1. Highline Community College Tour, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

To start the quarter off properly- sALA has set up a tour of a local suburban community college. Highline, the first community college established in King County, is located in Des Moines and caters to 10,000 students.

Librarians at Highline will take us through their reference and outreach methods, web services, community assessment, educational technologies, and more!

The tour starts at 11am on Monday April 15th. Carpools will be arranged. Here is a sign-up sheet for the carpool. You can sign up as a driver or a passenger.

The carpools will leave around 10:15 (takes about 20-30 mins to get to Des Moines). There is a possibility that we will have a brown bag sit down lunch with the librarians at Highline (still in the works). The tour ends between 2-3 p.m., so hopefully we can get on the road before rush hour sets in.

If you have any questions please get in touch with Tal Nozinsky at tal2u@uw.edu or Caitlan Maxwell at maxwec@uw.edu.

2. Interviewing for Academic Library Jobs – Online Panel, 6:30 p.m. PT

The recording is now online at http://connect.washington.edu/p3ulizewwem/

Curious about the interview process for academic library jobs? Bummed that you haven’t been able to attend our on-campus events? We have just the panel for you! Please join us online at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, April 15, as we welcome four amazing academic librarians to share their experiences with the hiring process: Robin Chin Roemer, Freeda Brook, Helene Williams, and sALA’s own Eli Gandour-Rood. This session will be recorded for those who can’t make it, but we encourage you to attend live and bring questions! Attendance at this experimental online panel will help us decide whether to continue doing this for other kinds of librarianship. Onliners, represent!

• Robin Chin Roemer returned to UW in March 2013 as the Instructional Design & Outreach Services Librarian. Previously, she was the Communication Librarian at American University. She graduated from the MLIS program in 2010 and also has an MA in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a BA in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

• Freeda Brook is a Reference/Instruction and Scholarly Communication Librarian at Roosevelt University in Chicago. She received her Master’s in Library and Information Science and Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Washington in 2012.

• Helene Williams has more than 25 years of experience in academic and public libraries, and in addition to teaching full-time in the iSchool, she is a consultant to libraries, consortia, and arts organizations. She has worked as the English Language Bibliographer at Harvard, the English Studies Librarian at UW, and a Bibliographic Instruction Coordinator at both Michigan State and Northeastern University. She developed the award-winning curriculum for a core information literacy course at Seattle Central Community College. She earned a MA in English from Purdue University, and her MLS is from Indiana University.

• Eli Gandour-Rood is graduating from the MLIS program on June 16th and has already found a full-time academic library job! He will start June 17th as the Science Liaison Librarian at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He is also an outgoing co-president of sALA. He got his BA with a concentration in Linguistics from Simon’s Rock College.

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Keep an eye out for announcements about our online panel on public library jobs, happening later this quarter! We’d also love to partner with SLA, iYouth, and other organizations on panels about interviewing for special and school library jobs.

This winter I did a Directed Fieldwork (DFW) with Term Management, LLC, a company that builds and maintains taxonomies for a wide variety of companies. It is run by Mike Doane, who also teaches several courses here at the iSchool. I knew I wanted to get into working with taxonomies and had been looking for conferences and webinars. In my searching I discovered the Taxonomy Boot Camp conference and saw that Mike Crandall, who is the chair of the MSIM program at the iSchool, was the conference chair. I contacted him and asked him if he knew of anyone working with taxonomies who might be interested in a DFW student. He gave me some contacts, one of whom was Mike Doane. As an online student, I know it will be of interest to many of you that for the most part my DFW was carried out remotely.

My main project during the fieldwork was to explore the use of PoolParty, a relatively new thesaurus management tool. My job was to develop a knowledge repository for the rest of the Term Management team. The knowledge repository consisted in a series of PoolParty how-to videos and also a Tips & Pointers sheet and a Frequently Asked Questions sheet. The work I did for this part of the DFW was carried out entirely online.

