A Librarian’s Approach to Self-Care
Being a graduate student is hard. We’re older and we have lives and families and jobs. Most of us have responsibilities that far exceed those we had when we were […]
Flip your perception of online learning
Let’s be real – online classes can get dull. No matter how intriguing the topic, it can be a challenge to keep your eyelids from drooping when your professor is […]
Administrative Transparency & LIS Education
Recently I’ve been dismayed with what I see as a lack of communication and transparency on the part of the administration at my library school: “Dear GSLIS Students, Starting next summer, […]
Cheating to learn?
Connected Play is a new book about how young people interact, explore and express themselves in online communities. Our review asks, “How can cheating and pushing boundaries play a role in library activities and pedagogy?”
#critlib: Chatty Critical Librarianship on Twitter
No matter how exhausted I am, every other Tuesday night I do something that helps reinforce and nuance what I’m learning in library school: I spend an hour or so […]
On Overcommitting
It’s the final stretch of my third semester of library school, and I. Am. Exhausted. Between taking on several special projects at work, serving as an officer of […]
Networking for Introverts
Networking. If you’re anything like me, the idea doesn’t exactly thrill you. I’m a friendly, chatty person (pity the people in my office, they cannot escape), and I genuinely love […]
From Informational Interview to Reference Interview
I recently started taking people out to coffee like it’s my job. About a month ago, in the middle of my first quarter of library school, I moved to a […]
Thanksgiving Week Roundup!
This week, we’re giving thanks for libraries and all things library-related, so instead of the usual list of links, we’re listing what we’re thankful for (sometimes with links!) What are […]
Self-Care and Work-Life Balance in Library School
This is my first Hack Library School post, and I’d like to take the day off. For the sake of self-care and to test my ability to let go of something […]
Adventures in Rare Book School: The Value of Supplemental Coursework Opportunities
Many of us have spent countless hours drooling over the Rare Book School course descriptions, and dreaming of the day when we find a job that will fund us in our […]
The Know-Nothing, or: How to be a Library Novice
The Reference Desk can be an intimidating place when you know nothing.
HLS Weekly Round Up
Aidy I received a text alert as did all FSU students about a dangerous situation. It said to seek shelter and stay away from windows. As a distance learning student […]
Strategic Planning for the LIS Student
My final class project at Florida State University involves the creation of a strategic plan for a fictional academic library. It’s becoming one of the most applicable assignments in my […]
The Benefits of Attending Local Conferences
I just recently returned from two fantastic regional conferences, ARLIS/SE in Birmingham, AL and VRALocal in Nashville, TN. These are both small conferences focusing on art and visual resources librarians […]
Graduation Requirements
I just registered for my last semester of library school–advanced legal research and comps. The first time I mentioned comps to my previous therapist, she said “oh, I know someone […]
Librarianship as a Second Career: One MLIS Candidate’s Story
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Hannah Majewski, a MLIS candidate at the University of South Carolina. My name is Hannah Majewski and I attend the University of […]
What Leadership Qualities Do You Value?
What leadership qualities do you value in your manager or library director? This question was asked of our class during a week-long library management academy last month. As we went around the group of thirty or so people, several common themes developed, including trust, transparency, ethics, sense of humor, good […]
On Multiculturalism in Reference Services
Note: I originally posted this on my personal blog. I thought it would be useful to share here. We talk a lot about multiculturalism in library school, but to a […]
HLS Weekly Round Up
Editor’s Note: Happy Halloween! Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful . Enjoy! Becky A lot of my friends in the library world look forward to November and NaNoWriMo, but 1. who in school has time […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
We are delighted to announce that Hack Library School has welcomed eleven new contributing writers. We were all very impressed with the range of interests and experiences that they will bring […]
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 […]
Best Practices for Student Organizations
Many past Hack Library School posts have highlighted the importance of getting involved in student chapters of professional organizations. And I couldn’t agree more! My time spent in my school’s […]
Library School Life Lessons
I struggled with what to write about for my final HLS post. I got swept away in the transition from library school to new job, then considered and re-considered what […]
