Curious about the upcoming ASIS&T Annual Meeting? Join us on Zoom on Thursday, July 15 at 5:30pm EDT to learn more about the event including what to expect, why you should attend, a sneak peek at the conference agenda, and how to fund your ticket.
And just for fun, this is a B.Y.O.P. (bring your own pet) event! Stop by to say hello to fellow students, professors, and their furry friends.
Alas, the spring term has ended! It was a busy semester full of wonderful events that were put together with the support of our community. We’re proud of and thankful for the alumni, faculty, and other community members who have shared their time, experiences, and wisdom for these events. Check out the highlights of this semester’s activities below.
Career Q&A Series
We held two panels as part of the Career Q&A series. They were a hit! All panelists were Simmons alumni who shared their experiences and advice for getting into and growing in the LIS field. The panelists in Part 1 of the series included alumni Anne Pepitone, Dan Zavala, Emily Donohue, and Cynthia Cheng Correia. Part 2 featured alumni Lucy Taylor, Derek Murphy, Elizabeth Quigley, and Julie Goldman.
It's not too late to join us for the Career Q&A Series! Sign up here to get the Zoom link: https://t.co/AAx3LeXJ6L pic.twitter.com/MfaSnyEnEe
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) February 19, 2021
The second panelist was Cynthia Correia. The third panelist was Dan Zavala. I am a proud professor for both @AnnePepitone and Dan. @SimmonsSLIS pic.twitter.com/lIBpexajCh
— Rong Tang (@tangr) February 19, 2021
“Keep an eye on the opportunities. If you don’t see anybody else doing it, go there.”
– Career Q&A panelist Dan Zavala on finding your niche in IS&T pic.twitter.com/ClaJdtp3Oi— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) February 19, 2021
Q&A period in @SimmonsASIST career panel. @SimmonsSLIS pic.twitter.com/iifdORhOKp
— Rong Tang (@tangr) February 19, 2021
It's Career Q&A time! First up, Julie Goldman (@jgolds2) on how she landed her first job after @SimmonsSLIS. Shoutouts to @The_RDMLA and @ElaineMartin2! pic.twitter.com/1HQlkU5rbA
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 16, 2021
"You don't need to have been coding since fifth grade to do a job like this. There's a lot of learning you can do on the job." – @DerekLMurphy
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 16, 2021
Here's Elizabeth Quigley talking about her path to become a Designer Researcher at IBM. While Elizabeth came to @SimmonsSLIS wanting to be a children’s librarian, she found an interest in digital products and design research. pic.twitter.com/323M2Rmoik
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 16, 2021
Next up we have Lucy Taylor talking about her path to become a UX/UI designer. Originally interested academic libraries, she found a passion for digital-oriented classes, and eventually landed her first role in product design. pic.twitter.com/oiquJ5mU9H
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 16, 2021
Question from the audience: Any recommendations for learning programming for someone coming from a non-tech background?
➡️@jgolds2 recommends https://t.co/ux3iF5aHNI
➡️@DerekLMurphy recommends https://t.co/v5Ig2Y3A70 (a book on Python)
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 16, 2021
Final Q&A part of the career panel session. Thanks to all the panelists. Really great to see them — haven't seen three panelists since they graduated. It's like a reunion. @SimmonsASIST @SimmonsSLIS pic.twitter.com/hGNlO8lY2X
— Rong Tang (@tangr) April 16, 2021
Our very own co-chairs Jennifer Sunoo and Andrew Schofield hosted a panel during the NEASIS&T 2021 Annual Conference. The panel, titled “It Took a Pandemic: Reinventing Libraries in an Era of Change,” featured Simmons students Deeth Ellis, Kevin Kidd, David Leonard, Kate Nyhan, and Jae Jennifer Rossman. The panelists discussed the ways their libraries have addressed challenges caused by COVID-19.
#NEASIST2021 Now Presenting…@SimmonsASIST Panel with many distinguished colleagues: @DeethEllis of @BostLatinSchool + @kevinkidd91 of @WITLibrary + @dleonard of @BPLBoston + @KDNyhan + Jae Rossman, both of @yalelibrary pic.twitter.com/9Ihm9OpefA
— NEASIST (@neasist) March 5, 2021
At #NEASIST2021 hearing from library leaders on the challenges of adapting services in the COVID era.
Great lineup of speakers:
➡️@DeethEllis of @BostLatinSchool
➡️@kevinkidd91 of @WITLibrary
➡️@dleonard of @BPLBoston
➡️@KDNyhan of @yalelibrary
➡️Jae Rossman of @yalelibrary pic.twitter.com/HVhCVpUaNq— Katherine Leonard (@knleo) March 5, 2021
For more details on the panel session, check out our full recap of Simmons’ activity during the 2021 NEASIS&T conference.
