Looking Back and Forward: A Farewell
The last two years have somehow felt incredibly long while also whizzing by incredibly fast. This seems to be the nature of both pandemic time and grad school, and so […]
Future Plans and Farewells!
Yesterday we said ‘hello’ to our new writers…but today we need to wish our graduating staff a fond farewell! We asked them to share with us some highlights from their […]
Welcome New Writers!
We are delighted to announce that Hack Library School has welcomed new contributing writers. We were all very impressed with the range of interests and experiences that they will bring to the blog. Without further ado, here they are! Katherine Dimmick Katherine Dimmick is a third year student (about to […]
Final Thoughts on my MLIS Journey
Like many previous bloggers, my time has come to say farewell to Hack Library School and reflect on the last three years. I graduate on June 4 and will be […]
Reflections, Transitions, and Farewells
It’s hard to believe after 2.5 years of graduate school, I’m just a few final paper submissions away from completing my MA in Children’s Literature and my MS in Library […]
Welcome our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school! Erika Whinihan Erika Whinihan is an online MLIS student at […]
Seven Things I Learned in Library School
This is my last post with HLS! In honor of that – and my impending graduation (wow/yikes) – I’d like to present a list of seven things that I learned […]
The Time Has Come for Reflection: Final Thoughts on my MLIS Journey (Farewell Post)
Over the past 16 months as a contributing writer and community manager, I found myself in a new world of librarianship that I didn’t know existed. From my very first […]
One Chapter Ends, Another Begins: On Graduation, Job Applications, and Self-Care
Dear readers, when you may be reading this, I am currently two weeks away from graduating from my Master of Library and Information Science graduate program at San Jose State […]
So long, farewell (for now)
Believe it or not, it’s time for my farewell post! While this isn’t the last you’ll hear from me on the blog (updated UMD Hack Your Program post, anyone? 👀 […]
Putting it into perspective.
So, I’m done?! I finished my last class in Children’s and Youth Programming a few weeks ago after presenting my final group project; which was a summer reading program designed […]
“There is a time for departure…”
In a little more than a week’s time, I will don my deliciously lemon yellow hood, (virtually) cross a stage, and know, with a heart full in equal measure of […]
Taking It Slow
Hello! My name is Lauren Bauer, this is my first article for Hack Library School, and I have something I’d like to get off my chest: it’s going to take […]
MLIS Endings, MLIS Beginnings – A Socially Distanced Transition
This article marks the end of my MLIS program, and it will be the final article that I will write for Hack Library School as an MLIS candidate. If you […]
Reflections on a New Normal [Farewell]
After three years, I’ll be graduating from my MLIS program this June. This is also my last post for Hack Library School. These three years were a whirlwind and ranged […]
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 […]
Finding Those Greener Pastures (Farewell)
For my final post at Hack Library School, I wanted to share some bits and pieces that I’ve gleaned during the incipient few years of my library career. Before I […]
Leaving Library School & Entering the Temple of Apollo [Farewell]
Like so many others before me, I too have now come full circle from aggressively reading this site’s entire archive while deciding whether to send out my library school applications […]
3 Librarian Lessons Inspired by Grandma
I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves […]
A Fond Farewell
Well Hack Library School, this is it – my final post on these hallowed pages. I’m starting a job in February at a Science Library, which is basically my dream […]
Doesn’t Hurt to Try [Farewell]
It is with a heavy heart that I must tell y’all this is my last post for Hack Library School. When I agreed to write for the site I did […]
A New School Year, a New Leadership Team!
Hello everyone! We’d like to a take a moment to quickly introduce the new editorial team for the blog.
A Big Thank You and Farewell to Melissa Dewitt!
