Simmons College

GSLIS Student Featured on The Jordan Rich Show (WBZ)

November 17, 2009

Charlie Remy is currently finishing a master's in library and information science at Simmons College in Boston. He was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (high functioning autism) a few years ago and is very active with the Asperger's Association of New England. Three people from the Association along with himself will be featured on WBZ News Radio 1030's The Jordan Rich Show (a live call-in program) on Sunday November 15 from 11PM to 12AM.

GSLIS to Host World Usability Event on 11/12/09

November 5, 2009

November 12, 2009 is the World Usability Day. Simmons GSLIS Usability Lab, in partnering with the Student Chapters of American Society of Information Science and Technology and Special Library Association, will host an event on the morning of November 12th in the Linda Paresky Conference Center (3rd floor of Main College Building), Simmons College. The event is open to the public, and the registration is free. For details about the event, please see: http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/news/calendar/events.php; to register, go to: http://gsliswud.eventbrite.com/

Helping Make Libraries Happen

November 4, 2009

This fall, GSLIS students and alums have been assisting in the establishment of the Chinatown Storefront Library, which was opened on October 15. Using donated space, a nonprofit called Boston Street Lab came up with the project as a way to give people in Chinatown a sense of what it feels like to have a library in their neighborhood. The hope is that a permanent library will be established in the future. (The neighborhood has been without a Boston Public Library branch since 1956.) For more information, please see the Oct. 23 Sampan article and the Library's website at: http://www.storefrontlibrary.org/

ISI Samuel Lazerow Memoral Lecture (11/17/09): Is There a Future for Special Libraries?

October 14, 2009

2009 is the 100th anniversary of the Special Libraries Association, making this an ideal time to consider if there is a future for special libraries (and the skill set of librarians who work in them). Are we prepared to answer the question of whether in the struggle for our survival we will be "the fittest" or if special libraries will become a casualty of the ongoing information revolution? In exploring these questions Dr. Pearlstein will take a look at the roles special librarians have typically played as intermediaries and arbiters of information and knowledge in their parent organizations, discuss the increasing challenges to these roles from both within and outside the profession, and conclude by taking a pragmatic look at some ways to position ourselves for survival and success in a future of ongoing economic and social turbulence.

For more information, please see the GSLIS events page.

Dr. Saad Eksander Returns to Simmons GSLIS on 10/22/09

October 8, 2009

On Thursday, October 22 (7:00 p.m.), Dr. Saad Eksander returns to speak at Simmons GSLIS; the lecture is being co-sponsored by GSLIS student groups SCoSAA (the Student Chapter of the Society of American Archivists) and SIR (Simmons International Relations), as well as the Simmons College Warburg Lecture Series. He will be discussing his experiences rebuilding the Iraq National Library and Archive and the issues surrounding the National Library and Archive during the rebuilding and currently.

Dr. Eksander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive, spoke on campus in November 2007. During that trip, he was profiled in the Boston Globe. Please see the November 2007 article and the diary he kept during 2006 and 2007 for more information about Dr. Eksander. Details regarding the event can be found on our GSLIS Events webpage.