In collaboration with UXPA, we hosted a Remote Usability Testing Workshop. After introducing usability testing, attendees had a chance to experience a mock usability testing session, using a COVID-19 vaccine information site as an example.
It's time for the Remote Usability Testing Workshop! Zhan Hu (@SimmonsSLIS PhD student) is kicking things off with crash course on usability testing. pic.twitter.com/6U7lfCx9Bu
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 2, 2021
Next up, PhD student Wen Lu is talking us through a usability testing case study for PBcore. pic.twitter.com/JKrdiyAL6d
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 2, 2021
Next up, @SimmonsSLIS graduate students Nick Bodanza and Jennifer Ronca walk us through a recent project testing usability of the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboards. Also for @tangr's usability class! pic.twitter.com/nYfJua56Q6
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) April 2, 2021
More from the mock testing part of the workshop. Discussion afterward. @SimmonsASIST @uxpaboston @SimmonsSLIS pic.twitter.com/AmMsdqhEqs
— Rong Tang (@tangr) April 2, 2021
The Information Science and Technology faculty launched the IS&T Lab website. The faculty shared their goals and visions for the lab, and student Sarah Minnear shared progress on the website. Lots of helpful feedback and ideas were shared in conversation and through an interactive Jamboard session. We can’t wait to see how the virtual lab grows in the coming months!
We launched the #InformationScience & #Technology (#IS&T) Lab at @SimmonsUniv @SimmonSLIS based on a COCIS Innovation Grant.https://t.co/8SFt0N6kIh@SimmonsASIST @mariedj17 @iesanda @tangr C. Dumas R. Williams @infosci_d @keoh0804 @crhinesmith Sarah Minnear @annmgraf @asist_org pic.twitter.com/4V3n79hVf5
— Naresh Agarwal (@nareshag) May 8, 2021
Student IS&T lab assistant Sarah Minnear presented the new IS&T lab website and plans for future development.
We had lots of fun using Google Jamboard to brainstorm ideas and visions for the IS&T Lab.
For our final event, Yeseul Song, Simmons alumna and artist, discussed how she merges information science with new media art to create interactive exhibits that challenge our understanding of how people use their senses and perceive their surroundings. Song shared thought-provoking examples from her recent work. What a great way to end the semester!
Just finished attending @SimmonsASIST last event of the semester: Presentation by @pstplanet (a graduate of @SimmonsSLIS) who shared her UX and artistic journey, how she brings art to people and enables participatory art. Very proud of her!! Among attendees, @annmgraf pic.twitter.com/g5vDOdqf70
— Rong Tang (@tangr) May 21, 2021
Yeseul Song discussed her Invisible Sculptures pieces, which are designed for people to interact with a sculpture using senses other than sight. One of these sculptures is a sound sculpture, pictured above.
Song took some of her Invisible Sculptures out of the museum and into the public using a mobile cart to bring her works to different communities.
That’s a wrap for our spring semester! Our board truly enjoyed putting these events together. Stay tuned for more events to come in future semesters.
This month we are featuring Jae Jennifer Rossman, a current Ph.D. student who also got an MLIS from Simmons. Read more to learn about how ASIS&T has helped Jae’s research and career.
I am in the Ph.D. program, which I started in fall 2015.
My dissertation! I’m in the research phase, doing interviews and looking for supporting documents in archives.
ASIS&T publications have been very important for me over my career. From studying for comps or just keeping up with the field, I know that I’ll always find quality ideas and research supported by ASIS&T.
Yes! We just adopted two adorable kittens. The last time I adopted a kitten was 1998, when I started at Simmons for my master’s degree. It seems appropriate to again have the joy of kittens at a time when I’m again figuring out what the next step in my career will be.
Thank you, Jae, for sharing your experiences.
Stay tuned for more next semester!
Join us Friday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. on Zoom for the IS&T Lab Launch. The mission of the IS&T Lab is to develop a space for faculty and students to collaborate, share, learn, and explore topics in information science and technology.
Hear from SLIS faculty members about their vision for the IS&T Lab and take part in an interactive Jamboard session to collect student feedback and ideas on the future of the lab!
Two student attendees will win a $35 Amazon gift card. *See below for eligibility, participation, and selection details.
Register at https://forms.gle/uw2zEiun328N1kCk8.
*Raffle Eligibility, Participation, & Selection Details
Attendees must be present for the entirety of the event to be eligible to win. Simmons faculty and ASIS&T Simmons board members are not eligible to participate. At the end of the event, two winners will be selected at random using randomizer.org. The winner will be announced live at the meeting and ASIS&T Simmons treasurer will follow up to arrange prize delivery.