Open Access (or, why I love the internet)
The internet is pretty awesome guys. Privacy attacks and trolls aside, no other tool humans have ever created can match its potential for information transfer. Sure, I often use it […]
HLS Weekly Round Up
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy! Becky Survey time! Two LIS professors […]
Committing to Committees
One of the best ways to become professionally involved and build skills while in library school is to join a committee. Committees are made up of members who are engaged […]
Out of Hopeful Green Stuff Woven
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. – Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass […]
Hack your tablet: Notetaking apps
When my boss told me that one of our vendors was giving each of us in the office an iPad (let’s just breeze over the issues this introduces into the […]
HLS Weekly Round Up
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful . Enjoy! Becky I’m off celebrating Rosh […]
Hack Your Digital Presentations Like a Pro: Tips & Tricks
As the leaves turn a subtle amber and the wind begins to usher us along our hectic school schedule, no sooner is the fall semester underway in library school land. With it, […]
HLS Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy! Becky This week’s member email from AALL included notice that the AALL Special Committee on Access to Justice report on Law Libraries and Access to Justice […]
Librarians & Academic Freedom
The last month or so my own institution, the University of Illinois, has received a lot of publicity due to the Salaita case. For those who are unaware of the basic facts, here is a brief summary:
Archival Education: Outcomes and Opportunities [SAA 2014]
Editor’s Note: Anna-Sophia originally wrote this summary of Session 106, Archival Education: Outcomes and Opportunities, from the Society of American Archivists 2014 annual meeting, for the Students and New Archives Professionals Roundtable blog. It is re-posted here with kind permission of the SNAP blog editors. The session Archival Education: Outcomes […]
Rock that discussion board
Learning to love online classes has to be one of the biggest surprises I’ve had in my first year of library school. I’d still go for in-person classes if time and money permitted it, because being physically isolated from library people can suck, but I’ve genuinely enjoyed the online atmosphere […]
HLS Weekly Roundup
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful . Enjoy! Julia My dissertation work has me thinking a lot about scholarly communications, and particularly venues for sharing my work. I got an email recently from a […]
What are You Doing After Graduation?
With the start of the fall semester about three weeks ago, I soon added, “And this is my last semester of library school!” to my conversations about library school with classmates, professors, work colleagues, and friends. It wasn’t long before people started responding, “So, what are you doing after graduation?” […]
HLS Weekly Roundup
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful . Enjoy! Anna-Sophia Over at Magpie Librarian this week, Ingrid ran a thoughtful interview with Scott Bonner, librarian at Ferguson Municipal Public Library. There was also some great reflection […]
Call for New Writers!
Greetings readers! Here at Hack Library School, we pride ourselves on providing engaging, thoughtful, and useful resources for Library and Information Science students. The best part of this experience, in my opinion, is the community the writers have with each other and our readers. Unfortunately, because we’re a blog by […]
Making the most of asynchronous classes
I was in college back in the stone age, when landlines were ubiquitous, ethernet was a luxury, and professors wrote on chalkboards. (Not even whiteboards!) So the asynchronous, discussion-board-based class I’ve been introduced to in library school has been a culture shift for me. Only some of my classes have […]
HLS Weekly Roundup
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful . Enjoy! Anna-Sophia Some good news coming out of Quebec this week – the province’s government has earmarked nearly $19 million for public libraries in Montréal, Quebec City, […]
Librarianship Unplugged
A few months ago at work, at approximately 10:30 a.m., the Internet went down and service was not restored until about 4 o’clock that afternoon. Considering that I work at a public library where many of the patrons are there specifically for using the Internet and that the Internet is […]
HLS Weekly Roundup
Editor’s Note: Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful . Enjoy! Opportunity Alert: Applications for the 2014-2015 class of HASTAC Scholars are due September 15! We would love to see more library students involved in this great […]
Why I Loved Lucy Even Though It Got Terrible Reviews: Toward an Info-Humanism
The last movie I went to before the onslaught of finals was Luc Besson’s Lucy. A lot of critics thought it was awful. A lot of critics felt they were too smart for its widely-debunked pseudoscience. A lot of critics argued about whether Scarlett Johansson is turning out to be secretly […]
