Black History for Libraries
Black history is American history, and American libraries are no different. W.E.B. DuBois started Negro History Week in 1925. He hoped to “raise awareness of African American’s contributions to civilization”. […]
#DignidadLiteraria
#DignidadLiteraria is new to the LIS field, but it has already created interesting discussions about publishing, who is represented in library collections, and who gets to speak on behalf of […]
How to Dress for the LIS Career You Want
As I am sure any graduate student can attest to, planning for your career after graduation can be a little daunting. This especially is true for how to dress […]
Avoid the Discussion Board Trap
What I’m about to say may not work for every program, professor, or class, but it’s a piece of advice I wish I had heard before I started my online […]
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: Emotional Labor
Another quarter, another white LIS student making me question whether I really want to be in this field. It’s often a comment left on a class discussion board, on a […]
Courses, Paraprofessionals, and Information Organizations, Oh My: When an MLIS Starts Coming Together
During the second to last semester of my MLIS program, I can say with some amount of certainty that, however many courses one takes, there is no guarantee that any […]
No one can give 100% effort 100% of the time and that's okay!
In Canada, we have a regular mental health event sponsored by Bell Canada. It’s called Bell Let’s Talk Day and this year it was on Wednesday, January 29th; which falls […]
Student Librarian Road Trip
Photo by Lisa Ladd Salazar-Ajo Library
What’s the Matter with Missouri?
I am angry. Quite angry. It is unusual for me to feel strong emotions, especially anger. But, apparently, politicians in my adopted home state of Missouri can get my blood […]
How to Pick the Right Library School for You
Do you want to go to library school, but don’t know how to find the best one for you? This list of factors to consider will guide you through the […]
Lessons Learned from My First Semester
“Tips for library school.” “What to expect in your first semester of grad school.” “What is library school like?” Do any of those search phrases sound familiar? If so, you […]
I Don’t Love My Job: Millennial Burnout and the Devaluation of Library Labor
There’s a sign in the cafe attached to the library I work at. It reads, “The UC is making us sick.” I work at the University of California, Santa Cruz […]
The First Step in Preparing for a LIS Education
In a supportive group of professionals that brainstorm together, a potential student recently asked what subject is best to major in prior to pursuing an MLIS. I’m not an expert […]
New Semester Goals
I don’t know about anyone else, but creating New Year’s Resolutions has always been nerve-wracking for me. Personally, it’s daunting to plan something regularly over the course of 366 days […]
Ten Tips for Time Management: Surviving Library School and Life
The new year is here, and with that, a new semester has begun. However, many of us have jobs, relationships, hobbies, and various other obligations in addition to our academic […]
Climate Change and Libraries
As the decade begins, one of the many things to worry about stands out – the warming of our planet and how little time we have to mitigate further heating […]
Microaggressions in Library and Information Science
“You speak excellent English.” “I don’t consider you as Mexican/Black/any other racial minority.” “Where are you really from?” Microaggressions are a reality for many minorities as we go about our […]
Why We Should Talk About Media and Information Literacy
Roughly six and a half years ago, I was introduced to the concept of media and information literacy through a Mass Media and Society course I took as an undergraduate […]
You Can’t Learn Everything in Grad School
All things must come to an end. Although I still have one year left in my degree, I’ve already planned out the rest of the courses I will take and […]
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: Mentorship
Mentorship – in any form – can be an effective way for LIS students of color to learn more about the field. We learn a lot outside the classroom through jobs, internships, and volunteer experiences, and mentorship is another aspect that can help increase a student’s knowledge. Yet besides learning about the academic hiring process, dealing with negative workplace environments, or where to find job postings, mentorship of LIS students of color by mentors of color can help us see ourselves in the field, learn how to navigate white spaces, and how to advocate for ourselves.
Welcome our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school! Jane Behre Jane Behre is an MLIS student at the […]
The Anatomy of Compromise – Late Stage MLIS Musings
This week marks the beginning of my new library assistant position at an academic library and, in essence, my first legitimate librarian job. On the plus side, this will not […]
Thinking ahead: The next semester, the next year…and then what?
