Two Semesters In
Posted October 2, 2025 by June Kramer
Two semesters into my program, and now two weeks into my practicum, and I keep learning something new every day. It’s not just a cliché, it’s the reality of the SLIS program. As a student teacher at Shutesbury Elementary School, I’m discovering more about myself and about the field of librarianship consistently. Today, I was asked by a kindergarten student to read to her. Of course I obliged, and we sat crisscross on the library rug, reading a book about aliens, and then another about sweet potatoes. I felt her head fall onto my arm and realized that she had fallen asleep listening to the book. After I gently woke her up and she went back to her classroom, I let out a sigh that anyone who has ever worked with children knows: one of knowing that I am in the right field.
Reflecting on my First Year: Archives Management and Required Courses, Semester 1
Posted October 1, 2025 by Laura Kiely
My first and second semesters here at Simmons were dedicated largely to completing the required courses here at Simmons. I am attending Simmons full-time, meaning I am taking three classes per semester each Fall and Spring. There are three courses that everyone here at SLIS are required to take: 407, 415, and 488. In the archives concentration, there is a similarly prescriptive set of three classes, but these are to be taken in sequence: 438, 440, and 442. My first semester here at Simmons I took 407, 415, and 438, which I think was the best introductory set of classes for the archives concentration. For more context, I am taking classes in-person in Boston, so some of my class selections have been made based on course availability, as I find I learn best in person, but this selection of first semester classes would be equally effective online. LIS-407 is truly the most introductory class to the concept of libraries and library science, so I find it is most valuable in your first semester. The three…
Welcome, Welcome!
Posted September 30, 2025 by Lindsey Clarke
Introducing a trifecta of bloggers to the Snippets team! Big Hello to Laura K! Laura’s Bio: Hello! My name is Laura Kiely and I’m in my second year of the master’s program here at SLIS. I moved from Iowa to Boston to study library science and archives management, a move inspired both by the school itself and by my desire to uproot my life and try living somewhere new. I grew up and went to school in Iowa, so living in Boston is a brave new world for me! I will be writing about my classes, the process of moving to Boston, and the variety of jobs I have found here to support myself in my day to day life. I may also toss in a book recommendation or two—I am a librarian, after all! Hello to Michaela O! Michaela Bio: Hi! My name is Michaela O’Gara-Pratt (she/they) and I am a second year student at SLIS with a concentration in Archives Management. I grew up in the Boston area and graduated from Boston University in 2023 with…
First Day of Classes, or “Get Into the Groove”
Posted September 29, 2025 by Will Romey
First Day of Classes, or “Get Into the Groove” My first day of school! Last time I started an academic program, I was half the age I am now. That passage of time doesn’t just make me feel existential dread, but also appreciation for all the experiences that took me where I am today – standing next to a towering humpback whale skull by the entrance to SLIS West. First, I drop my lunch bag in the fridge (a tin of smoked trout, a hunk of comte cheese, cherry tomatoes from Astarte Farm, a slice of homemade bread). I head upstairs, where SLIS West Program Coordinator Eric Poulin is easy to find. He’s directing people to classrooms, making introductions, and crucially, has brought coffee and doughnuts. My first class is 488 – Technology for Information Professionals. This foundational course surveys technology use in information fields. As we go through introductions, it’s clear my fellow students have a wide range of backgrounds and goals. This will be great as we explore the field together. After lunch…
The New Student Experience: My First Week at Simmons (And in Boston)
Posted September 26, 2025 by Brooke Thomson
Hi there! My name is Brooke, and I’m starting my first semester of the MLIS program with a concentration in Archives Management. I thought a good way to start things off might be going over my first week in town. Stick around if you want to hear more about the famous September 1st move-in, my first days of class, how I joined a club called Panopticon, and what went down at the President’s Welcome and SLIS Kick Off event! Move-In DayIf you don’t live in Boston, you probably don’t know that most leases here turn over on September 1st (I sure didn’t). In a city affectionately called “America’s College Town”, that means on this day every year, thousands of Boston students—and their families, friends and movers—hit the streets with boxes and furniture galore. Parking is a nightmare, Target is a warzone, and so much stuff gets left out on the curbs that Boston has its own unofficial curb-shopping holiday called “Allston Christmas.” Allston is a neighborhood of Boston well-known for its college student residents, but…
New Bloggers Joining Us!
