SOLIS Professional Conference Scholarships

By: Jessica Davis

The University of South Florida Student Organizations of Library and Information Science (SOLIS) is accepting applications for the First Annual Professional Conference Scholarships!

Applications will be accepted from March 7th, 2011 – March 21st, 2011 for the following professional conference organizations:

• American Library Association (ALA, http://www.ala.org/)

• Special Library Association (SLA, www.sla.org)

• Florida Library Association (FLA, http://www.flalib.org/)

Students are limited to one national and one state Professional Conference Scholarship award over the course of their USF School of information graduate program studies.

Awards: One scholarship will be available per year for each annual conference. The scholarship award amounts are based on the annual conference:

• ALA and SLA: $1500

• FLA: $200

Funding for the USF SOLIS Professional Conference Scholarships is generously provided by the USF School of Information.

Requirements: Scholarship applicants are required to:

·   be members of SOLIS.

·   include proof of membership in the professional organization for the conference they are attending.

·   be a student at the time of the conference. This is determined based on the date of the student’s graduation ceremony.

·   Winning applicants must write a blog article and lead a brown bag or after-dark lecture discussing their conference experience.

Application Process:

Applications will be collected via SurveyMonkey. Please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDJV8D8 to apply.

The survey will function as the official application for all three conference scholarships. Applicants may return to previous questions and modify responses until the survey is submitted or exited. For each scholarship, the applicant who meets all scholarship requirements and has accumulated the most points for participation and service activities will receive the scholarship award. Please note that scholarship points are retroactive, beginning August 2010. Any activities before August 2010 will NOT be considered for this award. The applications will be reviewed on March 23rd, 2011. Students may be asked to verify information submitted in their applications. The results will be posted on the SOLIS Blackboard announcements, website, and blog. Award winners will also be contacted via e-mail by the scholarship committee.

For questions regarding SOLIS membership, contact us at slisstudentorgs@usf.edu. Questions regarding the Professional Conference Scholarships should be directed to the Scholarship Committee Chair at jrdavis2@mail.usf.edu. Thank you!

 

Filed under: ALA, Conferences, FLA, Professional Organizations, Scholarships

ALA Student Chapter of the Year Nomination Form Submitted

By: Bill Harris

The USF ALA Student Chapter of the Year nomination form was submitted last Friday. The Student Chapter of the Year Award is presented by the ALA’s New Members Round Table (NMRT) in recognition of a chapter’s outstanding contributions to the American Library Association, their school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters, and to recognize future leaders in the profession. This is the first time in the history of the USF student chapter that we have submitted a nomination form for this award.

The application included details of our 500% increase in total members for our student chapter since June 1st, 2010. We also increased the frequency and/or numbers in our Socials, After-Dark Lectures, and Brown Bag programs. The first Professional Association Membership Scholarships were distributed over the fall. We will give out the first Professional Conference Scholarships in the spring.

You can download our nomination form by clicking here. The ALA / NMRT Student Chapter of the Year Committee will announce the winner by March 31st.

The ALA student chapter would like to thank all of the members who participated and lead the improvements seen over the last year, which are detailed in this nomination form.

Filed under: ALA, Professional Organizations

After-Dark Lecture / Claudia Dold

Last Wednesday, we started our After-Dark Series for the Spring semester at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute. Assistant Librarian, Claudia Dold, spoke to the students about the mission of the library and gave them a little background of the director of the library, Ardis Hanson.

She also discussed the importance of networking and joining professional associations. Ms. Dold did say that just joining a professional association was not enough; you should also be active in the organization. For example, Claudia is the treasurer for the Florida and Caribbean Regional Conference.

Ms. Dold reviewed her own interview process in receiving the position at FMHI  and what she believes academic librarians are looking for in their job candidates. The meeting ended with a tour of the library and counting the number of bathrooms in odd locations contained within. She explained that the  library was at one time a mental health dormitory.

The next After-Dark Lecture will be on February 2, 2011, at the John F. Germany Public Library. Andrew Breidenbaugh, Chief Librarian for the Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library, will discuss the path to his current position, along with the different history and art collections in the library, and his take on the future of public librarianship.

Filed under: Professional Organizations

Scholarship Committee Report – Fall 2010

The Scholarship Committee is pleased to have received such a positive response to the call for scholarship applications for the fall 2010 USF SI Student Organizations Scholarships for Professional Association Membership. With these scholarships, the student organizations hope to encourage learning, networking, and professional development. We hope to offer these scholarships on an annual or bi-annual basis. If you did not receive a scholarship, please watch for future scholarship application periods. The frequency of the scholarship offerings will depend on the student organizations annual budget. If you have a fund raising idea or would like to volunteer your time at, or raise donations for, our bi-annual book sale, please find the fund raising discussion thread on Blackboard and watch for e-mail updates from the book sale committee. You may also contact the Book Sale Committee Chair Kate Gage at kgage@mail.usf.edu .

There are two issues which became apparent after the close of the application period that the scholarship committee is committed to correcting for future scholarship offerings:

1) The application period was too short. Quite a few students sent requests for information about the scholarships after the application deadline. Future application periods will be larger to allow for questions and busy schedules.

2) Students were not fully aware of the scholarship requirements. To be considered for the award, the applicant was required to be a member of the student organizations, in addition to being a USF student pursing an MLIS. Unfortunately, the scholarship committee was forced to disqualify otherwise stellar candidates. In the future, information about the scholarship requirements will be more prominently displayed in all communications relating to the scholarship. If you are not a member of the student organizations, please send an e-mail to slisstudentorgs@usf.edu to request information.

