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 […]
How to Keep Reading (for Fun!) in Grad School
My class this semester, as so many of our classes do, started with an assignment to introduce ourselves on an online discussion board. One popular topic of conversation ended up […]
A Brief Guide for COVID-19
I’m overwhelmed. I feel sure I’m not the only one. Until this month, a global pandemic is something I only thought of in terms of a distant, sepia-toned past or […]
The Great Debate
That’s right, it’s time to talk about the great debate of library school students (and all readers, for that matter). The topic that leads to the most personal of classroom […]
Library Adventures
Prior to library school, I never saw librarianship as a particularly adventurous career. So I was pleased to discover that librarianship can take one to exciting places.
Book Club: Leisure Reading in Graduate School
As I entered my information on my Goodreads account, I hesitated. Should I even be setting a reading goal for this year? Back in January, I was determined to read […]
Dead Mountain: Perspectives Beyond Library World
It was a classic story of serendipitous discovery as a public library worker: I spotted Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident on a cart of […]
Learn to read like the pro that you are
Everybody thinks we library types spend all our days lost in the pages of a book (in between the shushing and the date-stamping of course), and alluring as that may […]
useful information, public spaces, and stories
Review of a new “people’s history” of public libraries.
Book Review: Information Services Today
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Nicole Gibby-Munguia. Nicole Gibby-Munguia is in her second-to-last semester in the MLIS program at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. Her interests […]
Let’s Talk Listservs
You’re a savvy library student. You read HLS, you may be active on Twitter, you’re learning to network with other library students and librarians—you’re doing it all right. There are […]
Hack Your Summer: Part One
Welcome to part one of Hack Your Summer! This is our mini series in which Hack Library School writers share with you some of our tips and tricks for having summer fun […]
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 […]
Pre-Library School Summer Reading List
When summer hits, I get reading fever. I credit my childhood public libraries with developing my Pavlovian association. I feel like I want to ask every person on Earth, “So, […]
On Responsibility
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
On Being a “Traditional” Librarian
For the past few months, in addition to being a full time student, I’ve also been working as a librarian at an elementary school. The other day, I was talking to a friend about my job, and she excitedly asked me, “Do you read stories to the children?! I used […]
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 […]
HLS Summer Reading Recommendations
Who is ready for summer? Several of us are finishing up our schoolwork, dealing with stress, and ready for a quick breather. Here are a few summer reading recommendations from your dear HackLibSchool editors. We’ve broken the list down into Leisure and LIS reading. Please add your own recommendations in […]
In defense of reading
One of the long-standing jokes of librarianship is that we all got into the profession because “we love to read”, the punchline of course being that we’re all too overworked to read for fun. While I don’t think anyone should enter professional librarianship with the expectation that reading is a […]
To Read Tues: Recommended Reading Twitter Question
We got a question on Twitter over the weekend about reading material for LIS: RT @brandontlocke: Any recommended reads for aspiring/future MLIS students? It is difficult to respond to such a question in 140 characters or less. I made the attempt by suggesting reputable blogs and e-news sources for LIS […]
Why Am I Reading All of These Kids Books? A Year In Review
During my first semester of school, and into my second semester I read children’s books because I had been told it was an important part of being a children’s librarian. Over the past year I have found that this is true—but it takes more than a belief in this theory […]
To-Read Tuesday [Banned Books edition]
In honor of Banned and Challenged Books Week (Sept 24-Oct 1), we’d like to share some of our new and old banned favorites with you! Join in the conversation in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and spread the word during this fantastic week to celebrate the […]
Best of Semester One
Hi, Since we are all still students, or very VERY early career LIS pros, this time of year is especially full of things to do. That said, you’ll see new content slow down here, for at least the next week or two. We’ll be planning the summer semester’s worth of […]
[Series] LIS Blogs to Follow
Editor’s note: This is not your ‘typical’ LIS Blogs to Follow post – this is a list of non-LIS blogs to keep your eye on from Ben Lainhart and the HackLibSchool editing team. -Heidi Ben Lainhart is graduating this June from Drexel with his MLIS with a concentration in digital […]
[Series] TMI #3 – Nancy Pearl
Here’s another TMI — this time with Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year, Nancy Pearl (@Nancy_Pearl). She met up with me at the University Bookstore in Seattle, Wa. to give us her thoughts about the importance of booktalking in libraries. Have a listen! TMI – Nancy Pearl by heidifk Want […]
Ever Heard of a Librarian Who Doesn’t Read? – OR – What I’ve Learned in Library School So Far.
{This is one of the first posts I wrote about my experiences in Library School, and it spawned a great series of guest posts over at my blog. This was kind of the impetus that began the hacklibschool seedling in my mind. Enjoy!} I know. This is like the worst […]
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