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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Reflections on Trust and Safety
“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.” ― Paulo Coelho, Brida Before you read this any further, […]
Serving the Public When the Building’s Closed
This past Friday, I was leading a session on Empathy-Driven Customer Service with approximately 20 public library staff members in my county. It had been an interesting day already: I […]
Courses, Paraprofessionals, and Information Organizations, Oh My: When an MLIS Starts Coming Together
During the second to last semester of my MLIS program, I can say with some amount of certainty that, however many courses one takes, there is no guarantee that any […]
Planning for PLA
PLA 2020 in “Music City” is just around the corner! For many in the LIS field, conferences full of thousands of people can be an overwhelming yet necessary experience. This […]
On Job Hunting and Farewell!
It’s time for my final post, and is of course obligatory here at Hack Library School, I’ll be writing about finishing school and that dreaded job hunt. As Melissa so […]
Still Undecided: Public vs Academic Libraries
I entered library school undecided as to what path I wanted to take in libraries. I had worked for four years in my college’s academic library, so I was leaning […]
Good Books – Lessons in Readers’ Advisory
“Do you have any good books?” If you’ve worked at a reference desk in a public library, you are all too familiar with this frustrating question.
Skills Learned in a Toddler Story Time
Or, how singing with two year olds prepares you for librarianship. It’s here— your first story time. You’ve taken the Children’s Services courses, you’ve watched your colleagues run a few […]
Game On: Circulating Video Games at the Library
With the popularity of video games and more libraries circulating non-traditional materials, Burlingame Public Library experiments with offering a video game collection.
Dusting Off Genealogy Collections in Library School
Last semester, I took a course on Archives & Media which required one semester-long group project, focusing on creating a digital map of the route taken by the Brinton Entertainment […]
The Wonderful World of Non-Traditional Collections: Spotlight on Art-To-Go [Series]
This is the second installment in a series which aims to explore unusual or non-traditional collections in libraries. You can read Chezlani’s first installment, highlighting the non-traditional seed collection at Honoka’a […]
One way or another: deciding which librarianship path is for you
You know you want to be a librarian, but do you know which kind of librarian you would like to be? There are many fascinating areas of specialties in librarianship, but the ultimate divide is most often between academic librarianship and public librarianship. Why do some people choose one route […]
It’s Not Shelved In the 420s: Legalized Marijuana and Other Intellectual Freedom Concerns
I’m lucky enough to live in Colorado – an absolutely beautiful state that boasts mountains and prairies, great educational opportunities, and an awesome community of library professionals. It’s also one […]
An Escalator That’s Only Going Up: What I’ve Learned From Failed Patron Interactions
I’ve worked at a public library for almost two and a half years now, and while I overwhelmingly love my job and working with my community, I have also had […]
The Wonderful World of Non-Traditional Library Collections: Spotlight on Seeds!
You probably know by now that libraries worldwide are lending out so much more than books and media. To highlight just a few: The Sacramento Public “Library of Things” loans […]
ESOL Programs in Public Libraries
Public libraries offer a variety of programs for their patrons, from music concerts to DIY programs, and even English classes. Knowing that libraries are places where people seek information and […]
Review: Real-World Teen Services Librarianship with Jennifer Velasquez
Allison Randall Gatt is in her sixth and final year at the San José State University iSchool, studying to be a youth services librarian. When not taking classes, writing for […]
Making Your Program Your Own
It’s that time of the year again. For those of us that took a summer off from our LIS studies to have, well, a summer away from school, welcome back! […]
The Good, the Bad, and the Green: Libraries and Sustainability
When I started my library career last fall, I came to it from more than ten years of organic gardening and concern for sustainability. I envision my future role as […]
From Homeschool to Library School… and lessons learned along the way
First, a brief background, since I’m new here. I finished my undergrad in 2003, and in the ensuing 12 years, went about as far outside of the academic realm as […]
A Day in the Life of an LIS Student [Guest Post]
Talking about time management is helpful. Tips and encouragement (as found here previously on HLS) are great ways to offer help about the time we have and how to best […]
What Library Displays Taught Me About Effort, Good Intentions, and Failure
There aren’t a ton of articles on this topic here at HLS, so today we’re going to talk about failure. More specifically, my failure. I’ve been serving on the display […]
useful information, public spaces, and stories
Review of a new “people’s history” of public libraries.
greening and sustaining libraries
It can be easy, faced with big statements and bigger revelations, to forget that a billion small, everyday choices also play a role in environmental impacts like climate change. What place do libraries have in this landscape? What does it mean for them to be “green” or “sustainable”? A review of Greening Libraries (2012) and Focus on Educating from Sustainability: Toolkit for Academic Libraries (2014).
Peering Down the Rabbit Hole: Prefacing the MLIS with Work Experience
I still have two weeks until I even start classes for my MLIS degree. I’m starting to feel like Alice peering down the rabbit hole, waiting to fall. Unlike Alice, […]
The Know-Nothing, or: How to be a Library Novice
The Reference Desk can be an intimidating place when you know nothing.
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 […]
The Highs and Lows of Teen Tech Week
If you work in teen services you are probably already elbow deep in programming, but for the rest here is a reminder: it is almost Teen Tech Week! Next week, March 9-15, libraries across the country will be celebrating YALSA’s “DIY @ your library” theme by providing programs on coding, […]
