Simmons College - Microcosm Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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cross reference, et al After a blissful three years of liberal arts, the typical library school senior is suddenly plunged into a maze of dictionaries and subject headings, selective aids and Cutter numbers. From this seeming con- fusion emerges one of Simmons ' most sought-after graduates; placement for her is simply a matter of deciding which one of the many offered jobs to choose. The library profession is flexible enough to provide for almost all kinds of interests and al- most all kinds of jobs — research or driving a book- mobile; scholarly or on the pre-school level. The senior year at Simmons is the starter in the library field. Into that one lone senior year have gone many hours of figuring out Dewey ' s simplified spelling, furtive searches for red pencils, cries of But what IS the difference between ' x ' and ' xx? ' and read- ing everything from Ideas and Men to Winnie the Pooh. There have been trips to the various inner sancta of the library world — the Atheneum (that proper Bostonian ' s retreat), to Harvard ' s Houghton Library. There have been coffee hours in Stowaway (an activity by no means restricted to the Library School) and social gatherings in 318. At the end of such a year, armed now with her BS in LS, the Simmons girl goes forth to brave the perils of the children ' s room or the intricacies of catalog- ing, or to answer rechercha questions about the annua] precipitation in Patagonia. And she also goes forth to prove to the world at large that the Library is a Social Institution. In addition to the four-year program at Simmons, there are the five-year plan leading to a Master ' s de- gree and two programs for college graduates — one general and the other specialized — also leading to a Master ' s degree. These graduate programs have be- come increasingly popular, which accounts for the apparently anomalous presence of co-eds. With a Master ' s degree even more doors open and a whole gamut of opportunities appear in the wonderful world of books. Kenneth R. Shaffer, Directo

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Realm of reference. Do or die for the Dewey Decimal. Jackie Dowling, Do ris Kelleher, Nancy Mclntyre, Jean Murphy and Monica Harrington. Shirley Smith looks for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Irene Charnicki, Dodie Neville and Barbara Houle r those ten-ton refer- ence books. {26 }

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Five-year plan Evangeline H. Morris, Director You have seen her wandering the corridors in February and March wearing sensible shoes, carry- ing a black bag, and waving a large bar graph de- picting the annual cost of garbage disposal. She is Simmons ' prodigal daughter, the fifth-year nurse. Bent over a cup of black coffee (spare the fatted calf), she spins the saga of the Five Year Plan. Her vocabulary ranges from Aschhiem to Zondek, but she will allow you access to her library which may include a medical dictionary and battered copies of Stearns, Starling, Kafka, and Millay. Memories of prodromal days include summer ses- sions in Boston, bedroom slippers fashioned from yesterday ' s Traveler, the history of the profession from Neanderthal woman to the Brown report, fragrant felines, cabbage au gratin on the Foods Lab floor, and the chronaxie that could be defined. Her timeless devotion to her freshman English instructor transferred to the Biology Department, and she had then passed the point of no return. Somebody sold her a limp white cloth which a Chinese laundry, two common pins, and a minimal blood loss transformed into a white winged cap. Mrs. Whitten helps budding microbiologists. Lorraine Langenfeld sits by while Pat checks pressure. Jocelyn Walker gets in forty winks while Barbara Smith and Anne Smith do their stuff. 128 }