Pickles and PhDs
Posted November 13, 2015 by Amy Wilson
As I approach the end of this semester (my final assignments are due 12/3 and 12/8) I am feeling an increasing sense of urgency, but also a feeling of confidence. Part of this is likely due to the fact that I have a whole weekend ahead of me with no plans, except making pickles. I’ve never pickled anything so it should be an interesting journey. Anyway, it will be nice to make some real progress on my research this weekend. Last night I indulged in a night of crafting, Gilmore Girls, and no homework. I stitched initials onto some Christmas stockings that I bought for our apartment, and then started making a hat for my boyfriend. I learned how to knit from my old bosses in my job at the Saint Michael’s College library, Kristen and Naomi. It’s an unspoken law that librarians must learn to knit. I also have a cat, so I can check off that box too. Last weekend I came very close to being the owner of two cats, when I…
This Blogger’s Ranking of the Best Book-To-Movie Adaptations
Posted November 13, 2015 by Katie Caskey
With excitement building for the upcoming final installment of The Hunger Games film series, I got to thinking this week about other successful (and not so successful) book-to-movie adaptations. So here are my top five favorite movies that started as beloved books. ***NOTICE: I said MY top five. Agree, disagree, vehemently disagree…that’s fine. I’d love to hear your lists as well! My Regulations: I am only including films on the list that I have seen about books that I have read. Hence, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Twilight will not be making an appearance…cheer or grumble as you will. I am only including film adaptations of children’s books. I could go on and on about the plethora of Jane Austen movies (and I just might in one of these posts), but I have to narrow the field for this list. I am not including made-for-TV movies or miniseries. There are some wonderful creations out there, and it could even be argued that the miniseries is a better format for book adaptation as it…
Attending a SLIS How To Panel
Posted November 12, 2015 by Tara Pealer
I’ve been to conferences before, so when one of my friends expressed an interest in going to the How To Attend a Conference event put on by SLIS groups, I was a little hesitant. It wasn’t that I didn’t find the topic interesting. It’s that when you do something once, you kind of assume you know how to do it. I went to a national conference. I presented for a whole fifteen minutes. I had it down pat. But I’m a sucker for peer pressure and free food, so I went with her. I’m so glad I went. It made me address some of my preconceived notions. One, there’s a difference between attending a National Conference as an undergraduate. When you go to a conference as an undergraduate, no one really expects anything out of you. You’re like a little baby to people who are Professionals In Their Field. They love that you’re so excited but they know that you don’t know half as much as them. Two, there’s a difference between an academic conference…
Learning about the Copyright Act
Posted November 11, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Yesterday in my Photographic Archives course (LIS 471) taught by the wonderful Professor Martha Mahard, my class was was treated to a crash course in the Copyright Act and all of its wonderful quirks. For those not acquainted with the Copyright Act, it is something that many of us will encounter more than once in our line of work as librarians, archivists, and information professionals. To describe the Copyright Act is no simple task but I will do my best to define it in under 100 words. The U.S. Copyright Act: a piece of federal legislation that provides Constitutional protection to the writings of authors. The term ‘writings’ is a loose term, one that encompasses architectural design, software, graphic arts, movies, and sound recordings. The owner of a copyright has the sole rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, and license works based on the copyrighted work. The rights of the copyright owner are subject to limitation by the ‘fair use’ doctrine. Fair use applies to criticism, comment, news, reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. These are not…
Temporary Disturbances in the Force
Posted November 7, 2015 by Amy Wilson
Hello there! I’ve had trouble finding time to write recently because work has been incredibly busy. I like my job for many reasons, one being that my firm offers great benefits, like sabbaticals every 10 years; however, in the last two weeks, one coworker’s sabbatical overlapped with another person’s honeymoon. Doing the job of three specialists has made me feel like a battle droid running around with its head cut off. This week, one of my coworkers is back, so things have quieted down a bit. Finding time to celebrate Halloween! I have definitely started to find a healthy balance when it comes to school work, and my last few assignments have come back with high marks. I felt confident enough, when I registered for classes next semester, to sign up for 9 credits instead of 6 – kind of. It will work like this: during spring break in March my adviser, Jim Matarazzo, is teaching a week long class called “Special Libraries,” which is 3 credits like any other course, but meets from…
Go See Some Art!
