Opening Doors: Making the Most of Your Grad School Job
Most of us will work our way through library school. Whether it’s a graduate assistantship, a part-time gig at a public library, or an internship at an archive, we’re all […]
Author Archives
Brenna Murphy
I am an aspiring librarian pursuing a MLIS at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I work in circulation at the University of Illinois at Chicago library and I am also a reference intern at Northwestern University. After graduation, I’d like to work in academic reference. My non-library interests include cooking, knitting, biking, and cats of all shapes and sizes.
Hack Your Online Class: How to Stay Awake and Alert
This post was originally published on October 26, 2015. I have a confession to make. Sometimes I color in my coloring book while I’m in class. And you know what? […]
Interview with Jessica Olin from Letters to a Young Librarian
I recently had the chance to talk with Jessica Olin, an awesome librarian/blogger. You may have heard of her blog Letters to a Young Librarian (and if you haven’t, get on it!). […]
An Update on Some Exciting Changes at HLS!
Things are changing here at HLS! We’re excited to welcome a new Managing Editor and Community Manager this summer. Here’s what our editorial team has to say about the change.
My Job Search Game Plan
As I approach graduation from my program, the “Oh God, I need a job” panic is starting to set in. As I work on applications, I’ve found that having a […]
Storytelling: Not Just for Youth Librarians
This semester I decided to do something that terrifies me: I enrolled in a storytelling course. As an anxious public speaker, I challenged myself by taking a class in which […]
Imposter Syndrome as a Student
Have you ever felt like your colleagues know more about your field than you do? Or like your successes can be attributed to luck rather than hard work and persistence? […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s ten newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school!
Voces del Sur (Voices from the South): Venezuela [Series]
Editor’s note: This post is part of our series entitled Voces del Sur: Rethinking LIS from the Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, featuring writers from the blog Infotecarios. Guest bloggers will […]
ALA Presidential Candidate Interview: Christine Lind Hage [Series]
Editor’s Note: In order to learn more about the candidates for President of the American Library Association, HLS asked the candidates a few questions about topics relevant to students and early […]
ALA Presidential Candidate Interview: Jim Neal [Series]
Editor’s Note: In order to learn more about the candidates for President of the American Library Association, HLS asked the candidates a few questions about topics relevant to students and early […]
ALA Presidential Candidate Interview: Lisa Hinchliffe [Series]
Editor’s Note: In order to learn more about the candidates for President of the American Library Association, HLS asked the candidates a few questions about topics relevant to students and early […]
On Librarianship and Activism
A professor recently posed the following question to my class: are librarians required to be activists?
Call for New Writers! (Deadline Extended)
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 […]
Voces del Sur (Voices from the South): HLS Edition [Series]
Editor’s note: This post is part of our series entitled Voces del Sur: Rethinking LIS from the Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, featuring writers from Hack Library School and from the […]
Voces del Sur (Voices from the South): Mexico [Series]
Editor’s note: This post is part of our series entitled Voces del Sur: Rethinking LIS from the Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, featuring writers from the blog Infotecarios. Guest bloggers will […]
Reflections on our First Semester of Library School
Editor’s note: Some of our amazing HLS writers have just finished their first semester of library school! They want to give you the full story on what they learned, what […]
Voces del Sur (Voices from the South): Chile
Editor’s note: This post is part of our series entitled Voces del Sur: Rethinking LIS from the Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, featuring writers from the blog Infotecarios. Guest bloggers will […]
Voces del Sur (Voices from the South): Colombia [Series]
Editor’s note: This post is part of our series entitled Voces del Sur: Rethinking LIS from the Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, featuring writers from the blog Infotecarios. Guest bloggers will […]
Taking the “Library” out of Library School
This post is co-written by Hailley Fargo and Brenna Murphy, students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently announced that it may drop […]
Tips for Your First Semester of Library School
Starting library school this semester? We’ve been there! Here’s our advice on everything from scheduling to technology to maintaining a social life.
Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy! Jennifer I still don’t start classes […]
When (Online) Group Projects Go Wrong
We all know “that guy” (or girl). The one who doesn’t respond to emails, doesn’t offer to contribute any work, and has a generally nasty attitude. In a traditional classroom […]
Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy! Carissa On Sunday, I traveled to […]
What’s Your Lib School Like? Part Two
Welcome to What’s Your Lib School Like? Part Two! In this series, we’ll be asking our contributing writers questions about their library school. Question 2: How does your lib school […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
HLS is proud to introduce our nine new writers. With an impressive range of experience and interests, we can’t wait to hear what they have to say! Jennifer Eltringham is […]
What’s Your Lib School Like? Part One
Welcome to What’s Your Lib School Like? Part One! In this series, we’ll be asking our contributing writers questions about their library school. Question 1: What has been your favorite […]
[Series] So you want to be a Children’s/Youth Librarian?
Do you love working with kids? Is storytime your “thing?” Do you do a great Hagrid impression? If so, a career in children’s/youth librarianship might be for you! To get […]
ALA Annual Meetup!
Hey there Hackers! Are you attending ALA this year? If so, join HLS writers and alumni for a drink! Where? Tempest, 431 Natoma St., San Francisco. When? Saturday, June 27 from […]
How to Read for Grad School
Before I attended boot camp for my library school program, we were assigned to read a colossal amount of material. We’re talking hundreds of pages of (mostly) interesting, yet dense […]
Call for New Writers!
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, in […]
Show me the Money: Salary Negotiation
Dear [Hack Lib School Reader] We would like to offer you the position of Fancy Pants Librarian at AwesomeTown Library. We are willing to offer you an annual salary of […]
So you want to be a Latin American/Area Studies librarian?
So you know that you want to be a librarian, but have you thought about specializing in a certain field? If you have an interest in foreign languages and cultures or […]
Hack your job search: residency programs
Freaking out about finding a job after graduation? Consider applying for a residency, a temporary job appointment for recent library school graduates. Residencies are usually an academic library thing, but […]
Top Mistakes I Made at my First Conference
Last month I had the opportunity to attend ALA Midwinter, my first multi-day conference. I was stoked, but totally unprepared. Here are some of the things I did wrong and […]
A Farewell to On-Campus Days
This March I will make the trek to Urbana-Champaign for the on-campus portion of my program for the last time. Up until recently, online students in the LEEP program were […]
Flip your perception of online learning
Let’s be real – online classes can get dull. No matter how intriguing the topic, it can be a challenge to keep your eyelids from drooping when your professor is […]
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