As I mentioned last month, it is important for you as a library school student to begin researching not only potential job and internship openings, but employers as well, as […]
My piece on non-traditional and alternative jobs for LIS professionals from May 2020 was really popular. The Introduction to the Library and Information Industry (the course that I shouted out […]
When I went back to college to finish my bachelor’s degree as a prelude to going to library school, I had to pick a major. The first time around in […]
Last week, in a fit of oddly misplaced energy, I found myself making cheese tortellini by hand. It was not an easy process. I have very little upper body strength […]
Hey there readers! Here at Hack Library School, we pride ourselves on providing engaging, thoughtful, and useful resources for Library and Information Science students. Because we’re a blog by and for […]
Two of my classes this semester started by considering who today’s young adults are. In conversations relating to library services for young adults and contemporary and realistic young adult literature, […]
My class this semester, as so many of our classes do, started with an assignment to introduce ourselves on an online discussion board. One popular topic of conversation ended up […]
One of the most incredible things that you, as a student, can do for yourself is to step out of your comfort zone in terms of course planning. Most of […]
More than five years beyond Andy Woodworth’s original call for big tent librarianship and Brit Foster’s echoing call for big tent librarian education, I begin to think that the theory may not serve us so well moving forward.
One of the new responsibilities that I’ve undertook this semester is monitoring our library’s online chat reference service as an on-call librarian once a week. When talking with some friends, […]
I remember thinking at some point around the age of 17 or 18 that my days of having summer and winter vacations were over forever. My aunts, uncles and cousins […]
My undergraduate degrees are in History and Political Science. I’ve written countless amounts of midterm and final papers (plus a thesis that hit triple-digit page length) and considered myself a […]
Registration for the Spring quarter is just around the corner for many students. With this comes the sometimes frustrating process of deciding which classes to take. Should you take classes […]
Out of everything I know I will have to manage this semester in addition to my culminating project and my internship, job hunting is one task that, at times, has […]
LIS is an industry absolutely rife with professional associations, and as Kate Tkacik pointed out, there’s a very large service component in our industry. We believe in service, so much […]
Teresa Elberson, the director of the Lafayette, Louisiana public library system, abruptly retired this past Friday, January 22. She had been working for the Lafayette Public Library since 1982 and […]
This quarter, I am taking a class with the title “Resources for Digital Age Teens.” Among other things, this class has required me to read more young adult literature in […]
I grew up in a small town in Kansas that, according the Washington Post in 2018, is one of the 10 most middle of nowhere places in the country. I […]
Working in a library, either on your campus or off of it, is a great way to get some practical experience while also making some (although, let’s be real, probably […]
Because many LIS programs are online-based, it can be difficult to meet people in your program. Yes, there may be required group assignments in certain classes, but that doesn’t guarantee […]
“The irregularity of our roles and the ever-changing nature of our profession can be a draw for those who crave variety and enjoy learning new things. Librarianship, thankfully, is rarely […]
Almost exactly one year ago, I published my first post here on HLS all about the lessons I learned during my first semester of library school. Past me who wrote […]
We all know the quintessential librarian stereotype: meek, bookish, bespectacled folks who sit surrounded by stacks of books all day long, shushing children and wielding large inky stamps with which […]
I am a Californian by birth. I was raised in a city that included one of the many missions that dot coastal California, in my case the Mission San Jose. […]
On January 6, 2021, I was getting some work done when I heard that the U.S. Capitol was being breached. For the rest of the night, I settled in to […]
Sometimes, I leave work feeling like a million bucks. Other times, I almost run out the door to get home as soon as possible. Those instances are usually caused by […]
I will admit that writing this particular article was difficult for me as, after finishing my last class for the Fall semester, I went into my winter break feeling […]
Remember all the way back to 2020. I know, I know you don’t want to. It’s fine, I promise, we’re only going back to November when I wrote about how […]
Friends, there’s a lot of work to be done in the field of librarianship, and in the world at large. Too many of us are squatting in our bunkers, watching […]
We talk a lot about equity, diversity, and inclusivity – or some other combination of those words – in our field a lot. It makes sense, given that librarianship is […]
COVID-19 has changed how I think about school. Prior to switching to remote learning this spring, I’d never taken a fully online course and I had no desire to. I […]
Ten units down, thirty-three more to go! I completed my first year of graduate school this month, and in the spirit of the new year, I thought I’d do a […]
With only two semesters left in my library school journey, I’d like to share what has worked well for me in terms of planning. While many graduate students employ the […]
Check out these 9 Best Practices for Library Virtual Programming!
