Take a Break: Ideas for Relaxing over Winter Vacation
It’s December! We did it! If you’re on the quarter system like me, then vacation has already started, and if you’re on semesters, then break is right around the corner. […]
On Library School and Invisible Disabilities
Over the last 20 or so months, I’ve seen an uptick in conversations regarding mental health in academia. Current and former Hackers have written some excellent posts about navigating mental […]
LIS Mental Health Week 2021: A Summary
How has it already been a year of pandemic living? Readers, are you all doing okay? Personally, I’m doing better than before, but graduation right around the corner has brought […]
Lessons Learned from my First Fully Online Semester
Almost exactly one year ago, I published my first post here on HLS all about the lessons I learned during my first semester of library school. Past me who wrote […]
Grieving and Change
We all keep writing about the pandemic, with no concrete answers and some advice. There are so many unknowns about what life is going to look like in even just […]
On Productivity
The month of March has felt exhausting. With the shift to telework and remote classes to constant concerns about COVID-19 to practicing social distancing, everyone is working to adjust to […]
Work/Life Balance, Mental Health, and Rest for LIS Professionals and Students
These topics of mental health, burnout, work/life balance, and otherwise surviving library school and the profession have been frequent discussions this year. They keep coming up on the blog; Jane […]
Lessons Learned from My First Semester
“Tips for library school.” “What to expect in your first semester of grad school.” “What is library school like?” Do any of those search phrases sound familiar? If so, you […]
New Semester Goals
I don’t know about anyone else, but creating New Year’s Resolutions has always been nerve-wracking for me. Personally, it’s daunting to plan something regularly over the course of 366 days […]
Mindfulness
Whether you’re at the very beginning, middle, or nearing the end of your career as a graduate student, library school can be overwhelming. In this often liminal space, the lines […]
How to Hack Your Program When You’re Overwhelmed
It’s the end of the summer term, and all my final projects are due soon. To make matters worse, back when I had more energy and the sun was shining, […]
Advice for Library School Students from the Slacker Generation
I graduated high school back in 1996, when being a slacker was a legitimate life aspiration. Work was for sell-outs, cool people lounged around reading zines and being poor. Not […]
In library school, and life, you have more time than you think.
For the sake of context, I’m going to talk about myself for a moment. In addition to being a new contributing writer here at Hack Library School, I am an […]
MLISing in the Real World – Striking the Balance
If there is one thing that the average Master in Information and Library Science candidate is familiar with, it is the constant need for balance: school, work, internships, volunteering, and that is just a baseline that does not take into account added complications such as marriage, or kids.
Medication as Self-Care
During my time as an undergraduate I began to realize that my familiar overthinking, irritability with people I logically did not want to be irritated with, and need for perfection […]
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 […]
Emotional Labor in Library School and Work
A typical day for me might include going to class, meeting with a professor or two, scouring LinkedIn, staffing the reference desk, grocery shopping, and talking to my mom. I […]
Summer Reading Survival
If you work in a public library in the United States, you are probably currently in the throes of that glorious time known as Summer Reading. If you are in youth services, you are at the forefront of the work by helping young people find and choose books, leading creative […]
Self-Care: Job Search Season Edition
Yet another post regarding the job search process! They say looking for a full-time job is a full-time job itself. Knowing this beforehand helps, but you might not fully understand […]
I Am Not “Just the Diversity Hire”: Racial Difference, Authenticity, and Tokenism in Academic Libraries
Today we welcome a post by Veronica Arellano Douglas as part of our collaboration with ACRLog (the blog of the Association of College and Research Libraries). Veronica Arellano Douglas is a Reference […]
Self-Care at ALA Annual Conference
I’ll be attending the American Library Association’s Annual Conference for the first time ever this month and I’m both nervous and excited. Pouring over the schedule of events, there are […]
Lessons from outside the classroom : managing information overload
If I had to choose one phrase to describe my first year of library school, “information overload” would be a strong contender.
Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and/or Tired? HALT!
As the political climate, and our semesters/quarters, have waxed and waned, I am in solidarity with continuing to find ways to resist. However, if you’re anything like me, sometimes you […]
Imposter Syndrome as a Student
Have you ever felt like your colleagues know more about your field than you do? Or like your successes can be attributed to luck rather than hard work and persistence? […]
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 […]
Don’t panic! A hackers guide to self care as a library student
I am really excited to be finally starting my MLIS as it’s something I’ve wanted to do for several years, but at the same time I’m experiencing feelings of stress, […]
Asking for Help When You Need It and Knowing When to Help Yourself
Do you remember what it was like to be an undergraduate? I took a few years off between college and my MLS, but I can still recall the endless “student social events,” the finals-week pampering and “de-stressing” events that my college hosted without fail. The intro-to-the-library session all the first-years […]
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