GSLIS Tech Lab. AKA GSLIS Awesomeness
Posted June 13, 2014 by Maggie Davidov
You may have glimpsed its capacious depths in a class evaluation. Or maybe you remember it vividly from orientation. Either way, hopefully your travels have taken you once or twice into the Tech Lab at Palace Road. Having been on the job as a Technology Reference Assistant for a few weeks now I feel bound to tell you that the Tech Lab is far more that a room filled with computers for class evaluations. It is staffed by some of the coolest, smartest and funniest people at GSLIS who work hard to make sure our students are informed about the latest trends in Technology. Guys, this is not a required class but it should be. Knowledge and hilarity oozes out of every crevice of these hard drives. Much of my time here is spent posting to the Tech Lab’s Tumblr or watching Lynda tutorials. Did you know that the Tech Lab actually has Google glasses? For serious, they have a LOT of stuff. If you don’t like intelligent, hilarious people then come for the amazing…
(Not) A Lazy Summer
Posted June 12, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
When I look out my window, I find it hard to believe that less than three months ago, there was still snow on the ground. Not only that, but it felt like the winter of 2013/2014 was never going to vacate the Boston area. And yet, here we are; the sun is out in full force and people are starting to gather in any air conditioned space that they can find. However, considering just how unbearably cold the first half of the year was, I won’t be complaining about the heat anytime soon. But if the city gets hit with another heat wave like it did last July, well, let’s just say that you will most likely be able to find me sitting at a table inside JP Licks. Speaking of summer, this one will be my first ever as a resident of Boston! But just like my last few summers back home in Long Island, I will be spending the bulk of this summer tucked away inside, either at work at the BPL or in…
Fenway Flag Ceremony
Posted June 5, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
I am not a sports person, as I’ve mentioned, but I always seem to become friendly with massive sports fans who try to cure my sports apathy with huge infusions of exciting sports… stuff. Well, exciting for them. Mostly incomprehensible to me. I spend a lot of time struggling to look like I care, if you know what I mean. One of my friends is a huge – and I mean huge – Red Sox fan. As a way to try to inspire a similar love for the team in my cold, dead heart, she invited me to go to Fenway to help with the giant flag that unfurls from the top of the Green Monster before the game. (Here’s an image of the flag (not from that day), for other non-Fenway go-ers. We’re the people who are actually behind it, who you can only see from the knees down.) Basically, we got to Fenway about two hours before the game started, before the gates were open to ticket holders, and got to walk around…
THATCamp New England and the Rise of Digital Humanities
Posted June 2, 2014 by L. Kelly Fitzpatrick
Coffee was stirred, bagels were nibbled, and discussion had begun filling the twittersphere. This past weekend I attended my first professional conference – THATCamp New England. Between May 30th and 31st, individuals gathered to the Boston College General Studies campus to talk about one thing: digital humanities. Digital humanities, otherwise known at DH, has been creeping across institutions and campuses in recent years and leaving untold innovations in it’s wake. While there is no single static definition of DH, it can can be described as the interdisciplinary meeting ground between technology and the humanities. Unlike other events on the conference circuit, THATCamp is structured around the idea of a “not-conference”. Traditionally, conferences often follow a strictly structured format. THATCamp has diverged on a few key elements to follow a different approach through fluidity, collaboration, and engagement. In all realness, I’ve never considered myself to be an at-the-last-minute kind of person. Especially one who would sit down and organize an informal panel with a recent graduate from my alma mater aiming to open dialogues about stimulating…
How to be a Public Library Director in 5 Very Packed Days
Posted May 30, 2014 by Emily Boyd
I got to spend last week talking about one of my favorite things, public libraries, with one of my favorite professors, Mary Wilkins Jordan. During my time at Simmons (so far) I’ve taken three intensive courses and I must say I love the format. While learning about the many aspects of library management (budgeting, outreach, programming, evaluation, collection development, and advocacy to name a few) in one week was a bit overwhelming at times, it’s also a great way to cover a lot of ground quickly and get to the heart of issues. Many people in graduate school, especially at GSLIS, are also working and do not always have a whole semester to devote to classes like LIS 450 Organization and Management of Public Libraries and the week-long intensive format is a great alternative. The class was structured in five jam-packed days over the course of one week and we covered a lot of ground in a very short time. This is a subject that I’m incredibly passionate about so it was wonderful to be…
