Spring 2020 Classes
Posted January 10, 2020 by William Crouch
I figured it was probably time for me to post about what classes I’m taking next semester considering the fall semester is more or less done. I’ll actually be taking four classes over the Spring semester. One of my weekly classes will LIS 438 Intro to Archives. It will be my first archives course and it includes a 60 hour internship so I’m pretty excited to start it and learn more about what will hopefully be my eventual career. Another weekly class will be LIS 407 Information Services. It’s one of the required courses for the LIS program and sounds similar to LIS 415 which I enjoyed. My last weekly course will be HIST 574 Modern US History. I’m a big US history buff and am mostly interested in modern history so this class will be one that I hope to take the methods that I learned from my current history course and be able to apply them. Finally, my last course is actually not weekly. Instead it will take place entirely over spring break…
End of Semester
Posted December 19, 2019 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
Unlike my classmates in LIS 483, I submitted my final paper almost a week after the last class. If I have learned anything this semester, it is that we are all human – trying to make a difference in this field of library science. This semester hasn’t been easy, but I made it through with the help of two amazing professors. Amy Pattee has been with SLIS for fifteen years now, helping prepare Simmons students to go out into the world after graduation. One time I was at my local Boston Public Library branch seeking help from the children’s librarian (who also manages the teen/YA collection), and I showed her my Moodle course page for LIS 483: Library Collections and Materials for Young Adults (taught by Pattee). It was so fun seeing the librarian’s reaction to what I am studying. The fun part is that about ten years ago, this librarian in the Brighton area of Boston also had Pattee as her LIS 483 professor at Simmons. This is just one example of how the…
Two Years Down!
Posted December 18, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
As I mentioned in my last post, I am now officially halfway through my program! I started at Simmons back in Spring 2018, and I have completed 18 of the 36 credits needed to get my MS in Library and Information Science. WOO!!! I’ve learned so much in these past two years, and I’ve grown a lot as a person. Last December, I did a post of the lessons I learned and my takeaways from the program, and I thought I would expand on that now that I’m halfway done. I’ve learned so much over the past two years. I came to Simmons with no library experience whatsoever, and getting this degree has been such an education for me. My first year I took all the core classes, so that really laid the foundation of learning about search strategies, information organization, technology, and professional standards in the LIS industry; whereas this year I took all electives that helped me explore different areas of LIS, and helped supplement my knowledge. I’ve learned the importance of having…
Moving Across the Country
Posted December 16, 2019 by William Crouch
In September, I moved to Boston from Texas so I could attend Simmons and try and get a real winter. I’m only 3 months in and it’s already way colder here than it ever gets in Texas. I wanted to go over some of the things that were part of the challenge of moving here and how Simmons helped me with the move. The major thing was finding a place to live which can be difficult wherever you go. Finding a comfortable space that is also affordable is a challenging process. Thankfully, Simmons has a really great listing that students can access that lists available places within the area. It took me a while but I managed to find a little place in West Roxbury that a Simmons alum owns and managed to find a great roommate. The next thing to deal with was how to get to school and figuring out public transportation for the first time. In Texas, there’s no real convenient transportation service because everybody has cars and because Texas is such…
End of Semester Thoughts
Posted December 10, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
I can’t believe the semester is over already! I have completed all my assignments except for a group project, but that is 90% done and will be submitted by the time this blog is posted. I’m happy that I made it through unscathed, and I’m also happy that I won’t ever have to take three classes in one semester again. It was doable, but definitely required a lot of focus and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had forgotten about an assignment (I never did, but I also constantly checked my syllabi to make sure I was covered!). I will be glad to get back to only two classes next semester. I think the biggest lesson I learned from my classes this semester was how broad the field of librarianship really is. The Digital Libraries course expanded my concept of what a library is and showed me how much work goes into setting up a digital library. It requires a lot of people from different areas to work together to provide something functional and…
Almost There!
