Free digital tools that could make library school easier.
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Charting a different course
One grad student’s experience dropping a course
In library school, and life, you have more time than you think.
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on June 5, 2019. For the sake of context, I’m going to talk about myself for a moment. In addition to being a […]
The Joy and Dread of Working on Group Assessments
If you are anything like me, reading the words “you must complete a group assessment” at the beginning of a semester, fills you with both surprising joy and overwhelming dread. […]
Tips for getting organized for the new semester
The first week of the semester is a great time to set up a project management system for yourself before the chaos of actual coursework. In my grad school experience […]
The challenge of studying an online degree and the importance of a support system
A few of the things I have come to realize in the last 3 years is that firstly, online study is hard. I mean really hard. Secondly, do not leave […]
The Question of Concentrations
THAT is the question. Although I feel like I’ve just started my journey as an MLS student, by the end of this week I will officially be one-third of the […]
Kissing frogs, not every job will be a prince[ss], and that’s okay: A.K.A Job hunting disappointment and how to deal
I’m officially done with graduate school now, my graduation was June 8, so I am officially a librarian now – even if I am working in a job where that’s […]
Looking Back and Forward: A Farewell
The last two years have somehow felt incredibly long while also whizzing by incredibly fast. This seems to be the nature of both pandemic time and grad school, and so […]
Library adjacent: One librarian’s journey in academic publishing (non-traditional/alternative library jobs)
If you’ve been following my writing for any length of time here, or you’re someone with an interest in non-traditional and alternative paths to librarianship then you are probably already […]
Things I Wished I Knew Before I Started Grad School
Since I’m graduating this May, I wanted to use my final HLS blog post to reflect a bit on the things I wish I knew before I started grad school. […]
Hack the Librarian Wardrobe: Feminine [2022]
I love wearing clothes. Nothing can boost my confidence like a cute outfit. Especially when days can be so…repetitive, clothes bring me life. If you’re here, you might feel the […]
Advice for Starting a New Job During Grad School
I’ve been very fortunate to have gotten a new full-time librarian job before I graduate from my MLIS program this May, but transitioning to a new job in the middle […]
So, you want to apply to LIS grad school? Advice from a student MLIS Admissions Committee member.
Disclaimer: This post is particular to the author’s perspectives and opinions. It is not intended to be representative or indicative of any other member of the MLIS Admissions Committee and […]
How to Build a Job Search Strategy
With two months to go until I finish my MLIS program, I recently completed my first full-time library job search. I started seriously looking and applying for jobs this past […]
Making the Most of a Disastrous Quarter
Winter quarter has to be one of the toughest quarters to survive in library school (assuming you are on the quarter system). This is my third winter quarter, and it […]
HTML for Absolute Newbies
You may remember from one of my articles way back that all of my education and background have been firmly rooted in the humanities. I lack serious experience in the […]
Hack your job application materials: streamlining the process
It was inevitable, no matter how hard I tried not to think about it. Staring down my fourth and last semester of library school, I knew it was time to […]
Hashtags to Follow on Library Twitter
Twitter is my social media of choice lately as I try to avoid going down the Insta/Meta rabbit holes that are out there and frankly I do not have time […]
Doubling Down: Becoming a Parent During your MLIS
Many of us pursuing graduate studies are at the stage of planning growing families as well. Ifyou’ve considered adding a child to the mix while doing your MLIS, and are […]
Thoughts and Advice for New Student Leaders
Student groups. Their importance has been noted in previous posts for networking and building community and connection in your program. Last summer I decided that becoming involved in a student […]
Uncomfortable Conversations: Asking for a Raise or Promotion
This topic may not relate directly per se to library school, but it applies to anyone who has a job, will have a job (whether in the LIS field or […]
Walking Away So Everything Isn’t Libraries
I have a friend who just graduated from the MLIS program at the University of Washington, and she and I had a conversation recently about how, whether when you’re in […]
Handling School While Sick
I don’t know about anyone else, but I got sick A LOT this semester. I haven’t really gotten sick the last two years, and it’s like my body decided it […]
Time Management and Other Random Thoughts on Standing Up for Yourself
Last month I wrote about surviving group work as it had been a frequent topic on the HLS blog. This month I wanted to briefly cover another important HLS topic […]
The Benefits of a Thank-You Folder
When I first started working with interlibrary loan, back around 2014, I received an email reply from one of the students I’d found an article for. “Thank you very much […]
Group Work: How to Survive & Even Thrive
