Subsidized Loans: A Relic of Our Past?

The other day, when I found out that graduate student aid had been heavily hit by the budget deal struck by Congress, the only thing I could think to tweet as I shared a link on the topic was “you’ve let students down.” The tweet came somewhat out of fear for my own financial future, but mostly for that of my fellow students. I am fortunate in that I have an assistantship and am pursuing a PhD (which can, potentially, open doors to new funding sources than I could access during my MLS, although I doubt people will be banging down my door and hurling money at me.) However, having just completed that degree, I remember what a struggle it was to track down funding outside of student loans and what a blessing subsidized loans and deferred payments were for me. It made it possible for me to go to school, and I suspect the same is true for many HLS readers. With that in mind, I thought I would devote my post to talking about the changes in student loans, the little bit of sense I can make of it, and how it might impact graduate education.

[Series] Experiencing LIS – Information Literacy & Instruction

Carolyn Caffrey is in her last semester of the MLS program at Indiana University Bloomington. Originally from Southern California she relocated to the land of corn where she works in instruction and reference. She is an aspiring instruction librarian, who loves roller derby, office supplies, spring, and critical information literacy. You can find her on twitter (@cmcaffre) or at her blog.

Following up our recent editing-team post about Internships, here’s another way to get experience while in school. Carolyn has written a thoughtful post with great specifics for those interested in information literacy and instruction. Comments and other tips are welcome!

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[Series] Experiencing LIS – The Internship Edition

It is said over and over, across blogs, professional organizations and probably in your program: real, practical work experience is what will get you a job after school. For students what that means is that seeking out, securing and excelling in an internship is key to the library school experience. We wanted to take a brief moment to tell you all about some of our experiences in this area, and offer some tips and advice. Please do ask questions in the comments if you’d like to follow up with any of us on details about internships. If this is not already a requirement in your program, it’d be worth approaching someone about making it one.

[Series] Experiencing LIS: Route to School

One of the fascinating aspects of librarianship is the variety of backgrounds represented in the field. The paths that lead us from a childhood love of books, or a respect for sharing knowledge and supporting local communities, are from many disparate points of view, educational and political stances, and personal histories. Tracing those paths is a subject not unfamiliar to LIS folks on the web; in fact Ned Potter (@theREALwikiman) and Laura Woods’ Library Routes Project and the Library Origins Stories [found on @evagro 's blog] have already done much chronicling in this area. Inspired by such projects, the HackLibSchool teamsters decided to share our “Routes To School.” We encourage you to share your own in the comments, on our Facebook page, or on either of the linked projects above.

The stories that led us here are as integral to our professional growth as the stories we have yet to create.

Enjoy!

[Series] Experiencing LIS

You can sit in an LIS class and soak up everything the instructor has to say, but when it comes down to it, you’ve got to have some experience in the field if you’re going to become an innovator, a diva director, a YES! youth-services librarian, an intelligent instructor, a [fill in your dream-job position]. Being a student, gives you tons of opportunities to get experience. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Please share other ways you’ve been experiencing LIS outside of class.