Students
Subversive Librarians and Magic Spells
Posted March 5, 2016 by Amy Wilson
Last night, my Legal Information Services class went to Northeastern University’s law library, where both of my professors work. Northeastern’s wifi is really restrictive, so we had no access to the catalog and were totally reliant on print sources. We took a tour of the library (and had to remember where the books were located), then were let loose with a list of questions to answer. Finding information in legal print resources is very time consuming – the index is your best friend – but also satisfying, like a scavenger hunt… a scavenger hunt that I would not enjoy in the context of actual research. After that assignment, (are you ready for the Harry Potter reference?) I’ve realized how totally crazy it is that students at Hogwarts had to do this completely the old-fashioned way. No wonder it took Harry, Ron, and Hermione four months to find a reference to Nicholas Flamel in The Sorcerer’s Stone. WHY didn’t anyone in this magical world create a control-F spell? And my bigger issue – why didn’t JK Rowling create a cooler librarian?? Madame…
Spring Break!
Posted March 3, 2016 by Tara Pealer
Today is the first day in two weeks that I haven’t woken up at or before 7 in the morning. Now, I know this is “normal adult behavior” but as a 22 year old grad student, it’s not something I appreciate or normally do. I’ve been getting up at this sort of ridiculous hour because these two weeks have been absolutely packed with stuff to do. For example, last week’s schedule: Monday: Class and work Tuesday: Class and work and class Wednesday: laundry, cleaning part of the apartment, and then work Thursday: Blogging and then spending most of the day at the MFA Friday: Learning the usability testing then watching most of Fuller House for a binge watching party Saturday: work Sunday: work Usually I have one day of the week where I can stay home and focus on school work, but up until today, which is my first day of spring break (grad school schedules are awesome for scheduling super long breaks), I have been absolutely booked. I have had a lot of fun…
Nothing Much
Posted February 25, 2016 by Tara Pealer
I haven’t done anything blog worthy this week. My friend and I took her cat to a free vet clinic for a check-up, I went to school and work, and I paid all of my bills. Yesterday I did laundry. No one wants to hear, read, or talk about those things. I don’t even feel like writing about them. The end of the week looks exciting, though. My friends and I will be spending Friday binge watching all of Fuller House and probably not getting completely drunk. I’ll probably be going to the MFA to see the new acquisition of Frida Kahlo. I might do some cleaning to make my apartment presentable. I probably won’t buy more than two cups of the Smoked Butterscotch Latte (soy milk, no whip) from Starbucks. This is all in the future, however. Which, honestly, leaves me with absolutely nothing to talk about. There was a lunch event with a professor who talked about ways in which the LIS field has limited its discourse through language choice, teaching method, and…
Cookbooks
Posted February 21, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
Looking out the window from my desk at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, I can’t help but think about how, exactly one year ago, the city of Boston was drowning under piles of snow. While I am a big fan of snow and snow days, I have to admit that I am rather relieved that this year, the weather has decided to play nicely. Considering that I have a thesis to write, research to do, an internship to complete, and heat bills to pay, I am quite content with having 50+ degree days in February. And how exactly is that thesis coming along? Well I can tell you that it is coming along. This evening I will be submitting my outline to my advisor which I have to admit, is equal parts exciting and terrifying. I treat my outlines like architectural blueprints. Having outlined the overall structure of my paper enables me to focus on each section at a time. Since an average thesis runs about 60-80 pages, having something like an outline is definitely…
Making a Statement
Posted February 20, 2016 by Amy Wilson
This month, I have prioritized getting scholarship applications out for next year. I had deadlines of March 1 for the American Library Association and April 1 for the Association of American Law Libraries. I decided to do it all at once because I know that I am only going to get busier from here. Below, I am posting an abridged version of the essay that I submitted to AALL. That essay was allowed to be longer because they also wanted to know about my financial status. The version that I submitted to the ALA was limited to less than 300 words. Editing it down was great practice for an assignment that I had this week in my reference course. We had to create an “annotation” for a print reference source; I chose “The Dictionary of Imaginary Places” and had a lot of fun writing it (stay tuned next week for that)! Anyway, here is my personal statement: When I was an undergraduate, the most influential classroom of my education was a small, sunny office near the reference section of…
