Take reference first: GSLIS West student Sasha Nyary’s tips on LIS-407.Take reference first, or as soon as you can. Do not be afraid of this class, it’s really great. But it is a lot of work, so pace yourself. Here’s some advice I got going in, along with a few suggestions of my own:

* Take reference first. That’s LIS-407 reference/information services to you; I call it the organic chem of library school. You will use everything you learn in all the rest of your classes, and you will make some of your closest friends in this class. Bite the bullet and take it first or very early in your library school tenure.

* Do not fall behind. The course is front-loaded, which means that most of the homework comes in the first nine or so weeks. If you do the assignments on time, you’ll have the last couple of weeks to cram for the final exam, and you will want that time to make sure you really know the 250 print and databases.

* When you do fall behind, as of course you will, catch up as soon as you have time. There are a couple of breathers in there, including the mid-semester break. If you neglect your studies you’ll just pay for it later. You can sleep when you’re dead.

* Get your source system down early in the semester. Will it be in Word? Excel? Zotero? BentoBox? Delicious? Choose your poison and keep it current. Mine was in Word, and I studied by making shorter and shorter lists. Finally I had just a sentence or two about each and that’s what I took into the exam with me. It felt old-fashioned but it worked for me.

* Write down everything the teacher says about a source and make sure you have it in your source notes.

* Ditto about the text book. Make sure you read it; it’s very chockfull of source information.

* Get together a study team, however loose, and study the sources together. Ours kind of fell apart but I had two guys I could always check with and vent to, and they with me.

* Get to know your classmates. Someone said to me, you’ll be close forever because you went through reference together. Not necessarily true, of course, but I am certainly close to a couple of my reference classmates, and we will always share this bond. Don’t fight it.

* Less is not more in the reference queries. Our class had six query assignments, 10 questions each, asking things like, “A breathless Simmons student bursts into your library asking for a copy of Hamlet, the one that has John Gielgud in it. What do you do?” I found I got better marks when I fully answered the question, playing out the scenario — “well, Gielgud was in two, does she want the Olivier or the Branagh? Does she want a DVD or a videocassette? We have this one on the shelf now, or we can get that one via inter-library loan if she has a couple of days,” etc. (Was Gielgud even in Hamlet?)

* Ask questions as much as you need to, in class and out, of the teacher, your classmates, other teachers, other students. Ask, ask, ask. Everyone who has taken reference will be happy to share their experience.

* The exam goes really fast. You think you have loads of time but in fact you do not. Don’t dawdle. Oh, and you might bring earplugs. I lost valuable moments closing the door of a nearby classroom.

* Not every library school teaches reference in such a hands-on way, but our teacher told us that after about a decade in the academic library business, she could verify that Simmons grads know their reference sources better than other library school grads. I found that comforting during the ordeal.

* Stay Zen about this class. Breathe; relax; keep it in the day; take it one step at a time. This too shall pass, little grasshopper.

* Know that even if you hate reference and never want to see another query again, at the end of this class you will possess and be able to use crucial research skills that will help you get through all the rest of your GSLIS classes.

* And if you do like it, there’s always the higher-level reference classes, such as LIS-413, LIS-430, and LIS-454, which my teacher referred to as reference on steroids. I’ll see you there.

Since everyone has enough to do this week with getting into “back to class” mode, this is just a short post with a few dates, events and cool things to keep in mind as we begin the semester:

Be sure to attend the First Day of Class Breakfast in the GSLIS office on Saturday, September 10^th at 8:30 am.  Meet the LISSA West officers and other students in the program and enjoy free breakfast-like foods and beverages.

SURVEY, SURVEY, SURVEY – In order for the LISSA West Officers to plan social and professional events of interest to GSLIS Westers, it is imperative that we hear from  you! Please take this brief survey by Thursday, September 15^th  so that we can plan the events that  YOU want.

NEW! GSLIS West Book Club! Attend the first meeting on Saturday, September 17^th at 12:15 (i.e. between classes) in the GSLIS office.  Bring your lunch and a few title suggestions. (Title suggestions appreciated, but not required!)

NEW!! GSLIS West is on Facebook. Friend us to keep current on all the spectacular events we will be planning based on your survey responses…

Be sure to check back regularly for riveting and engaging posts about LISSA, librarianship and information!

• Get a Simmons photo ID. (This is different than the one you received from Mount Holyoke.) To obtain an ID, go to the Campus Card Services Office, located in the basement of the Main College Building, E-007. There, trade in your photo-less ID (if you have one; previous semesters haven’t always handed them out) and obtain a new ID card. Someone there will snap your picture and, seconds later, print out the card for you.
  
• Put ParkingCash on your card. You can put any amount you want on it, all usable in the underground parking garage on campus.
  

Read more about on-campus parking (and other ways of getting to Simmons East).

New England Archivists Spring Meeting: The Open Archives: From Doors to Data, March 19-20 at UMass Amherst. For questions, or to get involved please contact GSLIS instructor Danielle Kovacs at dkovacs@library.umass.edu .

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Digital Commonwealth’s Fourth Annual Digital Conference and Vendor Fair, Thursday, March 25th at Holy Cross in Worcester. Discounted registration until 2/25.

*Want to come free? DigiComm offers free registrations to three people who will blog the conference. Each blogger will cover the keynotes and one of three breakout tracks: 1) Getting Started with Digital Commonwealth; Metadata 1; the Role of Print Permanence, 2) Bringing the Past to the Future; Get your Grant Here; and Reaching Your Patrons: Online Outreach 3) >From Artifact to Digital; Fix It or Sleeve It?; Metadata II. Interested? Email cnoah@cmrls.org . Please use DigiComm blogger as the subject line. Include your name, position, institution and your blog’s URL. Please indicate whether you’d prefer track 1, 2, or 3.

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New England Technical Services Librarians Spring 2010 Conference: Crosswalks to the Future, April 15th, at Holy Cross in Worcester.

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Art Libraries Society of North America 2010 Conference: Revolution and Innovation: At the Hub of Discovery, April 23-26, Seaport Hotel in Boston.

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Massachusetts Library Association Conference: From Meek to Mighty: Reinventing Libraries in Challenging Times, April 28-30, Hyannis Resort and Conference Center.

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Journal of Information Technology and Politics 2010 Conference: The Politics of Open Source, May 6-7 at UMass Amherst.

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Association of College and Research Libraries New England Chapter Spring 2010 Conference: Embracing Our Electronic World: Challenges and Promises for Academic Libraries. Friday, May 14, 2010 at Holy Cross in Worcester.

Spend a day discussing the impact of our shifting information landscape, the evolving roles of academic libraries and librarians in a networked world, and the opportunities for innovation that come with rapid change. The conference will feature speaker, Lisa Hinchliffe (Vice-President/President-elect of ACRL), presentations sponsored by our ACRL/NEC Special Interest Groups (http://www.acrlnec.org/sigs/index.php), and will offer opportunities to network with your colleagues and discuss the latest library products and services with our sponsoring vendors.

Registration Fees:
$55 – Chapter members
$55 – NELA members
$80 – Non-members
$25 – Students
$5 – Social hour

Several travel and registration scholarship opportunities are also available.

Join us for drinks on Tuesday, January 26th from 7-9pm
at The Northampton Brewery, 11 Brewster Court, Northampton.

Fortify yourself for the coming semester!