Being An Online SLIS Student
Posted November 4, 2016 by Elizabeth James
Like many people, I was initially really skeptical about getting my Master’s degree online. I wasn’t sure if the classes would be as difficult as in-person courses, and I wanted to make sure I got the best possible experience that would leave me prepared to actively contribute to the field. Little did I know, I didn’t need to worry! Even though I’m only in my first semester, I already get to collaborate with other students working in hugely diverse geographic areas and types of libraries. It sounds really impressive when you can tell your friends you’re having a group meeting with people in West Virginia, California, and Connecticut! In addition to giving me experience collaborating with others in a national setting, the online experience gives me a chance to practice networking with individuals in other institutions the same way I will in my eventual professional career. My advisers and professors are readily accessible and very responsive to questions, and have office hours that are accessible to online and in-person students. Plus, I get to avoid…
Subjects, Categories, & Classifications in LIS
Posted October 31, 2016 by Amanda Pizzollo
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a panel discussion called Contested Subjects: The Politics of Library Classification at Amherst College. The speakers were Emily Drabinski (on whom I have a professional crush), Kelsy Shepherd, Alana Kubmier, and John DeSantis. They were all fantastic panelists, and I would highly recommend viewing the discussion once the recording is available. It’s going to be posted on their Facebook page when it’s ready. The topic was that the library, particularly the library catalog, is never really a neutral space. The panel started with John DeSantis, a librarian at Dartmouth with an insider’s perspective, talking about the recent “illegal alien” Library of Congress subject heading controversy. For those of you who don’t know, a group of students at Dartmouth started the movement to change the “illegal alien” subject heading. After the initial rejection by the Library of Congress, more people began to weigh in and advocate for a change in terminology. A new proposal with the additional changes was proposed, and some politicians soon became involved, a few even spoke…
Introducing — Amanda Pizzollo — A New Blogger for Simmons SLIS
Posted October 24, 2016 by Amanda Pizzollo
So, I’m coming up on my 10 year nurse-a-versary. Yup, it’s almost been 10 years since I took my boards and got my first job as a nurse. What? Oh, this is a blog about librarianing you say? I know, I know. I’m getting there. I’ve been getting, there, in fact, since I started training to be a nurse. Well, getting here that is, and by here I mean the library world. I loved nursing, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t what I would have chosen in college if it weren’t for outside pressures and a certain measure of indecisiveness. Don’t worry, I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not. I don’t think. Well, maybeeee… No really. I’m very sure about this whole library thing. But being a nurse is still a big part of my life, and a big part of who I am. As much as I try not to, I somehow end up telling people in library school that I’m also a nurse within about 2 minutes of conversation. It’s just…
Lit Crawl, Book Fest, Maybe Zombies
Posted October 14, 2016 by Tara Pealer
I would like to introduce you to the Boston Lit Crawl, an inaugural event which is occurring on the eve of the Boston Book Fest weekend. Boston Lit Crawl is happening tonight, October 13th, from 6:30 to 8:30 ish. There are 14 events, and you can either go to one event each round or crawl around getting free drinks, free food, and great company. There are events like the Wheel of Austen (Improv! Comedy! Jane Austen! Maybe zombies!), the Exquisite Corpse (remember that game you played in elementary school where someone wrote the first line and then you wrote the next and it went around? It’s like that, but it’s adults with alcohol), and a Boston Lit Crawl ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ for attendees to check out. And there will be free food and drinks at some places–it’s like someone crawled inside my brain and rattled around to create an event which sounds like my ideal way to spend a night. There’s also a reading at the Granbury Burying Ground to close the night….
