Trans and Gender Diverse LIS Network
This is a guest post from Stephen Krueger. The Trans and Gender Diverse LIS Network is a closed online community of trans and gender diverse people who work in libraries. […]
Thoughts and Advice for New Student Leaders
Student groups. Their importance has been noted in previous posts for networking and building community and connection in your program. Last summer I decided that becoming involved in a student […]
Changing Jobs During Grad School: Do’s and Don’t’s
During my first semester as an MLS student, I changed jobs. I went from working at a private university as a Circulation Manager to working at a state university as […]
Non-library Experience and Library Job Applications
Job searching is nerve-wracking, and one of the most daunting parts is putting together a resume or CV. It’s easy to get stuck on the treadmill of questions like “do […]
Connect the Dots: Developing Professional Relationships with LIS Students and Faculty
Because many LIS programs are online-based, it can be difficult to meet people in your program. Yes, there may be required group assignments in certain classes, but that doesn’t guarantee […]
My Professional Goals for 2021
As 2020 finally draws to a close, I find myself just over halfway through my MLIS program. I am projected to graduate in the spring of 2022, which means I […]
How to make the most of your online MLIS experience
When it comes to online library school, the old adage, ‘you get out of it only what you put in,’ is imperative. With grad school in general, you’re expected to […]
Leveraging LinkedIn to Create a Personal Brand
Let me ask you a question — when you walk into an interview for a job or an internship, which question do you dread the most? For me, it’s often […]
How to Succeed in Life by Just Showing Up
I’m a fan of advice columns (current faves are Ask a Manager and Captain Awkward) and a topic that comes up regularly is how to make friends as an adult. […]
The Importance of Student Groups and Chapters to Your Graduate School Experience
As I observed in my previous articles from last June and October, as well as this past April, finding, cultivating, and sustaining community is a big part of graduate school. […]
The Value of Remote Work in Librarianship
As this July closes, I will be finishing up my third semester of library school. During this time, I’ve managed to juggle a part-time library specialist position, a part-time graduate assistantship, […]
Library Unions Were Not Built in a Day
Fourandsixty. (2015). [International Labour Day Edit-a-Thon, University of Maryland Hornbake Library] [Photograph]. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/UMDLabor Next week will be the first time I will not be working, in school, or both […]
How can you stay professionally engaged while working from home (or not working)?
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many libraries have either closed physically and moved to online service provisionally or have closed completely and laid off their employees. My local public […]
How to Dress for the LIS Career You Want
As I am sure any graduate student can attest to, planning for your career after graduation can be a little daunting. This especially is true for how to dress […]
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: Mentorship
Mentorship – in any form – can be an effective way for LIS students of color to learn more about the field. We learn a lot outside the classroom through jobs, internships, and volunteer experiences, and mentorship is another aspect that can help increase a student’s knowledge. Yet besides learning about the academic hiring process, dealing with negative workplace environments, or where to find job postings, mentorship of LIS students of color by mentors of color can help us see ourselves in the field, learn how to navigate white spaces, and how to advocate for ourselves.
Hacking the Master’s Program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) recently had an event for its students to “hack” its graduate program. The hour-long event, titled “Managing Expectations,” was set up […]
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: ALA Ethnic Caucuses (and more) Part 2
In this second part, I cover the American Indian Library Association (AILA) and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). At the end I touch on some other non-ALA groups that might be of interest to readers.
To my fellow LIS Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [Series]: ALA Ethnic Caucuses Part 1
Before even starting library school, students can join local and national associations, such as the American Library Association, often at a student rate. Within ALA are five ethnic caucuses: the American Indian Library Association (AILA), the Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA), the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), the Chinese American Library Association (CALA) and REFORMA—the National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.
