Dr. Deborah Grealy has accepted the position as Associate Dean for the MLIS program.
SGO is really excited about this! Two SGO members were on the search committee for this position and Dr. Grealy was the search committee's first choice.
The fact that our MLIS program can recruit an Associate Dean of this caliber says much about
the strength and vitality of our MLIS program.
Check out Dr. Grealy's book published with Sylvia D. Hall-Ellis From Research to Practice: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in LIS Education published by Greenwood.
Learn more about Dr. Grealy's professional background on the MLIS website.
Please welcome our new Associate Dean when you come back, or start, Spring Classes in February!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
MLA SGO Social Hour!
This October SGO hosted a social hour at the Minnesota Library Association meeting in St Cloud, MN. We had over 20 students, St Kate's alums, and friends attend the gathering in the Raddison Hotel! The social hour was a fun time to informally meet and network with fellow students and librarians who are working in libraries all around the state. Plus we had some yummy appetizers for all... Here I (Tanya Cothran) am with Leslie Hunter-Larson (on the left) enjoying the onion rings!
The Minnesota Library Association has a great student rate and so it is really inexpensive to join and get access to lots of great networking opportunities. I really enjoyed meeting practicing librarians at the MLA Conference this year. It was reassuring and interesting to hear about the huge range of jobs and positions each librarian had held during their career. It means I don't have to worry too much about finding a job now that I am going to have forever! Anyway, everyone was really friendly and happy to talk with a soon-to-be graduate about their library experiences and I would highly encourage other students to attend the MLA conference next October.
Here are more pictures of librarians chatting and eating...
SGO Meeting Minutes - November 9th
MLIS Student Governance Organization
November 9, 2009 – 5:30-6:30pm – CdC 005
Meeting Minutes
1. Committee Updates
a. Recruitment
i. We first discussed how we can effectively recruit new people to join SGO. We think that a personal invitation (by students but more likely from faculty) would give people the extra nudge to get involved. We would like to talk to the faculty to get each to invite at least one person. We also can use SGO social events to give personal appeals for membership (like the Winter Social Hours before class). Laura Clark will also update the blog regularly (adding minutes and agendas) to tell people about what we are doing and to show that we are an active group.
b. Open Positions
i. Still need someone for the Finance Committee. Also, faculty putting together chapters for the Accreditation still need students for Chapter 1 (Mission/Goals) and Chapter 5 (Administrative/Financial Support).
c. GradBoard Update
i. The GradBoard met last month and we discussed a lot about what we could all do as a grad student community at St Kate. There seemed to be some interest about bringing in a speaker that all students would be interested in hearing. Other ideas were research days or workshops for all grad students.
ii. Brigette Marty (bmmarty@stkate.edu) is the GradBoard coordinator.
2. Accreditation Efforts (Presentation by David Peterson; MLIS student)
a. David came to speak to SGO about his efforts (working one day each week with Marilyn Cathcart, the department, and Dean Colleen Hegrenes) to work toward a successful accreditation bid next year.
b. He sees his role as promoting a “student-centered” accreditation process with lots of clear communication to students about what is going on in the process. One of his goals is to do everything possible to assure that everyone who has gone through the St Kate MLIS program has an accredited degree.
c. He did some research about the “look-back” period for the accreditation and found that ALA actually has a generous policy compared with other professional accrediting bodies.
d. Deb Torres told us that one of the biggest changes in the presentation this time is showing systematic collection of data, then analyzing that data, making decisions based on the outcomes and then documenting why decisions were made.
3. Budget Report
a. Brief report to say that we are still doing very well and had a successful SGO Speaker Event (with Andras Reidlmayer), which did not cost too much.
b. Tanya will follow up with Andras about his speaker fee and reimbursements.
4. Transition of old/new SGO and Information Storage
a. Tanya has added all her SGO-related documents to the Google Docs site. She will also transfer everything off the Moodle site, so that it can be retired.
b. Brigette Marty (GradBoard Coordinator) has passed along some questions to foster institutional memory and event planning and follow-up. They have been added to the “SGO General Docs” folder in Google Docs.
5. Winter Cookies Nights
a. This event should be coordinated with Marilyn Cathcart for the first week of classes in the Winter semester (NOW IN FEBRUARY).
b. We had 3 sessions each from 5-6pm on class nights. The idea is to get people when they are there for class anyway and get people to talk with classmates outside of class time.
