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…
End of the Semester is Coming!
Posted November 14, 2019 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
It’s getting to the end of the semester, which for means lots of school visits for someone in the School Library Teacher program like me. I started off my week at Watertown High School early on Monday morning. Even with leaving my house a little after 7:00, I didn’t get to the high school library until almost 7:45. Surprisingly, the library was quite crowded! I spent a few hours taking notes on how teens were using the library for an assignement for my YA Library Collections class. It was interesting to see that no students were checking out books, but rather making use of the technology resources in the library. Some of the technology that I observed students using were Vinyl sticker printers, 3-D printers, poster printers, copiers, Chrome Books, and Chrome Book chargers. My Tuesday was not spent at a school, but I did make a quick visit to the public library in my neighborhood’s town square. I visited the children’s librarian there, who helped me to find some more nonfiction picture books in…
Registration Time!
Posted November 13, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
Guess what time it is? Registration! This is Registration Week for SLIS! I have officially registered for the Spring 2020 semester! Woo! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was working on going through the course description list and the two year projected schedule, and I’ve been trying to think about what I want to get out of the rest of my time in my program here at SLIS. The whole registration process has always been a bit stressful for me for a few reasons: not every class is taught every semester, and then some classes are only taught in specific locations specific semesters or are only online or only in-person, and then adding in the fact that I’m only taking one class at a time it can feel like if I don’t jump on an opportunity to take a class now I will miss my chance. It was a bit easier when I was taking the core classes (LIS 407, LIS 415, and LIS 488), because those are taught Fall, Spring, and Summer,…