Circulation

Need a little more literature in your life?

Does the idea of finding time for a book group during the school year make you laugh out loud?

Lucky for you, Circulation has the solution!  Beginning this fall, we are launching our One School, One Story initiative.  Modeled on the idea of One City, One Story (pioneered by the iSchool's own Nancy Pearl), we will be choosing a short story each month for everyone to read.  At the end of the month, we will host a discussion group.

All the literary pleasure of book group without the time commitment of reading an entire novel!

To kick off, we have chosen Sherman Alexie's What You Pawn I Will Redeem.

If you're anything like some of the Circulation staff, summertime may have you reaching for well-worn copies of The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea. 

Ever wish you could capture some of that kind of spare, careful voice in your own writing?  Now you can!  With the Hemingway App, you simply upload your work and it will help you create pieces that are "bold and clear."  Go ahead, try it out with that submission you've been working on for the Fall issue.

Calling all writers and artists!

The submission deadline is two weeks away!  We need your work for the Fall 2014 issue of Circulation.

This issue's theme is ADVENTURE!  We want to know: What have you been doing with your summer?  To get the juices flowing, here are some topic ideas:

Hijinx at your internship

Amusing travel anecdotes

Scenes from home

What you've been reading

Memories of summers past

Please submit all work to [email protected] by September 1.

ALKI, the journal of the Washington Library Association, is currently seeking Student Representatives to join the ALKI Editorial Committee.

The term would begin on July 31, 2014, and end on July 31, 2015 (or until the student has graduated). Members of the committee are required to submit 3 articles during the term on a theme that has been chosen for the July, November, and March issues. These articles should be approximately 700 words each. Each issue has a deadline one month before the release of the publication.

As for committee meetings, there will be one face-to-face meeting at the annual WLA conference, where the themes of upcoming issues will be selected. Attendance is not mandatory. There may be other online meetings if necessary.

Joyce Hansen, the editor of ALKI, or Diane Cowles of the Editorial Committee, will send emails to the committee members throughout the year about the topics that may affect librarianship in Washington.

This is for the MLIS candidates in the iSchool...

Why did you start your library training?  Yes, I know you care about digital literacy and connecting people with information.  You’ve argued fervently for streamlined user experiences and your enthusiasm for classification theory is palpable.

But seriously, what made you want to be a librarian?  It was books wasn’t it?  It’s ok, I promise I won’t tell your professors.  

For those of us who want to work in libraries, and for a good chunk of our colleagues who don’t, books were our gateway drug to information science.  We love the feel; we love the smell; we love novels and histories and poetry.  We love our Kindles, too.  We lose ourselves in written stories that we devour whenever we get a quiet moment.

There’s a lot of eye-rolling that goes on in library school when students declare their passion for books.  “It’s not enough,” the knowing scoff.  And, sure, it isn’t, but for most of us, this love makes the difference between getting by and getting motivated.  

One of the major goals for Circulation to to become that space in the iSchool where we can come together to get excited about literature and writing.  Whether you love The Pickwick Papers or The Clockwork Orange, whether you run on poetry or crave visual art, this is your space.  Let’s come together and explore these passions!

Loving books may not be enough, but it’s not a bad place to start, right?

So, you’ve found a piece you want to submit to Circulation but you’re a little nervous about submitting it.  Your ideas are strong, obviously.  You’re a smart, savvy information student and you know your topic well.  Sometimes, though, your writing needs a little polish.

Here are three steps toward more powerful writing.

Omit needless words.  When excess verbiage pads your writing, it doesn’t just put you over on your word limit.  Too many words can make your paper or story difficult to read and even obscure your ideas.  Be ruthless.  Always be on the lookout for phrases you can replace with a single term.

Focus on transitions.  One of the best ways to tell if your structure works is to consider your transitions.  Do they flow naturally?  Were they a struggle to write?  Chances are, if you had trouble linking two ideas, readers will too.  When you identify weak transitions, consider whether they should be revised or if it’s time to reorganize.

Murder your darlings.  Clichéd as it may be, good writers must learn to kill their favorite sentences when they become distracting.  You might have gotten goose bumps when you wrote it, but that won’t stop it from turning into a road block.  As you edit, be on guard for your darlings.  Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and pull the trigger...

Good news! Circulation is making our last call for submissions for the spring issue and guess what...you've already created yours!

Share your creativity with the iSchool community!  Our spring issue is all about "What I Know Now."  It will be featuring the very best student writing and artwork from 2013-14.

Not sure what to submit?  Here are a few ideas:

A snippet from your Capstone project. 

A paper you enjoyed writing last quarter. 

Research you conducted and want to share with the world. 

Photographs you captured on spring break adventures. 

That super-sleek infographic you designed. 

A short story you wrote over winter break.

A sketch you made while studying in the library.

That poem you wrote as a break from readings.

A blog post you wrote about your favorite lecture.

Circulation wants to know: What did you make of this year?  Please send your work to [email protected] by June 1.

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