How to Hack Your Way Into Tech Conferences
Allison Jennings-Roche recently wrote about attending conferences outside of library land and I couldn’t agree more. In fact, just a few months ago, I was at a cross-disciplinary workshop facilitated […]
Adventures in Library School: Russian Librarians and Missed Opportunities
Last week I had the opportunity to meet with a delegation of Russian librarians, including the president of the Russian Library Association and the Deputy Dean of the St. Petersburg […]
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, […]
Library Consortia and You
I’ve had the good fortune of landing a graduate assistantship with the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries of Illinois (CARLI), which is one of the biggest consortia in the […]
Hacking the Atkins Fellows Program
This summer, we participated in the Atkins Fellows program at the J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. We were the fifth cohort of the […]
Job Searching with Social Media
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (2017), over one-third of organizations have disqualified a job candidate because they had “concerning information” present on their social media profile or […]
The Importance of Connecting While Networking
Over recent months, a pattern has emerged in much of the networking that has shaped my professional life and the professional lives of those around me. In life and in […]
4 Ways to Prepare to be a Children’s Librarian
No amount of coursework can prepare you for the experiences you will have as a children’s librarian. In one week you might make mermaid slime, wear a giant inflatable dinosaur […]
Conference Report: REFORMA Colorado
For those currently in library school, you have seen firsthand how social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion make sudden, relevant appearances in most LIS courses. If you need a place […]
Five (Big Picture) Tips for First-Year Library Students
When you’re caught up in the minutiae of graduate school, remember the big picture. That’s the most critical lesson I learned during my first year of library school. For me, […]
Reflecting on Spring term
Are you done? Have you submitted that last paper, or taken your final exam? Are you trying to catch up on all those chores you could not get to because you were […]
Hack Your Program: University of Tennessee Knoxville
The MSIS program at the University of Tennessee Knoxville is comprised of on-campus and distance learners. Housed in the College of Communication and Information UTK’s SIS program has much to […]
Words of Wisdom: Hack Library School Horoscopes
As the 2018-2019 school year draws to a close, use these words of wisdom in the form of horoscopes as advice to inspire you as you continue toward the finish […]
Facilitation & Data Operations in Academic Libraries
Many thanks to Christina Harlow for sharing her story! “Get your hands dirty. Go to conferences; sign up for workshops; propose the sessions and meetings you think are missing wherever […]
Networking: Tips, Tricks, and Lessons Learned
Networking. It’s a word that’s thrown around a lot and is an inevitable part of professional life. Some previous HLS writers have given their thoughts on the topic. One wrote […]
Making the Most of Winter Break
Some programs might be a bit different, but at my school, the University of Denver, we get a long break between our Fall and Winter quarters—from about mid-November to the […]
Hijack your MLIS Part 2: Make the Most of Your Least Favorite Classes
In the course of library school studies, we all have at least one (face it, probably more) class that we just don’t like. It might be because of a conflict […]
Hijacking your MLIS Program and Making it Work for You
The most difficult questions I received during the summer after I completed my English MA and before entering my MLIS program were questions like, “Huh, so why are you getting […]
Getting Advice
As the job search process continues, I’m finding myself relying heavily on others for support and advice. Navigating things like how to find an internship, how to handle a phone […]
Be the Face of Your Student Organization
Does your program have an ALA Student Chapter? At University of Iowa, our student chapter is called the Library and Information Science Student Organization (LISSO, for short) and I had […]
Hack Library Conferences
There are countless of library conferences in and outside of the United States. Interested in attending? Don’t wait until after you graduate. Take advantage of your time as a student […]
Words of Wisdom: The Advantages of Having a Peer Mentor
I would not be exactly where I am today if it were not for the people who make up my support system. In particular, I have greatly benefitted from the […]
Presenting at a Library Conference as a Student
Last month, I had the opportunity to present for the first time at a library conference. I’ve presented at conferences before, slowly working my way into it by starting with […]
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 […]
Connecting with the Incoming Class
It’s officially August, which means summer is coming to an end, and the first day of classes is right around the corner. This time last year marked a move to […]
Medical Librarianship: You Can Do It Too!
After two months working as a Health & Life Sciences Librarian at UCLA and fresh off attending my first Medical Library Association (MLA) annual conference in Seattle, I can tell […]
Creating Community: Five Simple Steps to Help You Become Involved On and Off Campus
Getting involved as a student is an important part of the MLIS experience but it’s easier said than done (especially for those of us who are introverts!) Here are five short and simple ways to get involved on and off campus as an MLIS student:
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, […]
Hack Your Faculty: Building Relationships with Professors
Networking can be one of the most daunting tasks for new library professionals, so much so that we’ve discussed it here at Hack Library School several times before. If you’re […]
Making Connections: Your SLIS-mates and You
As I’m sure many of you know the last month or so of the semester is a real time crunch. (We do have some posts on managing it all here, here, […]
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 […]
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