Graduating Before Crossing the Finish Line
To say that I’m excited about graduating this coming May is a massive understatement. I’ve been waiting for this moment since finding SJSU School of Information’s MLIS program in December […]
Doing “Enough” in a Difficult Year
I have high expectations for myself when in comes to school. I always have, sometimes to the point of unnecessary angst. Case in point, I have a vivid third-grade memory […]
What is Flexibility? Building Ease Into My Grad School Life
We’ve been talking a lot on the blog lately about how the past year has impacted our lives, our education, our job searches, and everything in between. One of the […]
Bringing Soft Skills to the Table: Tips for Showing Off Your Qualifications in the LIS Job Market
Recently, I attended an information panel about LIS careers, where I heard one of the most helpful pieces of advice yet: technical skills will open the door and soft skills will […]
The Final Countdown Continues: On Planning Your Culminating Project
So, all throughout my tenure here at Hack Library School, I have emphasized the importance of preparing for graduation throughout your time in graduate school. In November 2019, I […]
Some bumps along the way – back-up plans, flexibility, and expanding your horizons during your MLIS
It’s 2021, and we’re still over a year later dealing with COVID-19 and the physical and emotional and mental strain that this pandemic is putting on all of us. We’re […]
The Importance of Public Speaking
For the past few weeks in my Library Programs and Services for Young Adults course, we’ve started our class period with materials talks. Every student has spent five to seven […]
Creating The Career You Love: The Important of Finding Fulfillment in Your LIS Career
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 […]
Special Librarianship doesn’t just mean special libraries – more on non-traditional LIS career paths
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 […]
How to Keep Reading (for Fun!) in Grad School
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 […]
To Take or Not To Take: Advice for Course Selection
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 […]
Asking Anonymously and Library Knowledge Expectations
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, […]
Writing and Library School: Why Do It?
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 […]
To Generalize or Not to Generalize
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 […]
Feast or Freeze: Preparing for Post-MLIS Job Hunting During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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 […]
Connect the Dots: Developing Professional Relationships with LIS Students and Faculty
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 […]
Lessons Learned from my First Fully Online Semester
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 […]
Focus On Your Skills
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 […]
The Final Countdown Begins: How to Prepare for Your Last Semester in Library School
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 […]
What I Wish I’d Known Before My First Semester of Grad School
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 […]
The Importance of Being Earnest… as a Student Planner
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 […]
Best Practices of Library Virtual Programming
Check out these 9 Best Practices for Library Virtual Programming!
So, you want to apply to grad school?
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 […]
I Decided to Make a Mid-Career Transition to LIS and You Can Too
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 […]
Putting it into perspective.
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 […]
“There is a time for departure…”
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 […]
Saving Money on Textbooks in Library School
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 […]
Make the Most of Winter Break: Submit to the SRJ
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 […]
Hack Your Competencies and Sell Your Skills
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 […]
Tear the Roof off the Sucker: Getting Out of a Funk
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 […]
“So, How Are You Doing?”: An (Almost) Year-End Retrospective
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 […]
Programming lessons
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, […]
Election Day in America
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 […]
It Doesn’t Matter What Classes We Take: An Experiment in Life Choices
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 […]
Embracing the Practical Project
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 […]
Hope Is Not a Four Letter Word*
*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 […]
“We Can’t See Your Screen”: Reflections on Event Planning as a Student Leader
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 […]
How to make the most of your online MLIS experience
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 […]
The Path Forward
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 […]
Surviving Library School While Working
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 […]
Small Changes, Big Rewards: How to Prioritize Physical Health During the School Year
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 […]
Farewell Post: Answering My Own Grad School Questions
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 […]
Reflections on Labor Day 2020
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 […]
Building Your Professional Library
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 […]
More on Flexibility and Adapting
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: […]
An Argument Against Having a Plan
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 […]
Tips for Online Discussion Boards
Online learning isn’t for everyone, yet it can be the only option at times. Whether in a residential program that is phasing into in-person classes as the pandemic rages on […]
The Importance of Student Groups and Chapters to Your Graduate School Experience
As I observed in my previous articles from last June and October, as well as this past April, finding, cultivating, and sustaining community is a big part of graduate school. […]
5 Things I Wish More Online Professors Knew
I’m rapidly approaching the end of my second year of grad school. Over the past 8 quarters and 13 classes, I have experienced a wide range of teaching styles and […]
MLIS Endings, MLIS Beginnings – A Socially Distanced Transition
This article marks the end of my MLIS program, and it will be the final article that I will write for Hack Library School as an MLIS candidate. If you […]
Flexibility, or What Happens When Your Best Laid Plans Fall Apart
There is no class on it, it isn’t one of the ALA’s core values, and there aren’t many professional development opportunities focused on it solely. But, flexibility is a key […]
On a Personal Note: What’s the Point of My MLIS?
