Winding Down
Posted July 28, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
There are only two weeks left in the summer semester and I can’t believe it. It’s gone by fast. This is the first time I’ve taken only one class, and it’s been very nice. It’s also been a bit weird, since I’m used to juggling two or three classes and having more work to do. But I’m not complaining! We’ve finished the last of the hands-on activities and will have lecture classes and a discussion with a conservator the rest of the semester. Two weeks ago, we had our most difficult assignment: making boxes out of heavy paper and corrugated cardboard. Boxes are created for items that cannot be put directly on the shelves because they are too delicate or because they are damaged. Creating a custom box for these items gives them physical support and allows them to be handled by the public (with a little bit of caution, of course). Otherwise, these items would be unavailable. The boxes have to fit the item perfectly to make sure the item will not move around…
Summer Classes
Posted July 15, 2020 by William Crouch
Hey everyone, long time since I last posted. Hope everybody has been staying safe during all this craziness. I’ve been keeping busy taking a summer course while history courses are being offered online. This summer, the history seminar being offered is divided into two different parts both focusing on how the United States functioned as an empire in the early 20th century. The first section was taught by Professor Frances Sullivan and focused on labor movements within United States territories like Puerto Rico or Hawaii. It was really interesting reading some of these groups’ thoughts about how they would gain a new government to try and gain more equity but that the governments would often revert back to being more unequal. Reading about these ideas in the midst of similar discourse occurring in the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement has been very enlightening. The second half of the course was taught by Professor Laura Prieto and focused on women’s suffrage movements within United States territories and how the United States womens’ suffrage…
Virtual Conferences
Posted July 14, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
In my last post of the spring semester, I mentioned how due to COVID-19 many conferences are now going virtual. I have never been able to attend an in-person conference before because of my school and work schedule, as well as financial reasons, but virtual conferences are significantly cheaper (or free in some cases!), and you can attend from the comfort of your own home. I still hope to go to a real-life conference before I graduate (assuming the pandemic and vaccines and everything works out), but for now, I’m taking advantage of virtual opportunities. The ALA Annual 2020 Conference was initially supposed to be held in Chicago this year; however, it was moved online and transformed into ALA Virtual: Community Through Connection. It was held from June 24-26 online. Admittedly, I know it’s not the same experience—I’m sitting in my room, alone, with my laptop and my headphones on instead of being around tons of people after all! If you compare this to Katie’s experience at ALA Annual last year, and at ALA Midwinter…
Book Repairs!
Posted July 7, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
I’ve had a busy and fun two weeks of book repairs. My tasks included rebacking (replacing the spine of a book) and recasing (re-attaching the text block to the book cover). Both of these repairs were invasive and required cutting into the book. That definitely scared me at first. Taking a knife to a book seemed like sacrilege. I had to remind myself that cutting into the book would not harm it—in fact, it would save the book. And it did! The end result of my repairs was book that was fully functional again, and ready to get back into circulation. I can see how knowing how to do these minor repairs would be beneficial for librarians, because they could fix a lot of book problems without having to spend money buying a new book. What amazes me is how much book repair is about precision. It takes a lot of practice to make straight, even cuts, align pages, and trim accurately. But once you know how to do this, you can make repairs that…
Adventures in Ethics
Posted June 25, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
We’ve completed the first week of the of the Summer 2020 term everyone! As you know, classes at SLIS are online for this term due to the pandemic. I’m not going to lie; I came very close to forgetting it was the first week of classes last week. If I hadn’t received an email from my professor announcing it was the first day of class last Monday, I would have completely forgotten. I’m taking LIS 475: Organizational and Information Ethics this summer, and as is usual for Simmons summer classes, it is only seven weeks long, but is the same amount of work as a normal semester-long course. This means we cover two weeks-worth of material a week. If you’ve read my past posts about summer classes, you know my feelings about this. Summer classes have a lot of content in a very short amount of time. I’m not wild about the rushed feeling, but this summer, like last summer, there is no “locked” content, so I can see everything ahead of time. In summer…
