last week's meeting (1/29)

RASL kicked off the semester with its first meeting last Thursday (1/29). Here's what went on:

-Job Postings
From NJLA Job Hotline site (Just Google "NJLA Job Hotline" as the link doesn't always work):
CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN- FULL TIME; MONROE TOWNSHIP LIBRARY
CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN- PART TIME; MATAWAN ABERDEEN PUBLIC LIBRARY
ADULT SERVICES LIBRARIAN/LIBRARY INTERN: PART TIME; PISCATAWAY PUBLIC LIBRARY
TEEN LIBRARIAN/LIBRARY INTERN: EAST BRUNSWICK PUBLIC LIBRARY

Kristi also works at New Brunswick Free Public Library and mentioned that there is a YA INTERN position available; email Kristi Revicki at krevicks@gmail.com for more info.

-Scheduling
In-depth meeting will happen in early April, so stay tuned!
BUT if it's your first semester, you should definitely meet with an adviser ASAP! We recommend Carol Gordon if you are doing the school library track.

-Networking
-Shadowing librarians: veteran RASL members highly recommend contacting a local SLMS (school library media specialist) to get some experience BEFORE you do field experience (in your last semester). This is a great way to get exposure to different age groups! Our webmaster, Renee, recommended contacting the Central Jersey Regional Library Consortium to do so.

-NJASL and NJLA: join them! Student discounts are available while you're earning your MLIS which will save you A LOT of money.

-Conferences: the annual NJASL conference was held at the East Brunswick Hilton in November, but stay tuned to the RASL blog for info on registering for next year's conference. NJLA should be coming up in April or May as well!
-Those who have been to conferences say it's an invaluable experience, where you'll experience vendors, get programming ideas, and hear lectures on current research!

RASL will be holding a Web 2.0 panel this semester. Check your email to find out when our March meeting will be held.

Have a great semester!!!!
love,
RASL

Live blogging from the NJASL board meeting

Below are highlights from the meeting that may be of interest to RASL members.

10:30 AM 

• Meeting called to order.
  
• Budget revisions discussed.
• NJ Center for the Book Wednesday, October 22, 2008 -- conference (see link)
• Enthusiastic Reader competition beginning.  More details to follow.

10:45 AM

• NJEA collaboration panel discussed.
• Rolling Research library grant discussed. Issues: de-professionalizing school libraries and against current regulations
  
• Mentoring guidelines discussed.

11:00 AM

• Conference attendance and reimbursement now reflected in budget.  Available online for NJASL members.
• RASL collaboration panel discussed.  
• Website redesign slated to be launched by the conference. 
• NJASL conference -- infolink on Saturday; Jane Austin program; other preliminary programs.
• NJKI -- currently in a two of a three year contract; continuing until 2010.  Databases available to every library member (public AND school). 

11:15 AM

• Youth Services Forum October 15th -- student registration only $12.50!
• Performer's Showcase 
• Scholastic grant 
• ALSC contest 
• Novelist online training available.
• Scholastic grant mentioned.  More information to follow.
• JR Trader -- librarian discount 

11:30 AM

• Not everything for the conference is available through on-site registration (meals and the like).
• With new high school graduation requirements, we will ensure that students are ready for college or the job market.  

11:45 AM

• Bill discussed re: professional development and coursework reimbursement for current school librarians.
• CISSL -- NJASL/CISSL research: Transforming school libraries in New Jersey

12:00 PM

• Norma Blake scholarship 
• Professional development -- format needs to be changed.
• Next year's conference is two days -- Friday and Saturday (November 13-14)

12:30 PM

• Board member to speak to RASL in November about the conference.  
• Meeting adjourned.

