Are you attending the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color this week? Or do you just live in the Kansas City, MO area? Join us for a casual meet-up Thursday, September 20. We’ll meet at 8pm in the lobby of the Westin Crown Center and walk together to a TBD […]
Being more than a month into my second year at Pratt SILS, I’m trying not to drown in the load of reading that comes with the classes. A majority of my readings are from scholarly journals, and I’d like to give a run down of some of the journals that […]
Recently, library-land has been buzzing about the soft launch of EveryLibrary, a non-partisan , national organization dedicated to helping libraries at the ballot box. As we move towards election time, I’m sure we’re all reading about what measures and initiatives we’ll be voting for and against (because we’re all responsible […]
I’m starting the first semester of my second year of my LIS masters degree at the University of Tennessee, School of Information Sciences. So far this semester, I’ve felt pretty overwhelmed because I’m taking very tech heavy classes with loads of new terminology. Last week, one of the other Hack […]
Thoughts On Being A Younger Library School Student Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Julia Feerrar Just three months ago I walked across a stage in south-central Pennsylvania to receive my undergraduate degree. I thought of the hard work completed, the friendships forged, and I wished fervently that […]
Because the master’s degree puts “professional librarians” in a different classification than paraprofessional librarians, those of us in library school may not give much thought to unions or to how unions might shape the workplaces we hope to enter. Not all libraries are unionized, but a number of public libraries […]
As library science students begin classes again, school is also beginning for the children we serve as School Media Specialists and Children’s Librarians. In that spirit, Ashley and I co-wrote a starter kit for anyone interested in librarianship related to children. I am currently pursing my School Media Studies degree, […]
As a second-year SLIS student, I’ve talked to quite a few new students in my program who are anxious about securing library jobs. I can understand how they feel; after all, one year ago I was a freshly minted SLIS student. I had never gotten paid to work in a […]
Photo Credit: PostGrad.com During my first few weeks of library school I noticed that my cohort was a mix of people in their early twenties fresh out of their undergraduate degrees, and older people who were coming to librarianship as a second career. I count myself among the second group; […]
When I was starting library school, nobody warned me about the sheer number of questions I would receive, from family, friends, and random strangers. Most of them are variations on a single theme: You need a masters for that? While I’m still getting these questions, now that I’m more than […]
Another school year is upon us! Over the next few weeks, we will add some more tips and discussions to our Starter Kit Series as we welcome new library students to the blog. We’d like to encourage returning students to revisit the series along with us as well and especially […]
Earlier this year, I wrote a post called You Are Now an Information Science Professional: First Year Reflections. I spoke of lessons gleaned from having a year of library graduate school under my belt. The best lesson came from my advisor after expressing frustration to her about not feeling qualified […]
Librarians are, as a profession, exceedingly generous toward their newest members. I expect most of us have had at least a few great interactions with professional librarians who have given us their time and attention for interviews, given us professional advice, written us references and recommendations, and generally been on […]
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sarah McClung. When most people hear the term “study abroad,” they think of a semester or even a year overseas their junior year of college. Outside of spending your whole masters program at an international university, most people don’t think of study […]
In my introduction to library and information science class last fall, we came across mention of the San Francisco Public Library’s social services provisions and discussed the public service nature of librarianship as well as the question of whether library science students should have some training in social work. The […]
If you are in the DC area, we’re having an informal Hack Library School meetup tomorrow evening. Below are the details: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 starting around 5:30pm Aria Pizzeria & Bar 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW The Federal Triangle metro stop (orange/blue lines) is closest, but Metro Center (red/orange/blue lines) […]
A few months ago a co-worker introduced me to Pinterest with the disclaimer that I would waste massive amounts of time on the platform once engaged. And they were right. I’ve spent a great deal of time collecting recipes I’ll never cook, outfits I’ll never buy and ideas to repurpose […]
Well! ALA Annual has come and gone, and with it, so has HackLibSchool’s Conversation Starter, and our 2012 Hack ALA series! I think I can speak for all of us who attended in saying that the conference was teeming with information, networking, drama, and pure fun! Our conversation starter was […]
Editor’s Note: This is a Guest Post by Anita R. Dryden This past year I had the pleasure of participating in the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program, which is designed to help new librarians get involved in ALA. Throughout the course of the program you attend leadership training, meet […]
In This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, Marilyn Johnson says that she first became interested in writing about librarians while researching a book about obituaries. She noticed that librarians always had the most interesting obituaries she read, ranging from a librarian who sailed the […]