All About Paper
Posted June 22, 2020 by Amie Grosshans
This summer, I’m taking LIS 447, Collections Maintenance, and I absolutely love it so far. There are two parts to the class: the lectures, which explore the topic of the week and show how to do the repairs, and the hands-on part, where we get to do the repairs ourselves. All of us were mailed a big box with the weekly materials before the class started, which included damaged books, different types of papers, newspapers, magazine ads, archival quality tape, and tissue paper. We also bought a tool kit from the school bookstore, which included a cutting mat, ruler, retractable knife, paint brush, and other necessities. I created a designated workspace for myself and laid all the tools and folders on a little table. It’s been working out great, because it keeps all the tools and materials in one place and I don’t have to constantly pack and unpack all the materials. I would probably lose something that way! The first week, we repaired small paper tears with tape and glue, and last week we…
Staying Positive
Posted May 15, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
So we are a few weeks in to the break between the Spring 2020 Semester and the Summer 2020 Semester, and it’s obviously a bit different this time around with COVID-19. Last year around this time I was on a trip with my family, and this year we’re in the middle of a pandemic and Massachusetts is still under a stay-at-home advisory. One thing I’ve thought a lot about during the past few weeks is stress caused by the outbreak, and the importance of staying positive. Here are some of my tips for staying positive and coping with stress during this difficult time: Remember that this is only temporary and you are not alone! Maintain a sense of routine! As much as I love staying in my pajamas, I have a more positive attitude when I get up, get dressed, and go about my everyday routine. Take a break from COVID-19 news, media, and other pandemic-related content. I disabled news notifications on my phone a while ago, and I’ve been trying to limit myself from…
Surprise Online School & (Not-So-Final) Farewell
Posted May 14, 2020 by Katie Carlson
If being a grad student in my final semester during COVID-19 showed me anything, it is that my friends and future librarian colleagues are amazing and ADAPTABLE. With life suddenly thrown online, I saw recorded modules, voiced-over power points, sing-a-long zoom meetings, virtual coffee dates, Animal Crossing birthday parties, YouTube story hours, interactive book club Moodle sites, WEDDINGS, and so much more! I’ve also witnessed so much patience that warms my heart! From what I’ve seen, everyone has been great about adapting their expectations and making accommodations! Now for the second part of this little post: I’m done! I’m a whole MASTER in the field of library and information science! These two years have absolutely flown by, but I wouldn’t do anything differently! To make at-home-graduation even more special, my girlfriend made diplomas, organized a photoshoot, and even conducted a ceremony for Adaliz and me! Grades are in, and as I write this, I have my Zoom-uation Virtual Graduation tomorrow! It might be a little unconventional, but we made it through! Signing off for now…but…
Seven Classes Down, Five to Go!
Posted May 8, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
We are DONE with the Spring 2020 semester everyone! Seven classes down, five to go! This summer I’m taking LIS 475: Organizational Ethics. I was originally going to take a different class, but due to the unpredictability associated to COVID-19, I switched classes. This class looks very interesting—based on the description, I think it’s going to be more of a theory-based class and we’ll be covering a lot of interesting topics. However, the class doesn’t start until June 15, so I have a bit of a break before school starts again. Usually, when the semester is over and we come up on a break, I’m thrilled. However, this time it is different because there is a pandemic happening. This now means that there is a gaping hole in my everyday routine. The stay-at-home advisory has been extended until May 18, and my sense of time and structure during the pandemic has pretty much come from two things, school and work, and now one of them is gone until mid-June. On one hand, it’s nice not…
Summer Job – Something New
Posted May 1, 2020 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
Today I filled out my paperwork for a new job, which is so exciting! I will be a personal shopper at Stop & Shop, working in the Peapod home delivery department. Although the semester is coming to the end, I’m excited to have a new beginning. I am not taking summer classes, so a job will give me something to do this summer. Except for a few forms to be signed for practicum, I am all done with the semester! I got my last grade back for my online technology class a couple days ago, and I had my final meeting with my supervisors for practicum yesterday. It feels so weird thinking about how the semester is over now, after working so hard. Thinking about those students at the elementary school in Waltham, I am so sad that I missed out on a whole month in school with the kids. I am happy that I still saw the Kindergarten students I got to teach my 4-lesson unit with on Google Meets, but it isn’t the…