As we say hello to another academic year, we say farewell to graduating members of the Hack Library School team. Our graduating writers have said their goodbyes already, but we […]
Things I wish people had told me about the job search
First of all, the good news: I have a job! (Almost—waiting on the background check.) Keep an eye out on my Twitter for the official announcement. Getting to this point, […]
A Place for Us [Farewell]
Last semester, as my graduation date loomed closer, I began to experience end-of-school anxiety. Not because I was anticipating the stresses of job hunting, but because I was panicked about […]
Trauma and Belonging in Library School [Introduction]
A few times a week, I take a bus across campus to the university pool, where I swim for about thirty minutes before my job at Special Collections. Usually these […]
Dance with Them that Brung You [Introduction]
Hello everyone! This is my first post as a new writer for HLS, and I am very excited to be writing for y’all! I wanted this first post to act […]
Librarians for Social Justice [Farewell]
Librarians for Social Justice started out as a group created by students at University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science, and quickly morphed into a community organization as […]
SESTA/FOSTA and LIS [Farewell]
My semester is coming to its end, though my grad school career is not (I still have one more semester!). Still, this will be my last post on Hack Library […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school!
Meet the New Leaders of Hack Library School!
Things are changing here at HLS! We’re excited to welcome a new Managing Editor, Consulting Editor and Community Manager this fall. Here’s what our Managing Editor has to say about […]
Freedom and Uncertainty: The Summer After Graduation
You head to library school. You’ve got a plan. There’s a schedule of courses laid out before you, and within each course is the syllabus telling you what to do […]
Reflections and Gratitude: Farewell HLS!
As I embarked on my journey to library school, I was in saw of this here blog. Given my love for writing, I had yearned to write for Hack Library […]
Signing Off: Onward and Upward
I found Hack Library School when I was in the throes of deciding where I wanted to go to graduate school for library studies. I had applied and been accepted […]
Transitions: My Farewell Post
Before I start this post, I want to tell you all how much I have enjoyed writing for Hack Library School and sharing my perspective with its readers. Often, these […]
A Quick Guide to Choosing Classes
Hello Hackers! My name is Chloe and I’m a new writer at Hack Library School. I have two bachelor’s degrees in English and Theater with a focus in creative writing. […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s twelve newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school!
Just one more thing…
(Well ok, it’s actually going to be five more things but the Columbo picture wouldn’t have made sense if I’d given it that as a title). So here we are, […]
Becoming Impossible
Let’s start by acknowledging that this post isn’t going to yield any job offers—not for you and certainly not for me.
An Update on Some Exciting Changes at HLS!
Things are changing here at HLS! We’re excited to welcome a new Managing Editor and Community Manager this summer. Here’s what our editorial team has to say about the change.
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 […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s ten newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school!
The return of Dory: a farewell
It’s hard to believe that after two years of study my library school experience is finally at an end. It’s been a frantic couple of years of juggling all my […]
Theory Matters: Constructing a Personal Philosophy of Librarianship
What draws you to librarianship? What is it about this field that makes you excited, energized, purposeful? There’s something, right? Something that makes up the beating heart of your answer […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
HLS is proud to introduce our nine new writers. With an impressive range of experience and interests, we can’t wait to hear what they have to say! Jennifer Eltringham is […]
A New Chapter
During the last two years that I have been writing for Hack Library School, and serving as Managing Editor for most of that time, I have often thought about what […]
LIS Advice: the Greatest Hits
I’ve been thinking a lot about this post – how to sum up my time in library school, how to sum up my time with HLS, and what kind of […]
4 Things That Will Never Happen When You Become a Librarian
So here it is my final blog post for Hack Library School. As I type these words on the keyboard, my eyes are flooded with tears…of joy! It means that […]
Farewell, HLS!
On May 29th, I successfully defended my dissertation (yay!) and now can make all those around me call me Dr. Skinner (seriously, with that name, how could I not?) Soon […]
Managing Expectations: A Farewell
Sometimes life doesn’t quite work out the way we want. You might have been passed over for that great internship, your dream job might have been posted a full semester […]
The More Things Change
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, 1849 I began my comprehensive exam with this quotation. Forgive me as I plagiarize myself, but it seemed fitting, as […]
Things I Miss about Library School–and What I’m Doing About It!