Events and Banned Books
Posted September 29, 2016 by Tara Pealer
This week has been a busy week for Student Associations: Panopticon held two meetings (I went to both! They let me decorate cookies!), SCOSSA had a brown bag lunch with Dr. Sheffield who is so interesting, SCIRRT had their welcome meeting, and UXPA also hosted a welcome meeting. However, several associations hosted events with a specific theme in mind: Banned Books Week. Every librarian, archivist, and book lover knows and adores banned books week. We get to leave our caves and shout about our love for the books that have been banned– Wait, that’s not what we did. ASIS&T hosted a Banned Books, Intellectual Freedom and Censorship panel Monday night (here’s a link to watch it!I recommend doing so!), where two professors and two of Beatley Library’s librarians came to discuss topics relating to censorship in archives, Banned Books Week, and so much more. AMIA hosted a screening of Perks of Being a Wallflower (the movie version of a book banned in a Connecticut School System) with a discussion following. PLG, SoCS and ALA-SC have…
Events, Classes, and Being Busy
Posted September 15, 2016 by Tara Pealer
I don’t know about the rest of SLIS, but I like to keep busy. It’s the reason I’m working, in student leadership, and a full time student. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t have something going on. We’re about a week into the semester now, and it’s been, well, Busy. My classes only meet on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but because I work two on-campus jobs, there hasn’t been a day in the past three weeks that I haven’t been on campus for some reason or another. I’ve finally decided to master the art of making food ahead of time for classes to save money. Basically it’s pasta and chicken, but I might mix it up sometime soon. Maybe. In between classes and work, I’ve been trying to make time for fun events. As a student leader, I’ve been trying to plan my life around going to Student Association events, which I recommend everyone go to. My friends and I went to the LISSA and ASIS&T Trivia event at Thornton’s, which…
T-Minus Ten Days (and Counting)
Posted August 26, 2016 by Tara Pealer
In theory, I have ten days left in the summer to chase excitement, hunt down adventure, and capture magic. In reality, there are only ten days standing between me and the semester, and I am not ready. Don’t get me wrong: I have the binders. I’ve rented the books. I’ve figured out my class and work schedule. I’ll be meeting with the rest of the LISSA leaders today to discuss our plans for the semester concerning events and other exciting plans. I even–get this–went to the Annual SLIS Retreat to learn more about the future of SLIS as a school and as part of Simmons College as a whole. I know I can handle classes, though I’m taking Database Management, which is a different kind of approach to information than I’ve taken before. And I know I love what I do and where I work. I’m excited for my classes and for the kind of work I expect to be doing in them. So, technically, I’m more ready for this academic year than I have…
Moving Day: A Preview
Posted August 10, 2016 by Tara Pealer
It’s almost halfway through August, which should mean that anyone moving into or out of Boston should be planning how to attack Move In Day. Facebook just told me that this time last year, I was trying to convince family and friends to do the heavy lifting by offering them pizza and alcohol. That’s approximately as much planning as I did. I didn’t even order the pizza until we were done moving things in. I did figure out how not to move on ‘move in day’ by taking a train to last year’s orientation and crashing at my older sister’s house. For those of you moving into Boston, Move In Day officially begins September 1st. Boston is a college city, and college students are always moving. According to a real estate article from 2014, Beacon Hill has an 80% turnover rate for apartments. In 2010, a little over 9000 people lived there. So imagine 7,200 people trying to move in about one square mile from one apartment to another, and you get a pretty solid…
SLIS Reflections
Posted August 8, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
It’s been a little more than two months since I walked across the stage at the Blue Hills Pavilion to accept my Masters degree in Library and Information Science. The fact that I won’t be starting classes this September still hasn’t totally sunken in. This has never happened to me before; I have held the identity of “Student” since I started kindergarten. While I am thrilled to be starting the next chapter of my life, the part where I finally get to find out what grown-ups do during the work week, I will miss the familiarity and comfort of the classroom. I will also miss the familiarity and comfort of SLIS. For the last three years, I have been a part of a community of like-minded individuals. Like me, the many members of my cohort have aspirations of becoming LIS professionals while also juggling the struggles of being a twenty-something living in the city of Boston or Cambridge. Yet whenever the uncertainty of the unknown would begin to become overwhelming, one of the program’s many mature…
Guest Blog Series about Study Abroad (Part 1)
Posted July 20, 2016 by Katie Olivo
We have a special guest blog post this week by current SLIS student, Hanna Soltys. Hanna Soltys is beginning her second year in SLIS with a focus on archives management. Since moving to Boston, she’s learned to like seafood and loves games at Fenway despite being an STL Cards fan. She believes tea, laughter, and a good book can cure any ailment. From A to Z: Finding a SLIS Study Abroad Program Guest Blogger: Hanna Soltys Every start of the semester when learning about other students in the class, it’s inevitable. It’s the one thing tying a vast majority of us students together: We all love to travel. Yet, I was shocked to learn most of my classmates weren’t aware they could study abroad as LIS students, even if they weren’t interested in the programs Simmons offered. After looking through a couple options at SLIS, I didn’t find one that spoke to me, and met with my advisor (Prof. Bastian) to see what my options were (if any). She introduced me to a SLIS Study…