“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
(Content warning: Gun violence)
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
As my previous posts have illustrated, starting graduate school isn’t always easy. During your journey in graduate school, you’ll likely experience a lot of different feelings, emotions, and life […]
Hey there readers! Here at Hack Library School, we pride ourselves on providing engaging, thoughtful, and useful resources for Library and Information Science students. The best part of this experience is […]
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 […]
Today is Veteran’s Day. In my mind, every day should be Veteran’s Day in some form. Given what the men and women in uniform have sacrificed, their time with families, […]
Sometimes, I feel like a library school unicorn. At this, the (almost) halfway point of my journey to my MLS, I seem to be the only one who hasn’t fallen […]
A few years back I read an article by Winston Rowntree titled “5 Responses to Sexism That Just Make Everything Worse,” and there’s a section on questioning institutions that has […]
I am a researcher and an over-preparer, and I am generally pretty quick on my intellectual feet. But a question at an interview this week (for my dream job, eek!) […]
image under creative commons license: flickr/quinn.anya This article was originally published on March 19, 2012. Ignore the graffiti above! HackLibSchool is all about how to make the most of your […]
I expected my graduate classes to be like my undergraduate classes – writing papers, revising papers, readings, discussions – just more in-depth and with higher standards. This expectation comes from […]
PLA 2020 in “Music City” is just around the corner! For many in the LIS field, conferences full of thousands of people can be an overwhelming yet necessary experience. This […]
In my previous posts, I have regularly exalted the importance of finding and establishing a sense of community while attending graduate school. This is especially true when you are attending […]
Society asks a lot of public library workers. Alongside our tasks of finding and providing books and other materials, leading programming for all ages, and answering all manner of questions, […]
Before even starting library school, students can join local and national associations, such as the American Library Association, often at a student rate. Within ALA are five ethnic caucuses: the American Indian Library Association (AILA), the Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA), the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), the Chinese American Library Association (CALA) and REFORMA—the National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.
