All the Things that are Good for You: Broccoli, Shoveling Snow, and Group projects
Posted April 18, 2012 by Julie Steenson
You probably remember being a kid and being told, Eat your broccoli its good for you. As a parent, I have had said my fair share of Its good for you moments in raising my daughter. A couple of specific examples stand out: Stacking wood builds character, and I know it is hard to work in a group, but it is good for you. While I have no problem eating broccoli and I love to stack wood, I have had to eat my words on the group project thing. Just two days ago, on a visit home, as I was stressing about an end of term group project, my daughter gave me a sympathetic smile and reminded me that group projects are good for me. I have to admit that I wasnt prepared for group projects at GSLIS. I know we will work in a collaborative environment and so learning how to reach our goals with our peers is important, but there have been some real challenges.
Marathon Monday
Posted April 17, 2012 by dunhame
When you move to Massachusetts, they give you a free holiday! The third Monday of April is Patriots Day, the Massachusetts state holiday commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord. There were battle reenactments, parades, and ceremonies all over the state this weekend. One other big thing about Patriots Day is it always serves as the day of the Boston Marathon. It was certainly an exciting weekend to be a resident of Boston! Unfortunately, I didnt make it out to any of the Revolutionary War commemoration events, but I did have a chance to be a spectator at about mile 24 of the Boston Marathon. I used boston.coms handy interactive map to determine that the route went through Coolidge Corner, which is within walking distance from my apartment. (With Boston well over-capacity due to the international pull of the marathon, I did NOT want to brave public transit!) I doused myself in sunscreen and made way to join the crowd of eager Bostonians awaiting their chance to cheer on the marathoners.
How Running a Marathon is (sort of) Like Attending Simmons GSLIS
Posted April 16, 2012 by Sarah Barton
I want to make the Boston Marathon relevant to GSLIS. I really do. Library school is like a marathon. The last two weeks of the semester are the final sprint to complete a marathon. The Boston Marathon is awesome, and so is GSLIS. As much as I enjoy figurative language, those statements just dont quite get it done. I couldnt watch the Boston Marathon last year, but two years ago it was one of the most inspiring things I have ever witnessed. Despite being a certified stoic, at one point I found myself holding back tears. The combination of beautiful weather, everyones positive energy, and the camaraderie among the runners and spectators created an experience that I will not soon forget. There is something overpowering about watching 27,000 people meander 26.2 miles from Framingham to Downtown Boston. A marathon is hardly about winning in the traditional sense. Everyone out there, whether on the course or alongside it, wants every single marathoner to succeed. In a marathon, to succeed is to finish and to finish is…
Building a Fancy CV
Posted April 15, 2012 by Danielle Geller
This semester, Ive been trying to take advantage of all of the opportunitiesbeyond Simmonsthat living in Boston has to offer. Three weeks ago I attended the NEA Spring Meeting, and this week I attended a conference that on the service might not seem strictly relevant to our field: the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PC/ACA) conference in Boston. True, there were a lot of panels on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, World of Warcraft, and other popular fandoms, but the conference itself was huge! The program was over 450 pages long, and I managed to find a few sessions that were on the intersection of popular culture, research, and archives, special libraries, and museums. So of course I attended! Ive found that some panels on an archives holdings can turn into a form of show and telllook at these awesome things I have in my collections!that never evolve into a discussion on methodology, theory, or issues of access publicity, etc., which can be frustrating. One of the most interesting presentations, in fact, was on…
So…why library school?
