SLIS
Changes Ahead
Posted March 17, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
To say the last week has been crazy would be an understatement. Coronavirus has already changed a lot of our lives, and I’m sure by the time this is published, things will have changed even more. It’s definitely scary. The good thing is that Simmons has had an amazing response to the coronavirus, sending regular emails detailing exactly what is going on and what will happen. Simmons is doing a great job of looking after its students and making sure they are properly taken care of, and I am grateful to each and every one of the people who have helped ease us through this transition. Thank you for all your work! I’m an online student and my classes have resumed as usual following our spring break. I’m actually happy to have schoolwork because it gives me something to do other than worry about what’s going on with coronavirus, although I admit my focus is not at its best right now. Unfortunately, the on-campus students are bearing the brunt of the changes, with their in-person…
Spring Break 2K20
Posted March 10, 2020 by William Crouch
The CoronaVirus has certainly thrown everybody for a whirlwind recently. It’s been difficult to keep track of what is and isn’t closed for the time being. Simmons, thankfully, was on spring break from March 9 to March 13 while most students went on vacation. For me, I had the great opportunity to take a week long intensive class at Simmons called “Moving Image Archives”. It ended up being my favorite class of the semester, so far. As stated in one of my previous blogs, I hope to work for the Walt Disney Archives one day and one of the parts of that archive is moving images. They have rare films like promotional ads from Walt that have helped reveal what his last taped appearance was. So taking this class not only helped me gain skills that will be very helpful in my journey as an archivist, but also made me seriously consider becoming a moving image archivist in the future. The first day was normal and we got to handle old home movies and use…
ICA: We All Shout Hooray!
Posted March 4, 2020 by Katie Carlson
A few weeks ago, I was able to snag a spot to attend the LOVE IS CALLING exhibit at the ICA with Panopticon (Simmons’ resident art libraries interest org) for FREE. It was one of the coolest installations I’ve seen in a while! LOVE IS CALLING is an installation by Yayoi Kusama that premiered in Japan in 2013. Kusama is a 90(!!!!) year old artist who has been active since the 60s. She is most known for her sculptures, massive installations, and blunt red bob. Polka dots are a common thread that run through Kusama’s sculptural work, and for good reason: Kusama was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive neurosis in the 70s, and states that the dots are a visual representation of hallucinations she has experienced since the age of 10. Kusama calls these clusters of polka dots “infinity nests,” while the full room installations are referred to as “infinity rooms.” LOVE IS CALLING (seen left) is a prime example of one of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity rooms, which use mirrors to make rooms (and polka dots)…
Super Statistics
Posted March 3, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
Did you know that the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners keeps detailed statistics on every single public library in the state? Or that the MBLC collects and analyzes all of these statistics and makes them available online in spreadsheet format? I found this out while I was completing an assignment for Collections Development. The assignment was to evaluate our library’s collection using standard evaluation methods, like list checking, peer comparison, user surveys, and statistics analysis. I chose to do a peer evaluation of my library and used the MBLC statistics to compare it to two neighboring libraries. It was really interesting to see how each library spends money and how their collection makeup differed. But it was also overwhelming because there are so many statistics. It bears repeating: there are so many statistics. Want to know how many study rooms a library has? Or the most recent year your library was renovated? Check out the Main Facilities spreadsheet. How about total materials expenditures and per capita rate of spending? Check out the Financial Data spreadsheet. …
Networking 101
Posted March 2, 2020 by Adaliz Cruz
I used to hate networking. I’m very much an introvert and even though I’ve worked on it and have gotten to know my introversion better I still sometimes struggle too. However, networking has allowed me to not be as intimidated as I once was by what I felt were “fancy people in the field”. Furthermore, it has landed me grants, scholarships, job interviews, and most importantly colleagues from around the world. I go to a lot of conferences and I do quite a lot of online networking too mostly through email lists, Facebook support groups, and just reaching out to people I would like to be in contact with. Sometimes I even cold email people! As a result I know my fair share of people in the field. OnceI forgot about someone I had connected with and they walked up to me excited to “finally meet the music librarian from Simmons”. I’m sure my face was worth a million! Because of this, I constantly get asked on how I do it and how I’ve put…
New Guest Blogger!
