Friday, March 29, 2013

We Did It!

I feel that quoting Dr. Seuss is appropriate for beginning this blog post:

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."-~Dr.Seuss, Oh The Places You'll Go!


So, this year our president of the URI student chapter of ALA(Stefanie Metko) set out on a quest.  The URI ALA had been quite dormant for some time and she decided this needed to change.  She saw a vision f a student group that could provide connection and networking options for a Library school in flux.  With a clear vision in mind, she rallied people behind her and began crafting events for which the students could flourish in their desired profession.  At first it was bringing new members to the group, electing a Vice President/Secretary/Tresurer, and then the meetings began.  By the end of this 2012-2013 year we held a conference(just a week ago actually) and now her vision has come full-circle:

"Just found out that Student ALA at URI has WON the Student Chapter of the Year award through ALA's NMRT! Thank you so much for all of your hard work this year. This would never have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our team. Many of you never missed a meeting, and committed to making something happen, even when we had very little to begin with. I can't wait to see what the future holds for each of the Student ALA'ers this year. You are an amazing bunch of future librarians, and I am so proud to have been a small part of such a BIG organization on campus!! THANKS AGAIN!!"- Stefanie Metko


 So, to anyone that had a part in our success, thank you and have a Happy weekend!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

"Catapult Your Career in 2013" Conference Success

Our conference, "Catapult Your Career in 2013" was an amazing success! We had over 75 participants including librarians, teachers, alumni, and students attend the first ever Student ALA organized conference.

The amount of feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive and to see our year-long work come to fruition and flourish was an amazing achievement.

While I could go on and on about the day, the Rhode Island Library Report has graciously reported on our workshop sessions and keynote speaker, Peter Bromberg. You can view their article at the following link: "Librarians need a breed of bold, passionate leaders, students told"

I'd like to thank our conference committee and volunteers for working so hard to make sure this day was a fabulous experience for all involved.

Katherine Boden
Student ALA Secretary/Treasurer

Monday, March 18, 2013

Conference Press

We've received some press for our conference!

The Rhode Island Library Report has written an article on their blog highlighting our upcoming March 23rd "Catapult Your Career!" conference.

The article may be viewed at the following link: http://www.rhodeislandlibraryreport.org/1/post/2013/03/uri-library-students-facing-tight-job-market-organize-their-own-career-conference.html

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Happy Saint Patrick's Day: Don't Forget the Conference Next Week!

Hello everyone, hope you had a wonderful break!  I know many of us needed the rest(catching up with Daylight Saving's Time) and many just wanted to go on a new adventure! I myself headed to Maine and shared my stories from this semester with friends and family(over many cups of coffee!).  

Believe it or not, our Conference is approaching!  If you haven't registered yet, please do so.  If you do not have the email information, please see the Facebook page and contact Stefanie Metko or Kirsten Anderson for further details.

Don't forget to bring cash or checks to the event either!  We'll be having an awesome silent auction! 

So, we hope to see you in a week! 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Silent Auction



The "GSLIS Conference: Catapult your Career in 2013!" is just around the corner! In addition to having a great keynote speaker and some awesome workshops, we'll also be having a silent auction to raise money for URI's student chapter of ALA! Here's a sneak peak at what we have up for auction: Lots of coffee gift cards, gourmet chocolates, art supplies, books, and so much more!

Due to the fact that we do not have a way to accept credit cards, we can only accept cash or check as a form of payment. 

The countdown to the conference-- and the silent auction-- is on! We hope to see everyone there! 

Comps Study Session



A Comps study session is scheduled for Monday, March 25, 2013 at 6:00 pm in Rodman Resource Room, Kingston campus. Snacks and drinks will be available to those taking the comps.

Please RSVP to Stefanie Metko at stefaniemetko@my.uri.edu by Sunday, March 24th so I can order enough pizza.

If you cannot make this time or location, please email Stefanie and she will share your contact information with other students who can't make it and hopefully you can start a study group of your own!

Also, remember the Comps exam location has changed to Ranger Hall, Room 103!

Monday, February 25, 2013

We have Winners!

Hey everyone, Christina here!  The votes have been casted and now they're tallied!  It's official: these are our new Student ALA Officers for the 2013-2014 school year:

President: Kirsten Andersen
VP: Sarah Zajac
Secretary: Catherine Damiani
Treasurer: Ann Davis
Webmaster: Melody Friedenthal

If you want a chance to chat with them in person, or just to congratulate them, then you should come to our meeting Friday, March 1 from 6-8pm in the Rodman Resource Room. 

Pizza will be available for $5/person!!

Come celebrate good times!  Stay tuned for other awesome future ALA functions! 

Monday, February 18, 2013

GO VOTE

For your favorite potential e-board member!  Here's what you need to know!

"Just a reminder that voting for the new board positions will close this Thursday, February 28, 2013 by 5 pm. If you are a member of Student ALA, login to Sakai, visit the Student ALA site and select the polling link to vote for your favorites!"  

SO, if you're a current member, go exercise your right to vote!  You have a chance to make next's year's board(VP, treasurer, and scretary) just as epic as this year's!  

On a similar note, SALA would like to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to our newest e-board member: Kirsten Anderson.  A mighty president she will make- she has some big shoes to fill come May.