Hack Your Program: St. John’s University Division of Library and Information Science
Editor’s Note – This is a guest post by Anastasia Chiu, a 2014 graduate of St. John’s. Disclaimer – This post consists of the perspectives of one student of St. John’s DLIS, and does not represent the experiences of the entire student body of the program. All criticism is intended […]
HLS Weekly Roundup
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Anna-Sophia WITNESS, an organization that trains and supports activists using video, received an award last week from the Society of American Archivists for […]
Updates from the World of a PhD Student: Reflections on the Third Year
As a part of my ongoing discussion of PhD life, I wanted to share a wrap up post for the third year so you all can see what I’ve been up to (you can see the first and second years’ posts here and here). As always, I’m happy to answer […]
HLS Weekly Round Up
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Becky Two links of note this week. First, the shockingly disturbing and speech-defying new cover for Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. […]
Farewell Post: Never Miss a (News) Beat
This probably does not come as news to most, but moving to a new city, starting a full-time job and balancing an actual life is hard work. The past two months have been crazy busy and stressful. Every time I remembered I needed to still write a farewell post for […]
Finding Ways to Learn On The Cheap
With another fall semester looming, I wanted to take some time to advocate for a few easy-access, low-cost ways to do some self-directed learning. As exciting as our LIS classes, practicums, and internships can be it is easy to forget that our grad student status grants us access to a variety […]
Information Literacy
One of my first library school classes was entitled “Information Literacy and Instructional Design.” We spent a grand total of less than one class session* discussing what information literacy is, based on the ALA’s information literacy competency standards for higher education (more on this later). We spent no time on how […]
HLS Weekly Round Up
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Becky I loved the Amelia Bedelia books as a child. And since information literacy has been in the twitter-verse recently, this column […]
Open Access Student Publishing
Sometimes, the stars of open access (OA) and student publishing align. Alignment generates academic journals of student works that are made freely accessible to all. Many institutions already support student journals, as this vast survey of the undergraduate publishing landscape shows. How can LIS students contribute our unique skills and perspectives to student publishing? And how would everyone involved benefit from such involvement? Adding Value In […]
HLS Weekly Roundup
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Anna-Sophia There was a really epic Twitter conversation (and a number of side conversations and comments) on Wednesday about the character of LIS […]
Why You Need Project Management
I saw a whole bunch of family and friends I don’t get to see very often not long ago, and naturally many of them asked me what I’m taking for classes this summer. I learned pretty early in my MLS that most people expect you to say something about books […]
HLS Weekly Round-Up
Becky Best. Tweet. of the week: Google doesn't replace librarians any more than YouTube cat videos replace Hollywood movies. @ajkeen #AALL14 — Eve Ross (@eveross) July 13, 2014 The Library Loon wrote more about rigor. (Check out my original response; a response to this post is forthcoming. Unless my head […]
Reflections on My First AALL Conference
As I write this, I am sitting in the San Antonio airport very ready to go home after my first AALL (American Association of Law Libraries) conference. I have a stack of business cards of folks to follow up with; librarians who have experience in issues I’m passionate about and […]
What’s That Tape? Media Carriers 101
On Friday, I had the opportunity to join the Virginia chapter of the Special Libraries Association on a tour of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation. It was a spectacular experience – now I know what 50 petabytes of data storage capacity look like, what a U-matic reformatting robot looks […]
HLS Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Becky I’m off to San Antonio for the AALL annual conference, so my links-of-note this week are networking and travel related. First […]
A Multitude of You 2.0’s
Way back in 2011, this blog featured a pair of posts about personal branding, the idea of designing and manging your professional, digital self. In Online Presence, a.k.a. You 2.0, Annie reminded us of the importance of being ‘Googleable’ and of our abilities to control the information that employers can […]
ALA Student-to-Staff
Hack Library School writers at ALA Annual 2014 (from left to right): Anna-Sophia Zingarelli-Sweet, Lesley Looper, Courtney Baron, and Casey McCoy.
