As an updated follow-up to our Library School Career Center piece featuring the University of Iowa’s School of Library Information and Sciences (SLIS), HLS Contributing Writer and Community Manager Kellee […]
Taking on my first library management role while still in graduate school – a fun, real life lesson in leadership!
I have a couple of questions to start this post. Have you ever had that one subject that you just knew from the outset that you really wouldn’t like? That […]
New semester, new supplies. Some fun books and gifts
Prove that you’re the #1 Super Fan of Libraries once and for all. Questions start easy and get progressively harder. Answers: Scores: 0-2: It’s a good thing you’re in library […]
Although the holidays are behind us, a new semester is looming ahead. As we prepare for the upcoming spring, the concept of goalsetting can be a bit overwhelming. To keep […]
Here are some entirely-satirical classes I would have liked to see in my MLIS course catalogue.
Another installment of our ongoing series where we feature LIS schools and the services provided by their career services departments. A partnership with Hiring Librarians, another great resource for future library and information science professionals. This interview is with Anna Motes, a Career Coach that supports the students at the […]
Here is this week’s installment of the Library School Career Center feature, which is presented in partnership with the folks from the blog Hiring Librarians. If you’re interested in library […]
An ongoing series about the juggling the challenges of library school as a parent.
As we race towards the end of the year and our semesters come to a crashing close, I am reflecting on my relationship to rest, hard work, and what it means to be a good student.
Studying library values and best practices to respond to book challenges was a valuable research project this semester
This is a guest post from Morgan Adle, MLS. Morgan has written previously for HLS here and here. U.S. News & World Report publishes rankings of graduate schools and programs, […]
Here is this week’s installment of the Library School Career Center feature, which is presented in partnership with the folks from the blog Hiring Librarians. If you’re interested in library […]
Exciting news! Hack Library School and Hiring Librarians are collaborating on a project to explore and share insights about the career and job placement support provided by our library schools. […]
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 […]
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Morgan Adle, MLS. Writing application essays can be intimidating and a complete mystery to most of us. Having spent the last 4 […]
Journal through library school to document your experience and lessons learned along the way.
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 […]
It’s almost that time of year (at least for those of us in the southern hemisphere). Cue 80’s power rock song “The Final Countdown” complete with laser light display, disco […]
For the low cost of free, these apps and websites might just help you out.
If you are anything like me, reading the words “you must complete a group assessment” at the beginning of a semester, fills you with both surprising joy and overwhelming dread. […]
The first week of the semester is a great time to set up a project management system for yourself before the chaos of actual coursework. In my grad school experience […]
Librarians & designers agree: With great power comes great responsibility.
A few of the things I have come to realize in the last 3 years is that firstly, online study is hard. I mean really hard. Secondly, do not leave […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 19, 2015. Starting library school this semester? We’ve been there! Here’s our advice on everything from scheduling to technology to maintaining […]
THAT is the question. Although I feel like I’ve just started my journey as an MLS student, by the end of this week I will officially be one-third of the […]
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 […]
Since I’m graduating this May, I wanted to use my final HLS blog post to reflect a bit on the things I wish I knew before I started grad school. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Hey there readers! Have you recently been accepted to a library or information science program? Are you partway through your schooling and feel like you have news and insights to […]
Disclaimer: This post is particular to the author’s perspectives and opinions. It is not intended to be representative or indicative of any other member of the MLIS Admissions Committee and […]
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on February 29, 2016. As I get started with my second semester, I thought it would be a good time to re-visit the […]
Dear LIS Professors, Your jobs are extremely demanding, especially now. You have to deal with the pressures of publication, teaching, serving on committees, and hopefully retaining a semblance of work-life […]
Winter quarter has to be one of the toughest quarters to survive in library school (assuming you are on the quarter system). This is my third winter quarter, and it […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 5, 2016. This semester I decided to do something that terrifies me: I enrolled in a storytelling course. As an anxious […]
