Sweatpants and lovin’ it
Posted November 10, 2014 by Alexandra Bernson
I made it through high school without drinking coffee. Despite all of my friends running to Starbucks after school (but before theatre rehearsal), I only developed an addiction to the little packets of honey. I thought I was being sneaky, but soon the employees began to notice my pocketing the honey packets and soon I was no longer welcome in the downtown Annapolis Starbucks location. My refusal to drink coffee only lasted until sophomore year of college, when I was forced to pull an all-nighter and my roommate convinced me to have a cup. She soon regretted giving me the caffeine, and I ended up bouncing around the room all night, somehow managed to finish my paper, and then passed out hard around 5:30AM. I was thinking about that first cup of coffee when I purchased my first pair of sweatpants. I know, I know, I don’t know how I’ve managed to live a full 24 years without outright owning a pair of sweatpants – I think it was because I didn’t want to disappoint…
Librarian Rock Star
Posted November 9, 2014 by Alison Mitchell
This afternoon, at work, I had the most awesome success. As soon as my shift was over, I called my husband and told him about it. He was only mildly impressed. When I picked up my kids at my mother-in-law’s, I told her, and she was also somewhat neutral. Later, I called my mother, who, after a too-long pause, said “oh, that’s great!” What was so great, you ask? I helped a patron find exactly what she wanted, with very little information to go on. I felt like a librarian rock star. Apparently my nearest and dearest weren’t quite as excited about my massive success, but I am still riding high. Here’s what happened. I was the only person working in the Children’s Department, nearing the end of my shift. A 7-year-old girl came to the desk (I know she was seven, because she told me), and said she wanted to read the same book her friend was reading. (Her friend wasn’t actually at the library.) That’s all I had to go on. And I…
A Bit More Fit
Posted November 8, 2014 by Samantha Quiñon
This week I activated my Fitbit Zip, which is like a souped up pedometer that tracks steps, distance, and calories burned. I’m trying to walk 10,000 steps a day, but it’s been more like 8,000, if I’m being honest–which I am. And it’s not like I can lie, because many of my friends have Fitbit too. There is a social feature where we can see how many steps other people in our network have taken, so I’m accountable to other people, not just myself. Everyone’s total number of steps is automatically calculated for the week, and we try to see who can take the most. This has lead to a lot good-natured goading. It’s great motivation, because I’m pretty competitive, and we’re all eager to walk off all the junk food we’ve eaten now that we’re in the second (more intense) half of the Fall term. So for now 8,000 steps a day is acceptable. After all, it’s only my first week, and school, studying, and archives work are usually sedentary activities. Still, it’s pretty…
Looking to the Future
Posted November 6, 2014 by Hayley Botnen
I’m going to be honest. I have no idea what I want to do when I graduate. And around this time when we’re registering for classes and everyone is talking about their future plans, I feel so scared. I love YA books, and I love libraries. It seemed like a pretty obvious step to do the dual program. But when people try to ask me if I’m going to be a librarian or go into publishing–well, I have no idea. I think I would love to do either. Or both. I feel like the older I get the more I should know what I want to do with my life. I should be settling down, finding a long-term job and a significant other and a house. (Maybe I just think these things because my sister has already achieved most of these, and my parents keep pushing me to do the same.) But I don’t know what I want from my future. I would love to be a teen librarian. But. I don’t love a lot…
Boston Winter Survival Guide
Posted November 5, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
This past Sunday morning, my roommate ran into the living room of our apartment, opened the window and stuck her head outside of it. “It’s snowing out there!” she proclaimed in disbelief. I stood up and joined her at the window and took a look at all the white, fluffy stuff that was coming down. “Well, considering other years, snow in November isn’t such a shocking thing around here. However, this is only the beginning.” For those out there who do not know me, I love snow. One of the reasons I ended up going to an undergraduate university in Massachusetts was because I was guaranteed to have at least more than one snow day. But, my love for snow extends far beyond just the possibility of not having school. I love walking through it, playing in it, taking pictures of it, watching snow collect outside while sitting inside with a warm cup of hot cider. Essentially, if it is a snow based activity (other than shoveling it), chances are high that I’ve participated in it….