A Brown Bag meeting is being planned for the spring 2011 semester about library science scholarship opportunities. If you are unable to attend a Brown Bag in person or via Illuminate at the time of the meeting, you can access recorded Brown Bags for free at: http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/usf-school-library-information/id384534238. Please check the student organizations website and Facebook page for information about this and other opportunities and activities.

Fall 2010 Award Winners:

ALA East Coast Scholarship: Rebecca Guillen

SLA East Coast Scholarship: Ursula Ziegler

ALA West Coast Scholarship: Susan Marhevko

ASIS&T West Coast Scholarship: Sara Nelson

FAME West Coast Scholarship: Alicia Long

FLA West Coast Scholarship: Katherine Gage

SLA West Coast Scholarship: Denise “Vickie” Toranzo Zacker

Congratulations! Award winners will be contacted with details within the next week. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Scholarship Committee Chair Jessica Davis at jrdavis2@mail.usf.edu.

Filed under: Professional Organizations, Scholarships

Job Skills Required for New Librarians

The After-Dark Lecture Series had our first panel discussion of they year regarding a very important topic for students in our program. The panel topic for the evening was on job skills required for new librarians in the workforce. The program was a huge success. Our speakers included Jacqueline Rose (Polk County Senior Coordinator of Library Media Services), Jessica Riggins (Immediate Past President SIS), Susan Oliver (Chief Librarian Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library), and Susan Ariew (USF Tampa Campus Librarian). The panel gave a brief overview of their background and how they ended up in their current position. They also spoke about different characteristics libraries look for in candidates including experience, leadership, and energy. The four librarians took questions from the assembled students on topics like giving references and salary negotiations. All of the panelists agreed on the tough environment for finding an available job in the current economy. They did mention the value of volunteering or work study in getting an advantage over other candidates.

Approximately 35 students attended the program. This was the highest number of students who have attended our After-Dark Lecture Series. Students who are members of the student organizations can hear a recorded version of the discussion on Blackboard in the Student Organizations section in Elluminate.

Our next after dark lecture speaker is Betsy King from CAE USA Inc.  She will give a brief overview of her career and job duties in a training center for cargo aircraft. This is a great opportunity for librarians wanting to learn more about a career in special libraries. RSVP required for this event. More information is available via our Facebook page and our website. 

 

What did you get out of the panel discussion?

 

Filed under: Jobs, Professional Organizations, USF Libraries

West Coast meets East Coast

On Wednesday night, the three presidents of the USF SLIS Student Organizations (Bill, Lana, & Sara) with one of the co-secretaries (Jeffrey) went to the east coast. We went to spread the word about the student organizations and how we can help students throughout the program.

After our four hour trip, we visited in the FAU campus library at Boca Raton with some students, alumni, and the assistant director on the east coast Maria Treadwell.

We discussed some of the different options available for working together on networking opportunities. This will allows us to  include all of the students in the program. We also mentioned elections coming up next month and how we would love for east coast students to apply (For example: co-secretary). We will even create a new social networking coordinator position for the east coast students.

After our quick social, we visited Christianne Casper’s Basic Info Services class. We gave them a peak of our new website and discussed the great opportunities available for students joining our organization.

The officers had fun on our long journey and were very fortunate that we didn’t run out of gas in the middle of nowhere (long story). We even had fun playing 20 questions (+1) on the trip back.

Filed under: Professional Organizations

First Brown Bag: Fall Semester

Lana Brand discussing the basics of Distance Learning

Yesterday was a great day for the Student Orgs with a successful Brown Bag of 14 students. If you were unable to attend the our first Brown Bag, here is a link for viewing the presentation to “Doing Distance Learning Well”. You can also listen to the Elluminate recording on Blackboard to hear the presentation and the answers to your fellow students questions. You must be a USF student and a member of the SLIS Student Organizations for Blackboard access. If you are not a student, you will have the ability to listen to the presentation from our iTunesU page in the near future. We have a link from our homepage.

Hope we see you this weekend at the Back-to-School Cookout!

Filed under: Brown Bag, Professional Organizations

August General Meeting

Our first general meeting for the fall semester will occur on Tuesday, August 10th at 4pm in CIS 2020. This is a great opportunity to learn more about our scheduled workshops and social activities for the fall. Pizza and soda will be provided at the meeting.

Filed under: Professional Organizations

NMRT Student Reception at Annual

You’re Invited!

NMRT’s Student Reception at ALA Annual 2010 in DC

When:  Sunday, June 27, 2010
6:30-7:30pm
Where: Marriott at Metro Center
Jr. Ballroom 1/2

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to network with fellow students
and learn more about ALA in a relaxed environment!  Representatives
from various ALA sections and roundtables will be on hand to speak
with you about becoming more involved in ALA.  We’ll also be
presenting this years’ Student Chapter of the Year award winner!

Light refreshments will be available. We would love for the USF SLIS Student Organizations to have a great turnout at the reception. Hopefully next year, we will get the Student Chapter of the Year award!!!

Filed under: Conferences, Professional Organizations

Calling all library science students!

Hello everyone,

Do you love librarianship? Do you want to be more involved in the university community AND build your resume at the same time? Then, run for office! We are looking for a few good library science students to fill the following, tentative list of roles in the student chapters of the ALA, SLA, and ASIST:

ALA President

SLA President

ASIST President

SLA Vice President

Student Groups Archivist

Student Groups Treasurer

Stay tuned for more details on how to join our dynamic team! Feel free to email me with any questions you may have. By next week, I will have a biography form posted that all candidates must fill out. Once we have received all candidacy forms, we will begin the voting process and new student officers will be appointed to their positions in April. Make yourself stand out of the crowd! You’re smart and charming; we want you in our student organizations!

Thanks!

Ava Iuliano

aiuliano@mail.usf.edu

Filed under: Professional Organizations