Want People to Vote? Then We Have to Talk About Digital Literacy.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Online Learning, Mental Health, and a Positive Light
Earlier this month, I came across a tweet from a high school teacher: I think many students can agree that this past spring semester was not what we envisioned: between […]
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 […]
Spotlight on IndigenousLIS.ca: Indigenous librarianship and renewable assignments
Open education is a growing trend in higher education and academic libraries play a big role in the field; usually by overseeing open educational resource (OER) programs and cataloging and […]
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 […]
Emergency Remote Teaching ≠ Online Learning
For many MLIS students, looking ahead to a fall semester consisting of all-online courses will not be new, given the availability of online-only MLIS programs in the pre-COVID world. However, […]
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 […]
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 […]
When one of us screws up and we do nothing, that makes us all look bad. And no, backpedaling doesn’t help.
On July 4th, a story broke about UWM School of Information Studies Senior Lecturer Betsy Schoeller and the heinous comment she made about the murder of Specialist Vanessa Guillen on […]
Civil Engagement and Librarianship
Choosing to be civilly engaged has never been easier. As citizens, we are bombarded with 24-hour news through every means of device: our phones, computers, televisions, and, if you are […]
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 […]
Why You Need a Master’s Degree to Be a Librarian
When I tell people that I’m going to school to become a librarian, they often look puzzled and ask why I need a graduate degree to work in a library. […]
Saving Money with a Second Master’s
Editor’s note: this post was originally published on November 22, 2018. In past installments, I’ve shown you how to test your job marketability with a deferred enrollment and how to […]
Why Primary Sources Matter
I have spent this week reflecting on how many times my heart has been heavy as I have witnessed yet another death of a person of color. As we continue […]
There is no war in Ba Sing Se: What Avatar: the Last Airbender can teach us about disinformation
Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on the concepts of mis- and disinformation, prompted by the current state of the world and observing how others get their […]
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 […]
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 […]
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? […]
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 […]
Hack Your Program: The University of Washington (2020 Update)
Program Overview The University of Washington iSchool currently offers several degrees: Bachelor of Science in Informatics – Undergraduate major and minor Master of Library & Information Science (residential and online) […]
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 […]
Hack Your Program: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Update)
Disclaimer: All opinions are mine unless otherwise noted. This article does not represent the official stance of the University of Illinois, the Graduate College, the School of Library and Information […]
Staying Busy During Coronavirus
Coronavirus has caused us to make plenty of changes, from library closures to cancelled events and a shift from residential courses to an online environment. Here are some ways to […]
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 […]
Reflections on Teaching and Learning
I’ll never forget the instructor who gave me a generous week-long extension so I could travel home for a funeral with significantly less stress. I’ll never forget the professor who […]
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 […]
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 […]
Student Librarian Road Trip
Photo by Lisa Ladd Salazar-Ajo Library
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 […]
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 […]
Why We Should Talk About Media and Information Literacy
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 […]
You Can’t Learn Everything in Grad School
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Hold On To Your Optimism
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 […]
What You Need to Know about Readers’ Advisory
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 […]
Hacking the Master’s Program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
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 […]
Librarians We Need
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 […]
How to Deal with Divisive Discussions in Your Digital Classroom
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 […]
How to Plan for Graduation During Your First Semester
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 […]
The Tyranny of Group Projects
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 […]
“What would you change about the library?” Um… everything?
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!) […]
The Independent Study: Making Your Own Course
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 […]
MLIS: An Academic and Professional Degree
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 […]
How to Find Community in Your MLIS Degree
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 […]
Why Library Science and Social Work Need to Collaborate More
Service. Equity. Commitment to communities. These are themes found in both the American Library Association Code of Ethics and the National Association of Social Worker’s Code of Ethics. Indeed, librarians […]
There’s Always Room for Improvement.
One of the classes I am taking this term is Information Access and Retrieval. Back in the day, I suspect this course would have simply been titled Reference, but the […]
Thoughts on An “Ideal” MLS
As a hacker for HLS, I am challenged to consider some of the biggest ideas in the field of library and information science. Furthermore, one of the primary questions for […]
Less-charted Territory: Attending a professional conference outside of library land.