Since I graduated from North Carolina Central University with a Masters in Library Science last December, I’ve had about five months (where does the time go?) to catch up some […]
Moving On
For some, library school is a learning experience. It’s a chance to wrap your head around information ethics and Python and RDA, a chance to geek out with other residents […]
Some Exciting Introductions
As we gear up for graduation season, that means we’re also gearing up for some turnover here at HLS. This year, that includes two of our senior hackers who are […]
#critlib: Chatty Critical Librarianship on Twitter
No matter how exhausted I am, every other Tuesday night I do something that helps reinforce and nuance what I’m learning in library school: I spend an hour or so […]
On Overcommitting
It’s the final stretch of my third semester of library school, and I. Am. Exhausted. Between taking on several special projects at work, serving as an officer of […]
Introducing Our New Writers!
We are delighted to announce that Hack Library School has welcomed eleven new contributing writers. We were all very impressed with the range of interests and experiences that they will bring […]
Library School Life Lessons
I struggled with what to write about for my final HLS post. I got swept away in the transition from library school to new job, then considered and re-considered what […]
Out of Hopeful Green Stuff Woven
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. – Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass […]
Why I Loved Lucy Even Though It Got Terrible Reviews: Toward an Info-Humanism
The last movie I went to before the onslaught of finals was Luc Besson’s Lucy. A lot of critics thought it was awful. A lot of critics felt they were too smart for its widely-debunked pseudoscience. A lot of critics argued about whether Scarlett Johansson is turning out to be secretly […]
Farewell Post: Never Miss a (News) Beat
This probably does not come as news to most, but moving to a new city, starting a full-time job and balancing an actual life is hard work. The past two months have been crazy busy and stressful. Every time I remembered I needed to still write a farewell post for […]
Farewell for now, and how I made a job-search battle plan
Writing my farewell post for HLS is a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, it means I have completed my MLIS program. On the other hand, it means that my time as an active Hacker has come to an end. Writing for HLS was the highlight of my experiences as […]
Jefferson Smith, Billy Beane and a Fond Farewell
Hey there Hackers, it’s been a while. The last semester has been a whirlwind of activity, and it’s been hard to string two thoughts together to share with you all. Not that you’ve missed me, as the rest of the HLS team has been doing a bang up job during […]
The Power of Story
Stories are everywhere: on our shelves, on our screens, and in our conversations. They compose the shows we stream and the ads we tolerate, the news we read and the news we share. As Jonathan Safran Foer wrote, “We live in a world made up more of story than stuff.” […]
T.T.F.N–Ta-ta for now!
Hack Library School’s greatest strength, in my opinion, is its changing nature. As writers come and go, the blog stays current, and the new crop of writers take HLS into the conversations that are happening in library schools across the country and around the world. This is a longwinded way […]
Introducing Our Newest Writers!
We are super excited to share the newest Hack Library School writers. It was challenging to choose from a very talented pool of applicants, but ultimately these eleven stood out. Please join us in welcoming them! Aidy Silva-Ortiz Aidy began a love affair with libraries as a volunteer in her […]
Goodbye Library School, Hello High School
Well, this is it, kids: my time in library school is over, and so too ends my time writing for Hack Library School. This is so long, this is farewell, this is auf wiedersehen and adieu. This is also when I’m supposed to write a nice post summing up my time […]
A Short But (Hopefully) Sweet Farewell, and Three Small Bits of Advice
With my program finished and graduation looming, I have officially reached the end of my short but happy tenure as a Hack Library School contributor. It was a fabulous experience, and I’m grateful to have had it. It was a two-shot privilege – not only did I have the chance […]
Goodbye. Farewell. So Long. C-ya!
With my final semester in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee wrapping up and the graduation ceremony quickly approaching, I wanted to take the opportunity of today’s post to say a farewell to all the fine readers of Hack Library School. It’s been a fun adventure […]
Welcome New Writers!
We are delighted to announce that Hack Library School has welcomed nine new contributing writers. We were all very impressed with the range of interests and experiences that they will bring to the blog. Without further ado, here they are!
