Thank you to those who made our first ALASC @ Simmons meeting a success.
Following is a summary of what transpired, some thoughts on what's to
come.
Upcoming deadlines:
Nomination of ALASC @ Simmons officers: Wednesday, November 1st. (Nominate
yourself or others by e-mailing Melissa or Jeremy)
Votes cast for ALASC @ Simmons officers: Wednesday, November 8th. (Process
TBA)
Student-to-Staff application: Due December 1st, 2006. (Applications
available in print form in GSLIS student lounge, or electronically by
request; just email Melissa).
Upcoming events:
ALASC will begin publishing a blog to keep group members and GSLIS students
informed about upcoming events and deadlines, events at Simmons and in
Boston of relevance to ALASC, and national library happenings of note. The
blog will allow members and students to dialog about all posts and suggest
other links of interest to students. We hope to begin publication of this
blog by November 1st. Stay tuned for more!
"Tales from New Orleans"
Here is a summary of our ALASC @ Simmons meeting from Thursday, October 5,
2006
Met in the GSLIS Student Lounge, 5:30-6 pm.
Roughly 18 people attended.
1. The meeting opened w/ introductions of the following individuals:
Co-chairs Melissa Brumsted and Jeremy Dibbell,
Meeting presenters:
Hagar Shirman, GSLIS student & Chair of the Simmons International Relations
(SIR) group
Melissa Andrews, former Co-chair of ALASC & recent Simmons grad
Denise Davis, Simmons Alum & Assistant Dean for Admission & Recruitment
Em Claire Knowles, Faculty Advisor to ALASC & Assistant Dean for Student
Administrative Services
2. An overview of ALA (http://www.ala.org/): ALA is the oldest and largest
library association in the world. Made up of 10 divisions
(http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/divisions/divisions.htm) and numerous
member-initiated roundtables
(http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/roundtables/Round_Tables.htm), there
is a place for librarians with any emphasis or interest in ALA. Becoming a
student member of ALA is adventagous because of the networking possibilties
and professional development opportunities.
The ALA Student Chapter at Simmons: We are in the process of recruiting
members and gaining momentum to collaborate with other student groups in
sponsoring events of interest to Simmons students from all areas of study.
ALASC @ Simmons will seek to establish, maintain and nurture local and
national relationships with the Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) and
ALA's Student Chapter Relations Office.
3. Summary of presenters' experiences at this past summer's Annual ALA
Conference in New Orleans, LA
The conference was held June 22-28th, 2006. The 16,964 participants were
welcomed into the still-recovering city by its residents, and joined in
efforts to restore buildings, libraries and homes, witnessing the extent of
the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August of 2005.
Melissa Andrews attended as a recent GSLIS graduate, looking for a job. She
was able to meet and interview for several positions, gaining valuable
interview experiences but unfortunately hasn't landed a position just yet.
In addition to seeking a professional position, Andrews volunteered in the
greater New Orleans community.
Hagar Shirman said it didn't occur to her to attend the ALA's national
conference until she participated in the 2006 PLA conference held here in
Boston last fall. After that experience, attending a conference didn't seem
as daunting. Her professional development emphasis is on international
relations and enhancing the ways in which libraries can serve the diverse
needs of their patrons.
Denise Davis was able to share briefly about the experience of volunteering
in New Orleans. Denise also participated in a previous ALA annual conference
as a representative for the Student-to-Staff program (to be discussed in
more detail below).
Em Claire Knowles spoke about the importance of being an active member in
all levels of library associations; making city, state and national
connections will enhance librarians' professional and personal lives. While
in New Orleans, Em Claire participated in volunteer efforts to clean up a
local library, completely devastated by Katrina/Rita and not touched since.
Melissa Brumsted attended ALA as the 2006 Student-to-staff representative
from Simmons College. She was assigned to work four hours each day of the
conference for the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and met
library students from programs all over the United States.
4. And speaking of Student-to-staff...
The Student-to-staff program is sponsored by ALA and allows one ALA student
chapter member from 40 states to work in exchange for conference
registration and hotel expenses. Simmons will reimburse the STS participant
for travel expenses related to attending the conference. Next year's ALA
conference will be held June 21-27 in Washington, D.C.