2020 has just started: a new month, a new year, and a new decade. The world is a crazy place right now; so I know that long-term planning might seem […]
Mindfulness
Whether you’re at the very beginning, middle, or nearing the end of your career as a graduate student, library school can be overwhelming. In this often liminal space, the lines […]
One more year to go: a reflection
This week marks the beginning of my final year of graduate school. If all goes well, I will graduate in December and walk the following May. So far, it has […]
The Murky Middle
Much digital ink has been spilled, both on this site and others, about the process of selecting a graduate program in library & information science and starting such a graduate […]
Controversy in the Library
When I was in the fourth grade, I won the first book of the Cranberry Cousins series in a spelling bee. The series is about two cousins with clashing personalities […]
Defending Your Library Degree
Those who are interested in this career path, have started on this career path, or are far into this career path already are familiar with some of the top responses to […]
Reminders for the New Year
The end of the year is almost always a time for reflection, to look at the past and apply lessons learned to the future. For some reason, one past experience […]
Sexual Harassment in the Library: When Patrons are the Perpetrators
I’ve held customer service positions since my undergrad in college. I’ve worked in a call center, handled escalated customer service complaints for a food service franchise, and now staff reference […]
Why A Growth Mindset Is Important: A Year in Review
Around this time of year, I always find myself reflecting on the events of the past year and preparing for the new year ahead. This has especially been the […]
Hold On To Your Optimism
As the year draws to a close and we look toward 2020, I’ve been thinking about the promise of new things. Many of us use the New Year as a […]
Alternative Careers for LIS Grads
Alternative careers for LIS graduates is something that’s not often discussed and, in classrooms, is often ignored. Yet you might be surprised to know that your LIS degree is good […]
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: Imposter Syndrome, Mental Health, and Surviving Another Day
Nearly everyone in grad school has dealt or is currently dealing with imposter syndrome. Those who claim to have never suffered from it are either lying or actually are the imposters. Alyssa wrote about imposter syndrome in September so, for this post, I’d like to focus on imposter syndrome as a person of color and especially for those of us who also have mental illnesses.
The Interview – A Constant Work in Progress
Once upon a time, there were those who came out with their bachelor’s degree/master’s degree/doctorate/etc, got that interview, got that job, and stuck with it until their eventual, on time […]
How to Spend Your Winter Vacation
Did everyone hear that? That was the sound of one giant sigh of relief. If your school runs on semesters, you are very likely finished or close to finished with […]
OLA's 2019 Copyright Symposium at the Intersection of Copyright Law and Indigenous Knowledge
During my day job, I handle copyright at an academic library, so I was supremely lucky this year that my manager was able and willing to send me to the […]
Conference Scholarships Announcement
RBMS Conference Scholarships Available, with expanded eligibility! Power, Resistance, and LeadershipRBMS 2020June 23-26, 2020Indiana University, Bloomington, IN The Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and […]
What You Need to Know about Readers’ Advisory
It’s more than a little fitting that this post is being published today. Today marks the last class day of my third semester in library school. As hard as it […]
Hacking the Master’s Program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) recently had an event for its students to “hack” its graduate program. The hour-long event, titled “Managing Expectations,” was set up […]
Practice Self-Care by Joining a Union
When you hear the word “union”, what comes to mind? Do you think about dockworkers and miners, police officers and construction workers? If you like celebrity news, you’ve heard about […]
Libraries + Census = Successful Partnership
The 2020 Census is upon us. After many months of controversy around which questions could or could not be asked (note: citizenship is not a question); come April 1st, 2020, […]
Embracing Good Enough
There have been several posts on self-care in the past two months, as Kerri wrote about the separation of work and school and recognizing secondary traumatic stress; Katelyn started a […]
We Need to Talk About…
(Content warning: Gun violence)
The Separation of Work and Study
A few weeks ago, Katelyn Sabelko’s post about Burnout and Library School caught my attention. Does working during your LIS studies contribute to higher rates of burnout? Like Katelyn, I’m […]
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: ALA Ethnic Caucuses (and more) Part 2
In this second part, I cover the American Indian Library Association (AILA) and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). At the end I touch on some other non-ALA groups that might be of interest to readers.
Librarians We Need
Confession: While I’ve been working in libraries since around 2011, I did not think I wanted to be a librarian until about 8 months ago when I started to look […]
Library Professionalism – Individual, Consortia, and Every(one/thing) in Between
As I near the end of my MLIS education, with my experience with my internship winding up, my candidacy approved, and my e-Portfolio class approaching, I have had some incentive […]
How to Deal with Divisive Discussions in Your Digital Classroom
I’m only in my first semester but I’m already quickly learning that the biggest part of my online classes at the University of Alberta is going to be our weekly […]
Burnout and Library School
Recently, LIS scholars have started exploring the potential connection between working in graduate school and burnout in librarianship. In the recently published article, “When Does Burnout Begin? The Relationship Between […]
