Farewell Post: Answering My Own Grad School Questions
When I first started preparing to enter my Master’s program, there were two questions I regularly asked professional librarians: What tricks did you develop that helped you to be successful […]
Author Archives
Kerri
5 Things I Wish More Online Professors Knew
I’m rapidly approaching the end of my second year of grad school. Over the past 8 quarters and 13 classes, I have experienced a wide range of teaching styles and […]
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 […]
10 Things Librarian Allies Can Do
According to a 2010 ALA diversity study, 88% of librarians are white [1]. This is a huge problem in its own right, but guess what? 88% of us have an […]
Reflections on Trust and Safety
“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.” ― Paulo Coelho, Brida Before you read this any further, […]
Facing Critical Uncertainties
We’re all facing a lot of big, scary questions right now. What if I’m furloughed or laid off? What if I or someone I love gets sick? What if the […]
Serving the Public When the Building’s Closed
This past Friday, I was leading a session on Empathy-Driven Customer Service with approximately 20 public library staff members in my county. It had been an interesting day already: I […]
Avoid the Discussion Board Trap
What I’m about to say may not work for every program, professor, or class, but it’s a piece of advice I wish I had heard before I started my online […]
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 […]
Hold On To Your Optimism
As the year draws to a close and we look toward 2020, I’ve been thinking about the promise of new things. Many of us use the New Year as a […]
The Separation of Work and Study
A few weeks ago, Katelyn Sabelko’s post about Burnout and Library School caught my attention. Does working during your LIS studies contribute to higher rates of burnout? Like Katelyn, I’m […]
Recognize Secondary Traumatic Stress
Society asks a lot of public library workers. Alongside our tasks of finding and providing books and other materials, leading programming for all ages, and answering all manner of questions, […]
Hack Your Studying with Retrieval Practice
At the beginning of my previous quarter, my Database Management professor announced to the class that we would be assigned a short quiz based on the lecture every week during […]
How to Hack Your Program When You’re Overwhelmed
It’s the end of the summer term, and all my final projects are due soon. To make matters worse, back when I had more energy and the sun was shining, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Visiting Campus as an Online Student
Drexel University sometimes offers a class concurrently online and face to face. Online students like me attend asynchronously, learning through discussion boards, readings, videos, and activities. The face-to-face students meet […]
Career Changers: We Learned It In a Past Life
When I was in high school, I knew exactly what I was going to do when I got older. I was wrong.
HLS 
