Editor’s note: This article was originally published on January 6, 2012. A year and a half ago I wouldn’t have described myself as an advocate for much of anything. Ive always kept aware and informed on ‘the issues’ and I always vote—but until recently I didn’t sign petitions, or call […]
As I enter my second year (and final, Goddess willing!) of library school, I’m excited for several things happening this semester. I will be the incoming president of our school’s […]
A few of the things I have come to realize in the last 3 years is that firstly, online study is hard. I mean really hard. Secondly, do not leave […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 19, 2015. Starting library school this semester? We’ve been there! Here’s our advice on everything from scheduling to technology to maintaining […]
THAT is the question. Although I feel like I’ve just started my journey as an MLS student, by the end of this week I will officially be one-third of the […]
HLS will be on a break for the month of July, but we’re so excited for the amazing new content we’ll have starting in August! In the meantime we hope […]
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on June 25, 20164 Conferences, big or small, tend to be overwhelming, especially as a student. There is tons of information to absorb, there […]
Once a month, we bring you an update from a few Hackers on things we’ve been reading, enjoying, and learning that month, whether that’s fiction, non-fiction, an interesting article, or […]
I’m officially done with graduate school now, my graduation was June 8, so I am officially a librarian now – even if I am working in a job where that’s […]
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on July 28, 2016 One of the most important aspects of library school and, in the future as we pursue work in the […]
This is a guest post from Scott Richard St. Louis, and is a continuation of this post. What changes to the contemporary structure of the historical profession will be necessary […]
The last two years have somehow felt incredibly long while also whizzing by incredibly fast. This seems to be the nature of both pandemic time and grad school, and so […]
I started my current job right before the pandemic started, so I have a faint, yet glittering, memory of what library life was like pre-pandemic. Strange as it is to […]
This is a guest post from Scott Richard St. Louis. Milligan, Ian. History in the Age of Abundance? How the Web is Transforming Historical Research. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019. […]
Emergency preparedness and disaster training: not the most fun or uplifting topic, but an important one. I’ll try not to cover too much of the same ground as Alyssa or […]
Yesterday we said ‘hello’ to our new writers…but today we need to wish our graduating staff a fond farewell! We asked them to share with us some highlights from their […]
We are delighted to announce that Hack Library School has welcomed new contributing writers. We were all very impressed with the range of interests and experiences that they will bring to the blog. Without further ado, here they are! Katherine Dimmick Katherine Dimmick is a third year student (about to […]
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Sarah Alexander, and was originally published on April 1, 2013. I recently went to the Music Library Association Conference in San Jose, California where I spent five days talking about music and books. And books about music. And organizing the music that […]
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Jessica Luna. Searching has become a common thread in my daily life as an MLIS student. Learning basic and advanced methods of […]
Thoughts On Being A Younger Library School Student Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Julia Feerrar, and was originally published on September 5, 2012. Just three months ago I walked across a stage in south-central Pennsylvania to receive my undergraduate degree. I thought of the hard work completed, […]
This article was originally published on October 20, 2016. Welcome to my new series about my decision to do the thesis option for my program, and my advice to those […]
This is a guest post from Charly Stoehr. In 2009, being at a crossroads with my current career ending, I decided to take some classes that I had always wanted […]
If you’ve been following my writing for any length of time here, or you’re someone with an interest in non-traditional and alternative paths to librarianship then you are probably already […]
Since I’m graduating this May, I wanted to use my final HLS blog post to reflect a bit on the things I wish I knew before I started grad school. […]
Wrapping up my second year of library school, I have finally had a little time to pause and reflect, which led me to wonder, did I actually learn anything? This […]
I love wearing clothes. Nothing can boost my confidence like a cute outfit. Especially when days can be so…repetitive, clothes bring me life. If you’re here, you might feel the […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 7, 2016. Recently a panel of Catholic University of America faculty and department affiliates interviewed me as a part of a […]
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on January 25, 2017. You probably know by now that libraries worldwide are lending out so much more than books and media. To […]
Like many previous bloggers, my time has come to say farewell to Hack Library School and reflect on the last three years. I graduate on June 4 and will be […]
I started my library career as a page at a branch of a midsize public library system, and I still maintain that it’s my favorite job I ever had. (If […]
Editor’s note II: This article was originally published on January 8, 2015. Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Katherine Hickey, MS and Kyungwon Koh, PhD. Innovative learning spaces called […]
This article was originally written by a full-time on-campus student in 2011 but has since been updated by two current Simmons students and a recent graduate in 2022. Below are short bios and reasons why we chose Simmons over other programs as a preface to where our opinions are coming […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published May 25, 2012. Links have been updated but no other changes have been made. Back in March 2011, Micah wrote a post on the need for LIS students to foster a culture of writing and sharing. I followed his advice (as it has […]
