Boston Strong
Posted April 22, 2013 by Sarah Barton
I am neither eloquent nor competent enough to put into words the thoughts, fears, feelings, and emotions that I experienced last week during and in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt. It is unfortunate that sometimes it takes something this tragic and senseless to bring out the best in people, but Boston responded with the heart and spirit of a city that will not let this tragedy define one of its greatest traditions. If anything, the marathon will come back stronger next year. Boston Strong(er).
Information Overload
Posted April 21, 2013 by lazylibrarian
The whole world knows what happened in Boston this past week. I don’t wish to ruminate on the agonies, rather focus on the lessons. As common with tragedies, there are many. One that I came across, that might seem minor in the scheme of human suffering this week, nevertheless is the one I want to focus on because of its tie-in to library science. There has been much media coverage over the “social media aspect” of the Boston Marathon Bombing and in the horrific misidentification of the suspects in the New York Post but even before the New York Post coverpage there were thousands of people on Reddit and other websites trying to solve the crime like amateur Sherlock Holmes. I do believe their intentions were good but more and more I saw links to the supposed Twitter of the suspects, their Facebook, statements such as “if this is the same so and so then they worked here” or “if this is the same guy he won this award in the year X”. We’ve already…
World Book Night
Posted April 20, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
What a week this has been! I’m overwhelmed with relief, grief, exhaustion, and patriotism. It’s been a week. Incidentally, aside from being the week of the Boston Marathon Bombing, this week was also Library Appreciation Week, and this Thursday was also Poem in Your Pocket Day. How I wanted to celebrate these holidays. Yet they slipped through my fingers, and got away from me. Today, as we breathe a collective sigh and remember what’s important in life I’d like to point out another way to celebrate books, Boston and general well being. Next Tuesday evening, as you’re walking home from school or work keep an eye out for the ladies and gentlemen giving away free books in celebration of World Book Night. While April 23rd (this Tuesday) is UNESCO’s Day of the Book as well as Shakespeare’s birthday the people of World Book Night give away books, donated by a variety of authors, to promote the love of reading. This program is only 2 years old! It’s free to sign up to be a distributer…
How to Have a Job after Graduation
Posted April 16, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
As I have mentioned in previous posts, one of the things that bugged me the most about my undergraduate experience was the lack of support when they pushed you forth into the world. When people inevitably ask me what I like the most about Simmons, my answer is always the same: while I love many of the classes and professors, and the students are some of the sweetest and brightest I have ever met, I feel that the support Simmons offers to its students in terms of employment is one of the best things a school can do. Simmons is great in that you enter this program knowing that you would like to be employed at the end of it – and you get employment support from the moment you enter orientation. In the Archives Concentration you are automatically enrolled in two internships – one 60-hour, and one 130-hour – that provide you with experience in an actual archive. These internships often provide invaluable networking experience, and more often than not the repositories ask the…
Marathon Monday
Posted April 15, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Forgive me for writing about sports for a second consecutive week, but the Boston Marathon is kind of a big deal. The Boston Athletic Association claims that in terms of media coverage, the Boston Marathon ranks behind only the Super Bowl as the largest single day sporting event in the world. Yowzer. As I wrote at this time last year, I love watching the marathon, and it is another unique Boston experience. Simmons is about a mile from Mile 25 of the marathon, where Beacon Street and Commonwealth Ave will be absolutely packed with people cheering for runners as they gut out the last few miles through Brookline and Boston. Today is Patriots’ Day, which is only a holiday in Massachusetts and Maine (although for some reason in Maine they move the apostrophe and call it Patriot’s Day), so many people either have or take the day off to witness thousands of people running. Watching people run sounds fairly boring, but the emotion and camaraderie are palpable. You have to be there. This is not…
How Libraries Changed Me
Posted April 14, 2013 by lazylibrarian
So I came across this wonderful article entitled Five Times a Library Changed Me and began to think about how the library had changed my life, outside of you know, wanting to be a librarian. I went to a pretty small private school where everyone knew everyone and what you could or could not do. I wasn’t good at sports, was too scared to sing or play an instrument in front of people and was too much of a rule-follower to be known as a rebel or class clown. But I found my little niche in books and specifically in the library. I was the girl who held the record in Mrs. Johnson’s first grade reading contest, the girl who received permission to take out the “adult” books (this was a Christian school, that just meant regular adult-level books), the girl who organized everyone’s classroom libraries and the girl who was always picked to read devotions (again, it’s a Christian school) for the class every morning. But the greatest thing of all was being the…
The Great Library Cat Debate
Posted April 10, 2013 by Julie Steenson
Nothing gets people more worked up than their pets. I belong to many forums on library issues, and recently, the issue of a library cat was the hot topic on an ALA LinkedIn Forum. The title of the discussion was: “A Grinch in Swansea, MA wants the library’s feline resident, Penny, to find a new home. Does your library have a pet?” The “Grinch” in this case, is making the claim that the cat’s “presence violates the Americans with Disabilities Act because people with allergies to animals are being discriminated against if the cat is there when they want to use the library.” Full article: http://www.turnto10.com/story/21809894/swansea-man-says-librarys-cat-violates-ada The cat has been a resident there for 14 years, and according to townspeople, the man doesn’t frequent the library, but that is beside the issue. The reactions on the LinkedIn forum were enthusiastic to say the least, with librarians on both sides of the debate. I quickly got into the fray by asking everyone: What about Dewey?! How did the famed Iowa library of the most famous library…
Being Frank About Fenway
Posted April 8, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Today is opening day at Fenway Park. Granted, the Red Sox have already played six games on the road to start the season, but baseball doesn’t really seem official until the boys of summer suit up within the confines of friendly Fenway. I am not a huge Sox fan, and they aren’t even supposed to be very good this year, but somehow that doesn’t seem to matter. Baseball has started, which means that spring is here and having a few afternoon beers is excusable in the name of watching “tha Sawcks.” (“Tha Sawcks” = “the Sox” with a Boston accent.) Boston sports teams have more or less of a cult following that can be borderline offensive to the uninitiated. For the next six months, many Bostonians will be living and dying with each and every pitch of the remaining 155 regular season games. I can guarantee you that people will come out of the woodwork to be in the Fenway area this afternoon, and I plan to be one of them. I think that “Red…
The Mysterious Line
Posted April 6, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
Have you ever driven or walked past a Shake Shack? What is the most distinguishing characteristic of this place of business? Picture it in your mind. See the line. Do you see it? I went there last night to see what all the fuss was about but gave up when I saw, l wondering what it is exactly they put in those burgers and fries. What’s the x factor? I read in a magazine about the Shake Shack CEO who talked about how the line builds character. How people want to conquer the line. It’s a “challenge accepted” concept. again, a line around the corner outside of the restaurant. Though it is spring, you really wouldn’t know that at night. So instead I chose a local burger place and was quite satisfied. But here I am stil You’re probably wondering what this has to do with library school. Nothing. It has nothing to do with library school, unless you get reeeeeally creative. Think about that longing and desire to cross the threshold of the Shake…
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…