Sick Day: A Photo Journal
Posted February 19, 2016 by Katie Caskey
Yesterday I woke up and immediately knew my time had come. Yes, I had finally caught the dreaded 24-hour flu bug. I so rarely get sick, it came as a bit of a surprise, but regardless of how I felt about it there was no denying…I was sick! I’ll spare you the details of what “sick” meant in my case, but I will tell you that getting up off the couch to take a shower at one point almost killed me. So, I hunkered down and made the best of a nasty day. Usually when I feel like this, I love to be a home with my mom, snuggling on the couch and eating her miracle-working scrambled eggs. But since my mom is all the way back in Minnesota, I had to fend for myself this time. Here is my magic formula for self-healing as a graduate student… A big comfy couch, preferably with cozy blankets and pillows A laptop computer to fend off boredom And what good is a laptop without your favorite binge-worthy…
How I Spent SuperBowl 50
Posted February 8, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
I want to preface that I am not a big football fan. I enjoy watching a game every now and then but only casually. I barely know any rules associated to the game; I can only name like three players; and half of the time, I forget which team is which. Like I said, I am not a football person. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t find ways to enjoy myself when I watch a football game. This year, my entire apartment decided to do something special for the Super Bowl. Last year, our first year living together, three of us were extremely sick and I spent the majority of the game hallucinating from the flu. So, to celebrate 50 years of Super Bowl fun and not being sick, we decided to put together a massive Bingo game. Pretty impressive huh? We got into the tradition of making Bingo boards during the last year’s baseball season. Since then, we make a board for every sport game we watch. Some times it works better than others but it’s…
The First Day of a New Semester
Posted January 22, 2016 by Katie Caskey
Well, it’s that time again. Break has ended, we’ve all made our way back to Boston from our respective hometowns and states, and we are “ready” to start strong on a fresh semester of grad school. Here is this grad student’s minute-by-minute thoughts throughout her first day…and don’t judge. You all thought the same things! 10:00pm (the previous night) – “I’m going to set my alarm for 7:00 and give myself plenty of time to eat a good breakfast and get organized for class! Nothing like starting off on a healthy note!” 7:00am – “Curse you alarm clock!” 7:01am – “Snooze.” 7:10am – “One more snooze.” 7:19am – “Why, oh why, did I decide to get up this early?” 7:20am – “Ok, I’m up.” 7:30am – “Haven’t gone grocery shopping since I got back…guess it’s popcorn for breakfast.” 7:32am – “Yay! I found some cereal! My roommates won’t mind loaning me some milk, right?” 7:50am – “Nothing on this earth feels better than a warm shower.” 8:00am – “Nothing on this earth feels worse than…
6 Assignments in 12 Days: The Final Two Weeks
Posted December 3, 2015 by Tara Pealer
For those wondering, I did win NaNoWriMo. I’m currently in the final throes of the semester, with a LibGuide, a presentation, a homework assignment, 2 discussion posts, 2 annotated bibliographies, and a five-minute instruction session standing between break and me. It’s a lot of work, but I’m sure if I focus and crack down, I’ll get everything done without being stressed. So, of course, this weekend I’ve made plans to go to the Boston Public Library Book Sale and go Christmas shopping. I’m sitting in the SLIS lab co-working right now, and trying to not stare outside at the Simmons Green Cupola against the brilliant sky blue background. With winter break fighting its way toward us, and the end of the semester nigh, I have to keep reminding myself to focus on completing tasks and paying attention to the present here and now. Here are some of my tips for refocusing attention from ‘four weeks of no school’ to ‘6 assignments and 12 days left to get everything done’. Co-working An extensive rewards system, i.e: ten minutes…
My Disney Rant
Posted December 2, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
*I want to preface that the topic discussed in the following blog post is something that is near and dear to my heart. The thoughts and opinions that follow are not meant to insult anyone. Please enjoy the oncoming rant. Thank you.* Dear Disney, Remember the good ‘ol days when you were known for creating stunning works of animation and beautiful stories? Remember all the colorful characters and memorable songs that have become, for many, wonderful pieces of childhood nostalgia? Well I remember those days. In fact it wasn’t too long ago that your studio produced what many argue to be one of the best Disney films in years. I’m sure you know the one that I am talking about. It’s the one with that extremely catchy song that kind of sort of hasn’t totally gone out of the public conscious. Oh I remember what it was called. FROZEN!!!!!!!! Considering that this little blockbuster of yours has earned $1.219 billion at the box office, I was kind of shocked to read that in the coming years, your…