Library Cards for Library Students
September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. While it seems like a no-brainer that library students should get library cards and take advantage of public library resources, I thought I’d […]
Advice for First Generation LIS Students
I come from a family that doesn’t have work email, retirement stocks, or salaries. My parents and siblings, my “people,” are name tag and hairnet people. Clock-out for your lunch break people. With four older […]
5 Tips for Online Interviews with Library Employers
With the increase in colleges and companies using software like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, online interviews have become more common. In my role as Circulation Manager at an academic library, […]
Keeping Active at the Office
Let’s face it: with some exceptions, library work consists of a lot of sitting and staring at a computer screen. Sure, you might be doing roving reference, or taking a […]
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 […]
Welcome to Fall!
HLS will be on a break this week as we adjust to new classes and a new semester, but we’ll be back next week with all new content and discussions! […]
Come in, We’re Open: Maximizing your Library Visits as an LIS Student
Years ago as an undergrad on vacation, I strolled into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s reading room. I may not have looked professional with my dyed bright red hair and […]
Library Work Won’t Love You Back
This summer, I have been fortunate to have an internship that I love. I loved the work of cataloging, enjoyed the company of my coworkers, learned a lot, and actually […]
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, […]
Becoming a Solo Librarian: Challenges and Opportunities
My mentor recently forwarded me a thrilling job ad for a solo librarian at the Charles Darwin Research Station, located in Ecuador’s beautiful Galápagos Islands. As the only professional librarian […]
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 […]
Reflections on Summer School
Summer classes, particularly online summer classes, have always been difficult for me. I took quite a few in undergrad to get through my degrees faster, and other than one memorable […]
Opening Doors: Making the Most of Your Grad School Job
Most of us will work our way through library school. Whether it’s a graduate assistantship, a part-time gig at a public library, or an internship at an archive, we’re all […]
Board Games in the Library
Sometimes, you just need a game night. Last week, my boyfriend and I had a game night with a friend (who just finished her MLIS!!) and her husband. My friend […]
Can I Afford this Degree?
I’ve wanted to write on this topic for a long time, but kept putting it off. (There’s so many variables! Talking about money is weird and awkward!) What finally prompted […]
Hack Your Worldview: How to Build a Diverse Network of Allies and Mentors
As future information science professionals, each of us has a responsibility to promote diversity in our profession, the collections we manage, and the services we offer our patrons. This notion […]
Things they might not teach you in library school: Sustainability edition
I’m not aiming to duplicate the wonderful work of Macy on the topic of environmental sustainability in libraries, although that topic will come up. It is quite amusing though that […]
Call for Guest Posts!
Have you had an idea for something you would like to write and share with other library school students, but aren’t quite ready to commit to a regular writing schedule […]
Work/Life Balance in Library School
While graduate students in any field are prime candidates for burnout, it is my belief that library students face special challenges where work/life balance is concerned. We must pay tuition but we are rarely offered the teaching assistantships or other forms of financial aid that our counterparts in other fields […]
How to Get Over Technophobia
Last semester, I heard of a concept called “performative technophobia,” in which someone might proclaim a fear or aversion to technology in hopes of either getting people do complete some […]
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 […]
Service with Intention: Saying Yes for the Right Reasons
When I began my MSLIS program, the universe of librarianship and information science seemed to stretch out eternally before me. As such, I felt like a bit like Kimmy Schmidt […]
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 […]
Rekindling My Joy in Library Work
The last fifteen months have been rough on all of us. Starting grad school during a pandemic was not easy, and a mix of personal problems and school-related issues made […]
Tips for New Students Looking for Library School Jobs [Starter Kit]
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 […]
On-the-Job Learning
The public library I’ve worked out has been open to the public again since June 1st. Because I started at the library during COVID, except for some limited volunteer experience […]
Going from Public to Academic Libraries – My Experiences as a Paraprofessional
Last month I wrote that I moved to academic libraries after spending four years working at a public library, first as a page then as a desk assistant. I thought […]
Hack Your Program: The University of Alberta
Disclaimer: This post represents the perspectives and experiences of the authors at the University of Alberta. Our opinions are not intended to be the opinions of any other student, faculty, […]
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 […]
Out in the Library: On Being The Only Transgender Staff Member
When I was accepted into grad school, I decided that this would be my moment to be out as non-binary in my professional life. This was both a personal decision […]
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 […]
Nope, Don’t Like That: On Making Course and Career Decisions
There’s a movie I like, Hell or High Water, and in it there’s a scene where two police officers stop at a diner for dinner. The waitress greets them by […]
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 […]
Summer Practicum in the Repository & Digital Curation Department
It is required that students in the MLS program at Indiana University fulfill one internship. Since I am specializing in Art Librarianship, I am required to complete two internships. This […]
Welcome our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school! Erika Whinihan Erika Whinihan is an online MLIS student at […]
My Summer at the Smithsonian
Did you know that not only is the Smithsonian made up of 19 museums it also has 21 libraries? I, for one, will readily admit that I had no idea […]
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 […]
The Benefits of a Dual Degree Program
I just finished my second year at Simmons University. Many full-time MLIS students are done with their degrees after two years; however, I’m in a dual degree program combining my […]
Being a Good Team Player in a Pandemic
Group projects – love them or hate them, you’ll probably find yourself doing a fair few of them during library school. I’m in an all-online program, so I knew going […]
How do you take notes? (or Markdown and Bullet Journals)
Perhaps it’s related to being perennially both inquisitive & distractible, but I’ve always enjoyed taking notes and almost always have paper with me. Here’s a few of my old pocket […]
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. […]
Hack Your Program: University of Maryland (2021 Update)
The following post reflects my own experiences with the University of Maryland’s iSchool and the MLIS Program. These opinions do not reflect the opinions of all UMD iSchool students, the […]
So you want to be a medical librarian, perhaps? [Interview Edition]
Are you debating what type of library field you’d like to pursue after graduation? Has it been a challenge for you to sit down and decide your options? Would you […]
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 […]
Parting Thoughts (and My Farewell)
It’s crazy to think that I’m finally writing my farewell post. It’s even crazier to think that I’ve written over two dozen posts for Hack Library School because I applied […]
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 […]
How to decode job postings and customize your applications
There have been a fair number of posts on HLS about job searching including two incredible ones from the last week by Emily (Congratulations on the new job!) and Vince. […]
I Got a Job and You Can, Too!