Twitter is my social media of choice lately as I try to avoid going down the Insta/Meta rabbit holes that are out there and frankly I do not have time […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 25, 2015. As a fresh graduate, I’m embarking on the search for a professional position. I already hold a full-time job […]
Over the last 20 or so months, I’ve seen an uptick in conversations regarding mental health in academia. Current and former Hackers have written some excellent posts about navigating mental […]
Last month I wrote about surviving group work as it had been a frequent topic on the HLS blog. This month I wanted to briefly cover another important HLS topic […]
The topic of group work has been a frequent one at HLS and since I am embroiled in a lengthy and complicated group project during this fall quarter at the […]
The capstone course of my dual degree in Children’s Literature and Library and Information Sciences is on “positionality.” Half the the students in the class been in the dual degree […]
I’m in my final semester of my dual degree program at Simmons University. As I’m writing this post, the semester is about 1/3 of the way through. It’s the point […]
In the past, I had been hesitant to declare a strong career interest in metadata and cataloging (I even wrote about my desire for an interdisciplinary library school curriculum for […]
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 […]
I come from a family that doesn’t have work email, retirement stocks, or salaries. My parents and siblings, my “people,” are name tag and hairnet people. Clock-out for your lunch break people. With four older […]
The home stretch towards my MLIS degree is in sight as I wrap up my final few days of my summer directed fieldwork (DFW) and look forward to my third […]
Summer classes, particularly online summer classes, have always been difficult for me. I took quite a few in undergrad to get through my degrees faster, and other than one memorable […]
Most of us will work our way through library school. Whether it’s a graduate assistantship, a part-time gig at a public library, or an internship at an archive, we’re all […]
I have been thinking about the incoming cohort at the University of Washington’s Information School and wondering how they are coping with the unknown and uncertainty of graduate school life […]
The last fifteen months have been rough on all of us. Starting grad school during a pandemic was not easy, and a mix of personal problems and school-related issues made […]
As a second-year SLIS student, I’ve talked to quite a few new students in my program who are anxious about securing library jobs. I can understand how they feel; after […]
When I started my MLIS program at Simmons University last fall, I regularly heard my classmates introduce themselves with exactly what type of librarian they wanted to be. There were […]
Although it’s falling out of fashion, how many times were we given the advice, “pursue your passion”? As a young person, I took this for granted as a blaringly obvious […]
I vividly remember in March 2020 when I learned my daughter was going to be home for two weeks solid as schools were closing and thinking there was no way […]
It is required that students in the MLS program at Indiana University fulfill one internship. Since I am specializing in Art Librarianship, I am required to complete two internships. This […]
Hey there readers! Here at Hack Library School, we pride ourselves on providing engaging, thoughtful, and useful resources for Library and Information Science students. Because we’re a blog by and for […]
My undergraduate degrees are in History and Political Science. I’ve written countless amounts of midterm and final papers (plus a thesis that hit triple-digit page length) and considered myself a […]
I started writing my post for the month of November before I got the HLS schedule and realized that my post would fall on Thanksgiving. So, I decided to set […]
Midway through my first quarter in library school, I sat in class with twenty or so of my classmates and potential future colleagues as they conducted a lively conversation about […]
When I tell people that I’m going to school to become a librarian, they often look puzzled and ask why I need a graduate degree to work in a library. […]
Do you want to go to library school, but don’t know how to find the best one for you? This list of factors to consider will guide you through the […]
Recently, LIS scholars have started exploring the potential connection between working in graduate school and burnout in librarianship. In the recently published article, “When Does Burnout Begin? The Relationship Between […]
As more MLIS programs integrate tech courses and requirements into their curriculum, many MLIS students who are not tech-savvy nor have a tech background struggle in these courses. At the University of Washington, there are numerous tech courses available for students and a requirement that every student takes at least one of these courses. I’ve heard stories and also personally experienced the struggles of these courses and even some of the mental breakdowns. Many students dread these courses and the long hours they often require.
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.
