Student Snippets A Window Into The Daily Life & Thoughts of SLIS Students

Suggestions for a Disgruntled Patron

My hometown newspaper published a letter to the editor from a woman who thinks that the public library budget could use substantial cuts. She writes that high school students should replace the six gossiping and squawking librarians with master’s degrees who are checking out books on any given shift, and that the library director and assistant director are grossly overpaid. I am in no place to comment on the library’s budget or staffing structure (although I find it hard to believe that six librarians are constantly manning the circulation desk), but I was glad to see that community members have commented on the letter itself and written their own letters extolling the library and its services. I don’t know what side of whose bed that woman woke up on before writing this letter, but I would like to think that she is an anomaly in a world full of grateful library users. Fortunately, I woke up on the right side of my own bed this morning, so I will offer her some things to consider:…


/Spring 2012

With only one last class and one last presentation to give, I’m facing the end of the semester, and I can’t believe it went by so quickly!  I’ve had a great experience in my Introduction to Archival Methods and Services class, and I learned so much from my internship with the Cambridge Historical Society.  The finding aid I created should be up on their website soon, and it’s given me a tremendous sense of accomplishment to process an entire collection from start to finish! This summer I’ll be looking forward to an internship with the Repatriation Department of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s Cultural Resources Center (phew, that’s a lot of words).  My internship starts on June 4th and lasts through the 10th of August, and I’ve been doing a ton of reading and research on my own before it starts!  I believe quite a few of us here intend to blog over the course of the summer, and I’ll have a lot more to say about it once it starts! For…


Opportunites at Simmons

One of the amazing things about Simmons is the people it puts you in touch with – faculty, students, and visitors.  For instance, last week, Susan Ballard happened to be on campus. If you don’t know who Susan Ballard is, she’s the president-elect of the American Association of School Librarians.  Susan was on campus because she’s also an instructor at Simmons (and an alumna!), involved in the post-graduate, online instructional technology program that launched this past January.  While she was here, she asked to meet with the SLTP and IT students, which is how I came to be in a classroom with about ten other students and faculty members discussing the future of school librarianship with the head of my national organization.  That’s pretty amazing, if you ask me.


Semester over | Now get back to work

Have to admit I am feeling a little lift of pressure after this last semester. Final projects and papers can be tense and working collaboratively (online) adds another dimension that tests your time-management, in a good way. So now that most of us have finshed it is time to do something for your community, your constituents, and yes for yourself. Join a local volunteer group (library or otherwise) and give of yourself a little. If you are a Somerville/Medford/Cambridge type volunteers are still needed for the upcoming S’Ville Library Spring Book Sale (May 17-May 20, set-up day May 12th). Email me at [email protected] for more info. We have also partnered with Somerville’s PorchFest to have a few performances in the forecourt of the library that Saturday.


Nine Credits Later…

My first semester is over.  Three core courses complete! I have a great sense of accomplishment, mixed with relief (phew!) and just a touch of sadness. (And dread for all the neglected house chores awaiting me…) I can’t believe how much I have learned in just a few months. I have met the most amazing people in this first semester at Simmons GSLIS.  I have enjoyed sharing my first glimpse of library school with all of you, and look forward to sharing much more over the coming months. Many congratulations to my peers who are graduating! I love library school and have a great course line-up for the fall semester, but right now, it’s time to party in the library! Enjoy!  


10 Things I Learned in Library School: Year 1

  Today, I turned in my last assignment of the semester, and I can officially state that the term is over. I tend to get self-reflective in moments like this, so I thought I’d make a list of 10 things I’ve learned in my first year of library school. The list includes not only some of the things I learned in my classes, but also some personal life-type tidbits that have popped up along the way. Hope you enjoy, and to anyone else finishing up an academic semester or year right now, congratulations! 10 Things I Learned in Library School: Year 1 The Dewey Decimal Classification and Library of Congress Classification systems in many ways reflect the stereotypical 19th-century WASP male worldview, and therefore have had to undergo revisions over time to erase those biases and include knowledge about marginalized groups. Most people in library school aren’t fresh out of undergrad, but people don’t look at you TOO funny if they find out you are. The Massachusetts Historical Society digitized Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia,…


Debunking the Conspiracy

This morning I saw a bumper sticker with these lovely words of wisdom: “It IS as bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you.” While I cannot attest to exactly what that Volkswagen-driving amateur conspiracy theorist has in mind, I can assure you that that phrase does not apply to Simmons GSLIS. I have nearly completed my first GSLIS semester (yay!), and not once have I felt that it is really that bad or that someone is out to get me. My undergrad experience left me with haunting memories of walking into class the week after taking a test or handing in a paper and having the professor say that half the class failed and the average grade was a 74. I didn’t necessarily feel like my professors were out to get me, but sometimes it did seem that they were going out of their way to put us measly college students in our place. Thankfully, GSLIS has not rekindled that foreboding feeling of failure.


Power Moby Dick

I never understood the first line of Moby Dick, “Call me Ishmael.” Got it now though. The site Power Moby Dick doesn’t so much interpret Moby Dick but rather reveals the history and meaning of words in the text. Very helpful. You can make up your own mind on author’s intent. Plus they have links to every conceiveable related resource on the web and beyond. Fascinating if interested in Nantucket history and that of whaling operations and their minutia. Some drawn out passages sure, but ends with more violence than several Die Hard movies. Good stuff. Also put the Whaling Museum on your list.


End of Term Projects

  Holy Overdue fines, Batgirl!  I have so much to do this last week of the semester! I could plead an excuse why I don’t have time for a fabulous blog entry this week, but then I thought, why not let you see what a sleep deprived GSLIS student has been up to? As part of a larger Tech tutorial project, I created a sample library website using Drupal Gardens. The actual tutorial is still in progress, but please visit my sample website and tell me what you think!  I will be adding more content and improving the site in response to peer feedback, including yours. http://steenson123moretutorial.drupalgardens.com/ This website is the product of a “How to…” I created for my Technology class.  Be sure to click on all the tabs, links, and complete the short survey…and of course, follow the link at the bottom of the website to “Like” us on Facebook!


Getting Involved

I know, I know. It’s annoying to talk about how important it is to get involved in extracurricular activities. We’ve been hearing about it in every stage of education since we were old enough to make our own decisions about how to use our time. I think it is important, however, to re-emphasize once again, even if only to myself, how crucial it is to make an effort to get involved in the student professional community during your short time in library school. For me, Simmons GSLIS was very different from anything I’d ever experienced before in terms of how much effort it took to get involved. For the first time, I’m attending a commuter school; this semester I only have to be on campus twice a week. Each semester I’ve worked 3-4 days a week, and oh goodness, so much homework! How could I possibly find the time to drag myself to campus other times during the week to go to faculty and/or student group-sponsored events? It’s true, there’s no way to conjure up…