In one of my first posts, I wrote about why I decided to go to library school immediately after I graduated with my bachelor’s degree. In that article, I focused […]
The Value of Remote Work in Librarianship
As this July closes, I will be finishing up my third semester of library school. During this time, I’ve managed to juggle a part-time library specialist position, a part-time graduate assistantship, […]
Don’t Just Prove What You Know
“I hope that in those weeks that you feel you really have it, you go even deeper. Don’t say ‘I’m just in this week to satisfy the requirements of the […]
Summer Break as a Time to Explore
Depending on your library school, you may already be mentally preparing to start classes or still have plenty of time to relax if your program is on the quarter system. […]
Should We Be Generalists or Specialists?
I think it is safe to say that it is no surprise that our current job market is incredibly precarious, and has been for a while, our current pandemic […]
Coding in Librarianship – Tips, Tricks, and and Troublesome Foibles
2020 will define the next several years, perhaps the next decade or two, of librarianship in the United States. A cascade of statewide quarantines from March and onward wreaked havoc […]
Concentrating on Concentrations
When I entered library school in early 2019, I was slightly obsessed with planning out my degree. Part of this comes with the terrain of being an academic advisor, but […]
A New Sense of Normal: Libraries and Virtual Internships
My plan for this summer was set to go: I was to continue working as a graduate assistant on campus, take two classes, and complete the field study requirement as […]
Why We Need to Talk About Intersectionality in Library Settings
Like many of you, I have been experiencing a lot of emotional fatigue lately. Between our ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the events that have unfolded over the last few weeks […]
Sage Advice for New Library School Students
I’m attending grad school in mid-life, and it bears a stronger resemblance to being an undergrad at eighteen than I had expected: I’m learning a lot, quickly, and mostly about […]
Thoughts on Going Remote
It’s official: my Spring 2020 semester has come to an end – and I am halfway through my MLIS! Along with navigating the murky middle that comes with the mid-point […]
Reflections on a New Normal [Farewell]
After three years, I’ll be graduating from my MLIS program this June. This is also my last post for Hack Library School. These three years were a whirlwind and ranged […]
Library Unions Were Not Built in a Day
Fourandsixty. (2015). [International Labour Day Edit-a-Thon, University of Maryland Hornbake Library] [Photograph]. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/UMDLabor Next week will be the first time I will not be working, in school, or both […]
Casting a wide net: Alternative and non-traditional jobs for LIS pros
There have been a couple of articles on the subject of alternative and non-traditional jobs for MLIS holders here on Hack Library School; most recently back in December of 2019 […]
Planning a practicum in a pandemic
I confess I wasn’t planning to write about COVID-19. But ruminating on how my month has transpired since my last post, I realized everything I was planning to write about […]
What Adopting a Puppy Has Taught Me About Being a Librarian
Valentine’s Day – a day set aside to celebrate the ones you love, a day devoted to one of the highest expressions of the human spirit. This past Valentine’s Day […]
What to Do with Your Summer Now That Your Internship’s Cancelled
The semester is winding down. Some of us are graduating and will be waiting out hiring freezes, and others of us are facing a summer with radically changed plans or […]
Hacking Your Course Schedule
As this crazy Spring 2020 semester begins winding down for many students, course registration has started falling upon us. One component that I enjoy about the University of Maryland’s MLIS […]
How to Find Community in Your MLIS Degree While Studying at Home
So, last October, I wrote about how finding community during your time as a MLIS student is important, especially if you are an online student. This has become especially […]
Resources for MLIS Students During COVID-19
With online learning now in full swing due to COVID-19 and physical distancing, many students are feeling the strain of isolation, uncertainty, housing and food insecurity, additional childcare or family […]
Libraries in Quarantine – Musings on Shifts in the Professional Landscape
Before my area went under shelter in place orders back on March 17th, I had a library paraprofessional position and went to school full time, with plans for a summer […]
How can you stay professionally engaged while working from home (or not working)?
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many libraries have either closed physically and moved to online service provisionally or have closed completely and laid off their employees. My local public […]
Fresh Shelving Ideas for Spring
Are you tired of the way that your library has always shelved its books? Are you eager to shake things up as the new librarian fresh out of school? Is […]
Why Weren't We Talking About This Back in January?
So, originally, I had planned to talk about how I have observed an observable lack of agency among some of my peers from my days as an undergraduate student to […]
Serving the Public When the Building’s Closed
This past Friday, I was leading a session on Empathy-Driven Customer Service with approximately 20 public library staff members in my county. It had been an interesting day already: I […]
Facing Coronavirus as an Information Professional – Implications, Misconceptions, Degradations
If you have ever engaged with a piece of entertainment set during any historical period involving severe social events such as war or sickness, complete with emotionally charged scenes of tragedy […]
Hacking your assignments with business mantras
I asked some of my classmates for suggestions about what to write about this month so here’s a shout out to my friend Olivia S. at the University of Alberta […]
Other Duties As Assigned
This week, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about all of the many things I do as a library supervisor that are not written into my job […]
Stop Saying We’re Not Qualified
In my program at the University of Illinois there’s a heavy emphasis on preparing for the library job market. At first this was welcome and was a major reason why […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