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 […]
At 21 years old and about to graduate, I was afraid to move. Not only had I lived and attended university in the same area I grew up in, but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to support myself financially. So, I found myself again at the University of Washington (UW), this time in a library program that did not have an archives focus. Yet I wanted to become an archivist and the two or three archives-focused classes offered was off-putting. I was afraid I wouldn’t gain the skills that would make me a competitive applicant once I graduate.
A month ago, I attended a webcast seminar, ‘Transgender Inclusion in Libraries’, hosted by San Jose State University’s iSchool. This was the first webcast seminar, or webinar, I was attending under my own power since entering SJSU’s MLIS program, and this likely contributed to my wild underestimation of the number of audience members and, thus, overestimation of my ability to personally engage with the webinar speakers. Last semester saw the composition of my first academic paper written as an MLIS candidate, and with a sixteen-page paper on the queer information community in hand, I was eager to supplement the narrow spread of academic work that I had found that covers transgender issues in the library.
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 […]
One of my last tasks in my library school career is my choice of end of program assessment, an online portfolio. As I roll the credits on my time in library school, I wanted to take a moment to talk about “the hard stuff.” My portfolio is essentially a highlight […]
Email alerts are disruptive, by design. Today, though, that disruption was exactly the encouragement I needed to reflect on library school, and life.
Almost one year ago, when my first year of library school was starting and I was preparing myself to go into my grad school orientation, I remember addressing the same […]
Tips for how to hack library school while being a parent from parents who’ve been there.
The ink has only just dried on my first semester grades for my MLIS program. As proud as I am of the five months’ hard work that went into them, […]
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 […]
If you are a library school student, what is one substance you never have enough of? Time. Whether you work full-time, part-time, or not at all while you pursue your […]
Yet another post regarding the job search process! They say looking for a full-time job is a full-time job itself. Knowing this beforehand helps, but you might not fully understand […]
Today we welcome a guest post by Symphony Bruce. Symphony Bruce is a recent graduate of the iSchool of the University of Missouri and completed her MLIS in December of 2017. […]
Hey there readers! Here at Hack Library School, we pride ourselves on providing engaging, thoughtful, and useful resources for Library and Information Science students. The best part of this experience is […]
As we roll into the Thanksgiving holiday week in the U.S., most library students are also rolling into the last assignments for the fall semester. Since this time of year […]
It was a classic story of serendipitous discovery as a public library worker: I spotted Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident on a cart of […]
New or expectant parent in library school? Here’s some tips on adjusting to school as a parent.
This summer I had the opportunity to slightly switch gears and work at the International Area Studies Library at my university.
The end of a semester is always a whirlwind. I am especially trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have just completed my first year of graduate […]
While studying History in undergrad, I was assailed all too frequently with “So, what are you going to do with that degree?” And now, when I tell folks that I […]
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 […]
This past summer, I took a Digital Collections Institute course. It was a one week, all day intensive course that delved into all aspects of the digital collections lifecycle, and […]
It’s that time of the year again. For those of us that took a summer off from our LIS studies to have, well, a summer away from school, welcome back! […]
“I still do not know myself. Perhaps I never will.” — Sylvia Plath While indulging in dessert at Snow Meets Coffee, Kristina Williams, Hack Library School’s lovely and fabulous Managing […]
I recently had the chance to talk with Jessica Olin, an awesome librarian/blogger. You may have heard of her blog Letters to a Young Librarian (and if you haven’t, get on it!). […]
Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy!
Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy!
Image retrieved from Instagram When I saw this meme the other day, I experienced a little bit of #mindblown and a little bit of #yep. It reads “things are not […]
Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy!
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 […]
Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy!
For many people, self-advocacy is tough. Period. But, it’s especially tough when you’re part of a profession in which budgets are often tight, roles are hierarchical, and barriers can feel […]
Each week, we reflect on the top articles, blog posts, tweets, news, thoughts, and other tidbits we’ve found interesting or useful. Enjoy!
HLS 