Landing a librarian gig seemed simple enough. After all, I already had a year of experience working as a circulation assistant at a law library when I applied to UW-Madison’s […]
This month I’d like to take a minute to build on some recent pieces by Melissa and the other Lauren B. where they took you behind the scenes into their […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on January 18 2017 You’ve done it! You’ve begun library school and are well on your way to earning your MLIS and reaching […]
I’ve been very fortunate to have gotten a new full-time librarian job before I graduate from my MLIS program this May, but transitioning to a new job in the middle […]
I love programming. It’s my favorite part of my job. It is enormously satisfying to see patrons enjoying themselves in the library. In the best situations, they learn something too. […]
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on September 21, 2017 Like many LIS students, I went into the program with the goal of someday working at a library as […]
As I work my way closer to my professional goal of becoming an instruction librarian, I have found myself digging deeper into the theory and practice of critical pedagogy. If […]
Disclaimer: This post is particular to the author’s perspectives and opinions. It is not intended to be representative or indicative of any other member of the MLIS Admissions Committee and […]
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on February 29, 2016. As I get started with my second semester, I thought it would be a good time to re-visit the […]
Disclaimer: This post is particular to the author’s perspectives and experiences. It is not intended to be representative or indicative of any other student, does not represent the official stance […]
Once a month, we bring you an update from a few Hackers on things we’ve been reading, enjoying, and learning that month, whether that’s fiction, non-fiction, an interesting article, or […]
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on September 6, 2011. Alyssa Vincent is entering her second (and final) year with Emporia State University’s School of Library and Infromation Management Program in Portland, Oregon. She is a library assistant at the University of Oregon-Portland Library and Learning Commons and a […]
The Librarian Parlor (aka @LibParlor) is a space for conversing, sharing expertise, and asking questions about the process of developing, pursuing, and publishing library research. Recently LibParlor received funding from […]
With two months to go until I finish my MLIS program, I recently completed my first full-time library job search. I started seriously looking and applying for jobs this past […]
Dear LIS Professors, Your jobs are extremely demanding, especially now. You have to deal with the pressures of publication, teaching, serving on committees, and hopefully retaining a semblance of work-life […]
Hey there readers! Have you recently been accepted to a library or information science program? Are you partway through your schooling and feel like you have news and insights to […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on November 7, 2018. Hello! Paige and Suzy here from the team over at The Librarian Parlor (@LibParlor), a space for librarians and […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on February 5, 2018. For those of you who know me, you know that I have a lot of librarian heroes, but my […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on April 2, 2014. Do you remember what it was like to be an undergraduate? I took a few years off between college […]
One of my extracurricular activities the last couple of months has been organizing a panel on the ethical use and privacy of using queer peoples’ data in research and libraries, […]
Winter quarter has to be one of the toughest quarters to survive in library school (assuming you are on the quarter system). This is my third winter quarter, and it […]
Editor’s note: This article was first published on January 27, 2012. Since I was a high school teacher before I started library school, I’m finding it really hard to switch off my “teacher brain” even well into my second semester. This makes sense, considering that I want to become a […]
Once a month, we bring you an update from a few Hackers on things we’ve been reading, enjoying, and learning that month, whether that’s fiction, non-fiction, an interesting article, or […]
I wrote a while ago about the dark side of both working in a library and going to school to study library science – the unfortunate tendency for it to […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 28, 2017. I’ve been writing for Hack Library School for about 6 months now, and in some ways, I’ve felt like […]
Libraries have long claimed that they’re not just warehouses for books, but many have been increasing their circulating collections of non-traditional library materials–otherwise known as “Library of Things”—in the past […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on October 12, 2016. The following post is a joint endeavor by Chezlani Casar (online) and Kendra Werst (on-campus)… (Chezlani) When I started […]
You may remember from one of my articles way back that all of my education and background have been firmly rooted in the humanities. I lack serious experience in the […]
It was inevitable, no matter how hard I tried not to think about it. Staring down my fourth and last semester of library school, I knew it was time to […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 5, 2016. This semester I decided to do something that terrifies me: I enrolled in a storytelling course. As an anxious […]
Twitter is my social media of choice lately as I try to avoid going down the Insta/Meta rabbit holes that are out there and frankly I do not have time […]
