SLIS
Back to the Grind
Posted September 13, 2013 by Emily Boyd
One week of commuting down and three months to go… Does that sound pessimistic? I really don’t mean it to. On the contrary, my week of commuting went better than expected! I used both two hour bus rides to catch up on my leisure reading and had three full days in Boston for classes, schoolwork and catching up on errands (including lunch and a shopping trip to the Copley Plaza with my aunt). After a full semester in the spring and my trip to Rome over the summer, GSLIS is finally starting to feel like home. I already know at least one student in each of my classes and a couple of my professors as well. As I mentioned in my last post, I have signed up for four courses with the intention of dropping one and this decision is proving more difficult than I had anticipated. I had hoped after the first week of classes I would have a clear idea of which course I should drop. That was not the case, I absolutely…
Last Semester Blues
Posted September 11, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I started the GSLIS program in January 2012, and with the completion of my three courses this semester, I will have finished my degree program. Woohoo! Well, mostly woohoo. I think I have the last semester blues. I know that sounds totally ridiculous. I will be done with homework, done with long class commutes, done with tuition, and I will have my MLIS, which will hopefully be my ticket to the job of my dreams. What in the world am I sad about?! I think I am more afraid than anything. Will it be too easy not to learn new things? Will I get tired, complacent and frumpy? Will I turn into deadwood? Will I stay committed to knowing what I need to know to be the best librarian I can be? I know these fears are unfounded. I will never stop learning with so many opportunities for continuing education through Simmons and ALA, and other LIS universities like Syracuse (where I am taking a WISE course this semester). I even have my eye on…
I locked myself out of my bathroom…and other tall tales.
Posted July 20, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
So when I say “tall” I mean true. I am sitting in my apartment, cautiously drinking water owing to the fact that I may not be able to relieve myself as I have somehow locked the bathroom from the outside. This all comes at the end of my seven day recovery period. Recovery from what you might ask? Oh, just the removal of the superfluous organ we call the gallbladder. But didn’t you have a ticket to Chicago for the ALA conference? Did you get to go? Why yes! And no I did not get to go to Chicago. The stars and my gastro intestinal system have chosen to align to combust this summer barring me from travel. And so, this is the time I chose to reflect on my life. In this summer of heat and nothing but time to muse in my pain reliever haze I reflect on my time at GSLIS. As I look back over my year of posting on this blog I realize I came into this program with a…
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!
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…
End of Semester and the Simmons Community
Posted April 28, 2013 by lazylibrarian
I run a Tumblr about news that I feel is pertinent to women. A few times I have tagged things #simmons college, like this picture I posted that I snapped at our residential-campus café the other night. Since I have tagged a few things as Simmons or have mentioned it in my posts I have gotten more than one note from high school girls wanting to know more about the Simmons atmosphere. Unfortunately, I tell them that I am a Grad student and cannot provide much information about what type of classes they will take, what the undergrad events are like or even how roommate selection takes place. However I am always glad to be able to tell them that Simmons College has a diverse, warm and accepting culture. I see it in my limited interaction with the undergrad population, but also of course with the grad students in general and within my program. Friday night was the end of the year semester party hosted by LISSA, one of the student library association groups. It…
Do Grades Matter?
Posted April 27, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
As I check Moodle like a fanatic, waiting for the final verdict on my grades for this semester, I am reminded of a talk my professor had with my class a month or two ago when all of my classmates and I thought we were going to fail. We had all just received sub-standard grades for literature reviews. For most of us, this had been the first time we had written a literature review and its vastness was terrifying. Our professor described our journey to this paper’s end product like a walk in an unfamiliar wood: every time we turn the corner we should expect to find more woods, an ever deepening void of nothingness. As I said: TERRIFYING! My professor, who shall remain nameless, indicated that it didn’t matter what grades we got. At that point there was a collective sharp intake of breath. Grades don’t matter?! What! Of course grades matter. This is what I assume was the general mutterings or internal protestations of the group. Grades matter because we all want to…
Awesome Advising
Posted April 5, 2013 by Emily Boyd
I have reached the inevitable point in every semester where all I can think about is how excited I am for next semester. In addition to being very excited about my upcoming trip to Rome (less than seven weeks to go!), I am looking ahead to courses for the fall. With class selection right around the corner I turned to my advisor for some advice (go figure) about the best classes to take in the fall. The GSLIS program only consists of twelve classes and with five core courses already spoken for we only get seven electives. This may seem like a large number but considering the fact that those seven courses represent your focus and areas of expertise it is important to choose them carefully. For a student such as myself who is very undecided about my future career path choosing classes becomes an even more delicate task. It is for this reason that I am so thankful to have my fabulous advisor. My experience with advisors during my undergrad was less than satisfactory…
I Love GSLIS
Posted March 30, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
5 Reasons I love my Simmons Experience I love the man passing out copies of Metro at the Copley Square T stop. Every morning I come into Simmons I look forward to his high five and kind comment, “Your smile blows me away! Have a great day!” We need more people around like that every day. I love the reference librarians at Beatley. I love their desire and commitment to search for anything I need. Whether I’m talking to them on “chat with a librarian” or at the information desk I know their on a quest on my behalf. LISSA. They help me get my ALA membership dues and tickets for the summer conference reimbursed. How lucky are we to have a student group that advocates so powerfully for us and part of their job is to facilitate reimbursements for our professional development? Incredibly lucky! My professors! My professors who write back to me on the weekends. My professors who encourage me to go to their office because they really want to work on my…
A Case of the Mondays
Posted November 12, 2012 by Sarah Barton
Today is Veterans’ Day observed, and GSLIS does not have classes. How will I be spending my morning, you ask? In class. Barring Thanksgiving next week (yay!), the only holidays this semester fall on Mondays. That means there ends up being one less class meeting for Monday classes than for their Tuesday-Friday counterparts. So despite the holiday today, my professor (and from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, a few other professors as well) will be holding class. The thing is, I’m not even mad. I’m not dreading going. It just feels like another Monday. Everybody enjoys a day off (and especially a long weekend), but when classes only meet once per week, not having a class is a considerable setback. My professor isn’t having class to spite us, as she is also coming in on what could have been a day off. We have a lot of material to cover, and just finally got caught up after falling behind a few weeks ago. And, frankly, the point of being at GSLIS is taking classes,…