6. Form committee for next SGO Speaker
a. This should happen early Winter semester – so that we can work with a longer timeline than we had for this year’s event.
b. We should contact St Kate’s Media and Communication office at least 6 months in advance to help promote our event.
c. Brigette Marty (bmmmarty@stkate.edu) is a good resource for planning; also check out the “Events” Folder on Google Docs.
7. Upcoming Events:
a. Next SGO Meeting (Last of Fall Semeter) will be Dec. 7th from 5:30-6:30pm.
November 9, 2009 – 5:30-6:30pm – CdC 005
Meeting Minutes
1. Committee Updates
a. Recruitment
i. We first discussed how we can effectively recruit new people to join SGO. We think that a personal invitation (by students but more likely from faculty) would give people the extra nudge to get involved. We would like to talk to the faculty to get each to invite at least one person. We also can use SGO social events to give personal appeals for membership (like the Winter Social Hours before class). Laura Clark will also update the blog regularly (adding minutes and agendas) to tell people about what we are doing and to show that we are an active group.
b. Open Positions
i. Still need someone for the Finance Committee. Also, faculty putting together chapters for the Accreditation still need students for Chapter 1 (Mission/Goals) and Chapter 5 (Administrative/Financial Support).
c. GradBoard Update
i. The GradBoard met last month and we discussed a lot about what we could all do as a grad student community at St Kate. There seemed to be some interest about bringing in a speaker that all students would be interested in hearing. Other ideas were research days or workshops for all grad students.
ii. Brigette Marty (bmmarty@stkate.edu) is the GradBoard coordinator.
2. Accreditation Efforts (Presentation by David Peterson; MLIS student)
a. David came to speak to SGO about his efforts (working one day each week with Marilyn Cathcart, the department, and Dean Colleen Hegrenes) to work toward a successful accreditation bid next year.
b. He sees his role as promoting a “student-centered” accreditation process with lots of clear communication to students about what is going on in the process. One of his goals is to do everything possible to assure that everyone who has gone through the St Kate MLIS program has an accredited degree.
c. He did some research about the “look-back” period for the accreditation and found that ALA actually has a generous policy compared with other professional accrediting bodies.
d. Deb Torres told us that one of the biggest changes in the presentation this time is showing systematic collection of data, then analyzing that data, making decisions based on the outcomes and then documenting why decisions were made.
3. Budget Report
a. Brief report to say that we are still doing very well and had a successful SGO Speaker Event (with Andras Reidlmayer), which did not cost too much.
b. Tanya will follow up with Andras about his speaker fee and reimbursements.
4. Transition of old/new SGO and Information Storage
a. Tanya has added all her SGO-related documents to the Google Docs site. She will also transfer everything off the Moodle site, so that it can be retired.
b. Brigette Marty (GradBoard Coordinator) has passed along some questions to foster institutional memory and event planning and follow-up. They have been added to the “SGO General Docs” folder in Google Docs.
5. Winter Cookies Nights
a. This event should be coordinated with Marilyn Cathcart for the first week of classes in the Winter semester (NOW IN FEBRUARY).
b. We had 3 sessions each from 5-6pm on class nights. The idea is to get people when they are there for class anyway and get people to talk with classmates outside of class time.
6. Form committee for next SGO Speaker
a. This should happen early Winter semester – so that we can work with a longer timeline than we had for this year’s event.
b. We should contact St Kate’s Media and Communication office at least 6 months in advance to help promote our event.
c. Brigette Marty (bmmmarty@stkate.edu) is a good resource for planning; also check out the “Events” Folder on Google Docs.
7. Upcoming Events:
a. Next SGO Meeting (Last of Fall Semeter) will be Dec. 7th from 5:30-6:30pm.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
SGO Minutes from Oct. 12th, 2009
MLIS Student Governance Organization
October 12, 2009 – 5:30-6:30pm – CdC 005
Meeting Minutes
Attendance: Leslie Hunter-Larson, Tanya Cothran, Becky Arenivar, Heather Lewis, Michael Mitchell, Laura Clark
1. What is SGO? Student Governance at St Kate’s.
a. We are one of 8 grad programs at St Kates. Together we all make up the
Graduate Student Advisory Board - GSAB (also called GradBoard). We send a
rep to the monthly meetings to get updates from other programs and approve
funding. (See GSAB Meeting Minutes attached to email.)
b. SGO has funds in our account from student activities fees. Just this month
we finally were able to get a separate account number for our funds (it used
to all be held in a joint account with all other grad programs).
c. SGO represents the 200+ students in the MLIS program. In addition to serving
on committees we also make informational presentations at the MLIS
orientation and in the 7010 classes.
i. This year we may want to consider presenting to the Management class to
recruit students who have finished their first year of classes and may be
more ready to get involved with student governance.