Posted December 4, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
It’s the last week of the Fall 2019 semester everyone! We’ve made it to the end! Even though these past few weeks have seemed to fly by, I feel oddly relaxed going in to this last week. It feels very anti-climactic. I believe it’s because the end of the semester is so close to Thanksgiving–I think last year we had a little bit more time between Thanksgiving and the end of the semester, whereas this year we went right from Thanksgiving break into the final week of class, and then there was a huge snowstorm which gave me an extra day off from work. Usually I’m really stressed at the end of the semester because there are projects and assignments due, and while I do have a big project due at the end of this week, I think having that small bit of time off really helped me relax and recharge and get ready for the final push. However this is how I feel right now….talk to me on Sunday when everything is due at…
Week 12 — Almost the End of Another Semester!
Posted November 28, 2019 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
It’s Week 12, which means there are only a few more weeks left of this busy semester. Although I do need to start planning for my elementary practicum, the semester is still manageable. I only have 2 big papers and one project left until I’m done with the fall semester! At this point, it can be a struggle to not take a nap once a day or every few days. I also need to remind myself that leaving the confines of my desk is important! Almost every day last week, I felt like I was trapping myself in my room with two big papers due and a wedding to prepare for. After feeling down on Monday and being hard on myself for doing nothing, one of my friends reminded me that I need to take time for myself. After all, we are “human beings” and not “human doings.” Some ways that I am taking time for myself is writing poetry for fun and making time to read for pleasure. Reading different YA and children’s books…
Thankful
Posted November 26, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
I was struggling to find a topic for this week’s blog. I’ve been consumed with finishing year end projects and figuring out how to complete this week’s work in time because of the holiday. I won’t be able to do any work on Thursday (I’ll be too busy stuffing stuffing and pumpkin cheesecake in my face) and then I’m going away with my mom and sisters on Friday and Saturday, so those days are out, too. And then I started reminiscing about last Thanksgiving and found my topic. Because last Thanksgiving, I was just starting to get my application together to apply to SLIS. I had already figured out who to ask for references and was ready to fill out my application. I was thinking about how excited I was to possibly be starting school again, but I was also so nervous that I wouldn’t be accepted. Once I “discovered” the idea of becoming a librarian, I couldn’t think about doing anything else, and I would have been devastated if I wasn’t accepted at Simmons. …
Bits and Pieces
Posted November 19, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
I thought I’d give some updates on things I’ve been working on lately! I registered for my spring classes last week. I had always planned to sign up for Metadata (LIS 445) and I did, but I was uncertain on my second class. I took an leap and signed up for Info Services for Diverse Users (LIS 410). This wasn’t on my list of classes I wanted to take, but it struck me as very interesting and worthwhile, and I’m glad I chose it. I’m excited to learn about all the ways libraries address people with different backgrounds and abilities, and what can be done in the future to make them even more inclusive. I’m really excited for it. I finished paper #2 for Social Informatics! I submitted it on Sunday even though it was due on Tuesday. It ended up coming together faster than I thought but I spent a lot of time editing. I love the editing process, particularly playing around with wording and making my sentences cleaner and clearer. I went through…
Seoul Much to Say
Posted November 15, 2019 by Maria Reilova
Now that it is starting to get colder (basically uninhabitable in this poor Floridian’s mind), I wanted to take the time and reflect back on warmer summer days. You guessed it, it’s finally time for my long-awaited South Korea blog post! Just as a little refresher, I was lucky enough to travel to Seoul, South Korea, this past summer as part of Simmons partnership with Yonsei University. Six other Simmons students and I took the long haul flight to Korea as part of our summer Metadata course taught by Jeff Pomerantz. We were in Seoul for a little over two weeks and we tried to cram as much as we could in those two weeks! From gorging ourselves on all the delicious food, hiking up a mountain every night to our dorm, and dragging my fellow travelers on several skincare focused shopping adventures, this was an unforgettable experience that I will be jumping at the opportunity to talk about for the rest of my life. I have always been someone interested in traveling so when…