The topic of group work has been a frequent one at HLS and since I am embroiled in a lengthy and complicated group project during this fall quarter at the […]
Changing Jobs During Grad School: Do’s and Don’t’s
During my first semester as an MLS student, I changed jobs. I went from working at a private university as a Circulation Manager to working at a state university as […]
Giving and Receiving Feedback: A Skill for Grad School and Life
Learning how to give effective feedback to colleagues, classmates, and even professors as well as receive feedback yourself is a skill that takes practice, nurturing, an open mind, and a […]
How to Make Your Library School Application Stand Out
With autumn comes application season. Even though you’ve done this before, applications are stressful. Hopefully what I’ve learned will save you some time, anxiety, and, with any luck, some money […]
Handling “Senioritis”
I’m in my final semester of my dual degree program at Simmons University. As I’m writing this post, the semester is about 1/3 of the way through. It’s the point […]
On Backing Off and Not Choosing All the Things
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar. You’ve got a job, a family, and a list of homework assignments filling up your calendar for the rest of the semester. […]
Why Every Future Librarian Should Take Learning Cataloging Seriously
In the past, I had been hesitant to declare a strong career interest in metadata and cataloging (I even wrote about my desire for an interdisciplinary library school curriculum for […]
Myths and Realities of Your 1st Semester of Library School [Online]
Thinking about library school? Wondering what it’s really like? Think that online school might be the best/easiest option for your increasingly complicated life? Let me tell you about it, since […]
Developing Practical Skills Through Job Posts
The new school year has started, and with just two semesters left of my MLIS program, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about what practical skills I […]
Pondering the Potential Paradox of Previous Practical Library Experience
According to the 2021 MLIS Skills at Work report from the SJSU iSchool 90% of the job postings they analyzed require job-specific experience representing an 11% increase over the 2020 […]
8 Tips and Tricks for Managing a Library’s Social Media Accounts [Part 2]
Hello, everyone! Last month I wrote about the first four tips and tricks for managing your library’s social media account which included 1.) know your audiences, 2.) know your platforms, […]
Thoughts After Completing My Summer Directed Fieldwork
The home stretch towards my MLIS degree is in sight as I wrap up my final few days of my summer directed fieldwork (DFW) and look forward to my third […]
8 Tips and Tricks for Managing a Library’s Social Media Accounts [Part 1]
When I was interviewing for my current position, my future supervisor asked me, “Would you be interested in helping us run our social media accounts?” Like a good interviewee I […]
Managing Imposter Syndrome Throughout Library School
I have been thinking about the incoming cohort at the University of Washington’s Information School and wondering how they are coping with the unknown and uncertainty of graduate school life […]
The Importance of an Interdisciplinary Library School Education
When I started my MLIS program at Simmons University last fall, I regularly heard my classmates introduce themselves with exactly what type of librarian they wanted to be. There were […]
For the First Time in My Life I’m Doing the Practical Thing…And I’m Terrified
Although it’s falling out of fashion, how many times were we given the advice, “pursue your passion”? As a young person, I took this for granted as a blaringly obvious […]
Surviving Pandemic Grad School as a Parent
I vividly remember in March 2020 when I learned my daughter was going to be home for two weeks solid as schools were closing and thinking there was no way […]
Pandemic Summer 2.0
Summer is an interesting time in the life of a grad student. Some people have internships (mostly remote this summer), those of us who work during the school year are […]
Cover letter advice from a meme, really? Yes, really!
I’ve seen this meme a couple of times now and I love it, because it’s not wrong, this really is the basic structure of a cover letter and I love […]
Seven Things I Learned in Library School
This is my last post with HLS! In honor of that – and my impending graduation (wow/yikes) – I’d like to present a list of seven things that I learned […]
Flexibility Versus Foci: It’s Course Registration Time
I’ve written before about my desire to tailor my time as an MLIS student to becoming a generalist with the skills and competencies to succeed in various contexts or careers. […]
The Time Has Come for Reflection: Final Thoughts on my MLIS Journey (Farewell Post)
Over the past 16 months as a contributing writer and community manager, I found myself in a new world of librarianship that I didn’t know existed. From my very first […]
One Chapter Ends, Another Begins: On Graduation, Job Applications, and Self-Care
Dear readers, when you may be reading this, I am currently two weeks away from graduating from my Master of Library and Information Science graduate program at San Jose State […]
Three Things I Learned from Being on a Book Award Committee
This year, I had the privilege of being part of the Chinese American Librarians Association selection committee for the CALA Best Book Award. I’m aware that being part of book […]
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 […]
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