2. Budget Report
a. Current balance: $27,415 (This total includes money from many years where
the College was collecting fees and there was not a mechanism for spending
them…)
b. We receive about $4,500 each year from the Student Activities fee (based on
the number of students in our program). Part of the SA fee also goes to a
GSAB General Fund and to a facilities fee for SCU.
c. Last year we used $4,331 in grants to students to attend conferences and
department functions (such as the All Student Gathering and the Graduate
Reception).
d. The Finance Committee approves funds requests that come in to SGO. Typically
we fund department functions aimed at students, $200 for conference travel
(more if student is presenting), other large events (i.e. speaker series)
3. Committee Sign-up
a. Thank you for signing up for committees! (See Committee Roster attached to
email)
b. We still need to recruit a few more people to fill open committee seats.
c. Open are:
i. Curriculum Sub-Committee
ii. SGO Finance Committee
iii. Elections and Public Relations Committee
4. Upcoming Events
a. Social Hour @ MLA
i. This was a great success! We had 25 students and St Kates alums attend
b. Andras Riedlmayer on “Art Documentation and War Crimes: Librarianship in the
Aftermath of War” – Saturday, Oct 24th, 2-4pm @ Jeanne d’Arc Auditorium
i. We are all set for the presentation tomorrow!
ii. We have invited librarians in the field, MLIS students and all St Kate’s
students.
iii. Hopefully this will be just the beginning of a yearly MLIS SGO Speaker
Series.
Respectfully submitted by Tanya Cothran. October 23, 2009
October 12, 2009 – 5:30-6:30pm – CdC 005
Meeting Minutes
Attendance: Leslie Hunter-Larson, Tanya Cothran, Becky Arenivar, Heather Lewis, Michael Mitchell, Laura Clark
1. What is SGO? Student Governance at St Kate’s.
a. We are one of 8 grad programs at St Kates. Together we all make up the
Graduate Student Advisory Board - GSAB (also called GradBoard). We send a
rep to the monthly meetings to get updates from other programs and approve
funding. (See GSAB Meeting Minutes attached to email.)
b. SGO has funds in our account from student activities fees. Just this month
we finally were able to get a separate account number for our funds (it used
to all be held in a joint account with all other grad programs).
c. SGO represents the 200+ students in the MLIS program. In addition to serving
on committees we also make informational presentations at the MLIS
orientation and in the 7010 classes.
i. This year we may want to consider presenting to the Management class to
recruit students who have finished their first year of classes and may be
more ready to get involved with student governance.
2. Budget Report
a. Current balance: $27,415 (This total includes money from many years where
the College was collecting fees and there was not a mechanism for spending
them…)
b. We receive about $4,500 each year from the Student Activities fee (based on
the number of students in our program). Part of the SA fee also goes to a
GSAB General Fund and to a facilities fee for SCU.
c. Last year we used $4,331 in grants to students to attend conferences and
department functions (such as the All Student Gathering and the Graduate
Reception).
d. The Finance Committee approves funds requests that come in to SGO. Typically
we fund department functions aimed at students, $200 for conference travel
(more if student is presenting), other large events (i.e. speaker series)
3. Committee Sign-up
a. Thank you for signing up for committees! (See Committee Roster attached to
email)
b. We still need to recruit a few more people to fill open committee seats.
c. Open are:
i. Curriculum Sub-Committee
ii. SGO Finance Committee
iii. Elections and Public Relations Committee
4. Upcoming Events
a. Social Hour @ MLA
i. This was a great success! We had 25 students and St Kates alums attend
b. Andras Riedlmayer on “Art Documentation and War Crimes: Librarianship in the
Aftermath of War” – Saturday, Oct 24th, 2-4pm @ Jeanne d’Arc Auditorium
i. We are all set for the presentation tomorrow!
ii. We have invited librarians in the field, MLIS students and all St Kate’s
students.
iii. Hopefully this will be just the beginning of a yearly MLIS SGO Speaker
Series.