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the fact that a master’s degree is required to be a librarian. For me, choosing to pursue a graduate degree in library […]
With the fall semester wrapping up, many of us are looking ahead to the spring semester and what may lie beyond. And, for those graduating at the end of the […]
Coming from a working class background, career satisfaction was like the unicorn of life goals – nice to think about, but probably out of reach. Work life was something very […]
As 2020 finally draws to a close, I find myself just over halfway through my MLIS program. I am projected to graduate in the spring of 2022, which means I […]
Over nine months ago, I was sitting in my seminar on academic libraries in McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland. COVID-19 cases were on the rise and many universities […]
One of the best parts of being in library school while working in a library has been using my job to complete assignments. These real applications helped me be better […]
So, the holiday season is always time to reflect upon the year that is coming to a close and the year that lies ahead; which I feel is especially […]
This is probably unsurprising to many of you reading this, but LIS as an industry seems pretty active in podcasting. I myself have never really listened to any podcasts other […]
So, I’m done?! I finished my last class in Children’s and Youth Programming a few weeks ago after presenting my final group project; which was a summer reading program designed […]
In a little more than a week’s time, I will don my deliciously lemon yellow hood, (virtually) cross a stage, and know, with a heart full in equal measure of […]
Two weeks ago, an article was published accusing an IT worker at North Carolina State University of gathering personal information about political activists and LGBTQIA+ folks and distributing that information […]
At the University of Washington, all MLIS students are required to complete a capstone project – some sort of large-scale, cumulative work that demonstrates information science skills relevant to our […]
I started writing my post for the month of November before I got the HLS schedule and realized that my post would fall on Thanksgiving. So, I decided to set […]
OER (open educational resources) and ZTC (zero textbook cost) courses and programs are big topics of conversation at the community college where I work. Not a single Professional Development Day […]
As the end of the semester looms on the horizon and a month of Winter break awaits us, we have endless possibilities for how to utilize our time. Many of […]
When I began drafting ideas for this month’s blog, I was mostly thinking about library assessments and interviews. I knew I wanted to write about my experience, but I was […]
This past summer, I took part in an oral history project designed to collect stories of the University of Iowa (UI) community’s reactions to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in textual […]
My MLIS program at Wayne State University requires that one of the first classes a student takes in the program is Introduction to the Information Professions. Part of the course […]
One of the things that drew me to librarianship in the first place was the helpful and non-judgemental environment that many librarians throughout my life have created for me. While […]
I write this post in the midst of finals season, feverishly tying up the loose ends of another semester as it comes to a close. Once my last papers are […]
I feel lucky to have grown up in Miami, a primarily Hispanic city, where I am not very different from any other Hispanic American. However, as I have grown and […]
Getting stuck in a funk is a common occurrence. Feeling off your game and disconnected from the world can impact your life, work, and school. So, how do you get […]
While attending the University of Iowa’s School of Information Science, I have also served as a student cataloger in the UI Main Library’s cataloging department. Like most metadata and cataloging […]
So, I am writing this roughly a week after the initial Election Day here in the United States, two days after our president-elect and vice president-elect have been announced […]
I make no secret that I am a huge proponent of the open education and open pedagogy movements. Everyone who knows me professionally knows that my specialty in copyright has […]
I am a few weeks shy of completing my MSIS degree. This past month has been full of ups and downs and yet, no matter how tough it has been, […]
It’s Election Day in America. Libraries and those who work in them have always played a leading role in American democracy. From librarians helping first-time voters register, to resources (both […]
After my first semester of library school I decided that taking useful classes wasn’t for me. Employers don’t appear to care about coursework or grades, there’s a big chunk of […]
It has become nearly impossible for me to take a break, and I believe most of it is because I am a person of color. When EDI is the issue […]
I like writing papers about as much as anyone who holds a B.A. in English can. However, there are times that writing a paper doesn’t always cut it and there […]
I don’t get sentimental about libraries very often, but I’m downright gushy when it comes to interlibrary loans. They embody so much of the best that libraries are and can […]
The School of Information at San José State University requires all incoming, first-semester students enrolled in the program to complete a month-long course that introduces them to the websites, software, […]
October 18-24th, 2020 is National Friends of the Library week! This is the 15th year that the celebration has occurred, although we have had Friends organizations for a long time. […]
*Okay, it is. But you know what I mean. Three years and five months have passed since I graduated with my undergraduate degrees, but it seems like longer than that […]
When I decided to get my MLIS, I knew that there would be some aspect of teaching involved in becoming a librarian and, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t too […]
Let’s talk about cats.