Congratulate me, readers! I have achieved the pinnacle of library school success and secured an honest-to-goodness library job. My job search went so well, in fact, that I had three […]
Non-library Experience and Library Job Applications
Job searching is nerve-wracking, and one of the most daunting parts is putting together a resume or CV. It’s easy to get stuck on the treadmill of questions like “do […]
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 […]
Sustainability in the Library
I was stuck trying to come up with a topic for my April post, so I reached out to my library school friends to see if they had any topics […]
Creating Boundaries in Work, School, and Life
I’ve been fortunate enough to stay employed (at a library) during the pandemic, but even a quick glance through the posts at #protectlibraryworkers will reveal libraries who furloughed their staff […]
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 […]
So long, farewell (for now)
Believe it or not, it’s time for my farewell post! While this isn’t the last you’ll hear from me on the blog (updated UMD Hack Your Program post, anyone? 👀 […]
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 […]
Across the Table: Interview Tips for Both Parties
During my short time in the LIS field, I’ve had the pleasure of being interviewed for various positions and interviewing others for positions within my own library. While related, they […]
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 Academic Library Interview: COVID-19 Edition
This week, I had my first all-day interview for an academic librarian position. I was not psychologically prepared for it. I would have been even worse off except that one […]
Archives for the People: Notes from a Visit to Archives+
My library experience so far has been a battle of two passions – I love archives, and I could see myself spending the rest of my life holed up in […]
Behind the Scenes: LIS Hiring at Academic Institutions
After having participated in five on-campus, academic librarianship interviews, I have learned a good deal through observation and immersion in the market’s ebbs and flows. As a follow-up to “Things […]
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 […]
One Library’s COVID Experience: A Snapshot of a Community College Library During a Pandemic
We just passed the one-year anniversary of when I and all the rest of the staff at the community college library where I work started working from home, and I […]
Planning Post-COVID in a Junior High School Library
Last September, I wrote on how the elementary school library I worked in was providing services despite distance learning. Now, at a new school site and closer to the light […]
Call for New Writers!
Hey there readers! Here at Hack Library School, we pride ourselves on providing engaging, thoughtful, and useful resources for Library and Information Science students. Because we’re a blog by and for […]
Navigating Library School Assignments and Invisible Labor
This is a post that I’ve wanted to write for months, but I honestly struggled with figuring out what exactly I wanted to say. It’s no secret that invisible labor […]
Burnout and a Mid-Semester Check-in
I don’t know about you all, but I am in the midst of one of the busiest semesters I’ve ever had. Between taking classes, writing a thesis, contributing to this […]
History of the Book: Some Cool Things I’m Learning This Semester
Like most of us, I have spent a lot of time with books in my life. Books I owned, books I admired at bookstores, books I’ve checked in and out […]
Legal Information in Libraries: What’s That All About?
I’ve always enjoyed learning about history, politics, and the US Supreme Court. With that background, you would think I was interested in going the law school and becoming a lawyer. […]
LIS Mental Health Week 2021: A Summary
How has it already been a year of pandemic living? Readers, are you all doing okay? Personally, I’m doing better than before, but graduation right around the corner has brought […]
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 […]
ALA’s Library History Round Table
When I went back to college to finish my bachelor’s degree as a prelude to going to library school, I had to pick a major. The first time around in […]
Service in Quarantine
Last week, in a fit of oddly misplaced energy, I found myself making cheese tortellini by hand. It was not an easy process. I have very little upper body strength […]
Who Are Today’s Young Adults? And How Do We Serve Them?
Two of my classes this semester started by considering who today’s young adults are. In conversations relating to library services for young adults and contemporary and realistic young adult literature, […]
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 […]
Altogether Different: Questioning the Union of Librarianship and Information Science
More than five years beyond Andy Woodworth’s original call for big tent librarianship and Brit Foster’s echoing call for big tent librarian education, I begin to think that the theory may not serve us so well moving forward.
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, […]
The Inherent Ableism of Being “Productive”
I remember thinking at some point around the age of 17 or 18 that my days of having summer and winter vacations were over forever. My aunts, uncles and cousins […]
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 […]
Treat yo’ self…to a student membership in a professional association and reap the rewards
LIS is an industry absolutely rife with professional associations, and as Kate Tkacik pointed out, there’s a very large service component in our industry. We believe in service, so much […]
The Right Decision Is Harder Than You Think
Teresa Elberson, the director of the Lafayette, Louisiana public library system, abruptly retired this past Friday, January 22. She had been working for the Lafayette Public Library since 1982 and […]
Decentralizing Romance in YA Literature
This quarter, I am taking a class with the title “Resources for Digital Age Teens.” Among other things, this class has required me to read more young adult literature in […]
Why I Want to be a Rural Librarian
I grew up in a small town in Kansas that, according the Washington Post in 2018, is one of the 10 most middle of nowhere places in the country. I […]
Landing a Student Library Job
Working in a library, either on your campus or off of it, is a great way to get some practical experience while also making some (although, let’s be real, probably […]
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 […]
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 […]
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