180 Degree Perception Change
Posted March 10, 2014 by Emily Boyd
In the fall of 2011, when I first started telling friends and family I was planning to pursue a masters degree in library and information science, the response across the board was something to the effect of “you need a masters degree to be a librarian?” I would reply by saying things along the lines of “well libraries are about a lot more than books” and “technology is so key now, I’ve got a lot to learn.” This all sounds well and good, but at the time I think I was more or less parroting back what I’d read and heard from those already in the field. I knew this was all true, but in the back of my mind a little voice kept asking “is it really about more than books?”. This self doubt was justified, especially given that the public image of a librarian is a matronly woman surrounded by books making shushing noises. That said, it didn’t take me long at Simmons to realize that, yes, it’s about a whole lot more…
Little Libraries
Posted March 9, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
One of the first things I learned from working in public and special libraries was that even though they all provided more or less the same services to the community they served, there were countless differences in how they functioned and what people even meant when they said “library.” The wonderful thing about libraries is that they don’t have to exist in a certain way. They can be the giant buildings with borrowing cards and policies, but they can also just be a small shelf of books that people are invited to take and replace as they will, all for free. Little Free Libraries are a network of tiny libraries set up on street corners and curated by anyone who wants to put in the work, who have free books that anyone can come along and take, and leave their own books in. There are 10,000 – 12,000 Little Free Libraries set up around the world, including seven in the Metro Boston area, mostly in Cambridge and Somerville. They each have their own eclectic selection of…
Librarian for a Day (Or Two)
Posted March 8, 2014 by Alec Chunn
I may have mentioned before that I volunteer at the Public Library of Brookline on Thursdays. A few weeks ago, I helped a record number of patrons: six. While this probably seems inconsequential to most people, this number is a breakthrough. This means six people thought I might help them; six people thought I looked like a librarian (whatever that means); and six people thought I was qualified. The usual number is zero, sometimes one or two. And, most of the time, I just get asked where the bathroom is. Fact: I am the Teen Room monitor. This means I basically just sit in the room and make sure nothing too disastrous happens. But, since the kids aren’t particularly rowdy on most days, I basically hold an after school study session. And the vast majority of the time, I’m doing my homework along with them. Or writing these blogs. I think perhaps that I sometimes look like I’m terribly busy. But, really, I love being interrupted. Having never worked in a library setting before, this…
What Happens When I Fly Away?
Posted March 5, 2014 by Maggie Davidov
Is anybody else amazed at how fast this year is flying by? Yes, spring break is upon us and we are all grateful, but speaking as someone who will be graduating in December (heaven help us if I don’t) I feel these days slipping away faster than usual. I’m losing track of time. Every email whizzes past my inbox and I begin to crave and fear the future. What happens after graduate school? I imagine big paychecks, tomes that in no way resemble textbooks, and oodles of time to sit down in a garden somewhere. These are the lies that we tell ourselves. Life will be easier after graduate school. Will it though? Will you receive updates about the latest technologies enhancing our profession? Will you have the opportunity to network on a weekly basis with super smart people? This is all food for thought for you, but mostly for me. I’m aching to leave and begin my life as a fully-fledged librarian. I want my wings soooo badly! I think the question I continue…
Baking a little bit of springtime
Posted March 4, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
Normally, I am a very big fan of winter. Snow, ice, the cold; I love it all. Or I used to. Although I am no stranger to New England winters, this year, the winter seems longer, colder, and snowier than ever before. And normally, I wouldn’t be complaining. However, it seems my love for winter has waned over the course of these past few months. I guess the same would happen to anyone after experiencing temperatures in the single digits for almost two straight weeks and a seemingly never-ending bombardment of snow storms. Indeed, I am so done with winter that I am actually keeping track of how many more days are left until spring (fifteen days to go!). Although it seems like it is forever and half away, soon (hopefully) all the snow will be gone, the flowers will bloom, and most importantly, it will be WARM. And to help get myself amped up for the upcoming warm weather, I decided to bake a springtime dessert this past weekend, just a little something to…
Things to do in Boston in Winter