Towards the end of the DFW an opportunity came up for me to participate in the presentation of a proof of concept for the City of Seattle Emergency Operations Center (EOC) comparing the use of a taxonomy created in SharePoint and the use of a visualization tool called Thinkmap. For my part of the project I wrote a report outlining the metrics that would be used to evaluate the testing of these tools and explaining how they would be used with the use case scenarios we had presented. It was a great opportunity to have direct interaction with clients and to learn more about the consulting side of taxonomy development. Most of the work I did for this part of the DFW was also done remotely, although I did attend several face-to-face meetings with clients.

This DFW was a great experience for me because it is directly related to my area of interest and it was a perfect opportunity for me to get some hands on experience with different aspects of working with taxonomies, including learning about different taxonomy management software tools and opportunities to interact directly with clients.

This was my second DFW; my first DFW was carried out entirely online. My first, in spring 2012, was with the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For that one, I looked at the SharePoint site where DFW students have short summaries of their DFW experiences. Even though they were all residential experiences, I looked for something I thought was interesting and looked like they might be willing to work with someone online. I ended up contacting Brian Voss, who coordinates many DFWs for NOAA. He helped me find something with the NCDC that I was able to do remotely.

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Have you been thinking about doing Directed Fieldwork (DFW) this summer or next year? Have questions about the requirements? Curious about the kinds of DFW opportunities that are out there? This Thursday, sALA and Student Services bring you:

DFWs: Get Real-World Experience and Credit Too!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Mary Gates Hall 420 & Online
Lunch is provided!

• Marie Potter will introduce the MLIS Directed Fieldwork set-up process and LIS 590 course requirements
• Second-year MLIS students will talk about their DFW experiences:
  • Lauren Woody – King County Library System’s Youth Services Center; Seattle Public Library’s Teen Center
  • Ashley Fejeran – Seattle Public Library’s Special Collections; National Digital Newspaper Project
  • Heather Robbins – Cornish College of the Arts
  • Andrea Hermanson – Seattle Public Library’s University Branch
  • Gina Kessler Lee – Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; UW’s Suzzallo Library
  • And Gabrielle Nicas will be writing a blog post about doing a DFW as an online student!
• Janet Matta will talk about internship options

This event will be live-streamed via AdobeConnect at http://connect.washington.edu/ischool-sala/. A link to the recording will be posted on Facebook and our blog after the event. If you have a question about DFWs but won’t be able to attend synchronously, please post your questions in the comments below.

Helpful links:
iSchool – Directed Fieldwork & Internships Webpage
SharePoint list of students’ past DFWs
Posts about DFWs and internships on this blog
iCareers (fill out the Experiential Learning Initial Survey here two months before the quarter in which you will do your DFW)

Interested in sharing your own DFW or internship experience for the benefit of other students? (Onliners, this means you too!) Post about it on our blog! Comment below and sALA will contact you.

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LLAMA Human Resources Section Presents a Free Webinar on How to Find a Job

You have your MLS degree—but what’s next? Applying for and interviewing for a job can be fraught with anxiety and frustrations. But you can put yourself ahead of the herd with the right information. The Library Leadership and Management Association’s Human Resources Section (LLAMA-HRS) will present “Job Hunting for Today’s Libraries in Today’s Job Market,” Wednesday, March 20, 1:30pm -3:00 pm CST. This free webinar is intended for library students or recent MLS graduates about to enter the workforce or start a job search.

Participants will: increase their confidence and raise their success rate; gain a comprehensive understanding of how libraries conduct searches and make hiring decisions; and learn what libraries are looking for through practical tips and insight from a seasoned recruiter.

Speaker: Brian Keith is Associate Dean, Administrative Services and Faculty Affairs at the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. He will share his insight and advice from years of experience recruiting librarians.

Register online at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/148757378

Space is limited.

About the Library Leadership and Management Association

The Library Leadership and Management Association (www.ala.org/llama) advances outstanding leadership and management practices in library and information services by encouraging and nurturing individual excellence in current and aspiring library leaders. LLAMA is a division of the American Library Association

Scholars’ Studio will feature a series of short presentations (5 minutes each) given by graduate students doing research on topics related to the theme: Pacific Northwest.  We’re looking for grad students working in a range of disciplines: environmental sciences, arts, political science, business, linguistics, education, history, urban planning, literature, technology, etc.  Sample topic areas could include:

• PNW Geography
• PNW History
• Environment
• Art and Literature of the Pacific Northwest
• Dialect and Language
• Immigration
• Migration
• Business and Economic Growth
• Politics and Government
• Culture

This will be a fun, informal event that will allow grad students to share their research across disciplines, make connections, build professional development skills and get presentation feedback.  This event is open to all UW students, faculty and staff.   