We may be students, but expect to be asked to teach sometime in your library school experience, too. Maybe it’s a class specifically devoted to learning how to give effective […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on December 22, 2014. My registration for Spring 2015 was on the stressful side. Registration opened at 8:30AM on registration day, which meant […]
Once a month, we bring you an update from a few Hackers on things we’ve been reading, enjoying, and learning that month, whether that’s fiction, non-fiction, an interesting article, or […]
In my Information Organization course at Simmons, we had two weeks dedicated to classification theory, which included some materials about critical cataloging. Critical cataloging is, essentially, being aware of and […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 25, 2015. As a fresh graduate, I’m embarking on the search for a professional position. I already hold a full-time job […]
Many of us pursuing graduate studies are at the stage of planning growing families as well. Ifyou’ve considered adding a child to the mix while doing your MLIS, and are […]
Last month I posted a review of the book Librarian’s Guide to Games and Gamers: From Collection Development to Advisory Services released in November 2021, and written by my good […]
This past week I did something crazy. Or at least something I thought I would have to be crazy to ever do again. Maybe it was the fact that I […]
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from author and librarian Josh Chan. In May 2021, I had the great honour of being one of five presenters for the British […]
For those of you who are in library school but haven’t begun working in a library just yet, this article is for you. I want to illustrate just what a […]
Student groups. Their importance has been noted in previous posts for networking and building community and connection in your program. Last summer I decided that becoming involved in a student […]
Networking. If you’re anything like me, the idea doesn’t exactly thrill you. I’m a friendly, chatty person (pity the people in my office, they cannot escape), and I genuinely love […]
This topic may not relate directly per se to library school, but it applies to anyone who has a job, will have a job (whether in the LIS field or […]
I have a friend who just graduated from the MLIS program at the University of Washington, and she and I had a conversation recently about how, whether when you’re in […]
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published on August 11, 2016. Until this summer, I never struggled with feeling disconnected as a student or a professional. I chose an in-person […]
Once a month, we bring you an update from a few Hackers on things we’ve been reading, enjoying, and learning that month, whether that’s fiction, non-fiction, an interesting article, or […]
This past fall semester, I took a Rare Books and Special Collections course that introduced me to a whole new vocabulary of interesting—and often funny—terms that librarians and booksellers use […]
Earlier this year, I attended a meetup of local librarians, and kept hearing the acronym “DAM” come up in conversation. It took some questioning to figure out that folks was not referring […]
Bibiliographic Info Author: Michelle Goodridge, Matthew J. RohwederPublisher: Libraries UnlimitedPublished: 2021Page count: 259Formats available: ebook, print (paperback)Get a Copy: Paperback ($65.00 USD) | Kindle Ebook ($61.09 USD) | WorldCat Summary As gaming has become more […]
I don’t know about anyone else, but I got sick A LOT this semester. I haven’t really gotten sick the last two years, and it’s like my body decided it […]
HLS will be on a break this week, but we’ll be back next week with all new content and discussions. We hope your Fall semester or quarter went well, your […]
It’s December! We did it! If you’re on the quarter system like me, then vacation has already started, and if you’re on semesters, then break is right around the corner. […]
It’s hard to believe after 2.5 years of graduate school, I’m just a few final paper submissions away from completing my MA in Children’s Literature and my MS in Library […]
Over the last 20 or so months, I’ve seen an uptick in conversations regarding mental health in academia. Current and former Hackers have written some excellent posts about navigating mental […]
Places flashlight under chin.239 I’m going to tell y’all a story. So once there was a library student just like you, sitting at this computer that was very much like […]
Last month I wrote about surviving group work as it had been a frequent topic on the HLS blog. This month I wanted to briefly cover another important HLS topic […]
When I first started working with interlibrary loan, back around 2014, I received an email reply from one of the students I’d found an article for. “Thank you very much […]
Last semester, I took a course on Archives & Media which required one semester-long group project, focusing on creating a digital map of the route taken by the Brinton Entertainment […]
Once a month, we bring you an update from a few Hackers on things we’ve been reading, enjoying, and learning that month, whether that’s fiction, non-fiction, an interesting article, or […]
Though the field of the digital humanities has been steadily growing in popularity in the past decade or so, it still has a bit of an ambiguous definition—the intersection between […]
HLS will be on a break this week, but we’ll be back next week with all new content and discussions. We hope your Fall semester or quarter is going well, […]
Co-authored by HLS Contributing Writers, Carissa Hansen and Kendra Werst. This post is meant to serve as a primer for beginners interested in digital collections work. There are three sections: […]
The topic of group work has been a frequent one at HLS and since I am embroiled in a lengthy and complicated group project during this fall quarter at the […]
Hi all. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting to the point in the semester where I’m rapidly running out of gas. I’m swamped with work and only have […]
As a set of professions that facilitate and structure access to information, learning how to be a librarian or an archivist is clearly more than just knowing about reference and cataloging standards.
HLS 