Transferability
Posted November 16, 2012 by Maya Bery
It often amazes me just how transferable the skills I have gained as a school library teacher in training are to the wider world. It brings a measure of comfort to know that should (heaven forbid) I one day find myself struggling to find a position that I will not have a useless degree. On the contrary, I will have a very relevant degree (take that, Forbes magazine!). For a start, during my two practicum experiences, I have gained a lot of experience creating things. What sorts of things? Brochures. Posters. Website design. Video guides. Written guides. Pathfinders. Sure, these are all topically library-related, but the skills I’ve learned and honed include design, layout, how to use different software and presentation tools. Between my practica and the LIS460 class, I’ve also gained experience using WikiSpaces, Tumblr, Prezi, Screenr, Piktochart, Microsoft Publisher, Audacity, Twitter, WordPress, and more. I’ve learned how to create materials that are clear and well-written, which some might say is a dying art. And let’s not forget the awesome powers of Google-fu we…
East Meets West Part II: The Details
Posted November 14, 2012 by cdelnero
After last week’s post, I got a comment from a prospective GSLIS student, Jodi. She writes, “As a prospective student (probably West), I would love to hear more about the differences between the two, especially from a student’s perspective. Anyone care to summarize that discussion at the Squealing Pig?” Jodi, and all who are curious (this is certainly a frequently asked question!), I will do my best to answer your question. We did talk a lot about some specific differences. I personally have not yet taken classes on both campuses, but I am taking a course in Boston at the main campus next semester. After talking with GSLIS Boston students, it really seems that the biggest difference between the campuses is class size, with the smaller classes at GSLIS West. My classes have never had more than 20 students, and only the core (required) courses were that large. Last Spring, I had a class with only 8 total students. According to the Boston students I spoke with, classes there tend to have at least 20…
The Librarian Toolbox
Posted November 13, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Librarians have lots of tools….our fabulous brains, all that stuff we learn at library school, binders of ready reference questions and answers, reference books, databases, and of course, bookmarks on our desktops to all kinds of useful links. I was inspired by Maya’s post this week about Reader’s Advisory to share some of my favorite Reader’s Advisory tools. Novelist – Novelist is included in many database packages, at least here in NH public libraries. Two of my favorite features of Novelist are the Read-Alikes and the book reviews. The Read-Alikes allow you to pick a book you like, and Novelist does an instant reader’s advisory by showing what other books are “like” that one. You can limit the selection based on certain terms or it will just do a general read-alike search. Then the book reviews allow you to learn more about these other titles. Novelist offers many more features and if you have it at your library, I highly recommend logging on and exploring some of your favorite authors, titles, or series. KDL –…
A Case of the Mondays
Posted November 12, 2012 by Sarah Barton
Today is Veterans’ Day observed, and GSLIS does not have classes. How will I be spending my morning, you ask? In class. Barring Thanksgiving next week (yay!), the only holidays this semester fall on Mondays. That means there ends up being one less class meeting for Monday classes than for their Tuesday-Friday counterparts. So despite the holiday today, my professor (and from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, a few other professors as well) will be holding class. The thing is, I’m not even mad. I’m not dreading going. It just feels like another Monday. Everybody enjoys a day off (and especially a long weekend), but when classes only meet once per week, not having a class is a considerable setback. My professor isn’t having class to spite us, as she is also coming in on what could have been a day off. We have a lot of material to cover, and just finally got caught up after falling behind a few weeks ago. And, frankly, the point of being at GSLIS is taking classes,…
A Reference Lesson at Trivia
Posted November 11, 2012 by lazylibrarian
I am a sucker for trivia. All forms of it; quizzes online, Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit (especially the Star Wars edition), Scene It and trivia nights at the bar. I had a QuizWiz growing up and loved it! Pop-up Brady? I’m there. So it’s no surprise that you can often find me at local bars on trivia night. Now all this love of trivia does not mean I’m any good. When the topic is history, literature or classic movies I do pretty well – science and sports….nope (and bar trivia seems to be heavily slanted towards sports). But last night at Penguin Pizza (great pizza, great beer and pretty ok trivia on Saturdays at 8!) a question during one round asked us what language, after English, was the most frequently spoken language in Australia. After debating the merits of various options (and trying to decide where the world’s highest airport was) we came to an agreement to put down Mandarin because one of us knew there was a large Asian community in Australia. The use of…
Do you buzz?