Learn more and submit a short proposal for a 5-minute TED-style lightning talk at: http://commons.lib.washington.edu/scholarsstudio

More information about the conference, including the full schedule of events(pdf), registration fees and information, info about the keynote speakers, list of conference session descriptions(pdf), and more can be found at the conference homepage.

Note that student members of OLA or WLA get a nice discount on registration, and early bird registration can save you a bundle, too, so be sure to register on or before the early registration deadline of Friday, March 8th if you can!

While OLA and WLA hold conferences annually, every other year they combine forces for a joint conference, resulting in a lively and well-attended gathering with librarians from all over both states.  This is a great opportunity for UW students who are graduating soon to network with librarians from all over the region, and an excellent chance to first-year students to make connections for DFW or internship possibilities.

As we get closer to the time of the conference, sALA will be sending out more information about organizing carpools/rideshares and hotel sharing opportunities, but we wanted to get this on your radar in time for the earlybird registration deadline!

Coming up on Friday February 15th is the WLA’s Library Legislative Day.

Legislative Day is a great opportunity to network with library supporters from around the state and meet with State Legislators and their staff to discuss the value of libraries and the impact laws have on them.

So when I went in 2010 I remember being rather nervous. What do I know about talking to legislators?!?! But rest assured, for students it is a stress-free chance observe, listen to presentations, and participate in library advocacy at any level you feel comfortable with. If you wish, the WLA will even match you with a mentor for the whole day.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS TO EXPECT INCLUDE:

• Learning about current legislative issues impacting Washington libraries from the WLA’s “library lobbyist”
• Seeing library advocacy in action for momentum later in our careers
• Touring the Washington State Library
• Meeting people who one day could be sitting across an interview table from you
• Networking with people to give you momentum and relationships for the WLA 2013 Conference in April.

LOGISTICS TO REMEMBER:

• Here is the web page about registering for the event. Online registration should be available soon.
• There is an Agenda for the day here. You can experience Legislative Day in bits and pieces, so please don’t avoid it because you can’t be there the whole time!
• Transportation is available to students, but please email me ASAP for more details.
• The address is on the agenda, but here is a google map view. We’ll be right across the street from the Capitol. There is meter parking nearby as well.

Interested in going? Contact Richard: rcounsil@uw.edu

Thinking it might be easier to tackle the exhibit halls for the first time if one was in a group being led around by a knowledgeable and experienced tour guide, we invited students coming to Midwinter to meet up with us for an hour-long ‘safari’ around the exhibit hall, with Joe graciously agreeing to lead the way and point out interesting bits.

Pausing at the UW iSchool information booth for a group picture!

The tour was a huge success, with over 25 students, including current students and recent alums, first-time attendees and ALA veterans, showing up to stroll around and check out the scene. We passed quite a few wide-eyed vendors stunned by our sheer numbers  as we flowed through the exhibit hall in a huge clump.

Joe perched on some fun furniture to introduce us to a vendor and former student of his.

We saw some fascinating sights, and many vendors were gracious enough to give us a guided tour through their products.

We observed the magic of an automated book drop and the complex system of belts/wheels/etc behind it.

And, of course, the exhibit hall wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the ALA store to check out their great products.

Eli with his celebrity boyfriend turned literacy spokesman Hugh Jackman.

We would love to hear from folks who went on the tour what they got out of it, and/or from folks who didn’t go on the tour, what kind of adventures did you have in the Exhibit Hall?

The teams gather round: 

Another room of teams and the buffet:

Our graders, Andi and Sofia, hard at work. This is probably the only point in time when we weren’t busting out laughing over some of the more creative answers:

Quizmaster Eli ran the show like a pro!

The Canadian students from UBC came through with a win! The grand prize: the last remaining signed Nancy Pearl librarian action figures.

Thank you to the UW iSchool for helping fund our Midwinter events!