Coming into my first semester of library school last fall, I had almost no work experience in a library. Outside of my time interning in a government archive during undergrad, […]
Where is your phone located right now? How often do you boot up your computer? What are you using to read this? Technology has firmly planted itself in our lives; […]
Back in August, I discussed the importance of student groups to your future career; and briefly discussed how, if your schedule allows it, you should consider pursuing student leadership […]
Hi, Hack Library School readers! My name is Brianna Marshall and I am excited to be contributing a guest post for HLS. I was a HLS writer and managing editor […]
When it comes to online library school, the old adage, ‘you get out of it only what you put in,’ is imperative. With grad school in general, you’re expected to […]
I recently had a librarian friend reach out to me and ask my opinion about a proposed tag that was being suggested as a way to make it easier to […]
I recently finished Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and just let me say, “Woah!”. If you haven’t heard of The Midnight Library or haven’t been lucky enough to get your […]
Hi Hack Library Schoolers, We’ve gotten contacted by a few people who have questions about applying to library schools. We can’t really answer those questions for you, everyone’s application process […]
Midway through my first quarter in library school, I sat in class with twenty or so of my classmates and potential future colleagues as they conducted a lively conversation about […]
As the days start to get shorter and cooler, without fail I look back at the summer. This year, with the strangeness of COVID-19, I’m missing summers past. In 2018 […]
Hello! My name is Lauren Bauer, this is my first article for Hack Library School, and I have something I’d like to get off my chest: it’s going to take […]
Last year, I had volunteered in or had visited all of the elementary school libraries in my district. The books were shelved, the librarians were calm, and the students were […]
One of our all-time most popular posts on HLS is on how to become an international librarian. As someone who has studied and interned abroad, one of my lifelong goals […]
At this point, the fall semester is in full swing for many of us. For me, I’ve just wrapped up the third week of the semester and I’m gearing up […]
As one day melts into the next and the nightmare that is the year 2020 continues to churn on, we somehow find ourselves a mere 44 days out from Election […]
Let me ask you a question — when you walk into an interview for a job or an internship, which question do you dread the most? For me, it’s often […]
Many of us have probably heard a similar line before: “You NEED a LinkedIn page if you’re job hunting.” While LinkedIn is not a one-size-fits-all platform for job hunters, it […]
Whether you are starting your library school journey or nearing the end, many of us are juggling working while going to school. If you are like me, I was apprehensive […]
While many students have already started their school year, I still have a few weeks left before starting my final year. Self-care is something I prioritize and have written about […]
Writer’s block is a funny thing. It can completely derail your writing process, or be an odd source of inspiration. This is what my experience was while writing this article: […]
When I first started preparing to enter my Master’s program, there were two questions I regularly asked professional librarians: What tricks did you develop that helped you to be successful […]
I have been back on campus and back in my office in my library since July 20th. That was my first day back on campus since I left work on […]
After months of masks, sheltering and social distancing, Labor Day this year just feels weird. In society’s mind, this is the unofficial end-of-summer and start of school year. Folks plan […]
As I approach the end of my MLS program, I find myself already starting to miss the library science academic environment and (as hard as it is to believe) the […]
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school! Caroline Hron Weigle Caroline Hron Weigle is a first year […]
I’m a fan of advice columns (current faves are Ask a Manager and Captain Awkward) and a topic that comes up regularly is how to make friends as an adult. […]
I was browsing through the blog recently as I was trying to decide what to write about this month, and noticed a common theme in Mary, Sarah, and Nick’s posts: […]
I write this from my home in San Jose, California, where I am currently not able to open my windows. The wildfires raging to the east and west of me […]
Many thanks to Gina Murrell for sharing her story! Photos courtesy of Gina Murrell. I met Gina Murrell years ago when she became my co-worker in the Digital Scholarship Center […]
