Published: October 21, 2024 by Gabe Farmer

Last week in part 1 the Sanderson sisters learned about some of the great San José State University iSchool resources available to them while they worked on preparing for their first semester. We join them again now as classes begin, presenting them with new challenges. They don’t fret though, because they’ve got more than just magic up their sleeves, they’ve got the iSchool Student Resources!

Academic Support

Now that the sisters have signed up for classes, paid for their courses and gotten their home learning technology set up, reality begins to set in. The reality is that, like many iSchool students, it has been a while since they were in a school setting. For the sisters, it’s been a very long while, about 300 years, in fact. 

What does an APA paper look like? How do I make my papers sound professional? How am I supposed to use the school library when I live in Massachusetts? The sisters find the answers to all of these questions and more on the Academic Support webpage.

Writing Support

Winifred has been assigned to write a paper for one of her first courses, but the only things she has written in the past decade are spells, and she rarely needs to cite sources for those. Winifred is cunning and dedicated to learning, though, so she visits the Writing Support page where she finds all kinds of resources like tutoring information, the Grad Writer Toolbox and APA Style Resources. After spending some time with a tutor and learning about the format of academic papers, Winifred receives an excellent grade on her preliminary paper about 17th-century grimoires.

King Library Orientation

In her first MLIS course, Sarah was told that she needed to borrow one of her textbooks from the King Library. She began to prepare her magic broom for the 3000-mile journey from Salem to San José, but Mary stopped her just in time to let her know she could borrow the textbook without leaving the computer. Mary sat Sarah down with the King Library Orientation, where Sarah discovered a whole new world of information accessibility. 

With the King Library Orientation, students can learn how to access the King Library as well as the dozens of databases it provides access to. In fact, Sarah found that all of her textbooks were available to read online for free through the King Library. Both Sarah and this author believe that this orientation and the skills it provides are the single most powerful tool on the iSchool student toolbelt.

Student Groups

The Sanderson sisters have been great friends for more than 300 years, but being stuck in their small cottage in Salem sharing one laptop between the three of them has them in need of some other community support. SJSU iSchool has a great variety of Student Groups for students to get involved in and build communities around. 

With all of her newfound information about technology, Mary decides to get involved with the Women in Cybersecurity, SJSU Student Chapter. Winifred is the first woman in her family to pursue higher education, so she joins the First Generation Student Group. Sarah is a social butterfly, so she joins the Advocacy Student Group, the American Library Association Student Chapter and the Virtual Worlds and Social VR Club. 

The great thing about student groups is that they let the sisters make social connections outside of their own home and build a larger community to support them through their studies. Now they hex and curse each other far less frequently than when they only had each other to share their already heavy mental loads. This brings us to the final, highly important resource: SJSU Wellness.

SJSU Wellness

Graduate school can be mentally taxing, especially when you have so many adult life things on your plate outside of it. Life gets busy. There are potions to brew, spells to cast, talking cats to track down, etc. SJSU provides great resources to ensure that you are making time to take care of yourself. Through SJSU Wellness you can find ways to manage your stress, set goals and nurture your overall wellbeing. The iSchool even has its own Health and Wellness Ambassador, Loida Garcia-Febo. 

All three Sanderson sisters have taken to using these resources, and the town of Salem is a much more peaceful place thanks to it! Instead of letting her anger out by terrorizing local children, Winifred now takes peaceful broom rides across the countryside. 

We all get overwhelmed sometimes, and SJSU has the resources to help you get through those moments.

A Successful Semester for the Sanderson Sisters

As we’ve seen in these two posts, the Sanderson sisters started their iSchool journeys with no direction, no technology, no funds and no coping mechanisms, but thanks to the SJSU iSchool resources they have all that and more! From onboarding to graduation, the Student Resources page is a valuable tool to keep in mind throughout your time at the iSchool. The wild part is that there are so many more resources that the Sanderson sisters didn’t even dive into!

Feel free to share your experiences or tips on how you’ve used these resources! Do you have a favorite tool not mentioned here that you like to use? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll be sure to add it in a future post!