Hack Your Summer Reading Program
Summer. A time for fresh cut grass and ice cream cones and baseball games and…books? Of course! Summer just wouldn’t be the same without summer reading programs, which are in full swing right now in libraries all across the country. In fact, twenty years ago, the National Center for Educational […]
HLS Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Becky Forgive my round-up post highlighting an article from last week. Last Thursday, the Washington Post published an article nominally about librarians-as-affordable-housing-advocates. […]
Farewell for now, and how I made a job-search battle plan
Writing my farewell post for HLS is a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, it means I have completed my MLIS program. On the other hand, it means that my time as an active Hacker has come to an end. Writing for HLS was the highlight of my experiences as […]
“Going Old School” Part 2: Taking an Indexing and Abstracting Course
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Need some reading material to help recover from that crazy week in Vegas? Well fear no more! The long overdue Part 2 of “Going Old School” is finally here! Previously, we informed you the reasons for considering a cataloging course. Hack Library School also had few more […]
Why We Decided on the PhD
I have a lot of MLS students ask me why I decided to go on to a PhD, so I rounded up some of my PhD buddies to give you some answers! Everyone has different reasons for doing the PhD, and while it may not be the right choice for […]
HLS Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: This new series features a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Kara Between my summer semester, a seriously busy personal life, and the copy of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries I checked out a […]
So What Do You Do? Knowledge Management at an Accounting Consulting Firm
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Sarah Dashow. Tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Sarah Dashow, and I am from Raleigh, North Carolina. My undergraduate degree is from NC State in English and International Studies. I am pursuing my MLIS at the University of Western […]
Prepping for Post-Conference Opportunities
Conferences, big or small, tend to be overwhelming, especially as a student. There is tons of information to absorb, there are lots of people to meet, and there are many events/sessions to scurry to. In my limited conference experiences I’ve found that it’s best to go in with a handful of […]
[Hack ALA ’14] Las Vegas: A Quickie History
While I was browsing through our Conferences category and Hack ALA subcategory in preparation for #alaac14, a 2011 guest post from April Martin, “Don’t Forget Where You’re Going: NOLA Beyond the Convention Center Walls,” caught my eye. In that spirit, I thought I’d offer up a brief introduction to the great […]
Introduction to Net Neutrality
As future information professionals, it is vitally important for library school students to follow major trends and topics in our respective industries. Today, library students have more opportunities than ever to participate in discussions and initiatives that will shape the future of our profession. The tools at our disposal include library journals, […]
Hack ALA ’14: Round-Up and Meet-Up!
We are excited to announce there will be a Hack Library School meet-up at ALA Annual this year! Please join us at Firefly on Monday, June 30, at 6:30 PM. Space is limited, so please sign up here! We look forward to meeting like-minded library school students and sharing our […]
Vendor Relationships
It’s conference season (didn’t I just say something like that in last week’s round-up? I must be excited) and with that, exhibit hall season! Other people have shared advice on how to tackle the exhibit hall: restrain yourself from taking all the swag, plan ahead, don’t go hungry. Okay, this […]
New Professionals and the Power of Asking
Asking is more than professional networking, salary negotiating, or relationship building, though any of these can motivate or arise from asking. Neither are we talking about currying favor. For me, asking falls into three general categories: seeking information, requesting roles or resources, and interrogating assumptions. Asking empowers new professionals to gain […]
HLS Weekly Round-Up
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a new series featuring a weekly round-up of interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits related to the world of library school. Enjoy! Lesley The Slate Book Review article, “Against YA,” caused quite a stir when it came out […]
Review: The New Professional’s Toolkit
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in our new Hack Library School review series, which will feature reviews from library school students on books, technology, and multimedia. We welcome review suggestions and we are in the process of developing formal submission guidelines for reviews from those outside the HLS community . For more […]
Self-Employment and the ‘Professional Experience’ Dilemma
This is the time of year when it’s nearly impossible to avoid a graduation speech. Whether you’ve attended a ceremony, or have just been bombarded with YouTube links via your social media outlet of choice, you’ve likely been recently reminded, along with hundreds of thousands of newly minted graduates, to […]
Connecting the Dots: Cataloging and Metadata, The Interview Edition
For the next installment in our technical services mini-series, I’m delighted to introduce long-time HLS commenters and all-around great guys, Jason W. Dean and Elliot D. Williams. When I was first starting library school, I basically cold-called both Elliot and Jason to ask about their experiences and advice, and they’ve […]
Jefferson Smith, Billy Beane and a Fond Farewell
Hey there Hackers, it’s been a while. The last semester has been a whirlwind of activity, and it’s been hard to string two thoughts together to share with you all. Not that you’ve missed me, as the rest of the HLS team has been doing a bang up job during […]
Top Twitter Hashtags for Librarians
Are you ready to become a tweetbrarian? Twitter is a fantastic tool for engaging with other librarians, monitoring LIS trends and debates in real time, and gathering unfiltered insights and inspiration from peers and seasoned professionals. The challenge for new tweeters is to know where to start among the 5,000 librarylanders on Twitter! So […]
The Power of Story
Stories are everywhere: on our shelves, on our screens, and in our conversations. They compose the shows we stream and the ads we tolerate, the news we read and the news we share. As Jonathan Safran Foer wrote, “We live in a world made up more of story than stuff.” […]
Recruiting New LIS Students
I was excited to read recently that ALA is sponsoring a series of informational workshops with the hopes of recruiting a wider pool of students interested in library & information science. The workshops, which are an IMLS-funded partnership between the ALA Office for Diversity & Spectrum Scholarship Program and LIS graduate programs in […]
Hack Your Image of Libraries as Place
Last semester, members of my ALA Student Chapter joined a public tour of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s an extraordinary facility with a growing list of accolades, including the 2014 Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries. I was […]
Virtual Interning: Is It for You?