Posted November 6, 2015 by Katie Caskey
I know that, for a graduate student, the concept of “free time” is like some ungraspable mist, always hanging nearby making you aware of its existence, but rarely solidifying into something practical and tangible and enjoyable. Because its appearance is so rare, it is important to make the most of it when it arrives. And Boston is never lacking in cool events to check out in that precious free moment. For a theatre geek like myself, one of my favorite discoveries over my last year and a half in Boston has been the Student Rush program. This program has been such a gift for my grad-school-afflicted wallet. For just $25 and a peek at your student ID, you can receive amazing tickets to some of the biggest Broadway touring shows in town! All you have to do is show up an hour before the house opens and show your ID! Now I know this sounds too good to be true, and while it IS true, there are a few downsides… You can only get one…
NaNoWriMo and Me
Posted November 5, 2015 by Tara Pealer
For most of the school year, I struggle with my time management skills. It’s not that I don’t have the skills, but rather that I struggle to effectively use them. I have planners and notebooks and generally know of the syllabus and the schedule I should be on to get everything done. I have a tendency to ignore all of them in favor of doing other things, which, often, are not actually productive. This, however, completely changes in the month of November. November is NaNoWriMo. I’m very passionate about NaNoWriMo. I’ve won the official NaNo every year since 2013. For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It occurs in the month of November when a bunch of completely crazy people, myself included, decide to write fifty thousand words in 30 days. This averages out to 1,667 words per day. It’s a lot of writing, and, to get it all done requires a lot of planning. I haven’t stayed up past midnight yet to get homework done or get a head start on my…
Walk the Walk (on Commonwealth)
Posted November 2, 2015 by Alexandra Bernson
Last week I somehow caught laryngitis. To my memory, I have never been that sick in my entire life. I was sleeping 20 hours a day, quarantined to my little apartment, voiceless and surviving on canned soup, white rice, and rolled-up tortillas, and mentally swaying back and forth on whether I wished I still had roommates: On the one hand, I’d have someone to take care of me. On the other, they would be forced to be witness to my sickness and squalor. Thankfully my prescription meds worked wonders and I’m on the up and up, but my lost week means that autumn in New England appeared out of nowhere for me. Before I was sick, the leaves were just starting to change, littering the streets with neon yellow slivers. Now, the reds and oranges have arrived, bold and utterly beautiful. On Sunday afternoons I work at the Boston Architectural College Library and I take advantage of the still mild weather and Boston’s essential walkability and stroll through Beacon Hill, across the Public Gardens, and…
A Devotion to Knowledge
Posted October 31, 2015 by Amy Wilson
This post is for anyone who may be worried about their undergraduate programs being (or seeming) totally unrelated to a master’s program. I came into the SLIS program feeling a little bit of this anxiety, which lived next door to my fears about having been away from any school for a year. I have adjusted without too much difficulty, and I think this last year has been invaluable in terms of gaining some real perspective. In May 2014, I graduated from Saint Michael’s College (VT) with a double BA in English and Religious Studies. After those four years of liberal arts, I appreciate a healthy dose of critical self-reflection. I have recently been trying to imagine a rough intellectual trajectory to rationalize how I came to my present studies in LIS – in fact, this question is part of why I started this blog. The English piece of my B.A. degree makes sense (books, right?), but how do I bridge my past studies in religion to my present work in LIS? My answer arrived in…
I Do Love a Themed Snack!
Posted October 30, 2015 by Katie Caskey
I am currently waist-deep in my classwork for the semester and starting to feel the toll of the impending final projects, presentations, and papers, not to mention the weekly coursework I still need to stay on top of. But, thankfully, I was recently treated to a wonderful surprise that brightened my week and reminded me again why I love this school, this program, and my fellow students. One of the classes I am taking is entitled Victorian Literature, in which we are focusing particular attention on the subgenre of school stories. Well, as any lit. major knows, it is almost impossible to escape a Victorian literature class without encountering the infamous Alice and her adventures in Wonderland. Now, it’s time for a confession…I’ve never read either of the Alice books before this year. I’ve seen the Disney movie a couple dozen times, sure, but I entered this class and this book with fresh eyes. Well, Mr. Carroll did not disappoint. The whimsical characters, bright poetry, and charming word pictures were a welcome change from the…