Students
In Case of Free Time
Posted March 29, 2018 by ShanTil Yell
Due to some marvelous twist of fate, I indeed have some of this coveted free time mentioned in the title, even in the midst of three classes, two part-time jobs, and an internship. Phew. Did I mention that the twist of fate was marvelous? Of course, a fair amount of said free time is spent taking care of important things (i.e. homework & blessed, blessed sleep) along with the everyday banalities of life. But how else to fill in those special gaps of nothingness? Here’s how it looks for me: I still read for pleasure. Honestly, I’ve found it impossible to stop! I tote books around to read on my train or bus commute, and I’ve joined a couple of different book clubs in the area. I was a little shy to jump in at first, but they’ve helped me be motivated to read new things regularly, and I’m also getting to meet some great new people. FYI- the Meetup app is an awesome way to get plugged into groups like this! Speaking of great…
An Exceptional February Day
Posted February 27, 2018 by ShanTil Yell
Today, I had the supremely cool opportunity to join a group of my classmates on a tour of the Boston Athenæum (courtesy of the Simmons Panopticon chapter–y’all rock!). Also, spring decided to pop its head in early with sunshine and warm temperatures, so I was more than happy to don a peekaboo dress and roam into the city. The Athenæum is one of the country’s oldest libraries, and is filled with floor after floor of amazing pieces of fine art, as well as extensive circulating and special collections. A couple of my favorite bits of the afternoon included viewing part of George Washington’s personal library, and also getting to browse the original card catalog, now very much a relic of times past and tucked away in the building’s basement. Sitting pretty at 10 ½ Beacon Street…a cousin of Platform 9 ¾ perhaps…the Athenæum is located in one of the most historically rich parts of the city, and is itself a distinguished cultural heritage center. I trust the patron goddess of wisdom was pleased to be…
A Pleasant Surprise
Posted February 27, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
As a brand-new grad student, and a brand-new Massachusetts resident, I must admit I was extremely ambivalent about taking an online class my first semester. I don’t know anyone in Massachusetts except my parents, and I really wanted to get out there and mingle with my fellow students. Also, I only took one online class my entire time in undergrad and it was very much an individual experience, as in, I did not talk to my classmates, ever. I’m finding myself to be pleasantly surprised by my online LIS 407 course. I’m getting to know so much about my classmates and there is a lot of group discussion in the forums. In addition, while I was worried about not having the “student experience,” again, I was pleasantly surprised. Simmons is so good about sending emails about networking events through their student organizations like LISSA (Library and Information Science Student Organization), so I can come to campus and participate that way. I’m sure the next few years of grad school will be full of more surprises…
Introducing Two New Members To Our Blogging Team!
Posted February 27, 2018 by Katie Olivo
Hello everyone! We’d like to introduce two new student bloggers, Sarah Callanan and ShanTil Yell. Please read a little about them below. You will see their first posts very soon! Welcome Sarah! My name is Sarah Callanan and I recently moved to Massachusetts from Raleigh, North Carolina. I graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Communication Studies with a minor in English. I have previously lived in Colorado and Michigan, so snow is not as much of a foreign concept to me as one might think. I started my MLIS degree in January 2018, and am pursuing the Archives Management concentration. My love of research, reading, and the fact that my living area was slowly but surely becoming a library is what prompted me to start my journey to getting this degree. I’m really enjoying getting to know the Boston area and all it has to offer. I’m so excited to be at Simmons and to be on this ride with all of you. Welcome ShanTil! Hi y’all, I’m ShanTil! If you couldn’t tell,…
Finishing My First Semester
Posted December 19, 2017 by Josie Snow
Whew! I made it through my first semester of grad school! Let me tell you, grad school is HARD. I know, I know; grad school is supposed to be hard, but I’m not just talking about academics–which I was prepared for. Grad school is hard in a good way, it’s hard because I have been asked to examine all the things I thought I knew, and verify whether I can still find them true. It’s hard because I am learning new things every step of the way, even when I am not in school, and sometimes it feels like my brain can’t keep up. It’s hard because I’m surrounded by incredible people who have achieved great things and I look up to all of them, but fear I will never be in their league. So yes, grad school is hard; and there are times when I wonder if it was worth it to come, but most days it is hard in a way that also makes me glad I took the chance.
