Making the Most of your MLIS
Editor’s note: This is a guest article from Morgan Adle, MLS I finished my MLS in 2015 and managed the MLIS Program at UMD for 4 years until the Summer […]
Staying Sharp During the Summer
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on July 28, 2016 One of the most important aspects of library school and, in the future as we pursue work in the […]
What’s in a program?
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 7, 2016. Recently a panel of Catholic University of America faculty and department affiliates interviewed me as a part of a […]
Special Librarian: An Interview with Jeff Waryan
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on February 5, 2018. For those of you who know me, you know that I have a lot of librarian heroes, but my […]
Citation managers: Why you need one and how to make the most of them in grad school and beyond
Maybe you’ve heard of citation management software and maybe you haven’t but I am here to tell you why you need one for library school and life beyond library school. […]
Budget-Friendly Professional Development and Continuing Education Resources
I spent about half of 2020 trying desperately to not go back to school. I had realized that I was interested in an archival career (an interest that’s grown to […]
Things every librarian should learning about: Copyright edition
Remember all the way back to 2020. I know, I know you don’t want to. It’s fine, I promise, we’re only going back to November when I wrote about how […]
Building Your Professional Library
As I approach the end of my MLS program, I find myself already starting to miss the library science academic environment and (as hard as it is to believe) the […]
Don’t Just Prove What You Know
“I hope that in those weeks that you feel you really have it, you go even deeper. Don’t say ‘I’m just in this week to satisfy the requirements of the […]
Hacking Your Course Schedule
As this crazy Spring 2020 semester begins winding down for many students, course registration has started falling upon us. One component that I enjoy about the University of Maryland’s MLIS […]
From Undergrad to Libraries
I’ve always considered my education to be fairly “traditional”: I graduated from high school, completed my bachelor’s degree in 4 years, and immediately started full-time graduate work at the University […]
You Can’t Learn Everything in Grad School
All things must come to an end. Although I still have one year left in my degree, I’ve already planned out the rest of the courses I will take and […]
Less-charted Territory: Attending a professional conference outside of library land.
As a follow up to my previous post about taking classes outside of your program’s core curriculum, I also want to recommend attending conferences outside of library land. Last week, […]
Why You Should Attend Mental Health First Aid Training
If you currently work at a library, take a moment to think about your user base. Have you ever served anyone who: Is depressed or anxious? Experiences panic attacks? Is […]
Does the “I” in M.L.I.S. Stand for Internship?
For those just entering library school I thought I would share something I wasn’t expecting: the assumption that you secure an internship, graduate assistantship, volunteer position, and/or apprenticeship sooner than later […]
Learning to Be Leaders
Picture someone you refer to as a “leader” and write down a few of the characteristics that define them as a leader. It can be a supervisor, a relative, or […]
How to Cheat on the Language Skills Section of Your Library Résumé
I recently came across a charming phrase at the University of Oregon, where the Ph.D. candidate in linguistics can fulfill a language requirement through knowledge of “library languages, such as […]
Information Science and Beyond: Remembering the Value of Information Science in Non-LIS Contexts
Last week a good friend of mine and I were discussing our experiences in our respective MLIS programs. What struck me from this conversation was how little either of our […]
Incoming Student Checklist
Welcome, incoming library students! These first few weeks before school starts can be a mixture of excitement and nerves. If you want to get acquainted with the profession before school […]
Trace: Perspectives Beyond Library World
“One journey seeded all that followed” (Savoy 2015, 5). This opening sentence to Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape by Lauret Savoy sets the tone for the entire […]
Professional Development for your Earbuds
One of the hazards of library school is a distinct lack of spare time. While I find myself doing plenty of reading for classes, it’s tough to squeeze in extra […]
Advanced Storytime: Beyond the Basics of Gender Representation [Series]
This series will explore the lessons that I learned about storytime through my own self-education process–through many hours of research, attending conferences, and my favorite method of learning, hands-on experience. […]
It’s Not Shelved In the 420s: Legalized Marijuana and Other Intellectual Freedom Concerns
I’m lucky enough to live in Colorado – an absolutely beautiful state that boasts mountains and prairies, great educational opportunities, and an awesome community of library professionals. It’s also one […]
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 […]
Speed Mentoring- Can it Work for You?
The importance of mentoring has been addressed often by Hack Library School contributors (here, here, and here). In an effort to learn more about how to obtain a mentor, I […]
Networking with REFORMA-Promoting Library Services to Latinos
Networking and joining different associations is extremely important for library school students. I personally joined ALA, NCLA, and YALSA, among others during my first semester. It is imperative for us as […]
Adventures at the Summer Educational Institute Workshop
This summer I attended the Summer Educational Institute Workshop (SEI), in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. SEI is a joint project of the Art Libraries Society of North America and the […]
Navigating the Mess: Making Sense of Technology in LIS Education
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how to address the broad and messy task of incorporating technology education into my LIS program. It all started with my resolution to add a […]
Mastering the Juggling Act: Three Strategies for Balancing School, Work and Life
Greetings hackers! As I write my first post for Hack Library School, I am also beginning my first full semester at Catholic University’s MSLIS program. It’s been some time since […]
What’s Your Lib School Like? Part Two
Welcome to What’s Your Lib School Like? Part Two! In this series, we’ll be asking our contributing writers questions about their library school. Question 2: How does your lib school […]
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 […]
Instruction Instruction Part 2: Become a Better Instructor
Author’s note: This is part two of a two-part series on the state of library instruction training in LIS programs. Part one discussed why such training matters. In part two, we will […]
Top Twitter Hashtags for Librarians
Are you ready to become a tweetbrarian? Twitter is a fantastic tool for engaging with other librarians, monitoring LIS trends and debates in real time, and gathering unfiltered insights and inspiration from peers and seasoned professionals. The challenge for new tweeters is to know where to start among the 5,000 librarylanders on Twitter! So […]
Extra Credit: Expanding Your Library Education beyond the Classroom
I don’t think any of us entered library school with the notion that it would turn us into perfectly formed librarians, armed with everything we could possibly need to know to become whatever kind of librarian we wanted to be. Our field is much too wide ranging and evolves far […]
Building Project Management Skills as a Student
As librarians’ roles evolve, project management skills are becoming increasingly significant to potential employers. Library students interested in technical and leadership positions may want to acquire project management experience while still in school. This can be challenging, since the nature of a project manager’s role involves levels of responsibility that […]
Dewey-It-Yourself: How to supplement your library school education
No matter how great a MLS/MLIS program is there just isn’t enough time and courses to learn everything. HLS alum Annie Pho previously discussed the interpersonal skills we don’t learn in school and identifying what you want to know, and Lauren Bradley contributed a guest post on continuing education after library […]
Hack Your Certificate
As a student with Emporia State University’s MLS program, I am not fully satisfied with my educational options. I want a certificate in web design, but such a program is not offered. We have excellent certificates in archives and a youth services. But in terms of emerging technologies we have […]
Life Long Learning , Not Just a Buzzphrase: Continuing Your Education After Library School
Lauren Bradley recently graduated from the Pratt School of Information & Library Science in Manhattan. She is a library assistant at the Leo Baeck Institute. She enjoys costume librarianship, database searching, and government documents. Follow her on Twitter @BibliosaurusRex A number of us Hack Library School readers and writers have […]
Self-assessment and Identifying What You Want to Know
Self-assessment is a life long learning tool that helps guide us in identifying what our personal strengths and weaknesses are. Whether you are a working professional or a student, this is a valuable skill to have and to work on. Taking the time to reflect on what you’ve learned and […]
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