(http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/annual/2007a/home.htm).
If you are interested in applying to be the STS representative from Simmons
this coming summer, fill out the form (paper copies available in the GSLIS
student lounge, or e-mail Melissa for an electronic copy) and return to
Melissa Brumsted or Jeremy Dibbell by e-mail or print and place in GSLIS
student lounge filing cabinet folders. You can also access the document
online at http://web.simmons.edu/~dibbell/STS2007.doc
Deadline for the application will be December 1st, 2006 and the
representative will be notified by January 1, 2007.
5. Chair/Co-chairs: Current co-chairs are Melissa Brumsted & Jeremy Dibbell.
Chair/co-chairs are responsible for the following tasks:
• Encourage active participation in the ALASC by representing the group at new student orientations, making current information about the ALASC, officers & contacts readily available to students, faculty & alumni.
• Initiate, facilitate and consider ideas for programming in collaboration with other Simmons student groups or independently.
• Plan, promote and conduct regular meetings with ALASC officers and students
• Train incoming chairs/co-chairs (this year’s vice-chair(s)) in ALASC policies & procedures
• Correspond with the ALA’s Student Chapter Relations Office to receive print materials about membership in ALA and news from divisions & roundtables for distribution to Simmons students
• Develop & maintain contacts with the Massachusetts Library Association in order to facilitate student participation and communication with the state organization
• Develop & maintain contacts with other Simmons student group leaders and LISSA officers in order to foster collaborations for student group events.
• Create an annual budget proposal with the assistance of ALASC officers.
• Oversee budget spending and finances for ALASC @ Simmons
The ALASC at Simmons is seeking nominations
for the following officer positions:
Vice-chair(s): One or two Simmons students who would like to chair the ALASC @ Simmons for the following academic year. Responsibilities:
• Assist in planning and promoting ALASC sponsored or co-sponsored events
• Assist with writing and refining ALASC’s mission statement, officer descriptions & responsibilities
• Assist in evaluation and revision of current information about the ALASC on the Simmons website.
• Develop contacts at Simmons, in the Massachusetts Library Association and the American Library Association
• Distribution and maintenance of print materials about the ALASC @ Simmons, the MLA & the ALA with its divisions and roundtables, at GSLIS.
• Assistance compiling local, state and national library association resources to support Simmons students in their academic, personal and professional pursuits.
• Attend ALASC meetings and communicate frequently with other officers of the ALASC @ Simmons
Secretary: One Simmons student responsible for the following tasks:
• Take and distribute minutes from ALASC meetings to the GSLIS community
• Work with the Chair(s) and Vice-Chair(s) to create and maintain a list of current ALASC @ Simmons contacts. Contacts should include local, state & national individuals and organizations.
• Compile and distribute announcements related to the ALASC @ Simmons such as
events sponsored or co-sponsored by the organization, ALA scholarship
opportunities, and other items of interest to the student body.
Technology Coordinator: One Simmons student responsible for the following tasks:
• Work with other ALASC officers to evaluate and revise current online and print distribution of ALASC @ Simons information and announcements on the Simmons website, ALA chapter communications pages and the ALASC @ Simmons blog.
• Oversee regular ALASC blog postings and archiving past posts so as to be searchable.
• Assistance in gathering local, state and national library association resources, specifically website links, to support Simmons students in their academic, personal and professional pursuits.
• Attend ALASC meetings and communicate frequently with other officers
Officers should be nominated by Wednesday, November 1st, and nominees will
be voted upon by Wednesday, November 8th.
How do nominations work? You can nominate yourself, a friend, or second
another's nomination by e-mailing Melissa or Jeremy by the first. We'll
compile a list of names and take a vote.
Don't have time to be an officer, but interested in participating actively
in ALASC @ Simmons? We'll keep you posted on the projects we're hoping to
tackle, and will provide you with specific requests for assistance. Your
support is always appreciated.
Have some ideas for an event you'd like to see ALASC @ Simmons participate
in, co-sponsor, or plan & facilitate? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Soon
we'll have a blog to chat on, but for now you can e-mail Jeremy Dibbell or
Melissa Brumsted with your brilliant musings.
jeremy.dibbell@simmons.edu or brumsted@simmons.edu
Thank you for reading!