Posted March 2, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
When I moved to Boston from Vancouver, BC, I was a little afraid of the winter. Maybe more than a little, actually. We don’t get a lot of very cold weather in Vancouver, and it rains pretty much every day from October 1 to April 1. (This may be a slight exaggeration, but believe me when I say that it’s very slight.) We don’t get a lot of snow. We don’t get a lot of ice. I was a little terrified at the prospect of having to drive in either, having to walk around in either, and really just having to exist in either. I had this idea of winter in Boston as a dark, cold wasteland, with people spending most of their time gathered around heaters, dressed in five or six sweaters, hats and gloves on, shivering as they heard the wind whistling outside the ice-caked windows. It’s not really like that. Life goes on in Boston in the winter, without people letting the weather ruin their plans. In fact, there are a lot…
Beginning of the End
Posted February 28, 2014 by Emily Boyd
That’s not entirely true, I’ve got so much work to plow through between now and the end of spring semester that at times I feel like I’ll never be done. However, Wednesday afternoon I signed up for my last ever classes at GSLIS. True to form, I’m taking the road less travelled and finishing up my GSLIS career with two weeklong intensive courses over the summer, including one that I think is intended for archive students. My final semester as a masters student will be done in short intensive bursts. I’ll spend the last week of May taking LIS 450: Organization and Management of Public Libraries, a class I’d planned to take in the fall semester but timing hadn’t worked out. The second course will meet for two three day periods during the month of July, LIS 425: History of the Book. I’m most looking forward to LIS 425, in fact, it’s the class that made me originally decide I wanted to go to school to become a librarian. I remember very distinctly the day…
A Case for Classes at the Carle
Posted February 27, 2014 by Alec Chunn
Warning: This is an advertisement. Or perhaps it’s more of an endorsement. One of the coolest things children’s literature students at Simmons can do is attend classes that are held at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. Currently, I am enrolled in one such class–Children’s Book Publishing–taught by Vicky Smith. We meet for the last weekend of every month, mostly in the windowless conference room, but the change of setting is refreshing. (And the lack of windows really isn’t that bad.) Taking a class with students who aren’t Boston-based is enlightening because they bring a different perspective. The cultural climate around the area reminds me so much of Bellingham, Washington (where I went to undergrad) so I feel right at home. So many of the students are writers in the dual degree track–at least in the case of this particular Carle class. For a would-be librarian like me, being surrounded by so many aspiring writers is just the coolest. I could shelve their books someday. Isn’t that wild? The class…
Judy Chicago Comes to Boston!
Posted February 25, 2014 by Carolyn Lucas
I can’t believe this is already my last semester in graduate school – not to mention that the semester is halfway through. As some of you know, I am taking my 502 – my capstone internship – at the Schlesinger Library, part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. As an intern exhibit researcher, I am working to coordinate an exhibit going up on October 14th regarding the Civil War. But as that’s months away, I want to share with you an exciting opportunity that’s coming up much sooner…Judy Chicago coming to Boston! I am sure that most of you know Judy Chicago, but a bit of background on her: she is one of the most influential women artists this century. Ostensibly her greatest work, The Dinner Party, is not only massive, but massively successful (and definitely on my bucket list of “to-see’s”) and lives in Brooklyn permanently; I highly recommend (re)reading the Wikipedia articles on both her and The Dinner Party, and then coming to see the new exhibit opening – featuring…
Monday with Julia Child
Posted February 24, 2014 by Jill Silverberg
This past Monday I ventured over to the Schlesinger Library, which is part of Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study. Although I was making this trip for research purposes, I won’t deny my excitement about getting to handle the papers and letters of THE Julia Child! To begin with, this was the woman who not only taught America how to cook, but she was part of a food revolution that helped pull America out of its bizarre obsession with disgusting Jello-molds and pre-packaged foods. Going beyond that, this woman is somewhat of a role model to me. Like her, I went through most of my relatively short life not totally sure of what I wanted to do. Just like her, I tried different things, each fun but never quite providing me with the level of fulfillment of satisfaction that I was searching for. But then, I discovered how much I loved baking, and a passion began to grow. Sure, I didn’t have the same degree of a food epiphany that Ms. Child had when…