Choosing Librarianship: The Cure for my Career FOMO?
“The irregularity of our roles and the ever-changing nature of our profession can be a draw for those who crave variety and enjoy learning new things. Librarianship, thankfully, is rarely […]
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 […]
Facing my stereotypes
I am a Californian by birth. I was raised in a city that included one of the many missions that dot coastal California, in my case the Mission San Jose. […]
Structural Racism, Actions, and Libraries
On January 6, 2021, I was getting some work done when I heard that the U.S. Capitol was being breached. For the rest of the night, I settled in to […]
Should You Work in a Public Library?
Sometimes, I leave work feeling like a million bucks. Other times, I almost run out the door to get home as soon as possible. Those instances are usually caused by […]
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 […]
Things every librarian should learning about: Copyright edition
Remember all the way back to 2020. I know, I know you don’t want to. It’s fine, I promise, we’re only going back to November when I wrote about how […]
Make 2021 the Year You Take Action
Friends, there’s a lot of work to be done in the field of librarianship, and in the world at large. Too many of us are squatting in our bunkers, watching […]
How Do We Talk About Structural Racism?
We talk a lot about equity, diversity, and inclusivity – or some other combination of those words – in our field a lot. It makes sense, given that librarianship is […]
Library School Without a Library
COVID-19 has changed how I think about school. Prior to switching to remote learning this spring, I’d never taken a fully online course and I had no desire to. I […]
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!
The MLIS: Gatekeeper or Necessary Credential?
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the fact that a master’s degree is required to be a librarian. For me, choosing to pursue a graduate degree in library […]
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 […]
My Professional Goals for 2021
As 2020 finally draws to a close, I find myself just over halfway through my MLIS program. I am projected to graduate in the spring of 2022, which means I […]
COVID-19 and the Library School Experience: What Needs to be Changed?
Over nine months ago, I was sitting in my seminar on academic libraries in McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland. COVID-19 cases were on the rise and many universities […]
Capstone Conundrums
One of the best parts of being in library school while working in a library has been using my job to complete assignments. These real applications helped me be better […]
How Do You Archive an Email?: A Look Inside #HLS10
So, the holiday season is always time to reflect upon the year that is coming to a close and the year that lies ahead; which I feel is especially […]
LIS and podcasting
This is probably unsurprising to many of you reading this, but LIS as an industry seems pretty active in podcasting. I myself have never really listened to any podcasts other […]
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 […]
Documenting the Chinese student experience at an American college during the pandemic
This past summer, I took part in an oral history project designed to collect stories of the University of Iowa (UI) community’s reactions to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in textual […]
Patron Data and Internal Threats
Two weeks ago, an article was published accusing an IT worker at North Carolina State University of gathering personal information about political activists and LGBTQIA+ folks and distributing that information […]
What Even is Fun?
At the University of Washington, all MLIS students are required to complete a capstone project – some sort of large-scale, cumulative work that demonstrates information science skills relevant to our […]
Thankfulness in Troubling Times
I started writing my post for the month of November before I got the HLS schedule and realized that my post would fall on Thanksgiving. So, I decided to set […]
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 […]
10 Tips for Getting a Library Job
When I began drafting ideas for this month’s blog, I was mostly thinking about library assessments and interviews. I knew I wanted to write about my experience, but I was […]
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 […]
Practicing Compassion
One of the things that drew me to librarianship in the first place was the helpful and non-judgemental environment that many librarians throughout my life have created for me. While […]
My Winter Break Reading List
I write this post in the midst of finals season, feverishly tying up the loose ends of another semester as it comes to a close. Once my last papers are […]
LIS Programs & the Need for Dialogue
I feel lucky to have grown up in Miami, a primarily Hispanic city, where I am not very different from any other Hispanic American. However, as I have grown and […]
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 […]
An International Library Student’s Perspective on Remote Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic
While attending the University of Iowa’s School of Information Science, I have also served as a student cataloger in the UI Main Library’s cataloging department. Like most metadata and cataloging […]
“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 […]
So you want to be an academic librarian? You should learn about OERs.
I make no secret that I am a huge proponent of the open education and open pedagogy movements. Everyone who knows me professionally knows that my specialty in copyright has […]
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 […]
I’m Tired: A Perspective on BIPOC Student Labor
It has become nearly impossible for me to take a break, and I believe most of it is because I am a person of color. When EDI is the issue […]
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 […]
What Your ILL Technician Wants You to Know
I don’t get sentimental about libraries very often, but I’m downright gushy when it comes to interlibrary loans. They embody so much of the best that libraries are and can […]
The Good, the Bad, and the… Peer Mentor
The School of Information at San José State University requires all incoming, first-semester students enrolled in the program to complete a month-long course that introduces them to the websites, software, […]
Thank you, Friends of the Library!