In this installment of Hack Library’s School’s Emerging Career Series, Caro Pinto explores the role of librarian as project manager. Caro Pinto is the Social Science & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Hampshire College where she oversees collection development, outreach, and instruction for the School of Critical Social Inquiry, works on […]
I recently read Deepak Malhotra’s I Moved Your Cheese: For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else’s Maze (2011), which I found as an ebook via my local public library. I would describe it in brief as Who Moved My Cheese? meets The Matrix. Some of you […]
Image Credit: http://zapatopi.net/labs/ Last year, HLS’s founder Micah wrote a post about the “publish or perish” paradigm. He shares (or shared then, not sure if he still does) with me some apprehensions about the publishing model, in general, and how it relates to the library science world, in particular. I entered […]
My cohort, we talk. After our weekend intensive classes, we often go out roaming in search of a likely bar, and when we find one, we sit, we drink, and we talk. And since we’ve generally just spent 12 hours in class together, we usually end up talking about library […]
Editor Note: This is a guest post by Jarrett Drake. “The Incunabula. I’d like to see them,” said a patron in a muffled tone. “Can you repeat that?” I responded unassumingly. “The Incunabula, the Incunabula!” she exclaimed, her voice rising with each repetition. After a brief hesitation of speech that […]
Earlier this summer I attended the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) in Victoria, British Columbia. While I was there I took an intensive course on GIS and the Humanities. I was a complete novice but I enjoyed the chance to begin developing a brand-new skill set. This course was fresh […]
The Emerging Careers series at HLS will focus mainly, and not surprisingly, on career paths opening up in the digital realm of the library and information science field. It’s true that our field continues to “emerge” most visibly there, while the death of print, and even of libraries themselves, continues […]
We are slowly getting reacclimatized to real life after an absolutely fantastic and overwhelming time at ALA Annual over the weekend. We learned, we networked, we were inspired, we picked up tons of great freebies in the exhibit hall, we partied hard and we generally geeked out on all things […]
If you’re new to reading Hack Library School, aren’t able to read all our posts, or just refreshing your memory — here’s a short list of some posts from this past semester. And don’t forget to check out the Best Of from previous semesters too. Our Top 10 Posts (by […]
Joanna recently wrote on why you should attend conferences, Brianna wrote about presenting at them, and PC Sweeney wrote about how to be awesome at going to conferences, but what happens when you get there and you are starving for food you can actually eat? Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo/Primal […]
Today we’ve got a special guest post from JP Porcaro with lots of advice and fun events to check out this year at ALA. He’s a 2012 Mover and Shaker, head guy at 8-bit library, and tweets at @8bitlibrary. Hey hacklibschool team, JP here (you know, #partyhard #makeithappen guy). If […]
Editor’s Note: This follows in a series of posts in our annual Hack ALA Week dedicated to all things conference-y and professional. As students, it’s important to get your feet wet in the LIS professional world early, and as often as your budget allows. While these posts are ALA Annual-themed, much […]
Editor’s Note: We are happy to kick off our second annual Hack ALA week! We’ll be dedicating posts this week to all things conference-y and professional. As students, it’s important to get your feet wet in the LIS professional world early, and as often as your budget allows. While these […]
Librarianship is a quickly changing field. Thanks to computers and the internet, it has undergone a tremendous metamorphosis over the last two decades. In light of these changes, we’re kicking off a new series in which we talk about the many emerging careers in librarianship. Today’s inaugural issue talks about […]
I am pleased to say that HackLibSchool will be holding two events at this years ALA Annual conference. Awhile back, I wrote about trying to bring HLS and the issues we care about to the conference level. Well, I’m happy to say that our Conversation Starter was accepted! To be […]
The goal of Hack Library School is to provide the information and resources to get the most of your MLIS and LIS education (though a great deal of our content is accessible and useable to those in any discipline). I find that sometimes we all need the reminder of the […]
Like many here on Hack Library School, I’ve been super busy with finals and the stress of graduating (see my two previous posts from earlier this year). Now that I’ve passed through the crucible of my last term, I’ve found myself in another tricky spot: the job hunt. I’m fortunate […]
I had hoped to be able to write up a brief review of a professional development library webinar this semester, but my two attempts to join in on live webinars via ALA and OCLC proved unsuccessful due to technical difficulties on my end. For one webinar, the audio connection was full of static […]
Back in March 2011, Micah wrote a post on the need for LIS students to foster a culture of writing and sharing. I followed his advice (as it has yet to lead me astray!), and this past semester I started as a Content Editor of San Jose State University’s SLIS Student […]
Since the end of spring semester, Hack Library School bloggers have been posting great content to keep you going this summer. For me, summer will not be a break. I’ll be finishing my last semester of school. If you’re like me, library school has been a marathon. Perhaps you’ve just […]