Posted September 25, 2025 by Lindsey Clarke
Hello Readers! We are lucky enough to have many new bloggers joining our team. Today I am introducing two of them to you. Please welcome – Brooke Thomson and Will Romey! A little about Brooke: I’m Brooke, a first year Simmons MLIS student with a concentration in Archives Management. I come from Tampa, FL and this is my first time living out of state! I’m really excited to get to know Boston and Simmons University. Many students come into this program with some practical library, archival, or museum experience already under their belts—I have none, so I’d like to share my journey with other students who may relate to that. Before coming to Boston, I got my BA from Florida State University in Creative Writing and History. Storytelling is something I’m passionate about, so it tracks that I’m also a total geek! When I’m not too busy, I like to obsess over TV shows and movies, read fantasy novels, and window-shop the merch at BoxLunch. Two things on my Boston bucket-list are: getting a Boston Public Library passport and seeing a Bruins game! A…
Fall Bucket List
Posted September 24, 2025 by Emmy Mahoney
I love being a graduate student, but it is a lot of work. After classes, homework, internships, and jobs, I usually end the day scrolling aimlessly on my phone. This academic year, I am trying to be more intentional about my time. With the fall season starting up, I have decided to create a fall bucket list to achieve that goal. My fall bucket list includes a variety of tasks, but can be sorted into three categories: major activities, minor activities, and activities that I can do while completing my graduate work. Starting with the major activities category, these list items require preparation and larger amounts of time. Because of the time and preparation required to participate, I usually only complete one or two during the fall season. Some examples of these major activities are apple picking, going for a hike, and trying a new fall recipe. The major task that I would most like to complete this year is pumpkin carving. The next category is the minor activities. As the title suggests, these list…
Falling Back into the Swing of Things
Posted September 22, 2025 by Aurora Daniel
It’s hard to believe that a month of this semester has already gone by! I suppose that’s what happens when you’re having fun. This semester looks a bit different than previous ones for me, which in some ways means that it’s going by much quicker and in other ways it seems endless. Instead of juggling a couple of jobs and an internship I just have two on-campus jobs, which has freed up some of my time during the day. Since having surgery I put volunteer work on hiatus and cut out other extra responsibilities so I could limit my time outside the house to just work and school. Finally, this semester I’m just taking two courses and opted to work on an independent study to complete my final elective requirement. This means that, while I have to dedicate more time to research and outreach, I’m able to work from home more and hone in on projects that excite me. So far I’ve found my coursework this semester invigorating. I’m taking LIS 442: Establishing Archives and…
Back to School!
Posted September 9, 2025 by Emmy Mahoney
Hello, everyone! This semester, I am starting the second year of my graduate school program, and I am very excited to jump back into learning. Having survived a full year, I have some tips for students entering their first year of graduate school. In terms of keeping up with assignments, one of the best pieces of advice I can offer is to find a calendar system that works for you. This could be a planner, a monthly calendar, a digital calendar, or something else entirely. My preferred calendar system is to create a large poster of the semester, which outlines all of my assignments and their due dates. This helps me to visualize the semester as a whole and make long term plans for completing school work. Furthermore, I hang this poster by my desk, so I am consistently reminded of what I need to accomplish. My next piece of advice is to schedule a recurring time in which you do not complete any school work. This could be at a certain time every day,…
Now for the rest of my summer!
Posted September 3, 2025 by Aurora Daniel
First, I continued working at the Simmons University library part time on Mondays and Tuesdays. Since we had a lot of student workers graduate this spring for the first month of the break I was one of the few workers trained on all of our tasks. This meant that I was busy my entire shift sorting mail, processing interlibrary loans, updating book catalog records, and responding to reference chats, emails, and phone calls. Since I like to stay busy this was perfect for me. Once the new student workers were trained on our tasks I transitioned to some of our longer term projects like collections inventory, updating book labels, and spent more time on collections cataloging. Inventory in the Beatley Library stacks Additionally, all throughout the summer I was coaching Ultimate Frisbee. The Spring session ended mid-June, so I said goodbye to all of my elementary school players as they don’t have practices during the summer. I brought popsicles for the last day and I was swarmed by players. They gobbled them right up and…