As a follow up to my previous post about taking classes outside of your program’s core curriculum, I also want to recommend attending conferences outside of library land. Last week, […]
How to Combat Imposter Syndrome During Your MLIS Journey
As I’ve mentioned before in my previous posts, starting graduate school can be stressful. This is especially true if you’re starting a program you have no previous field experience in; […]
Hack Your Studying with Retrieval Practice
At the beginning of my previous quarter, my Database Management professor announced to the class that we would be assigned a short quiz based on the lecture every week during […]
Gonzo Archivism in Practice
I know my title may conjure up memories of a particular blue Muppet, but I’m referring to gonzo in the journalistic sense. Gonzo Journalism, of which Hunter S. Thompson found […]
How I Survived My First Full Week of Classes
The very first classes of my first semester of library school started on the 3rd of this month; which means that, at the time of writing this, I am about […]
Why Being Organized Matters
Let’s face it. Most students who are getting a graduate degree are driven. Many, including me, work full time. And many are taking two classes and still trying to achieve […]
How to Hack Your Undergraduate Degree and Prepare for Your LIS Career
Starting graduate school, let alone college in general, can be a stressful experience. From selecting colleges and universities to apply to and being accepted to selecting a major, finding a […]
Summer Reading: Musings about Social Justice
I am completing two literature courses this week: Picture Books Across the Curriculum and Young Adult Materials. In ten short weeks, I read 300 picture books and 10 Young Adult […]
A Librarian Without Their Library
What is a librarian without their library? This isn’t some ancient riddle that you only learn the answer to once you’ve earned that hallowed MLS (or MLIS, or MIS, or […]
Uncharted Territory: Taking classes outside of your MLIS program’s core curriculum
Sometimes, one of the best decisions you can make in your academic career is to go off the beaten track, and challenge expectations, even your own. After coming off one […]
The Value of an Internship
Ever since I discovered the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections, I’ve been interested in digital collections. The thought of those free and publicly available historical images filled me with […]
Why You Should Attend Mental Health First Aid Training
If you currently work at a library, take a moment to think about your user base. Have you ever served anyone who: Is depressed or anxious? Experiences panic attacks? Is […]
Going back to school for an MLIS as a full-time library worker
I’ll be five years into my first full-time gig in a library (technically second, if we count a promotion two years in) come August of this year; and I’ll be […]
Summer Reading List—Instruction Style
Learning about learning benefits us all. Whether you’re interested in public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries, archives, or museums, it’s highly likely that instruction will be part of your job […]
Showing Up for Yourself: Mental Health and Your MLIS
I have been reflecting on my experiences in graduate school and I want to share some of these thoughts, primarily related to survival. Since April, I have had conversations with […]
Making a Makerspace
Before starting at the University of Washington, a former coworker once asked if I was going to be taking classes on how to sew and thread a needle in my […]
4 Ways to Prepare to be a Children’s Librarian
No amount of coursework can prepare you for the experiences you will have as a children’s librarian. In one week you might make mermaid slime, wear a giant inflatable dinosaur […]
Does the “I” in M.L.I.S. Stand for Internship?
For those just entering library school I thought I would share something I wasn’t expecting: the assumption that you secure an internship, graduate assistantship, volunteer position, and/or apprenticeship sooner than later […]
How to Set Up a Preschool Library: 4 Tips for Teachers
It is important that children are introduced to books at preschool age. This is the period when the little ones best absorb the information and skills taught to them. Books […]
Academic or Public? Perhaps both.
I have worked in an academic library for thirty years. First in technical services, then transitioning to Access Services. Yet here I am, getting my MSIS with a concentration in […]
On Job Hunting and Farewell!
It’s time for my final post, and is of course obligatory here at Hack Library School, I’ll be writing about finishing school and that dreaded job hunt. As Melissa so […]
How to Plan Your Graduate School Education
The “first” of anything has the capacity to be stress-inducing, from first days of school to first days on the job and beyond. This is especially true when it comes […]
Visiting Campus as an Online Student
Drexel University sometimes offers a class concurrently online and face to face. Online students like me attend asynchronously, learning through discussion boards, readings, videos, and activities. The face-to-face students meet […]
Hacking Online Classes
My first experience with an online class was British Literature my sophomore year. I began the semester excited about the flexibility an online class provides and the idea that I could be “in class” in my pajamas at home. I mean, who wouldn’t love that?
Five (Big Picture) Tips for First-Year Library Students
When you’re caught up in the minutiae of graduate school, remember the big picture. That’s the most critical lesson I learned during my first year of library school. For me, […]
Hack Your Program: Western University Faculty of Information and Media Studies
Disclaimer: This post represents my own perspectives and experiences. My opinions are not intended to be the opinions of any other student, faculty, or staff. Quick Overview I may be […]
Learning to Be Leaders
Picture someone you refer to as a “leader” and write down a few of the characteristics that define them as a leader. It can be a supervisor, a relative, or […]
What to Do When You’re Starting an MLIS Degree Without Previous Library Experience
As I reach the end of my first semester in graduate school, I’ve taken some time to reflect on my experiences so far in my program. Being in an […]
Hack Your Program: University of Tennessee Knoxville
The MSIS program at the University of Tennessee Knoxville is comprised of on-campus and distance learners. Housed in the College of Communication and Information UTK’s SIS program has much to […]
On Being Perfect (97% of the Time) in Library School
By day, I am an academic advisor for medical students. I enroll students, counsel student, and generally make sure at least one small slice of the next generation of doctors […]
4 Tips for Creating Successful Online Group Projects
The biggest worry I had before starting library school was about group projects. Online group projects.
A People’s History of (Humanities) Computing in the United States
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Joy Lisi Rankin’s 2018 book, A People’s History of Computing in the United States. As someone who thinks a lot and writes a […]
Hack Your Program: Syracuse University School of Information Studies
The School of Information Studies at Syracuse University is “the original information school,” having been the first library school to rename itself in the 1970’s. Home to an undergraduate information […]
Research: It’s Not That Scary
When I was freshly enrolled in my MLIS and pouring over my courses for my very first semester, there was one class that I was very much not looking forward […]
Academic Currency and Leprechaun Gold
I don’t know how many times I have heard the peer-reviewed journal article referred to as the “currency” of academia but, just as with other forms of currency, it seems […]
Thematic Research Collections: What’s the Big Deal?
I wanted to share some interesting things I’ve come across in my research for my thesis project. The project focuses on digital tool development as a way for librarians, research […]
Why Library School?
I was so shocked the first time I learned that most libraries require a masters degree for librarians.
Facilitation & Data Operations in Academic Libraries
Many thanks to Christina Harlow for sharing her story! “Get your hands dirty. Go to conferences; sign up for workshops; propose the sessions and meetings you think are missing wherever […]