Respectfully submitted by Tanya Cothran. October 23, 2009
Fall 2009 SGO Committee Roster
Curriculum Sub-Committee (2):
Laura Clark
OPEN
Finance Committee (3):
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Tanya Cothran
OPEN
GradBoard (GSAB) Representative (1):
Tanya Cothran
Alternate: Leslie Hunter-Larson
Department Meeting Committee (2-3):
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Michael Mitchell
Alternate: Laura Clark
Department Liaison (1):
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Advisory Council Committee (2):
Heather Lewis
Laura Clark
Elections & Public Relations Committee (2):
Becky Arenivar
OPEN
Executive Committee (3-4):
Tanya Cothran
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Becky Arenivar
Faculty Advisor:
Deb Torres
Laura Clark
OPEN
Finance Committee (3):
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Tanya Cothran
OPEN
GradBoard (GSAB) Representative (1):
Tanya Cothran
Alternate: Leslie Hunter-Larson
Department Meeting Committee (2-3):
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Michael Mitchell
Alternate: Laura Clark
Department Liaison (1):
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Advisory Council Committee (2):
Heather Lewis
Laura Clark
Elections & Public Relations Committee (2):
Becky Arenivar
OPEN
Executive Committee (3-4):
Tanya Cothran
Leslie Hunter-Larson
Becky Arenivar
Faculty Advisor:
Deb Torres
Monday, October 26, 2009
MLA Conference 2009
A Report by Louann Terveer
Thanks to the SGO Professional Development Funds I was able to attend one jam packed day of the 2009 MLA conference. The conference day was comprised of a broad choice of topics over four sessions, a lunch time keynote speaker and the opportunity to talk with exhibitors.
The presentation that I attended in the first session was titled "Best Practices for Creating Online Tutorials." The speaker's focus was on a list of practices to consider when planning and designing online tutorials. The biggest impression on me, though, was the demonstration and finding out how easy it is to create tutorials using video screen capturing software such as Camtasia or Captivate.
The second session was a combination of Trends in Technical Services/RDA Update/MLA Tech Services Section business meeting. We hear that RDA (Resource Description and Access) may soon replace AACR2 cataloging standards in classes, but it was good to hear more about where RDA is in the implementation process. It turns out that 23 institutions (the most local being the Minn. Historical Society) have been chosen to test RDA in 2010. It was discussed at the session that RDA won't be approved until after Oct. 2010, and that after that time institutions will make the change when it makes sense for them. A great resource for the Tech Services themed presentations is their blog at http://sites.google.com/site/minnesotatss/
In the afternoon, "Workflows for Outsourced Technical Services" gave me a taste of the day to day decisions and concerns that Tech Services encounter, which are hard to fully appreciate through classroom learning. This panel discussed their experiences in receiving and using vendor supplied cataloging records. It seems that overall, the librarians thought that it was a cost saving measure over original cataloging, but that one must factor in time needed to fix up unsatisfactory records and the changes in work-flow to accommodate this--a time vs. cost savings challenge. Some were very frank in admitting that there needs to be a minimum "good enough" established within an institution's tech services in order to keep some sort of standard, while making the best use of time.
Finally, in Strategic planning for E-Resources Management it was again interesting to hear a first-hand account from librarians. Two of the presenters discussed how they incorporated a strategic plan as a way to clarify and define roles and workflow for overlapping resources between the E-resources Librarian and Serials Manager of Gustavus Adolphus.
Overall, I learned more about the challenges and conversations going on in libraries. I was surprised that I wasn't as clueless in the sessions as I thought I might be; my classes at St. Kate's are preparing me well!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Caralyn Champa Reports from the 2009 SLA Conference
I’d like to thank Tanya Cothran for encouraging me to apply for the SGO’s Professional Development Funds. These funds will help defray the costs I incurred while attending the Special Libraries Association’s (SLA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June, 2009. This post is intended to share information about my experience at the SLA Conference with other MLIS students.
Attending this year’s SLA Conference was a priority for me as I am seeking employment in a federal library setting. Not only does SLA have a sub-group called the “Government Information Division,” the conference was going to take place in Washington, D.C. It seemed like a great opportunity to learn about the range of government librarians and to meet special librarians from a variety of backgrounds and specialties. I diligently reviewed the pre-conference brochure, sketched out a schedule of the sessions I especially wanted to attend, packed up comfortable yet dressy clothes and footwear, and headed to our Capital City! I hope you’ll enjoy the list I’ve created below. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email (caralyn_c@yahoo.com).
