Becoming a new supervisor while in library school
Taking on my first library management role while still in graduate school – a fun, real life lesson in leadership!
Fitting it all in: Hacking Library School as a parent
An ongoing series about the juggling the challenges of library school as a parent.
This Is How I Study: Part 1
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on April 8, 2015. Inspired by the popular Lifehacker series, This Is How I Work, and the companion post from Letters to a Young […]
6 People You Meet at Online Library School
One of the underrated joys of library school is being able to observe your fellow classmates. We come from different places and backgrounds, it’s true, but after a while, you […]
Post Pandemic Trends in the Library
I started my current job right before the pandemic started, so I have a faint, yet glittering, memory of what library life was like pre-pandemic. Strange as it is to […]
Hack the Librarian Wardrobe: Feminine [2022]
I love wearing clothes. Nothing can boost my confidence like a cute outfit. Especially when days can be so…repetitive, clothes bring me life. If you’re here, you might feel the […]
Snapshot: The Life of a Supervisor
This month I’d like to take a minute to build on some recent pieces by Melissa and the other Lauren B. where they took you behind the scenes into their […]
Snapshot: A Day in the Life of a Paraprofessional
For those of you who are in library school but haven’t begun working in a library just yet, this article is for you. I want to illustrate just what a […]
Just 15 Funny Library Tweets
Hi all. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting to the point in the semester where I’m rapidly running out of gas. I’m swamped with work and only have […]
Myths and Realities of Your 1st Semester of Library School [Online]
Thinking about library school? Wondering what it’s really like? Think that online school might be the best/easiest option for your increasingly complicated life? Let me tell you about it, since […]
So you want to be a medical librarian, perhaps? [Interview Edition]
Are you debating what type of library field you’d like to pursue after graduation? Has it been a challenge for you to sit down and decide your options? Would you […]
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, […]
Distance Learning in Elementary School: How One School Library Operates
Last year, I had volunteered in or had visited all of the elementary school libraries in my district. The books were shelved, the librarians were calm, and the students were […]
“I’m baaaaack” – My experiences with going back to campus and back to the library during the COVID-19 pandemic
I have been back on campus and back in my office in my library since July 20th. That was my first day back on campus since I left work on […]
Reflections on Labor Day 2020
After months of masks, sheltering and social distancing, Labor Day this year just feels weird. In society’s mind, this is the unofficial end-of-summer and start of school year. Folks plan […]
Planning a practicum in a pandemic
I confess I wasn’t planning to write about COVID-19. But ruminating on how my month has transpired since my last post, I realized everything I was planning to write about […]
Digital Reserves: A Pandemic Tale
For those of us in the academic library world, the past few weeks have been an eye-opening experience. Like every schoolteacher in the world, our faculty had to convert their […]
How I Survived My First Full Week of Classes
The very first classes of my first semester of library school started on the 3rd of this month; which means that, at the time of writing this, I am about […]
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.
Hack Your Program: Western University Faculty of Information and Media Studies
Disclaimer: This post represents my own perspectives and experiences. My opinions are not intended to be the opinions of any other student, faculty, or staff. Quick Overview I may be […]
The Five Stages of Discussion Posts
If your classes are asynchronous, you probably have to write posts and responses about class readings. This format is not isolated to LIS programs. In a former graduate program, I […]
A Week in the Life
Way back in the day, when I was a future library school student, I was always interested in what the daily life of a MLIS student looked like. With that […]
Tips from the Trenches: Library School While Parenting: Wins and #Fails
Tips for how to hack library school while being a parent from parents who’ve been there.
