Meeting minutes from 3/26/08

Opening Announcements
1. Discussed scholarships available for MLIS students:
- Carol Gordon brought up a scholarship not on the agenda: CISSL scholarship includes working about 5 hours per week as a research assistant for her or another professor in the department- email her if interested in applying (cgordon@scils.rutgers.edu)
-Al Saley Memorial Scholarships- 3 for $750; apply by May 1
(http://www.emanj.org/Awards.htm)
-Phi Beta Mu: check website (www.beta-phi-mu.org/scholarships.html)
-Executive Women of New Jersey (http://www.ewnj.org/scholarships.htm)

2. Fun Events
-NJ Children's/YA Author Panel: register online (http://www.njstatelib.org/News/news_item.php?item_id=932)
-NJLA conference: April 29-May 1; early registration ends on April
4 (then the price goes up!)
-April is School Media Month: check out the ALA website
(www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/aasladvocacy/schoollibrary.cfm)

3. Elections
- Jessica Emili was elected secretary
- Treasurer position is still open

4. Scheduling and advising
-RASL Advisor Carol Gordon offered the following advice: Plan backwards! plan your last semester first so that you have less trouble distributing course work; save your elective for summer session- you will have more options because additional classes are offered through the WISE consortium; suggested electives for the school media concentration are collection development and social networking
-2 professional development courses are offered in the summer- these are online courses: 575 "Management of School Library Programs" and
592 "Field Work" are CO-requisites- plan on taking them together!
-575 is only offered in the spring- there's a possibility of getting into the online class in the fall, but don't count on it as online students have first priority in scheduling
-List of required School media courses was made available at the meeting, as well as a list of when courses are offered
(fall/spring/summer) [This will be posted on the website.]