Caralyn’s SLA Conference 2009 Tips, Learnings, and Resources
- Try to attend SLA and similar conferences while you are still in graduate school because:
- Registration fees are much lower for students, and there may be opportunities to apply for funding from the Student Governance Organization (SGO) and other student groups (http://www.stkate.edu/~mlisweb/current/scholarships.php).
- Having a badge that says “Graduate Student” is like having a free pass to ask anyone and everyone questions at the conference. It is a great conversation starter, and on the whole, people were interested in where I went to school, what I was focusing on in my studies, and what I thought of the conference.
- Listen carefully during the sessions you attend and be prepared to stand up and ask a question when the presenter opens the floor to the audience.
- It found it startling and disappointing that there was little audience engagement or participation in these Q & A sessions. Even if I was not familiar with the speakers or the topic, I tried to have a few questions ready to ask, and in the event that the room was quiet, I would stand up and ask one of them. In part, I feel this is a respectful thing to do for a speaker who has presumably put hours of effort and thought into preparing his or her presentation. If you have a question, asking it during the Q & A is simply the best way to get an answer, and by asking it in public, the other session attendees will benefit from hearing the speaker’s response. Finally, because I had asked questions at several different sessions, the speakers recognized who I was when I went up front to speak with them and to introduce myself. It is intimidating at first, but try to remember that most of the presenters are excited about their topics and genuinely want to discuss them with attendees.
- Even though you might feel like you have to attend as many sessions as possible, take breaks and explore city where the conference is taking place.
- Over the lunch hour on Monday, June 16, I visited the National Portrait Gallery before the afternoon sessions started. Upon entering the museum, I was delighted and surprised to find myself in front of Shepard Fairey's Barack Obama "Hope" poster. This is a hugely important and iconic work of art and I was right there, seeing it with my own eyes! In case you’d like to get a sense of what it’s like in person, here’s a link to one of the museum’s blog entries about it (http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2009/01/now-on-view-portrait-of-barack-obama-by-shepard-fairey.html). As the daughter of an art teacher, it was a delight to see the different techniques the artist used, and as a librarian-in-training, it was fascinating to see the original version of a work of art that has been at the center of a copyright controversy. Interestingly, the session I attended that afternoon was about copyright issues in today’s climate of social networking applications. One of the speakers was a lawyer from the Associated Press (AP). Why does this matter? Well, the AP and Mr. Fairey are suing each other because of the copyright issues regarding the “Hope” poster. This MSNBC article from February 2009 provides a good overview of the situation (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29103976/). If you are interested in reading Mr. Fairey’s opinions about the situation, here’s a link to one of his blog postings regarding the lawsuit (http://obeygiant.com/headlines/the-ap-obama-referencing). During the Q & A, one of the audience members asked the AP lawyer about this case, and she replied that she was not able to comment on it, since the case was on-going. At that point, I trotted up to the microphone and encouraged the audience (and panel members!) to take a 3-block walk to the National Portrait Gallery in order to see this work of art in person so they could develop their own opinions on the matter. It was a nervous-making moment for me, but it felt important to tell other conference attendees about this amazing resource just down the street.
- Access the conference or association’s web site every few days after the conference ends in order to review the presentation slides and handouts that may have been uploaded.
- At SLA 2009, there were often more than 15 concurrent sessions at each time slot. I don’t know about you, but I can’t be in two places at once, much less 15 places at once! Therefore, I am glad that the SLA has a web page where they have the resources they have received from conference speakers. I have accessed this page (http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2009/Conference/handouts/index.cfm) several times since the conference, and it has been fun to review slides from presentations I attended, and it has been beneficial to have access to resources from sessions I couldn’t attend. I encourage you to take a look at this link, as you will likely find a topic of interest to you.
When I came back from this conference, I was excited about what I had learned and who I had met, disappointed about a few of the sessions, thrilled about having spent time in D.C., and exhausted from several days of intense learning, socializing, and site-seeing. Now that several weeks have passed, I can appreciate the value of having attended SLA 2009, and I encourage you to consider attending a conference like this while you are still at St. Kate’s. Happy Learning!
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