Posted November 10, 2012 by Maggie Davidov
Yes, do you buzz around like a bee? You see where I’m going with this? This week I represented the school I work for in the Wellesley Spelling Bee. With thirty lists of words to study I was engrossed and could talk about little else for the past few weeks. No joke, ask my friends and family who are glad it’s over. I learned words like butyraceous, jeroboam, tabetisol, and my personal favorite kakistocracy. I spent time with my colleagues/teammates from school as we chatted, studied, and laughed over the silliness of the words we were spelling. It was bliss for a true spelling bee nerd like me. You see, I was in the Peace Corps a few years ago. While I was there one of my biggest accomplishments was founding the National Spelling Bee of Macedonia with my friend Matt. We were both very passionate about making language learning engaging for students of every level. We knew that our students loved competition and this seemed the most logical way to make learning English fun.We put together…
Reader’s Advisory
Posted November 9, 2012 by Maya Bery
One of the hot topics in reference is reader’s advisory. It’s the reason many people engage in reference interactions with librarians, but it’s often hard to narrow in on exactly what a patron liked about a particular book. And for me at least, when a patron admits that they don’t enjoy reading or actively dislikes it, I feel a lot of pressure to deliver. I have long felt that there is a book out there for each person, it’s just a question of matching the two together. But doing that can be a complicated, frustrating, and sometimes disheartening experience. If I sound down, it’s because I’ve just handled two reader’s advisory interactions which went less well than I would have hoped. In the first case, I had a freshman who “hates reading” looking for a short, funny book, but not one that would make her feel dumb (so graphic novels were out), no vampires (“read my lips: N-O, NO!”), no romances, no chick-lit books, nothing I could suggest caught her interest. “You know who’s…
East Meets West
Posted November 8, 2012 by cdelnero
I bet many of you have seen this map before. It’s funny! And sort of true. But some of us out in the dragon-filled regions see Boston not so much as the center of the universe, but more as a big scary jungle. That’s why last week, LISSA West sponsored a field trip to the Simmons main campus in Boston. Our goal was to give GSLIS West students the opportunity to visit the Boston campus and become familiar with things like parking and the layout of the library. Our hope was to eliminate fear of the big city and encourage GSLIS West students to take courses at Simmons Boston. There were four of us total and we had a busy afternoon! We started with a tour of Beatley Library led by the wonderful Linda Watkins, Liaison Librarian and Kate McGrath, Dean’s Fellow for GSLIS West. We got to see how things work in the stacks and behind the scenes. We had the opportunity to meet Justin Snow in the archives who let us into the…
Who You Gonna Call?
Posted November 6, 2012 by Julie Steenson
I apologize for wimping out, but I am swamped with work this week, both school projects and extra hours at my job at my local library. Please forgive me and enjoy this great view of the New York Public Library Reading Room…ghosts and all!
Don’t Judge a Donated Book by Its Cover
Posted November 5, 2012 by Sarah Barton
I work at a small branch library, and I was surprised to learn that we are not supposed to take book donations. One or two books here and there is ok, but an “I’m moving tomorrow and here is my entire book collection” drop off is too much. It’s not that we don’t want them, but since the main library is better equipped to handle donations people are encouraged to bring their books there. I don’t necessarily agree with the policy, but after reading this I might be more inclined to enforce it. If I were going through donated books and came across a gun, I probably would have uttered a few choice words other than “Oh my.” A gun…in a book? The write-up doesn’t make it sound malicious, but still, a gun…in a book? Knowing nothing about guns, I would say that gun actually looks kind of cool – like something a cowboy would tote in a saloon. But that’s not the point. What is the real story? Why was that cool looking gun…