Group Work Thoughts
Posted April 18, 2019 by Megan Ondricek
My family and I have been spending the kids’ spring break down in southwestern Virginia at my parents’ house and absolutely loving it. Spring is farther along in Virginia than it is up in Connecticut and all the burgeoning green and flowering trees are simply gorgeous. This trip has been so good for my soul. Having grown up in small towns and fresh country air I honestly feel suffocated living along the crowded, overdeveloped I-95 corridor. If I couldn’t get out every now and then I think I’d burst. Anyway, we are one week closer to the end of the semester with just about two weeks left of class! Things aren’t exactly winding down yet, but I’m hoping that having the end in sight will give me the strength to get through this last final push. One thing is wrapping up though, and that’s my group project for the Metadata class. We’ll be turning it in this week and viewing the presentations of the other groups for class. I used to hate group projects in…
Spring Is Here!
Posted April 17, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
Spring is here! The birds are chirping, flowers are starting to bloom, and most importantly, it is not cold outside! There is still (still!) a pile of snow in my yard that refuses to melt, but I think it is on its way out. With the weather getting warmer, it makes me think about how close the end of the semester is. We’re in Week 12! Where has all the time gone? It feels like we just started! I think a part of the reason why this semester has flown by so fast is because I’ve been so busy. I usually try and take time to relax, and lift my head out of my books, but I haven’t been doing that lately as my schedule has been getting more intense. The busier I am, and the more stressed I am, the faster time seems to go (even though it really isn’t moving quicker). I really should work harder on scheduling time for relaxation–at the beginning of each semester I start out strong and schedule time…
Participation
Posted April 16, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
I’ll start with good news. I was able to register for all the classes I wanted! Yay! I also signed up for two summer courses: LIS 407, Info Sources & Services (my final required course), and LIS 439, Preservation Management. I might switch out 439 for LIS 404, Principles of Management, but it was full and I had to sign up for the waitlist. I don’t know if I’ll end up getting in, but I won’t go wrong with either course. I’m not too worried about it. Now, onto this week’s topic. One of my main questions heading into this semester was how the participation part of my classes would work, since both of them are online. The answer is: discussion forums. Each class has forums for instructor announcements and general help questions, but how many other forums there are, and how often to post to them, can vary. For my technology class, we have one main board in which we discuss current technology trends and articles. I don’t usually keep up with technology…
Meeting Connections and Chatting with Friends
Posted April 15, 2019 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
It’s early April, and you want to hang out with fellow book lovers. The obvious thing is to go to MSLA (Massachusetts School Library Association) on a rainy Sunday. MSLA is a chance for classmates you see in your classes to interact with school library teachers who are your professors, as well as other school librarians in the field. The day started off with an opening keynote on diversity, an issue very big among our community at Simmons and in public schools around the state. Many sessions were offered. I chose the talk on new AASL (American Association of School Librarians) standards, since I am working on creating lessons that align with those standards in my 461 Curriculum and Instructional Strategies class. The instructor of the session on AASL was the former Simmons SLT program manager, from about ten years ago. Half the school librarians in the session were alums of the Simmons SLT program. Throughout the guided exercises at the AASL Standards session, I was able to get good ideas for my future…
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Posted April 11, 2019 by Megan Ondricek
My senioritis went out the window this week as my schedule really started heating up. I’m currently involved in two group projects: one for my online Metadata class and the other for a conference presentation! Way back in January, Eric Poulin, SLIS West program director and instructor for my User Instruction class, asked me if I’d be interested in presenting at one of the state library conferences with some other students. I said yes, of course, and nothing much happened until last week. Our proposal had been accepted for the Massachusetts Library Association conference to be held on May 21, but then Eric found out (unbeknownst to him) that we were also on the schedule for the Connecticut Library Association conference on April 29! Eek! So now I feel like I’m drowning in virtual group meetings and deadlines and everything is coming up so quickly. Fortunately, I just taught the last class for my internship this morning so at least that part of my work load is winding down. All told, I taught 8 sessions…
Registration Time!
