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American Library Association Student Chapter (ALASC) @ Simmons

Welcome to our wiki! Simmons students are encouraged to contribute links, talk pages, or questions & comments to these pages. Don't be shy!

In 1991, the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Student Chapter joined many of its kind to be chartered by the American Library Association. The ALASC works closely with the American Library Association and its local and national affiliates (particularly the Massachusetts Library Association) toward forming an alliance between the largest librarian organization in the U.S. and the next generation of information professionals. We serve as a resource for students interested in attending the ALA and MLA annual conferences and provide invaluable opportunities for networking and professional development. Most importantly, we organize and sponsor numerous campus-wide events.

1 American Library Association Student Chapter (ALASC) @ Simmons

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2010 ALASC Current Officers

President - Sarah Smith

Vice President - Catherine Boothby

Treasurer - Nicole Fonsh

Wiki Gardener - Cressida Hanson

Nominations may still be viewed at the ALASC 2009 Elections page.

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Interested in Joining the ALA/MLA?

If you are interested in joining the State and National Library Associations please click here. You can click the link for Massachusetts to download a PDF form for joint student membership to both organizations.

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Current and Upcoming Events

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2010 ALASC Meetings

Meeting #1: Wednesday February 3, 2010 @ 5:15 pm in the GSLIS Student Lounge. Pizza and soda will be served.
Topics that will be discussed:
- What did you do at ALA midwinter?
- What types of programs do you want to see this semester?

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Interesting Info

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Spring 2010

Career Preparation Series

Hosted by GSLIS and the Career Resource Library (Palace Road Building, 304-E)

Tuesday February 23, 2010, 5:30-6:30 pm

Alumni Speaker Ruth Kowal, Director of Administration and Finance at Boston Public Library and 2008 inductee of the Massachusetts Library Association Hall of Fame, will offer advice on:

What are employers looking for in job candidates?
How to take yourself from student to prospective employee?

If you plan to attend, please register for this event with Em Claire Knowles: knowles@simmons.edu

Tuesday February 16, 2010, 5:00-6:00 pm

GSLIS Presentation Skills Workshop

Want to learn more about how to present during an LIS job interview? Need to prepare your slides, handouts, and yourself, but don't know where to turn? CRL will give you the tools you need so that on the day of your interview, you are ready to present yourself and your knowledge to employers.

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Fall 2009

Banned Books Week, 2009

This Banned Books Week link is brought to you by bannedbooksweek.org. They’ve put together an interactive map that shows where more than 120 book challenges occurred between 2007 and 2009. Check out what’s been controversial in your area:

http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html

This is only a small portion of the challenges from these years. Keep in mind that the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom recorded 517 challenges in 2008, but the OIF estimates that this figure represents only about a quarter of the challenges that actually occurred. Most are never reported.

ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom has put together some great visual displays of why and where books are reported to be challenged, as well as who initiates the challenges:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengesbytype/index.cfm

You can also click on the links to the side of that page to see the top ten lists of books challenged for 2001 through 2008.

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Spring 2009

Do you have a noteworthy story to tell about defending professional integrity against external pressures?

As part of ALA and ALA-APA's support for Professionals for the Public Interest: Associations and Unions Defending Professional Integrity, we are looking for stories from librarians and support staff to add to those from scientists, social workers, teachers, engineers, actors and others to help us define and illustrate our strategy against the dangers of professional compromises.

PftPI is an alliance of more than 20 associations and unions, including American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Public Health Association (APHA), Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

If you have a story to tell, please email me directly and let me know what we have permission to include for the PftPI launch, which will be this summer.

Jenifer Grady, MSLS, MBA, CAE - jgrady@ala.org Director, American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) 50 East Huron, Chicago, IL 60611 312-280-2424 (o), 312-280-5013 (f) http://www.ala-apa.org ALA-APA advocates for improving the Salaries and Status of Library Employees Have you contributed to ALA-APA this year?

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Conference Information

Check this space for information regarding American Library Association and Massachusetts Library Association conferences, meetings and other general gatherings.