TTYL! K.I.T! (goodbye)
During my last semester of library school, I always tried to keep the finish line in mind and my motivation going. I told myself that once I finished, I’d have all the free time in the world to finally watch Doctor Who and finally learn to cross-stitch. Turns out I […]
Avoiding the lull after the storm – Reflections on the ending of library school and the job hunt
Like many here on Hack Library School, I’ve been super busy with finals and the stress of graduating (see my two previous posts from earlier this year). Now that I’ve passed through the crucible of my last term, I’ve found myself in another tricky spot: the job hunt. I’m fortunate […]
Preparing for the End (Of Library School)
Since the end of spring semester, Hack Library School bloggers have been posting great content to keep you going this summer. For me, summer will not be a break. I’ll be finishing my last semester of school. If you’re like me, library school has been a marathon. Perhaps you’ve just […]
“Where do I even begin?” Or, A Newcomer’s Tour
It’s hard to describe the feelings that flashed through my head as I read through the email welcoming the new batch of HLS Hackers. Excitement, certainly, with a decent amount of giddiness in the mix, but also some apprehension. After all, this was a blog I’d been reading since my […]
Moving Forward
About a year ago, I started spying on the HackLibSchool project. Anonymously peeking at the original Google doc, figuring out how to use Twitter so I could see what the big deal was, reading other students blogs. I had no clue what I was doing online then, I was just […]
One Year Later – Or – An Attempt at a Brief Goodbye
Dear friends, The way I see it, there are a few different ways I could write this. I could be super sappy, writing about how much this blog has meant to me, what a joy its been to work with such amazing peers/colleagues, how proud I am to see Hack […]
Champions.
First of all. Let me just say. This day came way faster than I thought it would. Here I am at the close of my career as a library student and the start of my career as an informational professional. Hack Library School has played a significant role in my […]
Welcome New Writers!
In the spirit of new beginnings, the Hack Library School crew has inducted eight new contributing writers. We had a huge amount of interest and wanted to diversify the group as much as possible. We’re very excited for you to meet our new bunch, so here we go! Amy Frazier: […]
Back to the Beginning
The School of Information Studies at McGill University Hello everyone! I’m excited to write my first post as one of the newest contributing members of Hack Library School. My name is Laura Sanders and on September 1st I began my MLIS at McGill University’s School of Information Studies in Montreal, […]
Beginner Status
Greetings from New York, This is my first official post as a new contributing writer for Hack Library School and I’m psyched to share a bit of my experience from the past week (08/20/11 to 08/27/11) both as a new library school student at Pratt Institute School of Information and […]
Hack Library School: Fall 2011 Kickoff!
I don’t know about you, but for me New Year’s is just one more night of food and fun in the season. The real new year starts in the fall, when classes begin. If you’re starting or continuing your library school journey this autumn, you’ve had many years to perfect […]
New Writers!
I am pleased and honored to present the first three of our new writers: Rose L. Chou, Ashley Wescott and Teresa Silva. We are very excited about their contributions and unique points of view, so please help me in welcoming them. Rose L. Chou – San Jose State Rose L. […]
A Thank You Letter
*Update — Nicole has been a leading force behind this blog since it was a wee GDoc. We all look forward to your future in the profession, Nicole, and thank you for all the wonderful, though-provoking pieces you wrote for us [<— Click to read them all!]. LibHackers never say die. […]
HackLibSchool: First Class
Where are they now? [And, yes, this is a deliberate ploy to grab some SEO from X-Men. Ain’t nothing wrong with a little marketing genius, right? 😉 ] Micah Vandegrift is working as a part-time Project Manager on a Scholarly Communications Task Force at his alma mater, Florida State University. […]
FROM SKEPTICAL TO SOLD
Please welcome Brian Leaf who is graduating with an MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 2011. He writes at librarycatalyst.net and tweets from @bdleaf. Brian’s interests include instructional design, library marketing/outreach, and emerging technologies. Someday, he hopes to take a leadership role in library administration and education […]
HLS 