Author’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on the state of library instruction training in LIS programs. In part one, we will discuss why such training matters. Part two […]
Today I’m going to scale back a little bit to talk about graduate school more generally, and some events that have been affecting my own university in particular. These last few weeks have been tough for my school, UW-Milwaukee, as the governor of Wisconsin has announced that his proposed budget […]
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 Chris Bourg gave a talk […]
I love January because it signals a fresh start. The possibilities of a new year motivate me to work hard so I can achieve my goals. I’m in my last […]
What are your least favorite parts of library school? Your answer will depend on a lot of things, but one of the biggest factors in my personal likes and dislikes […]
Every year for Black History Month, I make a special reading list—Harlem Renaissance poetry, African American children’s books, etc. But last year, I spent the whole month on one book: In […]
One of my new year/new semester resolutions is to really get my digital housekeeping in line. Over break I read a Washington Post piece shared by Brianna, a wonderful HLS alum, […]
A review of The New Downtown Library: Designing With Communities. The book covers a lot of ground and leaves many loose ends, making it an excellent candidate for a teaching text in a studio course on library architecture.
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 […]
This March I will make the trek to Urbana-Champaign for the on-campus portion of my program for the last time. Up until recently, online students in the LEEP program were […]
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! Ryan I’m thoroughly intrigued by Hybrid […]
I mostly read HLS posts from my fellow contributors and nod along – I learn new things all the time but I can usually relate – not so the recent […]
New year’s resolutions and last year’s mistakes are two sides of the same coin. So, as we jump into the new year, the new quarter/semester, and the new stumbles it will […]
In working at an academic library over the past couple of years, I found myself on a few search committees for librarian positions. Serving on search committees provides valuable insight into the job application process. You really learn a lot about what works, and what doesn’t work, when applying and […]
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! Courtney Happy new year! This spring […]
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Katherine Hickey, MS and Kyungwon Koh, PhD. Innovative learning spaces called Makerspaces and Learning Labs have become a ubiquitous presence in the world […]
On Hack Library School, there have been a lot of articles about conferences. These have mainly focused on the advantages of attending local library or archives conferences or the big ‘un, ALA, over the summer. My goal here isn’t to rehash what has already been written but to talk about […]
Tis the season to be applying to library school! For those of you applying to library programs, you might be feeling like you won’t be able to fully embrace 2015 until after you’ve conquered the […]
About two weeks ago, I sat in a bar with a few friends and toasted to the end of our first semester of library school. Except it wasn’t really the […]
I just recently published my first scholarly, peer-reviewed article in a library journal. It was a long and sometimes grueling process that was 9 months in the making, but it was worth it! I’d like to share a few points as to why publishing in grad school matters in the long […]
My registration for Spring 2015 was on the stressful side. Registration opened at 8:30AM on registration day, which meant I had to register from work. Not a big deal, I’m […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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?”
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 […]
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. 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 Reference Desk can be an intimidating place when you know nothing.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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:
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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?” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Hack Library School writers at ALA Annual 2014 (from left to right): Anna-Sophia Zingarelli-Sweet, Lesley Looper, Courtney Baron, and Casey McCoy.
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