Posted March 1, 2020 by Lindsey Clarke
Welcome to guest blogger Adaliz Cruz! Here is her bio: “My life can basically be summed up in three small phrases: books, sheet music, and a cup of coffee. I’m originally from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico and I moved up to Boston just for Simmons. Let me just say, what a change! I have an extensive background in music, it’s my first love. I hope to become a Reference and Instruction music librarian in the near future as I graduate in May. I’m a bit of a workaholic so I generally don’t have a ton of free time, but on the odd chance that I find myself without plans I love coffee shop hopping (local of course). One thing you should know about me is that my curls are truly my crowning glory.” Look for her posts very soon!
Adventures on Twitter
Posted February 26, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
Every so often at SLIS we have an assignment that I’m ambivalent about, and that has happened this week with LIS 453: Collection Development and Management’s Social Media Assignment. In all fairness, I knew this assignment was coming before I even signed up for this class, as bloggers who have taken this class have written about it. This week the Social Media Assignment was introduced–it is an assignment that will last the rest of the semester. We have to create a Twitter account and use it to tweet about promotional events, publicity materials, collection displays, and other library-related things. Lots of libraries and librarians use Twitter as well as publishers and other vendors, so this assignment is a great way to learn more about how they handle promotions and publicity. However, I’ve never been really keen on the idea of having a personal Twitter account. Professionally I’ve created publicity materials and items for social media accounts, and academically I’ve done a lot of analysis on social media, but I’ve never had my own personal Twitter…
Making Plans!
Posted February 25, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
The summer course list was posted last week. I’ve been waiting for it because I’m trying to plan my final three classes. I can’t believe I only have three classes left! It’s exciting and kind of terrifying at the same time. Last summer I made the mistake of taking two classes and it was an insane amount of work. I am limiting myself to one class this summer, and it’s just a matter of deciding which class to take. I am intrigued by LIS 447, Collections Maintenance. The format is different for this class because it is face to face, and meets all day, three days a week, for two weeks. This means I can get the class over with and have a nice break before the fall semester. I am very interested in the subject matter, too. It’s about repairing and binding books, and other physical or administrative tasks related to collections maintenance. It would provide valuable hands-on experience and I think I would learn a lot. The downside is that it is all…
Working in an Archive
Posted February 24, 2020 by William Crouch
For LIS 438-Intro to Archival Methods, one of the required aspects is a 60-hour internship with an archive. For the class, Simmons helps you find an archive that will work well for your own situation based on your interests, transportation options, and where you live. I was assigned to work in the City of Boston Archives and Records Management Division with SLIS alum, Marta Crilly. For my internship, I was introduced to all of the other archivists within the office and they were all Simmons alumni which was really cool because it made me see just how big the alumni network is for SLIS. The City of Boston Archives has all the governmental records for the various divisions within the government like the fire department, police, and obviously the mayor’s office. My project for this semester will be going through boxes of photos from Mayor Raymond Flynn’s administration from 1984 to 1993 which had previously had been digitized onto a Flickr account. Over the course of the 60 hours I’ll be working there, I’ll be…
Presentation Time, and a Lucky Coincidence
Posted February 18, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
I finished my first project of the semester this week. It was a Power Point presentation for Collections Development on a book genre of our choice. We had to research current trends in our genre, identify helpful resources, and analyze publishing statistics. We also had to create a two-page handout with a brief overview on the topic. This allows us to discover and share what is trending in the book world, so that ultimately we can build a library collection that satisfies user needs. Before I was back in school, I thought 5-7 minutes was a long time for a presentation, but it turns out it is not a lot of time at all. It goes by fast, especially if you have a list of items that you need to cover. Whittling down all the information into a narrative that is thorough, concise and makes sense is not easy. I’ve completed audio presentations for other classes and I’ve never recorded anything within the time limit on the first (or even second or third) try. It…