Join us Thursday, May 6 at 11:30 a.m. EDT for a webinar hosted by NEASIS&T and RDMLA and presented by Elaine R. Martin, Rong Tang, Ashley Thomas, and Zhan Hu. The webinar is free and open to all. Register in advance on Eventbrite.
Launched in October 2019, the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA) was collaboratively developed by librarians, LIS faculty, and industry professionals to directly address the learning gaps in RDM training. Currently, RDMLA has 5,008 registered learners from more than 156 countries around the world. In this presentation, the RDMLA team members will outline their commitment to continuously provide comprehensive RDM training. Specifically, they will showcase three new units launched in late 2020/early 2021 in addition to the upcoming Chinese language version, produced by their translation partnership with National Taiwan University Library, which will launch summer/fall 2021. Live demos of the new and translated units will be given. They will also explore possible use applications of the RDMLA LIS faculty and librarians can use in their teaching of students and researchers. Through the RDMLA, they seek to build a global community of practice of RDM and further advance RDM practice in libraries, schools, and beyond.
For further details and speaker bios, visit our registration page
Source: https://asistchapterassemb.wixsite.com/bestp/post/secret-of-success-in-winning-asis-t-s-student-chapter-of-the-year-award-10-times
The Director of the ASIS&T Chapter Assembly, Dr. Sam Chu, interviewed ASIS&T Simmons co-chair Jennifer Sunoo and faculty advisor Professor Kyung Eun Oh about winning the Student Chapter of the Year Award in 2020. Jennifer and Prof. Oh share secrets for running a successful student chapter. Check out the interview on ASIS&T Chapters’ Best Practice Sharing site.
This month we are featuring Kevin Kidd, a current Ph.D. student who recently presented at the NEASIS&T Annual Conference. Read more to learn about Kevin’s experience with ASIS&T and how he gets involved.
This is my 2nd semester. I started in the SLIS Ph.D. in Library & Information Science in September 2020.
At the moment, I’m taking LIS621, Conducting Research, with Dr. Tang and LIS421, Social Informatics, with Dr. Rhinesmith. I’m also working full-time as Director of the Library at Wentworth Institute of Technology. It’s great to be back in school and to have the time and space to read and think about Library and Information Science. I’m still building towards an idea for my thesis, and the classes I’ve taken so far have been wonderful in helping me focus my potential topic.
I have been a member of ASIS&T for some time, and I regularly attend the NEASIS&T conferences. In fact, I’ve been fortunate to be a presenter/panelist at NEASIS&T a couple of times over the years. Their journal – JASIST – is a key resource in our field, and I regularly read it. Hopefully, someday I’ll be able to publish in JASIST.
I am building a music studio/rehearsal space in my barn. I’m in a bluegrass/folk music band, so it will be great to have a dedicated space to play and record in.
Thank you, Kevin, for sharing your experiences.
If you’d like to share your work or experiences as a featured member, be sure to fill out the Member of the Month survey. Stay tuned for more next month!
Interested in user experience research? ASIS&T Simmons is teaming up with UXPA to present the Remote Usability Testing Workshop on Friday, April 2 at 5:30 p.m. EST.
On the agenda:
The event will be hosted by Zhan Hu (PhD student), Nick Bodanza (graduate student), Jennifer Ronca (graduate student), and Wenqing Lu (PhD student).
This event is free and open to all Simmons SLIS students. To receive the Zoom link, register at https://forms.gle/ZzT4YZxrzxp3WJLR7.
We’re so proud of our Simmons community for getting heavily involved with the NEASIS&T annual conference that was held on March 5th, 2021. SLIS students and professors participated in panels, presentations, and breakout sessions. The Simmons ASIS&T Chapter sponsored a panel featuring five Simmons students, discussing how their libraries adapted services in the COVID era. The panel was moderated by our very own co-chairs Jennifer Sunoo and Andrew Schofield. Check out the event highlights below to see how our students and professors contributed to the conference.
Happening now: @SimmonsASIST-sponspored #NEASIST2021 panel with special guests: @DeethEllis of @BostLatinSchool @kevinkidd91 of @WITLibrary@dleonard of @BPLBoston@KDNyhan and Jae Rossman of @yalelibrary pic.twitter.com/BSzvMPflVb
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
Boston Latin School Library 2020-2021: New year, new idea, new schedule by Deeth Ellis @neasist conference panel session @SimmonsASIST #neasist21 pic.twitter.com/glAaKBMZK2
— Rong Tang (@tangr) March 5, 2021
“Kids are struggling with motivation, being lonely, COVID issues. We’re focused on what we can do for them.”
– @DeethEllis on how @BostLatinSchool library is adapting amidst the pandemic #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/5t5CaTIZFf
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
“We had to figure out how to de-densify the space. We removed furniture to reflect where students could sit vs. putting tape on everything. We set up seat reservation using Springshare.”
