Banned Book Week
Posted September 27, 2013 by Emily Boyd
This year the American Library Association (ALA) has deemed the week of September 22-28 to be Banned Books Week. According to the ALA website: “Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.” (Get more info at: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek) The lofty goals of this movement are very noble. Censorship is a huge issue that needs to be discussed more openly and this week brings a lot of awareness. That said, in my opinion, talking about banned books can quickly become very dramatic. The concept of Banned Books Week seems somewhat…
I might sound like your mother, but…
Posted September 26, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I am old enough to be your mother, so it’s okay. I know you are so busy that the thought of giving your time away might seem near impossible. Like many of you, I have a job, a home, a family, and of course, school. We are all in different stages of our lives, and so some of us have a cat, others a spouse. Many of us have kids – ranging from the tiny squirming variety to adult children, and everything in between. We rent apartments, live with our parents and own homes. We commute minutes and hours, and we are so tired and busy. I know what you are thinking. “I don’t have time to volunteer.” I got my first library job in recent years by volunteering at the library first, and then working my way up as positions became available. I volunteered in a prison library and found my passion to be a correctional librarian. But I am revisiting this topic (I have mentioned it in previous blogs…) because Tuesday night, I…
Let’s Talk About the Cloud
Posted September 24, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
The cloud: depending on who you’re talking to, it’s a magical place where dreams are born and an infinite amount of data is stored forever; an invitation for hackers to steal your identity, your money, your husband, and your cat; something mysterious that your boss keeps talking about but that you never really understood; or, those puffy white things in the sky that people started recently referring to in the singular (isn’t it cloudS?). The cloud has somewhat recently made the foray into the “personal” market. One of the first that got me personally hooked was Dropbox – they were giving away free space if you signed up with an email account. (Throughout the years and various promotions we have somehow accrued about 80 Gigabytes of storage for free…Dropbox is awesome.) On Dropbox, I can access all of the files I upload on virtually any computer in the world once I enter in my dropbox information and install the software (which is the best price – free – by the way). After the cloud foray…
Chillin’ with my Professors
Posted September 23, 2013 by Sarah Barton
Friday afternoon I spent thirty minutes with a professor, then went to the office next door and met with another professor. This was the second of my five planned trips to campus this semester, and was a nice change from my mostly virtual class schedule. First I chewed the fat with my de facto advisor, then had a one-on-one introductory meeting with the professor for my online course. The meeting was far from introductory, however, as last fall I had a face-to-face class with that same professor. Our meeting ended up being more of a “how are things going?” rather than “hi, nice to meet you” encounter. I was with professors, who are officially my superiors, but it almost felt like hanging out with friends. Don’t worry, I have no plans to start ditching my friends to spend time with professors, but it was great to spend a bit of time with professors outside of class. It’s easy to get lost in a whirlwind of classes and homework and forget that professors are people, not…
#GSLISchat
Posted September 23, 2013 by Katie Olivo
Hello readers! It’s that time again – Simmons GSLIS Live Q&A with Katie – an Admission Rep and current student in the Dual Archives/Hist program! If you have any questions about the application process, life as a student, types of careers, etc., then you can tweet them all to #GSLISchat from 4:30-5:30 EST today! It’s probably time to start thinking about applications for Summer and Fall 2014, and it may be possible for you to still apply for Spring 2014. I’ll help you out to the best of my ability, so don’t hesitate to ask! You can follow the hashtag #GSLISchat to get all the information you need. Also, you can join the conversation on Twubs, which is an application which makes it easier to see all the tweets in the discussion – it will also add the hashtag for you: http://twubs.com/GSLISchat. If you aren’t a fan of Twitter or don’t feel comfortable using it to ask your questions, you can always email me at [email protected], message me on Facebook or LinkedIn, leave a comment on this…
The T and Me
Posted September 22, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