Bookfest!
Posted November 4, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
Edgar Allen Poe is famous for spewing vitriol about Boston and the literary habits of its inhabitants, pretty much from the moment he left Boston to the day of his death. (The thing that makes it funny, of course, is that today the only Bostonian monument to Poe is a plaque on the side of a Boloco two blocks from his long-demolished childhood home. They are, grudgingly, going to install a statue of him eventually. Lesson: do not crap on a city, because it will always outlive you and have the last laugh.) It’s true that Boston isn’t a literary city on par with New York or San Francisco, but it’s not a book wasteland, either. I mean, we have to have something to do in the winter when the internet’s out. So: the Boston Book Festival, or BookFest, is a huge one day celebration of all things bookish. It takes place in Copley Square and is, get this, entirely free. You have to have tickets to some of the more popular author readings or…
Mid-Semester Status Update
Posted November 2, 2014 by Alison Mitchell
So — I’m halfway through my first semester at SLIS. For anyone out there looking for a status update, especially anyone considering becoming an older student with kids at home and work on the side, here’s my assessment of things so far. Better than Expected The people. I thought I would be the old lady in all my classes, and not make any friends. I was partially right — I am the old lady — but the rest of the students are by and large kind, interesting, smart, thoughtful people, and it’s been a treat getting to know them. The professors. Outstanding. I feel so lucky that I got to take a course with Candy Schwartz before her retirement (note to future students: you still have two years!). And I love how different professors have lectured in 401, exposing us to their styles and personalities. The resources. From the tech lab to career services to the writing center, Simmons offers an incredibly wide range of support to students — please take advantage of it! Harder…
Massachusetts Historical Society Visit
Posted November 1, 2014 by Samantha Quiñon
On Thursday night, my Introduction to Archival Methods and Services (LIS 438) class visited the Massachusetts Historical Society. Founded in 1791, the society is an independent research library open to the public that specializes in early American, Massachusetts, and New England historical documents. Before our visit even began, most of our class walked together from Simmons to the historical society, which is a little less than a mile away. It was (finally) one of those classic New England brisk fall evenings outside, and we walked over bright, damp leaves as everyone chatted and observed the omnipresent geese. When we arrived, Director of Collection Services Brenda Lawson gave a short talk to welcome and orient us. She told our class that she too went on a tour of the historical society with her archives class when she was getting her MSLIS at Simmons over 25 years ago. Then, carrying out a long-running tradition, we broke into three groups and took a two-hour tour. We saw all the essential parts of the repository, like the processing room,…
Relax
Posted October 30, 2014 by Hayley Botnen
We have six weeks of school left. Not even six weeks! Because of Thanksgiving, we more or less have five weeks of school left! I’m at the point in the semester where all my group projects are looming in November, and I have three research papers to do, and I still have to figure out what the heck a pathfinder even is, but for some reason I’m not that stressed out about it. I think a huge part of the reason why I’m not stressed out is because for me reading is a de-stressing activity. So even when I have to read novels for homework, my brain can’t disassociate from the de-stressing. I love reading. So I love doing my homework. I almost forgot to write this blog post because I got too engrossed in Beverly Cleary’s Fifteen. Even though I had some issues with the text, the mere act of reading it made me calm. So in this high stress time, remember what makes you calm. Maybe it’s taking a break and just sipping…
NEA Mentoring Program
Posted October 28, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
A few months ago the New England Archivists sent around an email to the Simmons email list looking for students or early professionals in the archives field to join a mentoring circle, wherein a few seasoned archivists will give career advice to people just starting out. It sounded like a great opportunity to meet people and learn a little bit about how the archives field in New England looks from the other side, once people have successfully gotten their careers in motion. That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot anyway, as I begin to apply for actual professional jobs. A mentoring circle, I thought, would help. I’m not sure exactly what I expected, but at the very least I thought it couldn’t hurt to have a dialogue about what a career in archives really looked like, especially with informal discussion. I’ve already proven that I’m no good at conferences, but the small group aspect of this was much more appealing. We had the first meeting this week, and it was actually fun to talk…