There have been some terrific posts about conferences on HackLibSchool in the past: Chris recently wrote about unconferences and Joanna wrote a post earlier this year encouraging students to attend conferences as a library student. Today I want to take these posts a step further and encourage other future librarians and […]
Make your own card catalogues at blyberg.net Well, it’s that time of year again…classes have wound down, we have (mostly) caught up on sleep after the bleary, stress-filled days of final exams and projects. And now, as we step blinking into the sunlight for the first time in months, our […]
Congratulations to everyone who’s just finished the first year of an LIS degree! If you’re anything like me, you’re still occasionally having phantom-homework guilt, as it’s such a novel feeling to have a bit of spare time. That spare time can be put to good use, though! In the spirit […]
There are a variety of “unconferences” devoted to certain aspects of the library and information science field. Examples are BarCamp (for open web technologies), THATcamp (for humanities and technology), InfoCamp (for general information enthusiasts), and CURATEcamp (for digital curation). Zack wrote about unconferences in his post InfoCamp and the Unconference. […]
Who is ready for summer? Several of us are finishing up our schoolwork, dealing with stress, and ready for a quick breather. Here are a few summer reading recommendations from your dear HackLibSchool editors. We’ve broken the list down into Leisure and LIS reading. Please add your own recommendations in […]
Job hunting is a tricky beast to master. The process is emotionally draining at times, there are so many things to be excited/anxious about. For some of us who have just finished our last semester of school, this is the prime time to start looking. Most people advise that you […]
Do you feel that buzz in the air? Or maybe you can actually feel the vibrations under your skin and drumming in your ears. You might even be thinking “I don’t have time to read Hack Library School right now!” It isn’t just the caffeine you’ve been living on. If […]
One of the long-standing jokes of librarianship is that we all got into the profession because “we love to read”, the punchline of course being that we’re all too overworked to read for fun. While I don’t think anyone should enter professional librarianship with the expectation that reading is a […]
I’ve just completed my first year of grad school at the University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences. It has been an incredible experience. At various times and sometimes simultaneously, I’ve been overwhelmed, frustrated, excited, angry, amazed, and bored. Yet, through all these emotions, I have grown as a person […]
Ashley’s previous post on ethnography got me thinking about a topic that has been buzzing around in my mind–the importance of context for information and for learning. While Ashley focused on learning the tools of a different discipline, anthropology, for direct use in librarianship (i.e., librarian as ethnographer), I wonder […]
This semester at the University of North Texas I am taking SLIS 5445, History and Culture of Youth Services. A good portion of the class has focused on ethnography and its application in youth services. I won’t pretend to be an expert on this type of study and fieldwork. However, […]
Following in the footsteps of previous posts that focus on a specific field of librarianship (such as Annie’s post on art librarianship and Chris’s post on data curation) today I wanted to explore special collections librarianship. I’d like to work with digital projects for special collections or archives after graduating from Indiana […]
Good librarianship is an art. The distinct combination of talent, education, experience, and affinity that librarians possess must come together into a cohesive unit, guided by the librarian’s sensibilities, in order to provide the professional level of service expected and required of librarians today. Why, then, are our training models […]
Though the trademarks of the library profession like bridging the digital divide for children and adults, protecting freedom of information and promoting literacy, connect directly to service-learning, many LIS programs do not have a service-learning component. Service-learning programs connect LIS students with schools, libraries and other social service agencies to […]
In this, my second term of library school, one of my required foundational courses is “The Organization of Information.” This class is our theoretical precursor to more specific practical courses down the line – cataloging, metadata, and so on. We talk about Dewey and Brown and Bliss and Ranganathan, and […]
A classmate from my Transformative Learning and Technology Literacies class at San Jose State University sent me a LinkedIn connection request about a month ago prompting a total revamp of my oft-neglected and unfinished LinkedIn profile. I realized that my profile needed to be presentable if my classmates were going […]
Over the last couple of weeks, we have brought you a series of posts about preparing yourself for the job search. Ashley gave you general advice she gleaned from an interview with a hiring manager. Rose brought you advice on filling out your job application and creating a cover letter. […]
Photo credit: Lifehackery A few weeks ago, I signed up to attend McGill’s School of Information Studies’ annual career fair, which was held last week. Over thirty employers were going to be present from all over Quebec and Ontario. As the fair approached, the organizers began to send e-mails about […]
A few weeks ago, Rory Litwin posted a bit of a treatise on professionalism in librarianship on the Library Juice Press blog. He addresses several trends he notices in the deprofessionalization of librarianship, and though the blogosphere was only one point of many, that’s the issue that got the most […]
