What’s Next?
Posted April 30, 2014 by Maggie Davidov
I am graduating in December. This is painfully evident to me as many of my friends are graduating this spring. I watch them as they introduce themselves at the job fair in their smart pant suits. I linger over their announcements on the last day of class: This IS my last class at GSLIS. I jump for joy when they reveal in triumph: I GOT A JOB! This is what’s next this week: parties, life without homework, and the jobs on the horizon. But what about after that? What happens after the cheering is over, the reading for fun begins and the day-to-day routines of library jobs set in? This is inevitably what is addressed, or should be addressed, in any last class rant by a professor of substance. My two professors, both crazy intelligent beings, Amy Pattee and Linda Braun, spent their last moments with us pronouncing those fateful words: THIS IS NOT THE END! They’re right, it is only the beginning. I pass their words of wisdom on to you, dear readers, as…
Where Did the Time Go?
Posted April 29, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
I’ve looked at my calendar more times than I can count in the last few days. Surely the date can’t be right; wasn’t it January just the other day? Although it says that today is the second to last day of April, I’m about 95% certain that my laptop’s calendar is wrong. Shouldn’t the last few days of April be warm? I’m pretty sure that the weather outside is more like something I’d find in late February, or early March at best. No, this all has to be one massive, over the top hoax; any moment now Ashton is going to pop and inform me that I’ve been punked. Any moment now…still waiting….Ashton? Alright fine, I’ll face the facts, the semester is literally days from being over which means that somehow, I’ve just completed my first year at Simmons. Of course I’m over the moon excited by this fact; I have just one small twenty-five paper standing in between me and summer break. And yet, it seems like just yesterday I was leaving for…
Boston City Archaeology Lab
Posted April 28, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
It’s no secret that Boston has a rich history. One of the first things I did when I moved to this area was spend a long afternoon walking the Freedom Trail, which I highly recommend to anyone new (or not so new) to the area, especially now that the weather has gotten so lovely. Of course, the Freedom Trail only tells the recent history of Boston; the Massachusett and other Native American people were here long before the Pilgrims, and their history is harder to see. Not impossible, though – if you’re very interested in the history of the Boston area, the place you want to head is the city’s Archaeology Lab, out in West Roxbury.That’s the home base of Boston’s City Archaeologist, Joe Bagley, who oversees all of Boston’s archaeological digs and collections. (Stop for a minute and think about how cool it is that Boston has archaeological digs going on right now that are unearthing amazing finds about the history of the city. It’s pretty cool.) The best part is that if…
Professionalization of the Archival Field
Posted April 21, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
One of the things that struck me only after I’d started the archives program at Simmons was how incredibly diverse the field of archives really is. I knew that there were small historical societies staffed with volunteers with little or no formal training, but until I actually began to take classes in archives I had never realized how much there was to study, and how important that information was for preserving the items in the archive to begin with. My LIS438 and 440 classes were peppered with stories like the one about the (untrained) archivist who cut photographs into pieces to file each person in the photo under their name in the files: many collections of letters which were broken up in order to be filed under subjects, rather than by provenance; all the letters from all the collections mixed together forevermore; collections where diaries, of all things, were cut up so that individual “important” entries could be saved and the rest thrown away (this was thought the be an extremely efficient use of space)….
