Things I Wished I Knew Before I Started Grad School
Since I’m graduating this May, I wanted to use my final HLS blog post to reflect a bit on the things I wish I knew before I started grad school. […]
What’s in a program?
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 7, 2016. Recently a panel of Catholic University of America faculty and department affiliates interviewed me as a part of a […]
Advice for Starting a New Job During Grad School
I’ve been very fortunate to have gotten a new full-time librarian job before I graduate from my MLIS program this May, but transitioning to a new job in the middle […]
So, you want to apply to LIS grad school? Advice from a student MLIS Admissions Committee member.
Disclaimer: This post is particular to the author’s perspectives and opinions. It is not intended to be representative or indicative of any other member of the MLIS Admissions Committee and […]
Group Work: How to Survive & Even Thrive
The topic of group work has been a frequent one at HLS and since I am embroiled in a lengthy and complicated group project during this fall quarter at the […]
Giving and Receiving Feedback: A Skill for Grad School and Life
Learning how to give effective feedback to colleagues, classmates, and even professors as well as receive feedback yourself is a skill that takes practice, nurturing, an open mind, and a […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Hack Your Online Class: How to Stay Awake and Alert
This post was originally published on October 26, 2015. I have a confession to make. Sometimes I color in my coloring book while I’m in class. And you know what? […]
How to Pick the Right Library School for You
Do you want to go to library school, but don’t know how to find the best one for you? This list of factors to consider will guide you through the […]
Defending Your Library Degree
Those who are interested in this career path, have started on this career path, or are far into this career path already are familiar with some of the top responses to […]
Burnout and self care: a reflection on registering for classes.
Email alerts are disruptive, by design. Today, though, that disruption was exactly the encouragement I needed to reflect on library school, and life.
4 Takeaways from 2018
It seems like I always say the same thing around this time of the year — how is it the end of the year already?! I still remember exactly what […]
A Minnesotan Moves to Montreal
Last month, I wrote a Hack Your Program post about McGill University’s School of Information Studies.
Connecting with the Incoming Class
It’s officially August, which means summer is coming to an end, and the first day of classes is right around the corner. This time last year marked a move to […]
Feeling the Burn(out)
In the summer of 2016, I quit my full-time, salaried job with benefits, packed up my belongings, and moved to Denver to begin my Master’s in Library and Information Science […]
A Quick Guide to Choosing Classes
Hello Hackers! My name is Chloe and I’m a new writer at Hack Library School. I have two bachelor’s degrees in English and Theater with a focus in creative writing. […]
A Farewell to School.
The thing about 2 years in graduate school is that there is an artificial ending built into the system, graduation. I graduated this May, passed the torch of Community Manager […]
A Farewell Post: Crafting (and Completing!) a Class Checklist
Library school can seem very short. My personal experience was four semesters and a summer internship. Such a short time span doesn’t leave much room for all the classes, conferences, […]
Grounding Academic Librarianship and Elitism
Less than four months into my MLIS, I have already become immersed in the library world within academia. Not only do I wish to be an academic librarian after I […]
Treat Yourself: Reflect On Your LIS Life
Here at HLS we love reflection pieces; we have plenty written after symposiums, conferences, and after our time in library school. To build off the incredible post in honor of […]
Valuing Professional Librarianship
Paul Lai, HLS alumnus, works as a manager of information resources for an online university’s writing center and as a librarian in a public library. He lives in the Twin Cities, […]
The Perils of Seeing a Job as Your Endgame
This is part of the ongoing ACRLog/HLS collaboration. Check out ACRLog for Elizabeth Lieutenant’s post on “Practitioner Engagement in LIS Education” Read more about the project here! Callie Wiygul began […]
Tell Your Conference Anxiety to Shut Up, Already: Thoughts from CALCon15
As I was a recipient of a last-minute scholarship, I found out that I was attending the Colorado Association of Libraries Conference about a week before it started–that’s enough to […]
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!
Sparks Fly: Joining Returning and New Master Students
Orientation is daunting. Let’s just put it out there and admit it. You’re asked to come to a new building, talk to new people, and attempt to navigate a new […]
Tips for Your First Semester of Library School
Starting library school this semester? We’ve been there! Here’s our advice on everything from scheduling to technology to maintaining a social life.
When (Online) Group Projects Go Wrong
We all know “that guy” (or girl). The one who doesn’t respond to emails, doesn’t offer to contribute any work, and has a generally nasty attitude. In a traditional classroom […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
HLS is proud to introduce our nine new writers. With an impressive range of experience and interests, we can’t wait to hear what they have to say! Jennifer Eltringham is […]
LIS Advice: the Greatest Hits
I’ve been thinking a lot about this post – how to sum up my time in library school, how to sum up my time with HLS, and what kind of […]
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 […]
Laptop Requirements & Access in LIS Education
This past semester my institution decided to spread the news that beginning in the fall semester it would institute a mandatory (for enrolled students) laptop requirement for our program. My […]
How to Read for Grad School
Before I attended boot camp for my library school program, we were assigned to read a colossal amount of material. We’re talking hundreds of pages of (mostly) interesting, yet dense […]
How to Build a Conference
This past spring I spent countless hours working on a little gathering called the Symposium on LIS Education. For those who aren’t familiar with it, the symposium was a small, if enthusiastic […]
This Is How I Study: Part 2
Inspired by the popular Lifehacker series, This Is How I Work, and the companion post from Letters to a Young Librarian, we here at Hack Library School would like to share with […]
This Is How I Study: Part 1
Inspired by the popular Lifehacker series, This Is How I Work, and the companion post from Letters to a Young Librarian, we here at Hack Library School would like to share with […]
Surviving the Mid-Semester Burnout
It’s that time again. Midterms are well underway, and it’s becoming apparent that we should all start seriously thinking about those final papers and projects that are due […]
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 […]
Top Mistakes I Made at my First Conference
Last month I had the opportunity to attend ALA Midwinter, my first multi-day conference. I was stoked, but totally unprepared. Here are some of the things I did wrong and […]
Grad School 2.0
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Nancy Albers Shore, a master’s candidate at the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science. She was homeschooled from […]
Five Mistakes I Made in My First Quarter of Library School
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 […]
Countdown to Your Library School Application Deadline
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Cheap Skate or Pioneering Information Professional?