– @kevinkidd91 of @WITLibrary on transitioning the library space for COVID #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/d2BZUi6MpV
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
“It was a huge challenge to take a 172-year-old institution and turn it, what felt like overnight, into an online service organization.”
– @dleonard of @BPLBoston at #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/GrkKlFmAIy
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
Next up, @KDNyhan of @yalelibrary on the four primary issues medical libraries face in the pandemic. #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/Ff9sCDhEhh
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
Jae Rossman of @yalelibrary (and @SimmonsSLIS doctoral student!) discusses pivoting the library's physical collection to digital during the pandemic. #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/ojcZ32jSC3
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
https://twitter.com/tangr/status/1367958957436801025
Third is Chris Kaufmann and Jocelyn Cozzo talking about remote usability testing of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Dashboard. Recommendations include improving accessibility for users with disabilities and people who access the site in alternative ways. #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/crcGTq3Ifr
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
Next up is Nick Bodanza discussing findings from usability testing of the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 U.S. Map Dashboard. Recommendations included adding tooltips, making behavior more consistent across the dashboard, and removing extraneous functionality. #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/rzlt6yhW8E
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
The final presentation in this session is from Yishan Zhang sharing remote usability testing of the ECDC Dashboard. Based on testing results, researchers created wireframes with recommendations including methods for improving the dashboard’s time period selection. #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/9v4ZzLZMQr
— ASIS&T Simmons (@SimmonsASIST) March 5, 2021
Happening Now at #NEASIST2021: Professor @nareshag of @SimmonsSLIS talks about his journey from skeptic of online teaching to a strong advocate of it. pic.twitter.com/QXzqxfI8aw
— NEASIST (@neasist) March 5, 2021
The talk, “Teaching online: Instructional design and practical strategies for remote education” today at the annual @asist_org @neasist conference. #neasist21 had papers and panels by @SimmonsUniv @SimmonsSLIS faculty @tangr @annmgraf @ElaineMartin2 and students. @SimmonsASIST pic.twitter.com/9w0guhlhA9
— Naresh Agarwal (@nareshag) March 6, 2021
The third presentation by Zhan Hu and Wenqing Lu, doctoral students from @SimmonsSLIS on Prek and K online education during COVID-19. #neasist21 pic.twitter.com/4xTucksEAk
— Rong Tang (@tangr) March 5, 2021
Professor @annmgraf of @SimmonsSLIS shares her preliminary research on graffiti art and its documentation during the pandemic. #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/3JQ5S5qoGc
— NEASIST (@neasist) March 5, 2021
NEASIST @neasist Projects/Programs by @annmgraf from @SimmonsSLIS on graffiti art and COVID-19 #NEASIST2021 pic.twitter.com/xQMhvWPQgc
— Rong Tang (@tangr) March 5, 2021
What a job well done by our SLIS community.
Curious about IS&T career paths? Unsure about the type of role you want to pursue? Looking for tips to land your dream job? Join us for the second installment of our Career Q&A Series! We’ll be joined by four Simmons SLIS alumni who will share their real-world IS&T career experiences, from how they landed their first jobs to an inside look at what they do in their roles today. Panelists to be announced soon; stay tuned!
The event will be hosted on Zoom on Friday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m. EST. All are welcome — just be sure to register in advance. While you’re there, share any questions you might have for our panelists.
Lucy Taylor is a UX & UI designer for The Prince’s Trust, a UK charity that provides services to help young adults get into jobs, education, and training. She has a background in product management and has also worked for Sage Publishing and dxw digital, an agency predominantly designing digital services for the public sector. She is particularly interested in making products easy to use and accessible to people who might otherwise struggle to access support services.
Derek Murphy is a Systems Librarian at the Boston Athenæum, where he aids in the setup and continued functioning of library and museum software, and provides IT support to staff. He studied Library & Information Science at Simmons College and Brain & Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. In his spare time, he directs documentary films, including a recent series on the archival preservation of online video games.
Elizabeth is a design researcher for IBM Quantum, focused on understanding how users progress in their quantum journey using IBM Quantum tools and resources. Prior to joining IBM, she did design research on online meeting tools, open-source products, and library services.
Her journey to design research includes a Master’s in Library and Information Science and she enjoys talking to others about their unconventional paths to design careers.
As the Countway Research Data Services Librarian, part of the Harvard Library Research Data Management Program, Julie Goldman works with students and faculty researchers in the sciences and partners with them to plan for the management of their data throughout the lifecycle of their research project. She consults on research data management issues and assists researchers with citing and publishing their data. Julie is a certified Carpentries Instructor, involved in Open Access journal publishing, and an experienced online course instructor.