The Joys of Public Libraries
Posted March 4, 2012 by Maya Bery
For someone who grew up going to the public library on a near weekly basis and then spent two years overseas in a library wilderness, moving to Boston has been nothing short of a heavenly experience. As a Boston resident, I am entitled to borrow books from any of the branches within the Boston Public Library system (extensive in its own right), and I am allowed reciprocal privileges through the Minuteman network as well. What this means is that I basically have any library between here and New Hampshire at my disposal, through the wonders of the OPAC and interlibrary loan. In addition to the countless hours of personal pleasure the BPL and Minuteman libraries have afforded me, they have also played a central role in my GSLIS academic career.
The Geisel Library Building
Posted March 1, 2012 by fox32
This brutal beauty of reinforced concrete and glass is a library for UC San Diego designed in 1970 by architect William Pereira. The library was originally called the “Central Library” until a renovation was completed and it was renamed the Geisel Library Building on December 1, 1995 in honor of Audrey and Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) for the generous contributions they have made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy. UC San Diegos Mandeville Special Collections Library is the main repository for the papers of Dr. Seuss. The Dr. Seuss Collection, contains more than 8,500 items documenting the full range of Geisels work.
Library of the Future
Posted February 29, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Just as we all come from different backgrounds, we all come from different libraries! I have had the opportunity to experience very modern libraries and simpler, old-fashioned ones. Just two years ago, I worked in a rural school district that still had a card catalog and stamped the due date on the library book cards, a nostalgic throwback to my childhood! At the other extreme, I recently came across a YouTube video of the Monroe County Public Library, in Bloomington, Indiana, which was awarded the Trailblazer through Technology Award in 2011. In its goal to provide abundant access and technological literacy to the community, this library is a model for all of us!
The Big Move (Part 1)
Posted February 28, 2012 by dunhame
I want to take some time this week to tell the story of my move to Boston and hopefully offer some advice to anyone who is thinking about attending Simmons College but is a little worried about arranging to come here from somewhere outside of the New England area. There are definitely special difficulties associated with a situation like this and many questions come up for people who want to move here but dont know a lot about Boston. Hopefully this post will address some of your concerns! I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and went to undergrad in the same state, and up until this year, I had never had any big move kind of experience. After I decided to attend Simmons, I was faced with a great deal of uncertainty. When should I move? How should I move? Where should I live? How will I find housing? How should I get around when I get there? Im going to structure the rest of this post by quickly explaining how I addressed these…
Slaying the Lack(-of-relevant-experience) Ness Monster
Posted February 27, 2012 by Sarah Barton
Soon after graduating college, I was fortunately offered a job at a small publishing company. Less than four months later, I was unfortunately laid off, thus prompting a five-month bout with unemployment during which I glumly spent my weeks applying to dozens of jobs while trying to rid my brain of the Avenue Q classic “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?” Finally, as a last resort, I valeted cars for a month before a college friend got me a job doing administrative work at a local hospital. This is not meant to be a “woe is me” tale; rather, an indicator of how difficult it can be to get a job (especially in a tough economy) without relevant experience. Case in point: My work experience between the ages of 16 and 21 involved the following: preparing vegetables for a woman named Cricket to put in her homemade sushi and spring rolls, manning the register at a grocery store, and driving around town buying items to put on a boat for a non-profit…
The Processing Plan
Posted February 25, 2012 by Danielle Geller
Open access and fair use and two issues concerning archives and archival materials is an issue that has recurred in my work and research time and again. Ideally, I believe that information should be freely available for students, researchers, and the average citizen to access and use, but the reality is often much different. Barrierswhether in terms of economics, time, or organizationrear their ugly heads from all angles. This week, Ive been working on processing plans for two separate collections (one for a class and one for an internship), and access has been at the back of my mind for each project. Archivists are the gatekeepers, not just in the sense that we are safeguarding materials, but that we are also responsible for guiding people to materials relevant to their need. In laying out the foundations for a finding aid, our ultimate search tool, how do I ensure that I am doing my job effectively?
StoryCorps animated shorts, or “are you taking oral history?”
Posted February 23, 2012 by fox32
Had not checked in on StoryCorps for a while… but since 2011 they have started animating some of the oral histories. Great idea. The circle is completed by featuring Studs Terkel, a godfather of the academic oral history tradition (at least in the US) who was one of the inspirations for StoryCorps in the first place. I am not an offcianado on Studs Terkel by any means, but this bio from his site sums up part of his life work; On “The Studs Terkel Program,” which was heard on Chicago’s fine arts radio station WFMT from 1952 to 1997, Terkel interviewed Chicagoans and national and international figures who helped shape the past century. The program included guests who were politicians, writers, activists, labor organizers, performing artists, and architects among others.
Why Metadata is like Pizza
Posted February 22, 2012 by Julie Steenson
Meta what? That was my reaction when I read the course description for my Information Organization class and first encountered the word METADATA. The classic definition seems to be data about data which is about as useful as well, nothing. There are many better definitions out there, but I dont want to spoil your fun as you learn about them, so for now, I will call it the stuff that describes a resource sort of like the stuff that goes on a pizza. When you ask your husband to bring home a pizza (because you have a project due in two days and you are freaking out), you dont just say, Honey, please get a pizza. You describe the pizza. Pizza metadata could include thin crust, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, pepperoni, red peppers, mushrooms, etc.
Friends From All Over
Posted February 21, 2012 by dunhame
Its pretty standard practice in the Simmons College GSLIS program for professors to have students go around the room and say a bit about themselves on the first day of class. The questions they ask vary–What interests you about this field? What program are you in? Whats something unique about you?–but something that almost always gets asked is simply–Where are you from? On my very first day of class, I was really excited about this question. I thought I was going to have the most unique answer in the room. I thought people would think, Missouri?! Thats SO far away! Having gone to a Missouri state university for undergrad, I was very used to functioning in an environment lacking diversity in the geographic-area-of-origin department; most of the people I knew were from the St. Louis or Kansas City areas, and anyone who hailed from out-of-state or country definitely received special attention of some kind on the first days of classes. The fact that I was moving across the country for school meant that I would…
Posted February 21, 2012 by Sarah Barton
Last summer I visited the Library of Congress, and the Jeffersons Library exhibit blew me away. A pane of glass separated me from Thomas Jeffersons personal collection the collection that spurred the advent of the Library of Congress. My inner librarian sang out (albeit quietly) with ecstasy. As presidents go, I have always been partial to Abe Lincoln. He single-handedly made the top hat iconic. But upon seeing Jeffersons library, I could feel my allegiance shifting. I cursed myself for visiting Honest Abe earlier that morning, and doubly cursed the Tidal Basin for making the Jefferson Memorial inconveniently remote for pedestrians. To atone for my Jefferson snub, I read a book called Jeffersons Books while intermittently stroking the face of a nickel. Among other things, I learned that Jefferson was a connoisseur of books and information to the extent that he could never, ever have enough. In an 1815 transaction that induced much disdain from Jeffersons political opponents, the U.S. Government purchased his library of 6,700 books for $23,950.1 Cyrus King lamented that Jeffersons…