Just a few days ago, I finished up a semester-long virtual internship with Digital Learn, a PLA initiative grant-funded by IMLS designed to”create an online hub for digital literacy support and training.” Over the last four months, I learned a lot about this fabulous organization, and I also learned a […]
Introducing the New hacklibraryschool.com: A Love Letter to Our Readers
Dear hackers, Well, we did a little spring cleaning, and we are delighted to welcome you to the new and improved hacklibraryschool.com! Since the Fall of 2010, Hack Library School has grown by leaps and bounds, from Google doc to wiki to the rotating cast of bloggers you all know and […]
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 is a fundamental value of the American Library Association, the Society of American Archivists, and the Special Libraries Association (among others). Hack Library School […]
Rigor
Two weeks ago, the Library Loon posted about rigor and diversity in library school. As one might hope from a topic such as that, libraryland twitter erupted in discussion. The Loon’s basic premise–highly simplified here simply because all of you can go read the whole post if so inclined (and I hope you […]
Surviving Cataloging Class
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Tracy Wasserman. Many LIS students dread cataloging/classification class, a required course in some library schools. I found the class piqued my interest enough to take advanced cataloging/classification, a road travelled by few judging by the small class size. This was against the […]
Seeking Feedback on SLA Core Competencies Revision Draft
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Kim Dority. For those of you who are part of or interested in the profession of special librarianship and related fields, the SLA Core Competencies Task Force would like to solicit your feedback on the recently completed draft revision of the Core […]
Extra Credit: Expanding Your Library Education beyond the Classroom
I don’t think any of us entered library school with the notion that it would turn us into perfectly formed librarians, armed with everything we could possibly need to know to become whatever kind of librarian we wanted to be. Our field is much too wide ranging and evolves far […]
5 Things to Know When Taking a Librarian Job Abroad
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Celia Emmelhainz. When you’re worn out by your studies and dreaming of your future post-MLIS life, many library students start to imagine what it would be like to travel somewhere far, far away. With a beach, ideally, and palm trees, and a […]
Librarians I Most Admire
Mentors come in all shapes and sizes. Some come to us through formal mentorship programs, others come to us from our workplaces or personal lives, and still others come to us through social media. But sometimes finding the right fit is a bit of a struggle. Differences in geography, culture, or […]
Memorable LIS Class Assignments
Over the course of our library school careers, we complete dozens of assignments, from reading articles for class discussion to completing research papers and group projects. Many assignments blend together as our library school experience prepares us to begin a variety of careers in library and information science. Some assignments […]
Why Not to Take Traditional Library Courses
Looking at the coursework titles from my four semesters at GSLIS it would be hard to guess what specific LIS profession I am most passionate about. I am graduating this May (*reminder to breathe*) with a Community Informatics certificate and have taken courses in project management, community engagement, web design […]
Editing Wikipedia While In Library School
Are you a Wikibrarian? I recently became one—a librarian who edits Wikipedia (“the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”)—and I have found the experience rewarding in the extreme. I have even stumbled into a role as an embedded consultant, helping faculty teach undergrads how to write Wikipedia articles on gender history, on which improvements are […]
Things to Do Before You Graduate from Library School
My final month as a graduate student will be a whirlwind of activity, largely due to the fact that I am starting a new job just weeks after I graduate. Whether you have a new job, are still on the hunt, are moving or not – graduating from your program […]
Keeping Serendipity Alive: or, Hacking the Culture of Cramming
When I first started talking to librarians about going to library school, I was told over and over that “everyone hates library school; it’s just something you have to do.” Judging by Kara’s posts on asking for help and boosting your enthusiasm when overwhelmed, Alison’s brush with dropping out, and Becky’s […]
Pro Bono Librarianing
I’m an attorney, and one of the things that attorneys are encouraged (in some states,required) to do is pro bono work. “Pro bono” means “for good” and is generally representation of a low-income person or a non-profit organization without payment. Libraries are generally a community function and librarians generally serve […]
Asking for Help When You Need It and Knowing When to Help Yourself
Do you remember what it was like to be an undergraduate? I took a few years off between college and my MLS, but I can still recall the endless “student social events,” the finals-week pampering and “de-stressing” events that my college hosted without fail. The intro-to-the-library session all the first-years […]