I’m sure that this has happened to everyone at least once. Picture this: It’s a school day and you have class at 9am. It’s 8:15am, and you have just rushed out of your apartment, running as fast as you possibly can to the T with high hopes that it will be pulling in just as you arrive. Instead though, the T is just leaving, the passengers all turning to watch you as the train leaves you behind in its dust. Now its 8:30am and the next train has finally pulled in. Hallelujah! But with only 30 minutes left and a number of T stops to go AND a lengthy walk separating you from the T stop and your classroom, the question remains: will you make it to class on time? Well when the above scenario happened to me, I ended up making it to class with ten minutes to spare. Yes, I was out of breath and somewhat half crazed from worry, but I had made it to class on time. As I boarded the T back home later…
Getting Involved
Posted September 21, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
It’s September and all around us we are inundated with announcements. Don’t forget, tomorrow on the quad, the annual picnic to save the squirrels! Save the date for next Friday’s twister mixer! And then there are the events that you really do want to attend. All GSLIS students automatically receive LISSA updates, and orientation is a swathe of sign-up sheets that put us on a million list-servs that remind us that there are learning opportunities for GSLIS students and librarians all the time. Weeding out the good events from the bad, rather the ones you’re interested in versus the ones you could not care less about, is a chore. It takes time to slug through the many, many emails you receive in your school inbox, your work inbox, and your personal inbox. Pretty soon, you’re ready to call the whole thing quits and give up on professional development altogether. I wouldn’t say that I have the whole thing figured out, but I do know that I need to participate in the dialogue that’s happening outside…
My iPad is Mad at Me, and Other Fun Technical Things
Posted September 20, 2013 by Emily Boyd
Last week my iPad and I got into a fight. I’m not sure what I did to upset it but it refused to cooperate. This led to a long (but thankfully free) visit to the Apple store. As it turned out, there was a software issue that wasn’t my fault at all, and the Apple Genius even told me he could tell I take great care of my iPad. I was less excited to learn that I have been using the “iCloud” storage function entirely wrong. I added insult to injury when I mentioned I should know better seeing as I’m working towards a degree in Information Science! The Apple Genius laughed and kindly taught me how to use the storage function more efficiently in the future. Although it’s never fun admitting that you don’t know something I’m glad to have had the whole system explained to me, not only for my own selfish reasons but also so I can explain it to other people who have difficulties. Despite having some technical mishaps in my…
Five Things I Have Learned Joining GSLIS
Posted September 19, 2013 by Jill Silverberg
Before I packed up the family car with dad to drive up to Boston for school, my mom decided to impart some advice for me to mull over during the course of my four and half hour long car ride. She said “Keep your mind open, everyday you are going to be learning something new, in and out of school.” I’ve got to give my mom a hand; she doesn’t normally offer such thought-provoking advice. However, since I was unable to go back home to Long Island for the Jewish high holidays, I’ve been thinking about my mom a lot lately, especially what she said to me two weeks ago. So, for my first official blog post for GSLIS, I’ve created a list of the top five things that I have learned since becoming a member of GSLIS. *The following is in no particular order and can probably apply to the experiences of students outside of the GSLIS program* Moodle is your best friend: Although this seems like an obvious one, Moodle is a resource…
Teaching in the Library
Posted September 18, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I want to talk about librarians as teachers, and I don’t mean librarians in schools. I mean librarians everywhere. I have encountered many academic librarians who talk about teachable moments at the reference desk. I have had many teachable moments in the public library, too, and in the prison library. Teachable moments come in different varieties, just like patrons. Some of my recent “students” include: An older gentleman who reminisces about the old card catalog and hasn’t a clue how to search and find on the OPAC. A ten year old girl who wants to know if we have more books “like this,” as she holds up her latest read. A teenage boy who is watching Under the Dome on TV and wants to know if we have King’s novel on CD…and while he is here, what other Stephen King books do we have? An inmate who wants the next book in a Science fiction series. A middle-aged woman who has gone back to school and wants to learn how to use our databases. A…