“Libraries are still vibrant…”
Posted January 22, 2013 by Katie Olivo
How can we, as students, help libraries improve for their patrons? What is most important to them? Read what Americans have to say about libraries in this post on the Christian Science Monitor… http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0122/Libraries-are-still-vibrant-say-Americans-but-need-to-keep-up
Practical Versus Passionate
Posted January 22, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
Like many of my fellow GSLIS students, I graduated university with degrees in English and Art History. After graduation, I was essentially pushed out the door, told to “go forth and acquire employment.” After looking around, my worst fears were realized: what was I going to do with two degrees and relatively few marketable skills?! I worked for a while temping; I sent out resume after resume and made phone call after phone call. It was one day, after my mom called me and recommended that I look into going to graduate school to obtain these marketable skills that are apparently so desirable in the working world, that I started to consider libraries and archives as places of employment. But once I got to library school, I felt myself being pulled into the same trap. Fascinating courses called to me – The History of the Book?! Storytelling?! Organizational/Informational Ethics?! These are ALL courses I want to take. But, because my time – and more importantly, my money – is limited, I need to decide on…
We are Not on the Same e-Page
Posted January 21, 2013 by Sarah Barton
My mother reads more books than anyone I know. She is always reading something, and more often than not she has multiple books going. She legally possesses three library cards from three different libraries, and she actively uses each of them. For the past few years, my father had been talking about getting my mom an e-reader for Christmas, but I always told him that she doesn’t need one because she is at a library multiple times per week. This year (and it is unclear whether this was the result of a lack of other gift ideas or a concerted effort to put my mom at the forefront of book technology), he finally gave her a Nook. For all the books that my mother reads, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her purchase one. That said, getting a Nook is not going to make her any less of a library user. I will be shocked if she purchases a book on her Nook – she is a library user through and through. Anyway, I was…
The one thing we ignored in our syllabi this week…
Posted January 19, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
It’s the first week of classes! I spent my week looking deep into the future of my semester. Oh what fun projects I will do this year! The possibilities are, pardon the cliché, endless! Oh, the places I will go! Yet, as I reflected at the end of the week, every class had one commonality that I think doesn’t get talked about enough. Ever hear of the Simmons honor code? If you’ve read a syllabus in the past week you’d remember teachers dutifully reminding their students that plagiarism is taken seriously at this institution. I suppose in light of the recent cheating fiascos across the river you can hardly blame them. However, I remember skimming that part of the syllabi I had the fortune of reading this week, or rather skipping that part. It has occurred to me that this behavior is probably typical and symptomatic of the academic arena we were all raised in: DON’T COPY, DON’T CHEAT, DON’T STEAL…but most importantly, DON’T GET CAUGHT! I teach an information literacy course for high school…
First Week at GSLIS!
Posted January 18, 2013 by Emily Boyd
Hi! My name is Emily and I am a new addition to the blogging team for the January 2013 semester. This is my first semester as a GSLIS student and I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with all our readers. Many admissions departments hope to attract a diverse group of students by the use of cliches such as ‘every student’s experience is unique’ and ‘there is no such thing as a typical student.’ Simmons GSLIS is no exception, however, if my experience thus far is anything like the average student, these statements are not simple cliches, they are the reality. Right from the get go, I have been encouraged to make the most of my experience regardless of any ‘normal’ progression. True to form, I decided to take a nontraditional route when starting classes. My first experience with a GSLIS class was a weeklong intensive course in Corporate Librarianship (LIS 414) with Professor Jim Matarazzo. It has been incredibly fascinating to jump right into things with a class consisting primarily of students nearing…
Welcome Back!