Posted April 14, 2012 by Maya Bery
If you are currently contemplating the decision to attend library school, chances are at some point in your search process, you have heard some helpful individual say something along the lines of “Libraries are dying/e-books are rendering books irrelevant/why do you need a degree for that/fill in your own silly reason here.” This issue irked me so much, it actually wound up being the introduction to my admissions essay for Simmons. Are e-books and the internet changing the way in which libraries operate? Of course. But the library as an institution is far from becoming irrelevant, and in fact, I think this is a fascinating time to choose to enter our noble profession. For a start, there’s so much potential that technology and the internet opens up for us, and a simple Google search is just the tip of the iceberg. When your friends and family learn that you actually know how to extract useful information out of Google in a method more refined than random keyword searches, their estimation of you will rise. If…
The Shawshank Redemption and an example for the defense of libraries
Posted April 12, 2012 by fox32
The Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic film, we can move past that point. But when discussing libraries (and marketing) I often remember Andy Dufresne’s persistance in writing a letter a week to the state house asking for funds to buy more books and supplies. It is a crystal clear example of inserting yourself into the conversation that has to continue for public libraries to survive. Of course, once he gets a check and a few boxes of weeded books (after 6 years of writing) he doubles his efforts and writes two letters a week. Well played.
And You Thought I Was Kidding About the Superhero Thing
Posted April 11, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Last week, in talking about career paths for librarians, I reminded everyone that Batgirl was, after all, a librarian. The day after that post, I headed off to the University Of Rochester in New York, to join my daughter on a grad school visit. The purpose of the visit was my daughters admission there this fall, but I had just read about the University of Rochesters Undergraduate Research Project for my Evaluation class (LIS403). This qualitative study was a fascinating account of how this one academic library adapted both their physical space and information access to better meet the needs of the population they serve. Naturally, I went off for a little library tour of my own to see the spaces I had just read about in the study.You can imagine my surprise at turning a corner in the Reference Room and seeing an amazing display of the League of Librarians: Research Superheroes at Your Service.
Experience, Experience, and More Experience
Posted April 10, 2012 by dunhame
Internships are very important to the Simmons GSLIS experience. Many programs have internship requirements built into their curriculums. The Archives Management concentration, which is the only one I can speak to with any kind of authority, features a 60-hour internship at the beginning of the program and a 130-140-hour field experience at the very end of the program. The first allows students essentially to get their feet wet before delving into coursework, and the second serves as an opportunity to apply everything learned in the program in a culminating, final experience. Especially because level/amount of experience is one of the most important elements potential employers consider when looking to hire new archivists, I really appreciate having the opportunity to gain hands-on experience as a part of the curriculum.
Librarians in Disguise
Posted April 9, 2012 by Sarah Barton
On Wednesday I went to an Alternative Career Panel sponsored by the Simmons Special Libraries Association (SLA). The panel consisted of three women, all of whom graduated from Simmons GSLIS in the past ten years and none of whom are employed in a library. (Gasp!) One of the panelists researches potential litigation cases for an economic consulting firm, and the other two, whom I will call techies for lack of a better/more creative term, work in the user access/user experience area of technology. On the most basic level, the first panelist does research (duh), and the techies collaborate with web engineers and graphic designers to simplify and enhance user interaction with a web interface. One of the questions for the panel was How do you define yourself professionally? The researcher said librarian (although no one she works with would refer to her as such), one of the techies said information scientist (but sometimes librarian when she really wants to blow someones mind), and the other techie said information architect. Technically, they are all librarians. Technically,…
Nearing the End
Posted April 8, 2012 by Danielle Geller
Ive really been enjoying reading the thoughts of my cohorts regarding their paths through the GSLIS program at Simmons and their future career goals. Elise talked about dropping the MA in History aspect of her degree, but I think Ill continue to pursue it. It means Ill still be in the program come the Fall of 2014, but in the end I think it will be worth it. I have a summer internship lined up with the Smithsonians National Museum of the American Indians Cultural Resources Center (pardon the long string of proper nouns) that Im really excited about. I also hope, within the history program, to focus my studies on Native American historybut up to and including contemporary issues like repatriation, energy, and access to education and information. On the other hand, I still have a month of spring semester classes to finish, and I really need to remind myself of that. Im really excited for the summer, but I have a lot to do first.