If you missed the meeting where we discussed how elections should run, the ed result was that elections will be finalized(votes completed) by March 1st, this means that the next(for example) Vice President will serve their position from March 1st 2013-May 2014.  When March begins, the current Vice President will train the "Vice President-elect."  We hope that, due to how the graduate program runs for most students, this will give relief both to the current board members as well as the newly elected.  

On a final note, here is a word from our president, Stefanie Metko, from earlier today!


"Our meeting today was productive, and we were able to commit to a final program schedule for the day and to make some other key decisions regarding format of sessions. We also generated a list of logistics that need to be done prior to the conference. Please take a look at the NOTES from today to see a full recap of what was discussed, and if you can think of anything we haven't thought of, please add it to the list.



I will be sending out individual emails to each of you shortly, recapping specific roles for the conference as we discussed today. For those who were not there, please continue with what you have been doing and keep up the GOOD WORK!!



Thanks again,



Stefanie Metko

President, Student ALA"

Find us on Facebook here for the most recent event 
and here for out Facebook page, in general 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Friday, Friday, Goin' to Get Down on Friday

Hello everyone, Christina here!  In case you haven't heard, URI Student ALA is having a get together on Friday!  The party will be in Rodman hall and the information goes as follows:

Who? Student ALA and YOU!

When? Friday, February 1, 2013 

Time? 6-8 pm(maybe 9 :] ) 

Where? Rodman Hall , Rm. 110

Why? For a beginning of the semester party of course!  The Student ALA would like you to know that, for those wishing to have some pizza, the cost will be $5 per person. BUT FREE pizza will be provided to each person who comes in with a paid membership application! Our President would like to tell you that membership forms will be available at the party and the cost of membership is $10 for the life of your time in the program.

Other words from the Prezzie and VP: "Student ALA members will be on hand to answer questions about the GSLIS program, classes, getting around campus or any other questions! We will also hold an informal job hunting seminar and talk about the best sites to look for jobs, when to apply, resume ideas and answer your job search questions.

If you are new to the program, this is your chance to come and meet other students and get your questions answered. If you are a returning student, come on by and hang out with your fellow students in the program!

For more information, contact us at URIStudentALA@gmail.com    "


Honestly, this is a good time to socialize, meet people that(because of the various differences in our programs) you might not normally meet(also called networking ; ] ) , and(most importantly) um PIZZA?  We heartily look forward to seeing you there!

-Christina, Social Media Coordinator

Monday, January 14, 2013

Welcome to the Spring semester!

Hey guys, blog writer Christina here.  
     Here we are!  New and improved!  It has been...erm...well a semester since our last post.  But, after some word smithing, we have not only come to an agreement about term usage but we have some things that need to be posted!
     First thing's first.  This Friday that just passed, a few of the ALA members at URI traveled to Cranston to form a committee that would discuss a conference we are hosting in March.  The first thing we did was discuss the format and times for our conference.  We wanted to make sure we had enough time to accomplish our goals for the conference as well as not overstretch our objectives, aka keep it simple.  After we discussed the timing of the activities(fooding included!) we then started to brainstorm whom would be best to fit each of the activities at the conference.  While this is still underway, this first meeting was very productive.  The several of us laid the foundation for what will lead to a few more meetings and the seeking of some wonderful people to attend ad/or speak at out conference.  SALA at URI is very excited to be hosting this event, I think it is safe to say that we feel as though this conference will greatly aide many aspiring librarians of many fields.  For, as we made certain this stayed true, the event is striving to have sessions for public, academic, special, school media, and many other types of career-oriented students studying at URI.
     I am not sure what details are privy to the public yet(aka speakers) but I can tell you to mark for calendars for March.  This is the email that was sent out, in case you missed it:

CATAPULT YOUR CAREER!

Please save the date for this first-ever GSLIS Conference of its kind, created BY students FOR students, with special help from some of our accomplished alumni and committed faculty members! Based on your feedback and survey results, the members of Student ALA have been working hard for FOUR months to specifically tailor this conference to the needs of students in this program.

After a lot of planning, this conference will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2013 at the URI Kingston Campus from 9-4 pm, with morning keynote speaker Peter Bromberg, Associate Director of Princeton Public Library, lunch keynote speaker, Ed Garcia, Executive Director of Cranston Public Library and a recent URI alumni, and afternoon keynote speaker, Dr. Renee Hobbs, one of the nation's leading authorities on media literacy education and a Professor and Founding Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media.

Sessions will include:
  • Interactive workshops on interviewing techniques for all types of libraries
  • Interactive leadership workshops
  • Exploring Career Paths in Librarianship and PFE & Career Networking
  • Publishing and Presenting
  • Networking 2.0 for Librarians: How to manage your social presence in an online world
  • AND MORE!!
Special thanks goes out to the Harrington School of Communication and Media and the Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) who have generously offered to sponsor this groundbreaking event!!

More detailed information will follow, but mark your calendars, as this is not something you will want to miss! Registration will open at the end of January.

And, for now, that's really about it.  Oh! No, actually you should mark February 1st on your calander as well.  We're hosting an open house, meant for new and pre-existing GSLIS students.  I will have more details on that soon.

Christina, out!