Posted January 17, 2013 by cdelnero
Happy New Year and welcome back, GSLIS! I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and a relaxing break.I am still in denial that the spring semester is here. Today reality sunk in and I reluctantly opened some emails from professors and GSLIS staff. I know that once I get into the swing of things, it won’t seem so scary…but right now, I am SO not ready! I have some big things to look forward to this semester. First of all, tomorrow I am heading out to Boston with two classmates for our first course on the main campus. This is so exciting for me because I love the city and can’t wait to experience the main campus as a student and not just a visitor. Even more exciting is that I start my new job on Monday the 28th! That’s right, folks, I got the job! I am officially the library assistant for the Health Sciences Library at St.Francis Hospital, and I couldn’t be happier. This is my first official library job and for…
Restructuring Public Libraries
Posted January 16, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I like my blogs to be fun but informative, which usually means avoiding politics. Unfortunately, there is a political situation taking place across the nation that just might influence your decision to go to library school. I live in rural NH, and more often than not, rural libraries are staffed only by paraprofessionals. Librarians with Master’s degree are not the norm, but that is changing, for good and bad. Why a change is good? In the year I have been at GSLIS, I have learned there is a lot more to being a librarian than one might think when one checks out a book. Along with a ton of technology skills, there are many things that just make good practice and good library management. In my experience, paraprofessionals are smart people who use a lot of common sense, but their decisions may or may not be informed by library theory or tried and true methods. Why a change is bad? Recently, in St. Johnsbury, VT, the board of trustees fired the entire Athenaeum library staff…
On Starting A New Year, and A New Semester
Posted January 15, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
I cannot believe that Christmas break already came and went. I spent my time tanning in the Floridian sun, crafting all of my Christmas presents, catching up on some quality sleep time, and enjoying hot beverages… I am especially enjoying the newfound glories of a proper cup of English Breakfast tea, and the new delights of the French Pressed coffee. As 2012 ended and 2013 begins, I always find that a few New Year’s Resolutions make their way into my habits as a student. Read: I WILL read all the readings this semester. I WILL go to office hours if I need help. I WILL start papers and projects well-enough in advance. Like many students, procrastination is a good friend of mine, who pops in more often than I’d like to take up way too much of my time with persuasions of nail-painting and dessert-baking instead of paper-writing and presentation-practicing. Typically, I despise trendy productivity techniques. But over Christmas, I found myself reading an interesting article about the benefits of the small, self-indulgent pleasures in…
Occupational Preoccupation
Posted January 14, 2013 by Sarah Barton
I went to work at the library on Saturday dressed as a librarian. Hair pulled back, cardigan, sensible shoes, blah blah blah. (Fortunately, my vision is still ok, so I didn’t top it off with a pair of glasses perched on my nose.) I was a stereotypical librarian. I hate the stereotype. It drives me nuts. Librarian is one of the only occupations I can think of that has such a preoccupation with its image. I chose Saturday’s outfit because I wanted to wear my new cardigan, not because I was feeling particularly librarian-y that day. I actually felt self-conscious before I left my apartment because I thought I looked too much like a librarian. Isn’t this generation of librarians supposed to defy the stereotype? To rid this and the next generation of librarians of this burden forever? A few months ago, in an attempt to abate my distaste for the librarian stereotype, I read a book about it. Turns out, that only made it worse. There were all kinds of examples of librarians who…
McAllen Public Library Part Two: People and Programs
Posted January 13, 2013 by lazylibrarian
Last week I had the pleasure of sharing with you some insights from my visit to McAllen Public Library, winner of the 2012 ALA Award for Interior Design. To read the first part of this two part series that talks about the physical building click here. A library, of course, is not just about the building. The building itself might be marvelous, but if the library is not consistently offering services and resources that its patrons desire it will not remain praiseworthy for long. Fortunately, the director of the McAllen Public Library, Kathleen Horan, is not one to forget this. She is not content to let the library rest on its laurels. “Because of our culture and the way the news, the fads and trends come at us, everything comes and goes so we can’t afford to sit back and say ‘ok we can rest easy now because we won this design award,’ because we constantly have to stay valuable,” states Ms. Horan. In her eyes, although the national and international press is welcome, the more…