“It is so amazing that this small school in Boston has a relationship with an enormous university in East Asia,” says Ryan Harrington ’27MS, a student in the Master of Library and Information Science: Archives Management program at Simmons’ School of Library and Information Science (SLIS).
Since 2009, a partnership between Simmons SLIS and Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea) has enabled students to study library and information science (LIS) abroad for part of a summer or for a full academic year.
“Yonsei is probably the most prestigious school in South Korea, and definitely one of the most prestigious in East Asia, so this is a huge opportunity,” Harrington notes.
Studying LIS in South Korea
During spring semester 2025, Harrington received an email about a course, “Social Informatics” (LIS 421), being offered in Seoul at Yonsei University the following summer. “I thought, my work is slow over the summer and I have accrued a lot of vacation hours, so I should take advantage of this opportunity,” he recalls.
The course began in an asynchronous online format, with the last two weeks taught onsite by SLIS Professor Lisa Hussey in Seoul. SLIS students attended classes at Yonsei University and stayed in the institution’s dormitory.
“This was a huge opportunity. It was great not only to get to know my Simmons classmates, but we also had Yonsei students in the class. So, this exchange gave Simmons students a chance to meet people from the other side of the world with shared interest in library and information science. It was an amazing cross-cultural event,” says Harrington.
Moreover, Simmons and Yonsei students co-presented a group assignment at the end of the course. Some of the Yonsei students are now studying abroad at Simmons’ SLIS.
Beyond academics, this exchange program afforded Simmons students ample time for exploring the city of Seoul. “We had a lot of optional class trips, and I went on all of them,” Harrington says. “Most of these activities were based around cultural heritage and immersing yourself in the city. To me, that was an important part of the trip.”
One day, the group visited a giant mall and toured a temple across the street. SLIS students also visited several historic palaces, but Harrington’s experience was more than just sightseeing. “We were students and we were learning about this other culture. And it was really engaging, and I felt like I was immersed in it [i.e., South Korean culture],” Harrington says.
As Harrington recounts, one of the extraordinary things about Seoul is its sheer diversity of spaces and the confluence of old and new. “At one moment, you can be in an enormous mall, and then across the street, there is an old Buddhist temple. So, you go from this modern consumer society to this archaic spiritual site on the same street,” he says. “You could be in the center of a temple and forget that you are in one of the biggest cities in the world.”
Stimulating Coursework at Simmons
When Harrington, who is interested in old documents, preservation, and cultural heritage, decided to go back to school to earn a graduate degree, he knew that Simmons’ SLIS would be the ideal place to study.
“I knew that Simmons’s LIS program is a kind of trailblazer,” he notes. “This degree carries a lot of weight, and I am going to be proud once I have attained it.” Harrington held a temporary job at Simmons prior to enrollment, and recalls enjoying the atmosphere on campus.
Thus far, Harrington’s favorite Simmons course has been the aforementioned “Social Informatics” course. “This class stands out to me not just because part of it was in Seoul,” he says. “I liked learning that information is power and thinking about who holds that information.”
Harrington also enjoyed the “Information Service, Behavior, and Ethics” (LIS 407) course taught by Professor and Associate Dean Laura Saunders and the “Introduction to Archival Theory and Practice” (LIS 438) taught by Assistant Professor of Practice Mollie Metevier.
“Professors Metevier and Saunders are so welcoming and encouraging … They were more than happy to expand on difficult concepts,” Harrington says.
The Importance of Memory
“Simmons has helped me think creatively about my current role,” Harrington says. Currently employed at MIT’s Sloan School of Business Management as the Senior Administrator, he supports faculty by managing their reimbursements, hiring teaching assistants, and other administrative tasks.
“I asked my supervisor [at MIT] if there is any work I can do that involves collecting and arranging old documents … and things that need to be archived,” Harrington says. “I’m finding ways to apply my Simmons archival training [to my work in higher education administration].”
The concept of memory is decidedly important to Harrington. “Preserving what actually happens and learning from memory and history are a big part of why I chose to study LIS,” he says. “I think our attention spans are very short, and we often forget how things come to be and what led us to our current predicament. Nothing just comes out of thin air, so it’s important to have this historical context and knowledge. We should learn from our past and appreciate our past.”