Public Spaces in Macedonia and Boston
Posted April 16, 2014 by Maggie Davidov
When I lived in a country that had a strong socialist history, I spent a lot of time in one of the remaining relics from that equalizing time: the dom na kultura. This translates from Macedonian to the house of culture. It’s a place where people come together for concerts, art exhibits, dance recitals, poetry readings, and other such endeavors. This is a public space that can be used by anyone. You can book the space and it, and all of it’s resources are available to you. I happened to take dance classes there as well as hold a photography exhibit. It was one of my favorite places. I remember walking down the main street on a Wednesday afternoon when the director of the dom na kultura saw me, crossed the street and thrust a postcard into my hand, “COME!” he said with such enthusiasm that I could not refuse. The postcard advertised a band named “Amniotic Fluid” (no joke) that was playing that night. I went. It was the most intense jazz trio I…
Simmons Neon 5K
Posted April 15, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
This past Saturday, me, my sister, and close group of friends came together to participate in Simmons Neon 5k. For most of us, this was the first time any of us had run a significant distance in a long time. Although I used to run competitively, I haven’t run a race since my senior year of high school, so going into a race like this was both exciting yet nerve racking. A part of me really wanted to run the race as fast as possible but I knew that that would be a pipe dream; there was no way I was in any shape to run a 5k in about 25 minutes. So, I decided to aim for something else; finish under 30 minutes and do it without walking. Even if I did have to stop, I knew that both my friends and my sister would be there to support me. On the day of, the six of us met on the course with mixed emotions. My sister and I were excited to get started, the…
Making Membership Worth It
Posted April 14, 2014 by Alec Chunn
I voted in my first ALA election today. So, consider this entry my big “I voted” sticker. I’m actually quite proud of myself. No joke. For once, I didn’t let those thoughts in my head of “I’m not a real librarian” get to me. Because, if you’ve read my previous entries, you’ll know that I am. We all are here at Simmons. Anyways, since I didn’t really know most of the people on the ballots, I had to skim through everyone’s bios to see who I thought were the best candidates for each position. The best part, though, was when I did know someone (go Em Claire!). It kinda got me thinking about the strong likelihood that some of the people I’m in library school with now will someday be on that list. I may someday be on that list. And you never know who’s going to remember you, or whom you’re going to remember. I’m certainly going to take that to heart. This extends beyond the Simmons community. I will probably meet a lot…
Dear Boston at the Boston Public Library
Posted April 13, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
On Saturday I went to see the Dear Boston exhibition at the Boston Public Library, which opened on Monday and will remain there until May 11. The Marathon bombings that happened last year are obviously all over the news in Boston right now, but nothing in all the interviews I saw or stories I read really affected me as much as seeing the items that people left at the bombing memorial in the days and weeks after it happened, including the hundreds and hundreds of pairs of running shoes. The exhibition is at the public library but was coordinated between the Boston City Archives, the Boston Art Commission, the New England Museum Association, and the BPL, which shows how amazing our resources really can be when we pool them between informational institutions. I have worked in a lot of public libraries and one thing I have been somewhat disappointed about when I’ve interned in local archives is the lack of outreach. I don’t just mean the button making “fun” outreach that I mentioned in my…
Sightseeing, Ducky Style
Posted April 10, 2014 by Alec Chunn
My parents were in town last week, so I had the pleasure of doing lots of touristy things. Probably the biggest thing I did was go to a Red Sox game (which for a Seattle Mariners fan like me does, in fact, constitute tourism). I also did many smaller things. The best small thing: going on a Duck Tour. (1) Because I happen to really love ducks, and (2) Because our tour guide wore pajamas and pretended to be friends with Christopher Walken. I don’t remember his name, but I do remember that he was awesome. There’s nothing quite like seeing the city you live in from an outsider’s eyes. Sure, walking around and familiarizing yourself with somewhere new is liberating and can be deeply personal. But there’s also something incredible about being a voyeur. At least in terms of tourism. On a tour, you get to listen to someone explain their love for the city–their favorite parts and favorite stories–while you simply keep quiet and watch, asking questions when queries arise. On the Duck…
LISSA’s role in GSLIS
Posted April 6, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
Before I went to the NEA Spring meeting a few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to discover that LISSA would reimburse my expenses at the conference up to $300. This was great news for me, because money is always tight as a grad student. LISSA has always been one of those elusive organizations on Simmons campus for me – it crops up in conversations a lot, but I’ve never been involved in it or really known what it was. One of my fellow students, Joy Rodowicz, is involved with LISSA (and helping to plan this year’s Graduate Symposium) and offered to write some pointers about it for everyone, because as a GSLIS student (or potential student), LISSA is a valuable tool to be aware of. 1) How did you get involved with LISSA? I first got involved with the Library and Information Science Student Association (LISSA) after I finished my first semester here at Simmons. I wanted to find a way that I could be more involved with the GSLIS community and saw my…