 by Lindsey Clarke
Hello everyone! We’d like to introduce one of our two new student bloggers — Katie Carlson! Please read a little about her below. You will see her first post very soon! Welcome Katie! My name is Katie Carlson, and I live in Brighton, with my best friend from undergrad. We loving refer to our apartment as the Bachelorette Pad, and spend our evenings cooking elaborate meals and watching 60 Minutes. While my zip code reads Brighton, my heart resides in New Jersey, where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA for undergrad, and received my degree in English and Art History. Seven sisters all the way! I stumbled into the field of library science after my childhood best friend suggested I apply for an internship at our hometown’s public library. Never had I ever looked forward to going into work every day — until work was a library. I knew I had to do whatever it took to keep being that happy, so here…
So Much Critical Thinking
Posted September 28, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
I was quite at a loss over what I should write for this week’s blog post, so I decided to write about something that seems to be emerging as a common thread throughout my classes and even my personal life this semester and that is… critical thinking. Bear with me. I realize that the notion of “critical thinking” ought to be familiar to anyone who’s been through any kind of formal education. I’ve literally spent years of my life looking at syllabi and assignments with “critical thinking” written all over them. Probably every teacher I’ve ever had has said something about critical thinking at some point, but I honestly don’t know if any of them ever sat me down and told me exactly what it was, or how I was supposed to “think critically.” As if it was something that I was expected to just pick up as a result of participating in class and doing assignments. (Apologies to any of my former teachers who are reading this thinking, “I definitely told her what critical…
Engaging Classes and Best Laid Plans
Posted September 20, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
I’m delighted to report that my new system for homework worked incredibly well last week. I methodically chugged through all my readings, got started on some future assignments, took notes on everything I read, and tracked how much time I spent on what. It was so efficient that I had everything finished by Thursday! Want to know my grand totals for the week? (Of course you do.) I spent 17 hours and 45 minutes total, of which I spent 11 hours reading (and note-taking), 4.75 hours on assignments, and 2 hours on review. I know this is incredibly nerdy, but I’ve ALWAYS wanted to know how much time I actually spend on homework, and how close it is to the 20-hour/week ballpark (10 hours per week, per class). Also, I thought it might be helpful for any of you out there still considering library school to get a realistic idea of the time commitment. My archival access & use class is down to only five people, but so far that hasn’t hindered discussion. I find…
A New Semester Begins!
Posted September 19, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
My fall class (LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals) started last week. As I’ve mentioned before, while this is an online class, it’s a bit of a new adventure for me because there are a few “live sessions” incorporated in to the schedule. These live sessions aren’t in-person, they are GoToMeeting sessions where everyone is online at the same time and we can see and hear the professor. Our first day of class had one of these live sessions and it was very exciting! I’ve done videoconferencing for work and for group projects via Skype and Google Hangouts, but I’ve never done it for class before. I did have some technical difficulties connecting to the meeting, but once I got them ironed out, I really enjoyed the component of the live session. We had a segment where we were able to introduce ourselves and we could see and hear everyone, which is an element that I’ve missed from in-person classes. While I really love interacting with my classmates on the discussion forums, the live session…
Fall Beckons!
Posted September 13, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
My penultimate semester at Simmons has begun and the summer is officially over. I’m at this stage of my school journey in which things are beginning to feel very repetitive. Here I am: getting up before 6 am every Saturday, driving the same route to South Hadley, Mass., stopping at the same places for gas and a bite to eat, walking the same paths to familiar classrooms, seeing the same faces, eating the same lunches at the SlIS West office…. This is not to say that there’s nothing unique about this semester, just that it’s begun to feel very routine. In many ways, though, this semester is unprecedented. For the first time, both of my kids will be at school for some portion of the day, giving me chunks of dedicated homework time in the mornings. The kids’ school schedules force all of us to be up and at ’em fairly early so there will be more discipline and more routine. And I’m starting this semester with more planning, motivation, determination, and better personal organization…
A Season’s Change
Posted August 17, 2018 by ShanTil Yell
I was listening to a podcast by one of my very favorite authors and speakers, Rob Bell, earlier this week. This gem of an episode was entitled “Everyone Is Your Teacher,” and it turned out to be one of those well-timed bits of amazingness that was dropped right into my lap. The day was oddly gloomy, I was on my way to work when I would have much rather been curled up in my pj’s while binge watching The Bold Type. Still, I had a half hour walk and decided to tune in and see if Rob had any words of wisdom and humor for me. (Spoiler alert: he did.) He shared a short vignette about the seasons that we experience in life, and how the various seasons we have teach us different things. He said that part of the power in celebrating any particular season is being honest with ourselves and letting it be what it was after it has run its course. Now, what am I getting at here? A few things…fall is…
From Summer to Fall
Posted August 15, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
It. Is. Over. My summer class is done. The class (LIS 415: Information Organization) was interesting, invigorating, and utterly exhausting. I know I’ve said this before, but one of the reasons I really enjoyed the class was because even though it was an online class on an accelerated schedule, we had so many opportunities for discussion. Additionally, the new concepts I learned will be useful to me throughout my career. I learned so much about why and how we organize information. The class challenged me to think in new ways, and I am walking away with a valuable set of new skills which I will use in future classes and in my profession. However, I did struggle with the accelerated timeframe of the class. What really helped me was setting aside designated hours of each day to work on schoolwork. Admittedly, that didn’t always help, because I underestimated the amount of work in the beginning (it’s double the work of the normal semester because it’s done in half the time), so there were a lot…
Summer Class Wrap
Posted August 13, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
Welp, my summer class (Records Management) is a wrap. What a whirlwind! What a race! What an adventure! In typical life fashion, just about everything went wrong with my carefully laid plans the last week of class. Kids got sick (so no summer school ☹). Hubby extra busy at work. Cue mad scrambling. I never intend for the end-of-semester time to be a hot mess, and I always try to be well prepared. But somehow it just seems to happen anyway. Did you know that I (or my kids) have gotten sick the last week of class EVERY semester I’ve been at Simmons? It’s true. I’m keeping track. Anyway, enough complaining. I have exactly one month now to pick up the pieces and get my affairs in order before fall semester starts. I have a lot going on this fall and some very exciting news to share…………which I’m saving for my next blog post! Haha! I wanted to use this post to talk about my summer class and the online format in general. So: Records…
Simmons Connect
Posted May 8, 2018 by Ashley Jackson
I wanted to mention how helpful Simmons Connect has been for me this semester. It was my first web-based experience with Simmons (other than simmons.edu). This is where you find out your registration start date and times, how you register for classes (very important), view your schedule, check your email, find events happening around campus, access campus print (another super important one), any way you get the idea. Access to Simmons Connect keeps you on schedule with the school, but another aspect I really like is students can post things here (through a mediator of course). People looking for babysitters, jobs, sublets, and important updates you need to know such as the library only being open to students during finals (don’t forget your student ID!). I found my summer sublet here from a fellow student who is in the Social Work graduate program. I really like knowing we can sublet from other students; it feels a bit safer. When you are new to a city, craigslist can be a bit daunting with unfamiliar locations, safe/unsafe…