Welcome to the March 2011 SLIS Descriptor!

Kick off your spring break with an all-new issue of SLIS Descriptor!

Are you anxious about upcoming annual conferences? Interested in exploring LIS careers? Do you need a break from all your academic reading? This issue has something for you:

• Jamie Renton fills us in on some exciting ALASC news on "An Update from our ALASC Chair." Catch up on a recording of "Making the Most of Your ALASC Membership" and do some shopping at the newly updated Cafe Press Store.

• Interested in federal librarianship and looking for ALA travel funding? Julie K. Williams shares her experiences as an FAFLRT travel scholarship winner in "Travel Scholarships for Upcoming Federal Librarians". Remember to apply before the April 15th deadline.

• Interested in the various opportunities in medical librarianship? Linda Thuy Nguyen provides her insight in "Breaking into the Medical Librarianship Field." 

• Stacey Nordlund writes about her experiences at the Ontario Library Super Conference 2011, the largest library conference in Canada. Get an insider's look at the Canadian LIS landscape and learn some valuable tips to prepare you for a large library conference in "Where's the Coffee? Experiencing the Ontario Library Association Super Conference."

• Leigh Schaffer and Sukena F. Taibjee highlight important topics in information literacy, cataloging and diversity in "Chinese American Librarians Association - Southern California Chapter".

• R. Schuyler Selden offers an artistic glimpse into the world of an SJSU Special Collections employee through a collection of work-inspired Poetry.

 New SLIS social networks are now available in Canada and the United States East Coast! Please visit SLIS Networks page to find out more. If you don't see a group for your region, start one and e-mail the editor to have it included.

Cheers,
Joni Savage
SLIS Descriptor Editor, 2010-2011
ALASC

An Update from our ALASC Chair

Hello fellow SLIS’ers!

 I hope everyone is having a great semester!

The ALASC has had an exciting last two months!  On February 22nd, we hosted “Making the Most of Your ALA Membership” in Elluminate.  If you missed it, the recording is available at https://nexus.sjsu.edu/play_recording.html?recordingId=1267553021365_1298422898945 and the password is “success”. 

We have also added a lot of really great items to our Cafe Press ALASC store at http://www.cafepress.com/alasc.

Would you like to contribute to the success of our school and to the library profession?  If so, please consider running for an ALASC officer position.  Elections will be held in Angel in April and results will be announced via slisadmin. The positions available are:  Chair, Co-Chair/Webmaster, Program Coordinator, Newsletter Editor, Secretary/Archivist, and Treasurer.  Descriptions of each position are available on the ALASC website at http://slisgroups.sjsu.edu/alasc/about.shtml.

If you have any questions, please email Jamie Renton at sjsualasc@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Jamie Renton
ALASC Chair
2010-2011

Travel Scholarships for Upcoming Federal Librarians

by Julie K. Williams
ALASC Treasurer
2010-2011

Planning to attend ALA Annual, but short on cash? Have an interest in Federal Librarianship? Good news! The ALA's Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT) offers two student awards to defray the cost of attending the annual conference. Applications for the 2011 awards are being accepted until April 15, 2011.

Julie K. Williams received the Adelaide del Frate conference sponsorship award last year. It was a great assistance to the cost of attending ALA Annual, as well as an excellent introduction to the amazing librarians in FAFLRT.

Information about the Adelaide del Frate $1000 conference sponsorship and the Cicely Phippen Marks $1500 scholarship awards are at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/faflrt/initiatives/awards/index.cfm. Note that three SJSU students have received the conference sponsorship!

Breaking into the Medical Librarianship Field

By Linda Thuy Nguyen

Are you considering medical librarianship as a possible career choice after graduation? San Jose State University library school students and graduates who are interested in medical librarianship have the option to work in all kinds of settings. They can work in a hospital, academic medical center, clinics, colleges, consumer health resources centers, health information center, government agencies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and many others. For those who are thinking about entering medical librarianship, I would like to provide you five simple tips to help you enter this specific field.

1. Take advantage of SJSU databases
As a current SJSU student, you have unlimited access to all the databases. If you are interested in learning more about the different SJSU health databases, you can explore the PubMed database. In addition, you can try CINAHL, which is a database focused on the nursing profession.   There are many other health databases in the SJSU library’s website, so take advantage of them before graduating! Getting training in Dialog could be useful, as they contain numerous health databases, such as Gale Group Health & Wellness Database. As a library school student, you can get access to Dialog by taking the online searching (library 244) class. If you already graduated from library school, you can always enroll in classes at a community college and get access to some health databases.

Where's the Coffee? Experiencing the Ontario Library Association Super Conference

By Stacey Nordlund

You’ve probably heard it a million times: one of the key elements of developing your career path as an information professional is networking, networking, networking.  And what better way to network than to attend a professional conference with thousands of other librarians?

That’s exactly what I did in February when I attended the Ontario Library Association’s (OLA) Super Conference 2011 in Toronto, Ontario.  This four-day event is the largest library conference in Canada, and information professionals from across Canada – and even from the U.S. – trekked into the city to attend despite the sudden snowstorm and frigid temperatures.  Because the population in Canada is widely spread out over a large land mass, the annual Ontario Library Association conference is a unique opportunity for librarians from across the country to interact and share ideas in person.  As an added bonus, out-of-towners get to spend some time experiencing the culture and sights of the largest and most diverse city in Canada.

Chinese American Librarians Association - Southern California Chapter

by Leigh Schaffer and Sukena Taibjee

Photo taken by Mitsu (Eric) Kimura

Visionary planning, empowerment of Chinese students with information literacy skills, Resource Description and Access (RDA) and e-libraries were some of the topics presented at the recent CALA-SCA Annual Conference. 

The conference was held February 4, 2011 at the Ikeda Library at Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, California.  Presenters came from institutions across Southern California: California State University San Bernardino, California State University Los Angeles, Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library, University of Southern California, University of California Riverside, University of California San Diego, and California State University Fullerton.  The conference was organized and moderated by CALA-SCA President Joy Wang, Cataloging Librarian at Ikeda Library.

Poetry

by R. Schuyler Selden

SJSU Special Collections Mantra

Preservation

Conservation

Digitization

Organization

APA consternation

XML frustration

Validation

Elation

Editorial recrimination

Editor placation

Culmination;

OAC publication

FileMaker Pro

FileMaker Pro!

Why do you not show,

New people, even though

I typed the names twice, with agility?!

Your auto redacts

Of our new contacts

Only detracts

From your usability.

Reading Room

Q-Can you make me copies?

A-Ten percent, just ten percent.

Q-Can I look at old floppies?

A-No, no precedent.

Q-Can I munch upon my snacks?

A-No, no food or drink.

Q-Can I visit in the stacks?

A-Now what the *#@!* you think?

---

R. Schuyler Selden is in his last semester of the MLIS program. He lives, works, dreams and writes in San Jose. These poems were the result of on the job inspiration while working at the San Jose State University Special Collections department. FileMaker Pro is the software that they try to get to work when checking materials out.