A day in the life : Substitute Librarian III, Hilo Public Library
Chezlani Casar is a 2017 UH Manoa and Hack Library School alumni. She is currently a “freelance librarian,” meaning that she subs in the public system when possible and spends […]
The DNA of a Science and Law Librarian: My interview with Ruben Diaz
One aspect of becoming a librarian that I find particularly fascinating is learning more about specialized areas of the profession that I don’t know much about. I was fortunate enough […]
Group projects: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Group work is common experience for library school students, and a pretty popular topic of discussion here at HLS. I managed to avoid this experience during my first year as […]
Providing Library Services to Incarcerated Populations: Centinela State Prison [Series]
This is an interview series that will highlight the ways in which libraries and organizations serve incarcerated populations. You can read the first installment in the series, an interview with […]
So You Feel Like Your Class Was a Waste of Time
You did it. You’ve typed the final sentence of your grueling final essay. You’ve breathed a sigh of relief as your applauding classmates signal the end of your last presentation. […]
A week in the life
There have been several posts over the years about typical library school student schedules, but there hasn’t been one in a while, so I figured it’s time for a new […]
In Defense of Museums: How Working at a Museum Shaped my LIS Education
For almost a year and half, I’ve been working at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, scanning glass plate slides of scientific expeditions and entering in metadata regarding […]
Meeting the Women in the Boxes: Reflections on Events in the Archives
Have you ever seen the stacks of an archives? In most cases, they are rows and rows of standard sized archival boxes. The only indication of the exciting content within […]
Why Oral Is Awesome
Us librarian types, we’re all about literacy, and we all acknowledge the power of the written word. Writing helped shape civilization as we know it; of course it’s powerful. Our […]
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 […]
Hack Your Program – University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa Library and Information Science
Aloha! I wanted to share with all of you some information about an LIS program you might not know much about. Though many people think of Hawaiʻi as a vacation […]
Conference Planning 101
On November 11 and 12, Hawai’i Library Association held its annual conference in Hilo (on the “Big” Island). As a state-wide conference (in a small state), it’s obviously a much […]
Why Am I Here? End of Year Reflections
As we move through our individual degree programs, it is incredibly easy to get bogged down in the details of assignments, the job-hunt, and attempting to maximize our time in […]
Traveling Libraries: Librarians Thinking Outside the Box
Libraries are like safe havens to our patrons, but what happens when they can’t get to one? We have heard of the book mobiles, and some libraries throughout the nation […]
Day in the Life: Typical Tuesday
Many of us have written about a typical day in the life of a MLIS student and in an earlier post I described how all my days went in my […]
Ready, set – practicum!
Like some others this summer, I also completed a practicum experience for course credit in my program at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Having a vested interest in all things […]
Summer in the Univer-City
Hot town, summer in the univer-city! And you’re in the library. Helping researchers, preparing for the August onslaught of students, it’s way cooler than the outdoors (literally). But wait… what […]
How I Survived My First Semester
With my second semester fast approaching, I thought this would be a good time to review my first semester of library school. I work full-time and was taking two classes […]
Digital Literacy, Small Children, & Lots of Hugs [Farewell Post]
During graduate school, lots of things changed in my life. I gained new perspectives, read challenging articles and theories, traveled to Italy to present research I worked on, faced the […]
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 […]
#TheBigSearch Continues
As spring rolls around, I know that many of us are “cleaning” up our resumes/CVs and wordsmithing our cover letters. It’s time to find that job…whether it be a graduate […]
3 Lessons I Learned from a Reference Librarian
Reference librarian: A librarian employed in a reference department who is responsible for providing helpful information in response to questions posed by users of the library. Reference librarianship is […]
Trickling down from the top: How big decisions impact us
Often in our line of work, people above us make choices without fully comprehending what will happen next. The impact often trickles down (and usually gains momentum) and we as librarians and […]
[Series] So you want to be a UX Librarian?
Are you passionate about making libraries user-centered? Maybe you love designing study or communal spaces based on the experiences of your users. Or you find joy in crafting library services […]
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 […]
[Series] So you want to be a Children’s/Youth Librarian?
Do you love working with kids? Is storytime your “thing?” Do you do a great Hagrid impression? If so, a career in children’s/youth librarianship might be for you! To get […]
This Is How I Study: Part 4
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 3
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 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 […]
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 […]
Wrapping Up #HLSDITL Round 2
A few weeks ago, we asked fellow HLS readers to join us in providing a small glimpse of what it’s like to be a library student. Round 2 of this year’s Library Student Day in the Life, better known as #HLSDITL, began on Monday, October 27th and went through Friday, […]
#HLSDITL, Round 2
We would like to invite all library students to participate in round two of Library Student Day in the Life from October 28 – November 1. Our first round in March 2013 was a smashing success with seventy students participating! We hope this project, which will revolve around a community of students […]
Library Student Day in the Life
We would like to invite all library students to participate in a new project organized by Hack Library School called Library Student Day in the Life. We hope this project, which will revolve around a community of students sharing each day’s experiences for a week, will help prospective students learn […]
#libday7 – Hack Library School Edition
Some of us are taking part in Library Day in the Life Round 7 (or #libday7) and writing about it in our individual blogs but we thought we’d also take a moment to do a quick Hack Library School edition so you can get an idea of what we do […]
Library Day in the Life: Get Ready for Round 7!
Library Day in the Life, a project coordinated by Bobbi Newman (of Librarian by Day), is gearing up for Round 7! Who: Librarians and informational professionals of all stripes What: Share a day (or week) of their work When: July 25th through July 31 Where: Blogs, photos, videos, Twitter Why: […]
LIS Student Day in the Life
Inspired by the evermore popular “Librarian Day in the Life” Series, HackLibSchool is proud to welcome guest author Rose Chou. Rose approached us and suggested an article on Time Management, which she included in a section below. As busy as we all are, how does one find time to live […]
HLS 