It Isn’t Always Easy Being a Librarian
Posted May 28, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
The experience of throwing out books is perhaps the one part of being a librarian that I do not like. I’m not sure why, but I just find the notion of tossing books away to be kind of sad. Unfortunately for me, this past Friday at my new job working as a library assistant/intern at a law library, my co-workers and I had to toss out a good chunk of the library’s collection. Going into the day, I had come in prepared to do some moving, thinking that we were merely going to be moving boxes over to the library’s temporary location until the building was finished being renovated. What I did not know was that we would be throwing out books. However, since all these books were outdated and the library could not find any one who would be interested in purchasing them, there was only one solution left. The thing is, in the world of law libraries, things change frequently. Once something is outdated, even if it just under two years old, its most likely…
Visit a New Library
Posted May 26, 2014 by Maggie Davidov
I haven’t been on a real vacation in over a year, but two weeks ago I unplugged completely and made the drive to Portland, Maine. Portland was everything I wanted it to be and more. I think I really needed to sleep and not look at my email for a stretch. For anyone who hasn’t tried these highly attainable things…you really should. Sleep is luxuriously restorative. Also, I never fully appreciated how much time I spend on email until I turned off my phone and spent time in the moment in the glorious outdoors. One of my other big takeaways from my mini-break was library tourism. I had never really been aware of this as a conscious act on vacation, but I realize it should be planned into almost any vacation. Check out the local library. See what they do differently. Open your eyes to the way they lay out their space. It’s fun to walk into a library that’s new to you. You have to experience it from the patron perspective and you can…
Here and There: Visiting the New York Antiquarian Book Fair
Posted May 22, 2014 by L. Kelly Fitzpatrick
It’s no secret; events and conventions are a big part of almost any interest group. Whether it’s through the relay of colorful lore, mailing list messages, and social media coverage – conventions and events are an exciting part of life and times at Simmons GSLIS. From presenting new projects to raising questions and dialogues, attending events can be an important step to rooting yourself into your professional field. Unbeknownst to me, I came face to face with my first professional event by complete accident. This past April, I was in Manhattan walking home from none other than my high school reunion. Passing the Park Avenue Armory, the banners adorning it were unmistakable, reading: New York Antiquarian Book Faire. Heart be still – I knew I had a couple of hours before evening plans, and I fully intended to spend those hours inside that building, seeing all that was humanly possible between now and then. I picked up student admission and quickly encountered a sea of exhibitors hailing from locations from Austria to Washington state which…
Derby Dames
Posted May 19, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
I am not a sports person. In Canada we have our hockey, yes, but even people who don’t like hockey are allowed to go about their daily lives with a minimum of head shakes and eyebrows raised. Even hockey, it’s understood, is not for everyone. That’s not possible in Boston. Sports are a religion here. It’s hard for me, an outsider, to say which team inspires the most passion in Bostonians; if hard pressed I would have to guess the Patriots, but the Patriots-Red Sox-Bruins trifecta is everywhere. Trying to explain that no, you haven’t been to Fenway to see the Red Sox play because you’re not actually a baseball fan will get you both head shake, the raised eyebrows, and an immediate invitation to come see a game, with the obvious expectation that yes, you too will soon be converted. (Which is why I will be not only going to a game on Thursday, but participating in some sort of giant flag (?) holding ceremony (??) on the field before the game (!!). I……
Semester Wrap Up and a Library Gala
Posted May 2, 2014 by Emily Boyd
My final “real” semester of school has finally wrapped up and it was quite a whirlwind! Had I known how difficult it would be to simultaneously juggle two intense classes and two demanding part time jobs I’m not sure I would’ve done it. That said, looking back I’m happy I survived and managed to find a reasonable amount of balance along the way. Next Friday I will participate in the GSLIS graduation ceremony and receive an empty diploma as I still have two courses left before I’m officially done. I’m looking forward to listening to our speaker David Weinberger and participating in the ceremony. The courses I’ll be taking over the summer are both week long intensives and should be a lot of fun. First I’ll be taking LIS 430 Organization and Management of Public Libraries the last week of May with Professor Mary Wilkins Jordan. I started this class in the fall semester but dropped it (because I signed up for too many classes) and I think it will be a fun and informative week….