The word “curation” in common usage has lost some its meaning. We think of it more in terms of collector, aggregator or disseminator and not as “caretaker” as is its true definition. We future and current archivists and librarians, are all curators of information. We are shepherds and superintendents of […]
image under creative commons license: flickr/quinn.anya Ignore the graffiti above! HackLibSchool is all about how to make the most of your library program and how to engage the library profession at large. A running series of posts, Hack Your Program, offers overviews of the curricula and cultures of various library […]
To follow up on Ashley’s post earlier this week on advice from a hiring manager, I thought I’d share my own perspective. I recently served on a search committee for a tenure-track academic librarian position and reviewed applications for a paid (!) summer archival internship. Nothing I’m going to share […]
Guess what everyone? We are pleased to announce that we have our first Conversation Starter Proposal for ALA Annual this year! Conversation Starters are 45 minute, discussions focused on emerging topics and trends. Ours will be a facilitated conversation focused on issues surrounding the library school experience. We hope it […]
Last semester I took an Academic Libraries class that required me to interview an academic librarian. I reached out to Courtney Young to help me complete this assignment. Ms. Young is Head Librarian & Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at Penn State Greater Allegheny and serves on the ALA Executive […]
This post was collaboratively written by Quasi-Con planners and School of Information Master’s candidates Kelly Davenport, Peter Timmons, Ilana Barnes (ALA chapter president), Kim Miller (vice president), Katy Mahraj (treasurer), Ryan Clement (webmaster), and Mariah Cherem (social media coordinator). The DIY Library Conference: A Quasi-Guide It was an experiment. When […]
This is the third post of our Declassified Series, in which we focus on exploring the similarities and differences between courses on the same topic that are offered at different schools. Previous posts include Reference and Information Architecture. Below, Brianna and Barbarajean discuss their experiences in Digital Humanities classes.
“New Librarianship” is a buzzword, especially here at Syracuse, but what does it mean? Here’s my take: New Librarians and people-who-work-in-libraries are two very different things. The latter is a job; there’s nothing wrong with that, and I believe very strongly that libraries need passionate, good people to help fulfill […]
Let me start off by saying, I am NOT attending Library School to become a Library Media Specialist. My knowledge on the topic of Accelerated Reader and other reading management systems is something that I have only begun to explore. I’d like to thank fellow Hacker, Britt Foster and my […]
One concern that has been mentioned in many of my classes is the lack of marketing about the library. Librarians and libraries perform vital services but many people are unaware of what these services are. This affects all kinds of libraries. One professor, who also worked at a public library, […]
Expanding on the theme of diversity within HLS began by Micah and within the LIS profession by Rebecca, I would like to take a moment to add a queer perspective to this discussion. My identity as a queer person has played a major role in my entry into this wacky […]
Librarianship is a profession that’s all about helping people, which means we need to be able to work with them. Even if you don’t work with patrons, you’ll still have to work with coworkers that run the gamut. Cat lovers(ahem), gamers, tattooed drinkers, the sweet old lady who doesn’t know […]
Author’s note: My interests within the LIS field are data curation and e-science librarianship. This is a hot topic that is growing every day, and skilled e-science librarians are needed to fill the gap. If you’re interested in learning more about data curation librarianship as a future career, leave a […]
I was reading Fast Company today, and it strikes me that one particular feature is missing from the bulk of library blogs; profiles of effective librarians. Sure we have lots of good product reviews to help with efficiency and lots of us write about our work flows, but not many […]
I’m in my second term of library school. My experience so far is still mostly about foundations and required courses, learning the common language of the library, and coming to grips with core concepts and basic skills. I’ve had some theory, I’ve had some history, and I’m getting my first […]
I’m sure you’ve all heard a million times by now that libraries are looking for young professionals with technology skills. And I’m sure you’ve all thought to yourself “But of course, I use technology all the time! I’m proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite, I conduct online research like a […]
It’s hard to describe the feelings that flashed through my head as I read through the email welcoming the new batch of HLS Hackers. Excitement, certainly, with a decent amount of giddiness in the mix, but also some apprehension. After all, this was a blog I’d been reading since my […]
About a year ago, I started spying on the HackLibSchool project. Anonymously peeking at the original Google doc, figuring out how to use Twitter so I could see what the big deal was, reading other students blogs. I had no clue what I was doing online then, I was just […]
Dear friends, The way I see it, there are a few different ways I could write this. I could be super sappy, writing about how much this blog has meant to me, what a joy its been to work with such amazing peers/colleagues, how proud I am to see Hack […]