I’m not going to say that my graduate student budget forced me into the world of open source software, but it certainly didn’t hurt. There was a time when “open source” was synonymous with “free of charge”, but with the proliferation of mobile technologies and free apps, the lines between […]
The Scariest Things We’ve Done In Library School
When I was a freshly-declared English major, just beginning to flex my college reading and writing muscles, one of my professors told me something that has stuck with me ever since: “If you feel like you’re out on the tightrope and it’s swinging, that’s good. That’s where life is.” As […]
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 […]
What It’s Like to Work Full Time in Library School
In today’s post, several Hackers discuss what they have learned about the challenges and benefits of working full time while in library school. Whether you are wondering if full time work is right for you or struggling to balance your obligations between work and classes, it can help to know that […]
Top 8 Reasons to go to an International Library Conference
I recently traveled to Barcelona, Spain for BOBCATSSS, a library conference organized by European library science students. Upon returning I realized that many of my peers were unaware of the variety of international library conference opportunities that students can take advantage of. As LIS students, we are frequently encouraged to […]
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 […]
Library School Mergers
I recently received an email via my library school’s student listserv explaining that our university Provost has asked the library school and the College of Media to explore “integrating their two units.” It is very early in the exploratory process, and certainly not a sure thing yet, but it got me […]
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 […]
Goodbye Library School, Hello High School
Well, this is it, kids: my time in library school is over, and so too ends my time writing for Hack Library School. This is so long, this is farewell, this is auf wiedersehen and adieu. This is also when I’m supposed to write a nice post summing up my time […]
Student Leadership: Time to get on Board!
I’m a joiner. There, I said it. Being a part of one organization or another has been as natural as breathing for me since I was a kid. So it was only fitting that I joined the Student Archivists at Maryland (our chapter of the Society of American Archivists) when I […]
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 […]
The Foreboding Finale: Master’s Capstone
In my program (UNC SILS), all master’s students are required to complete a capstone paper or project prior to graduation. Both options require students to approach a “problem” in information or library science in a “substantial and scholarly way.” No small feat, right? I bet a bunch of you out […]
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 […]
3 Unexpected Library School Lessons
Some of my favorite questions to ask librarians during informational interviews revolve around surprise: What has most surprised you about your current role or about your career path? Is there anything you wish you had known sooner? I’ve found their answers to be particularly useful as I try to figure […]
Presenting Your Best Self
Library school is full of presentations. Whether it’s a short, informal talk or a long, detailed speech, I’ve had to give some kind of presentation for almost every library school class I’ve taken. Partly just a given in academia, frequent presentations will also be a reality for many of us in our […]
The Undercover Library Student
Your task is to develop a persona, and make up a research question that persona might ask. It can be anything you want. Once you have a question, take it to a reference desk at a library/archive/historical society of your choosing. Then write a paper about the experience. Sound familiar? […]
Hack Your Program: The University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences
Disclaimer: This post contains opinions and statements that are mine and may not be representative of other students and faculty within this program. The School of Information Sciences (SIS) at the University of Tennessee is ranked 17th in the U.S. News rankings of library science programs. The School has roots as […]
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 […]
Gaining Experience in School
For graduate students, ‘practical experience’ can mean a lot of different things. For some of us this means traveling to foreign countries for digs and research, volunteering in labs, internships at potential employers, or simply participation in conferences and papers. Regardless, practical participation in our fields is extremely important to […]
Favorite Tech Tools – GradHacker Reports
Alex Galarza Zotero has become my favorite tech tool for three reasons. I have had great success organizing my personal citations, collaborating with my peers in coursework, and building group a group library for my field. I use Zotero as a giant net to catch all of the citations relevant […]
The Advisor/Advisee Relationship – GradHacker Edition
This post is written by GradHacker writers and is part of our crossover week, check out Hack Library School’s advice about advisor/advisee relations on their blog here: GradHacker. In graduate school, creating the perfect advisor/advisee relationship can be a daunting if not impossible task. Trent, Cory and Katy give their […]
HackLibSchool, meet GradHacker.
All, I am pleased and honored to introduce something special that we are doing this week. We will be working with our colleagues over at GradHacker in a collaborative blog post-a-thon. Here at HackLibSchool you’ll be reading posts from some GradHacker writers, while we will be posting over there this […]
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