Posted April 9, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
Registration for the Fall 2019 semester starts this week, and I know which classes I want to take. One of the many great things about the LIS program at Simmons is that we are required to fill out a form with all the classes we plan to take. It’s not a binding contract, but it forces you to think about what classes you want to take and when, because not all classes are offered every semester. I am a planner by nature, and I loved scheduling out my potential classes. I had to re-do my schedule when I switched from archives to the Design Your Own program, and it was a bit of a project. The archives program was relatively simple to plan out because eight of the twelve courses in the program were required. The difficulty was not what classes to take, but when to take them. The DYO, however, has only three required choices, and there are a lot more classes to choose from. This is where the Two Year Schedule came in…
Jobline for the Win
Posted April 8, 2019 by Katie Carlson
Somewhere along the way, I seem to have decided that I had too much free time as a full time student and part time employee. Looking towards the summer and itching for some real world library experience, I was trawling through the weekly Simmons Jobline posts for something that might fit. A few things caught my eye, but I knew my resume could use a revamp. Luckily for me, Maria’s post in December about meeting with Amy Ryan (former President of the Boston Public Library) for resume help gave me with the motivation I needed to meet with her myself. I was still somewhat intimidated, but went in with high hopes. Together we tore my resume to shreds, then let a new and improved one rise from the ashes! Amy was simultaneously so approachable and knowledgeable! I left feeling armed with a rad resume. Apparently the Watertown Free Public Library felt the same! I submitted an application for part time circulation work (as advertised on the Jobline) as soon as I’d made the edits Amy…
Senioritis
Posted April 4, 2019 by Megan Ondricek
If you haven’t been able to tell from some of my posts, I’ve been battling an extreme case of senioritis this semester. Now that the sun is out and the birds are singing it has become even harder for me to get down to work. I’m sitting outside right now watching my kids play and I just can’t think of anything more interesting to write about. You see, there’s a very small part of me that wants nothing more whatsoever to do with libraries, databases, websites, research, emails, and due dates from the moment I turn in my last assignment of the semester. This really is the final countdown for me, and I am so beyond excited to be almost DONE. Then there’s the question, that I’ve been getting a lot lately, of what I plan to do after I graduate. What I really want to say to people is: “Do I have to do anything after I graduate!? How about just enjoy my accomplishment and not having any more homework?” It’s fine, I know…
We’re In the Home Stretch!
Posted April 3, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
There are exactly five weeks left until the end of my class, and exactly four weeks left until my final group project is due. Not to mention all the other activities, readings, and lectures to be completed. We are in the home stretch! The final few weeks of a semester are always overwhelmingly stressful with assignments and projects, and I don’t know about you, but my school-work-life-sleep balance is very much out of whack right now. Last year around this time I posted some tips for dealing with stress, and I thought they might be useful to repost, so if you want to check them out, click here! My class this semester, LIS 451: Academic Libraries, is so fascinating, and has challenged me in so many different ways. Our semester-long group project (which is due in four weeks), really is a culmination of everything we have learned throughout this class. This project is Committee Group Project, where we all sign up for a committee, and each committee has a task, and we submit a written…
April Showers, Bring Last Half of Semester Jitters (and Good News!)
Posted April 2, 2019 by Maria Reilova
March was a complete blur for me. As cliche as it sounds, I can’t believe it’s already April! March was a crazy month since it started off with Spring Break and I had some major assignments due. To start off though just a quick, little humble brag about how I was able to go over to Scotland to visit a friend there for spring break in the beginning of March. It was an amazing trip full of hiking, pubs, and castles! Oh, and lots of Highland cows (photos for evidence because it’s too cute not to share), which are just as adorable in person! My brain always seems to get a little fried mid semester and being able to take a week to decompression is such a blessing as a student. Speaking of having your brain fried, this may not come as a shock to many, but grad school is hard, and in my personal opinion graduate level online courses are even harder. So coming back from break was a little rocky at first! Don’t…