Here we are in the second month of the semester and if you are new to your LIS program, you’re probably just trying to get your feet under you (as I was a year ago). Old hands are re-acclimating to the familiar not-enough-hours-in-the-day feeling and we are all looking at […]
I know it seems really whiney, but it seems that these days I just don’t have any time. I feel constantly overwhelmed and no matter how much I do, I have a hard time keeping all my balls in the air. I know that I’m not alone in feeling this. […]
so much dependsupon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rainwater beside the whitechickens. The literature fan in me can’t help but begin with William Carlos Williams’s well-known poem from his collection Spring and All (1923), if only with the flimsiest excuse of lifting the phrase “so much depends” for this post (and for the […]
Disclaimer: This post contains opinions and statements that are mine and may not be representative of other students and faculty within this program. The School of Information Sciences (SIS) at the University of Tennessee is ranked 17th in the U.S. News rankings of library science programs. The School has roots as […]
This semester I’m taking ‘Distributed Learning Librarianship’ online at the University of North Texas. Needless to say online learning is on my mind. In August of last year Rose L. Chou contributed a great HLS post In Defense of Online LIS Education, and Laura Sanders’ recent post on Teaching Methods […]
Carrying on the tradition of past end-of-semester wrap-up posts, we’ve pulled together some articles from Fall Semester, 2011 for your viewing enjoyment. Some of you may be in your last semester in library school (congratulations!) or maybe you’re still in the first year (hang in there!). Either way, to keep you […]
Disclaimer: This post is a product of my experiences as an IU-B SLIS student. Please know that my opinions are not intended to be representative of the opinions of any other student, faculty/staff member, or librarian. All criticism is meant to be constructive. So, first things first: My name is […]
Since I was a high school teacher before I started library school, I’m finding it really hard to switch off my “teacher brain” even well into my second semester. This makes sense, considering that I want to become a teacher-librarian. However, it has also had an unintended side effect: I […]
In my program, like many others, graduation is contingent on completing a culminating project. At the University of Texas, that is called a “Capstone experience.” The overwhelming majority of students choose an internship or semester-long project with a library, archive, or local business or nonprofit. At the end of the […]
We got a question on Twitter over the weekend about reading material for LIS: RT @brandontlocke: Any recommended reads for aspiring/future MLIS students? It is difficult to respond to such a question in 140 characters or less. I made the attempt by suggesting reputable blogs and e-news sources for LIS […]
Did you know your ALA-accredited master’s degree is accepted in countries other than the good ole USA? That’s right, the US is not the only place where you can use your ALA-accredited master’s degree to work in a library. As Laura explained in her post on becoming an international school […]
In case you haven’t yet had the opportunity to be introduced to the idea of professional networking, here’s a quick intro: librarians near and far, from all varieties of the field, twice a year attend gigantic conferences hosted by our preeminent organization, the American Library Association. There are constant debates […]
Today, while the SOPA/PIPA debate is very much in the forefront of people’s thoughts, we’re happy to welcome this guest post on SOPA. By way of introduction, you might also check out the “Black Wednesday” post from this morning on the internal Hack Library School debate to weigh in on […]
Even if you are not actively involved, if you have been listening to the news or surfing the web in the last few weeks you have likely heard about the debates and activism swirling around SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act or Preventing Real Online Threats […]
Before the new semester starts, I’d like to address the academic tradition of the “final paper.” I don’t understand why so many professors assign research papers as a final assignment. Research papers are difficult to execute well when under a severe time constraint, especially when most of the knowledge you’re […]
First of all. Let me just say. This day came way faster than I thought it would. Here I am at the close of my career as a library student and the start of my career as an informational professional. Hack Library School has played a significant role in my […]
In the spirit of new beginnings, the Hack Library School crew has inducted eight new contributing writers. We had a huge amount of interest and wanted to diversify the group as much as possible. We’re very excited for you to meet our new bunch, so here we go! Amy Frazier: […]
A year and a half ago I wouldn’t have described myself as an advocate for much of anything. Ive always kept aware and informed on ‘the issues’ and I always vote—but until recently I didn’t sign petitions, or call congresspeople. I’ve spent the past year of my life coming to […]
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 140,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for […]
The job market is lurking in the minds of many of us who are about to finish up our degrees. It’s a tough market out there and getting a library job is not an easy feat. Fortunately, ALA has great webinars that help prepare job seekers for the library job […]
Jared Harmon is pursuing his MLS with a Technology Management Specialization at Indiana University Indianapolis. He also helps run an ILL consortium at the Indiana State Library and works the reference desk at the Indianapolis Public Library. Jared is interested in how technology is shaping our libraries, and he hopes […]
