A Critical Pedagogy Reading List
As I work my way closer to my professional goal of becoming an instruction librarian, I have found myself digging deeper into the theory and practice of critical pedagogy. If […]
When Registration Day Goes Wrong
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on December 22, 2014. My registration for Spring 2015 was on the stressful side. Registration opened at 8:30AM on registration day, which meant […]
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 […]
Uncharted Territory: Taking classes outside of your MLIS program’s core curriculum
Sometimes, one of the best decisions you can make in your academic career is to go off the beaten track, and challenge expectations, even your own. After coming off one […]
Digital Humanities, Service to Graduate Students and Why Future Academic Librarians Should Care
This article presents a brief overview of the digital humanities and the reasons why future academic librarians ought to pay attention to it, and focuses on a somewhat neglected area of service–service to humanities graduate students
Social Justice in Library School Education
Social Justice, Privilege, Equity, Inclusion. These terms are all terms that each of us as MLIS students have heard with some level of frequency. Libraries are commonly thought to be […]
The Ultimate “Malquestion”: Online or Face-to-Face Classes?
I am currently enrolled in the on-campus MSLIS program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My initial plan was to do their online Leep program so I could still […]
UX and Entrepreneurship in Library School
Things I never thought I’d do in library school: 1. Fall in love with a field that’s not LIS (Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design) 2. Co-found a tech start-up with a […]
What’s Your Lib School Like? Part Two
Welcome to What’s Your Lib School Like? Part Two! In this series, we’ll be asking our contributing writers questions about their library school. Question 2: How does your lib school […]
What’s Your Lib School Like? Part One
Welcome to What’s Your Lib School Like? Part One! In this series, we’ll be asking our contributing writers questions about their library school. Question 1: What has been your favorite […]
Administrative Transparency – Obstacles & Opportunities
Since my post in December 2014 on administrative transparency, I’ve been trying to actively step up my participation and engagement with my school. My post led to conversations with several peers […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Library Buildings
This semester I’m taking a class on library buildings. “Library buildings? Is that a class?” you ask? Indeed it is! Taught by Fred Schlipf, an LIS professor, library buildings consultant, and former public library director, the course is an introduction to the physical spaces that LIS institutions occupy. One of the […]
Service Learning: Friend or Foe?
One of my courses this semester (Community Informatics) required a sizable amount of “service learning” (for those who don’t know, service learning is basically community service/volunteering activities that are incorporated into a course). When I mentioned the extensive, unpaid time commitment that the service learning represented to a friend of […]
Too Much Structure or Not Enough?
I confused some people when I said that I was going to library school, but that I wanted to be an archivist. I developed my passion for archives when I was an undergrad, and that was the specialization I was going to the pursue in library school. I’ll just come […]
When Do We Need a Translator?
When evaluating which courses to take, students often start with the list of undeniably library-specific courses: reference, cataloging, archives, etc. But as the profession continues to evolve it has become more and more interdisciplinary. Library students today take end up taking everything from web programming to marketing, from database design […]
Obstacles & How to Deal with Them
As I finish up my MLIS (August graduation!) and start my certificate program, I find myself wanting to share a little library school wisdom. So things might get a little feelings-heavy, but bear with me; also, this advice goes to both new and returning library students: Library school is a […]
Start reading job ads now
One piece of advice that multiple people gave me around the time I started library school is: it is never too early to start reading library job ads (especially if you’ve already started library school). Of course the library hiring process is not so lengthy that you need to start actually […]
Updates from the World of a PhD Student: Finishing Up the Second Year
Hey everyone! I’ve been absent from posting as regularly as I used to, but I wanted to poke my head in and tell you all about how my PhD program is going. Hopefully it will be helpful for those of you considering a PhD yourselves! I’ve posted a bit about […]
Are We Learning Enough About Users?
Well into my second semester of library school, I find myself still recovering from a bit of metaphorical whiplash I picked up in the fall. You see, I’m not sure how to feel about users. I know it sounds like a no-brainer. Without users, after all, our workplaces would be […]
Getting Political
I’m always on the lookout for articles, blog posts, and anything else with some variant of “things they don’t teach in library school,” as I’m sure many of you are […]
Should Online Coursework Be a Library School Requirement?
This semester I’m taking ‘Distributed Learning Librarianship’ online at the University of North Texas. Needless to say online learning is on my mind. In August of last year Rose L. Chou contributed a great HLS post In Defense of Online LIS Education, and Laura Sanders’ recent post on Teaching Methods […]
Some Thoughts On Course Evaluations
It’s nearing the end of the term—and that means course evaluations are looming. To be honest, I start thinking about course evaluations on the first day of class. I like to keep mental notes on my classes throughout the semester so that I have coherent comments to offer up at […]
Leadership in the Library Industry
I love theory. The ideas that disciplines and professions are based off of. The bedrock of our world views. The base of our ideologies. Some of my favorite courses in library school were the foundation courses. At the time they were frustrating, because I wanted to be working in a […]
Google University
I had actually planned on writing a post about informal networking this week. But then I was distracted. That distraction came in the form of an invite to Google’s new, Google+ platform. A great deal has already been written about the platform so I won’t get into the details of […]
Hack Your Program: Emporia State University’s School of Library and Information Management
Disclaimer: This is a post of my individual perspective on my MLIS program and not representative of the student body or faculty of ESU. I started the program in the fall of 2009 and will finish in December of 2011. Before I get into the nitty-gritty details of my experience […]
Non-Traditional Roles in LIS
Research Analyst. Yup, no “librarian” in that title. Yet, it’s my current job title. And it is the job title of my 6 other colleagues. They all of have MLIS degrees (and very soon so will I!) Now I’ve discussed my role in a previous post on special libraries. So […]
But what classes should I take?
As I’m sure many readers can attest to, it can be difficult to figure out the “right” path to take in library school in terms of courses. Since I was fairly undecided as to what type of library I wanted to work in I was hoping to take a little […]
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