Scholarship Appreciation Time
Posted November 28, 2017 by Giuliana Gilbert-Igelsrud
I’m extremely thankful to have a merit scholarship from SLIS. Every semester (when I take at least 9 units) I receive $6,000 from Simmons; that’s $24,000 over four semesters, which is nothing to scoff at. As a scholarship recipient, I have been tasked to write a short thank you letter; I thought I might post it here. The cost of higher education has absolutely skyrocketed in recent years, and the only reason I have been able to afford Simmons (and with relatively low financial stress) is the SLIS Merit Scholarship. Simmons was one of two schools I applied to that offered me any financial aid, and by the time I received my acceptance letter, had become my top choice. I was thrilled to see that my academic efforts had paid off, literally! I cannot overstate how much I value the unique experience I’m having at Simmons. I’m from California, and I went to UC Berkeley for my Bachelor’s degree, so you can imagine how different it has been living here and attending Simmons. I never…
Don’t Let School Get in the Way of Your Education
Posted November 14, 2017 by Giuliana Gilbert-Igelsrud
One of the greatest benefits of library graduate school that nobody tells you about is the breadth of experiences people come from. Some students are straight out of college, others have been working as librarians for years, and many (like me) are in between. I highly recommend just chatting with the people around you; it can sometimes be more useful than readings and prescribed discussion. Just from chatting with classmates, I’ve learned about the many, many different ways to set up children’s storytime, the radically different administrative structures of rural and big city libraries, the pushback against “controversial” projects from supervisors and the public, and much, much more. I often wish there was a space designated specifically for swapping stories, tips, and resources with classmates and colleagues. We grow so much more as a profession when we share information (I mean, that is kind of our whole deal, right?). Give feedback to your professors related to this. In my experience, they will usually respond graciously. If you find certain assignments unhelpful, tell them. If you have a…
Autumnal Thoughts
Posted November 9, 2017 by Josie Snow
Fall here is very different than fall at home. At home, fall is like a candle, once the leaves start turning, they all turn, and suddenly everything looks gold. Then within a few weeks, most of the leaves are gone and you can feel winter creeping in. Here, the fall smolders like an ember–individual trees/patches change to red or gold, and then lose their leaves. The color spreads slowly, and it is possible to have trees with no leaves next to trees that are still green. In addition, the winter seems to slowly move in as temperatures dip a few degrees each week. It seems more appropriate to call this time Autumn; it really is a season here, not just a single month. So much so that I have begun to separate my clothes into fall-worthy and winter-worthy, which I never had to do at home. I am enjoying this change of pace, there really is something cozy about all the Autumn tones people wear, the scarves, and the light coats, the apples and the…
Mass Effect
Posted October 24, 2017 by Giuliana Gilbert-Igelsrud
Last fall, I moved out of California for the first time in my life. I’d visited Boston once, years before. I had vague memories of quaint brick architecture. But travel ≠ transplantation. When I said I was from California, people warned me about snow. But I’ve been to Minnesota. My culture shock came from other sources. 1. Fall. On the west coast, fall means everything dies and it gets colder. It’s a short transition between summer and not-summer. But here, fall is an event. People go “apple-picking” and “leaf-peeping,” everyone dresses up, cider is consumed. Oh, and IT’S INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL. 2. Darkness. In my hometown, we get 300 sunny days a year. Did you know the sun can set at 4:15? Did you know it can be overcast for a week straight? I didn’t. 3. Sense of distance. Here, I can visit four states in two hours. A trip to Maine can be shorter than a BART ride to SFO. 4. Regionalisms. I’ve mentioned “apple-picking” and “leaf-peeping”; other terms that tripped me up include “turnpike,” “bodega,” and, yes, “wicked”. 5. Drivers. Californians are not good…
On Catching Up, Belonging, and Library Stats
Posted June 29, 2017 by Megan Ondricek
As I wrote my last post it seemed as if summer was just beginning, and now I am watching the longest day of the year fade away over the endless, undulating lines of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I am in Virginia right now, and I can’t get over how awesome it is that I can be on vacation in the middle of my summer class at Simmons. I love this blended format. The days are sliding by just as summer days should, and I find my time agreeably divided between homework, leisure reading, and hiking. I’ve made several visits to my old library, the one I’m using for my assignments, and it has been so fun to chat with the librarians again now that I’m in library school. Suddenly I find myself interested in and caring about topics that had never crossed my mind back when I was the library assistant: things such as acquisition policies, weeding strategy, and the future of information literacy education at the university. The director and I had a…