October 18-24th, 2020 is National Friends of the Library week! This is the 15th year that the celebration has occurred, although we have had Friends organizations for a long time. […]
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 […]
Musings of a first-time teacher
When I decided to get my MLIS, I knew that there would be some aspect of teaching involved in becoming a librarian and, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t too […]
A Brief History of Library Cats
Let’s talk about cats.
First Library Job: Historic Maryland Newspapers Project
Coming into my first semester of library school last fall, I had almost no work experience in a library. Outside of my time interning in a government archive during undergrad, […]
Learning from Technology Mishaps
Where is your phone located right now? How often do you boot up your computer? What are you using to read this? Technology has firmly planted itself in our lives; […]
“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 […]
Contribute to Open Peer Review for an LIS Textbook
Hi, Hack Library School readers! My name is Brianna Marshall and I am excited to be contributing a guest post for HLS. I was a HLS writer and managing editor […]
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 […]
Missing the mark.
I recently had a librarian friend reach out to me and ask my opinion about a proposed tag that was being suggested as a way to make it easier 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 […]
Hack Your Library School Application
Hi Hack Library Schoolers, We’ve gotten contacted by a few people who have questions about applying to library schools. We can’t really answer those questions for you, everyone’s application process […]
Passivity in Library School
Midway through my first quarter in library school, I sat in class with twenty or so of my classmates and potential future colleagues as they conducted a lively conversation about […]
How Summer Camp Can Prepare You for Librarianship
As the days start to get shorter and cooler, without fail I look back at the summer. This year, with the strangeness of COVID-19, I’m missing summers past. In 2018 […]
Taking It Slow
Hello! My name is Lauren Bauer, this is my first article for Hack Library School, and I have something I’d like to get off my chest: it’s going to take […]
Distance Learning in Elementary School: How One School Library Operates
Last year, I had volunteered in or had visited all of the elementary school libraries in my district. The books were shelved, the librarians were calm, and the students were […]
“What Do I Want Out of My Career?”: Some Musings on Job Hunting
One of our all-time most popular posts on HLS is on how to become an international librarian. As someone who has studied and interned abroad, one of my lifelong goals […]
In my own little corner, in my own little chair (is where I’ve been for the past few months)
At this point, the fall semester is in full swing for many of us. For me, I’ve just wrapped up the third week of the semester and I’m gearing up […]
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 […]
Leveraging LinkedIn to Create a Personal Brand
Let me ask you a question — when you walk into an interview for a job or an internship, which question do you dread the most? For me, it’s often […]
LinkedIn For Library School
Many of us have probably heard a similar line before: “You NEED a LinkedIn page if you’re job hunting.” While LinkedIn is not a one-size-fits-all platform for job hunters, it […]
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 […]
How Many Lives Have I Experienced Already? I’ve Lost Count.
Writer’s block is a funny thing. It can completely derail your writing process, or be an odd source of inspiration. This is what my experience was while writing this article: […]
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 […]
“I’m baaaaack” – My experiences with going back to campus and back to the library during the COVID-19 pandemic
I have been back on campus and back in my office in my library since July 20th. That was my first day back on campus since I left work on […]
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 […]
How to Succeed in Life by Just Showing Up
I’m a fan of advice columns (current faves are Ask a Manager and Captain Awkward) and a topic that comes up regularly is how to make friends as an adult. […]
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 […]
One Black Woman’s Path to Librarianship (and Some Advice)
Many thanks to Gina Murrell for sharing her story! Photos courtesy of Gina Murrell. I met Gina Murrell years ago when she became my co-worker in the Digital Scholarship Center […]
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 […]
Claim Your Name: Get Your ORCID iD
Chances are there is at least one other person in the world that shares your exact same name. You might have used multiple names during your lifetime, and you may […]
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 […]
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 […]
#LibraryStrong
I have been reflecting a lot this summer on the word resilience. Much of this has to do with the ongoing pandemic, the demands for racial justice, and all the […]
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 […]
Reading Recommendations for the Pandemic Summer
Hello, readers! I’ve been writing for Hack Library School for over a year now, and my biggest struggle has been thinking of new topics to write about each month. All […]
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, […]
D.I.Y. Until We Die: Support These Zines Made by BIPOC Artists
Zines are having a moment. With so many folks staying home and looking for new ways to keep themselves occupied, it’s no wonder that #quaranzine has been trending on social […]
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 […]
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 […]
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