Tuesday, May 6 meeting minutes

In case you couldn't make it to the final meeting of the semester, here's what happened:

a recap of NJLA

Job Opportunities:

Clearview Regional High School (www.njasl.org/JobOpenings)
Caravel Academy Middle School (SCILS job board)
Holland Township School, K-8 (njhire.com)
Villa Victoria, 9-12 (njhire.com)
Cranford High School FT SLMS (Cranford BOE)
Ewing Elementary Schools FT SLMS (SCILS job board)

Discussion for next year:

panels, guest speakers, best practices sharing, shadowing current SLMS, field trips

Carol Gordon led a discussion regarding collaboration between teachers and SLMSs; points included:
-teachers often don't see librarians as "real teachers"
-teachers often don't know about all of the technology/resources available: use this to your advantage to encourage collaboration with them!
-collaboration between SLMSs and teachers should happen EVERY DAY! teachers are the lifeline to the student population
-Erin proposed putting together a pamplet of FAQs regarding collaboration for graduating MLIS school media students (maybe next semester?)
-someone else brought up the idea of collaborating with the graduate school of education
-International Association of school librarians in August (Berkeley, CA): Professor Gordon has attended in the past; she says international libraries view school libraries as an important source of information/reading materials for the entire school community (including parents); international school libraries focus on multilingual/cultural materials more than US schools; more advanced collaboration between libraries and teachers in international schools

Upcoming:

May 20th: SCILS Awards Ceremony; 1:30-3:30, Voorhees Hall 105
May 20th: SCILS Convocation; 5 pm, College Avenue Gym: THIS IS THE ONE TO GO TO!
May 21st: University Commencement; 1:30 pm, Voorhees Mall
NJASL Fall Conference: November 13-15, Hilton East Brunswick- Anyone interested in doing a poster presentation?

Congratulations to our graduates!!
See you next semester!!

At last... the RASL meeting update!

I enjoyed the first RASL meeting of the semester (my first ever!). I’m in the online program, so it was great to get to campus and meet everyone. Here’s a quick recap of the agenda and what we covered.

Origins of RASL - Check out the RASL website for a brief history of our organization.

NJ Department of Education requirements for School Library Certifications - The most up-to-date information can be found here on the SCILS website.

Plan of Study for SMLS and timing of classes - Did you know that the School Library Medial Specialist track allows only one elective? Did you know that some required courses are offered only in the fall semester or only in the spring semester? Several of our members have run into trouble with the timing of their classes, and strongly recommend faculty advising sessions as you map out your plan of study. We are working to include the timing of classes on the RASL website. In the meantime, the SCILS website lists required courses here.

SLMS jobs - Members talked about various websites that post job openings for school library media specialists. We have a list of job links on the RASL website that we are looking to update. If you know of a job website, please post it as a comment here, or email Renee.

NJASL and other library organizations - "Network, network, network!" was the advice from several of our members. Get involved in RASL and NJASL, NJLA and ALA. Student volunteers can often attend conferences for free or at reduced rates. Links to these and other professional organizations are on the RASL website. Be sure to look for discount student memberships when you join!

Forum: What do you want from RASL? - Everyone had lots of great ideas. Check out Kristie's post below, and please feel free to send your suggestions to us as comments on this blog, or via email.

Next meeting: Thursday, February 21, 5 pm SCILS lounge. Hope to see you then!

AASL Survey

I know that the majority of the people that attended tonight's meeting have not yet begun their field study, but for those members that have, or know a school librarian, please send them this link! It came from the NJASL list serve and connects you to a survey entitled School Libraries Count! It's a longitudinal study conducted to show the numerous ways that school libraries improve children's education and daily lives. Even if you don't know a school librarian, you can still go to the site and check out last year's results!

Updates

Hi everyone!

Ahh yes, it's been awhile - can I blame it on the hectic-ness of the school year getting into full swing? Hope everyone's classes are going well so far! Please remember, if you have any questions or anything we can help with, feel free to email us!

Anyways, we're working on getting things together for the Oct. meeting. We're hoping to make the focus of this meeting "Professional Development & Certification", and answer some of the questions you all (and us too) had about getting certified, the PD courses, and field work. We're trying to see if Ross Todd, Carol Gordon (our 2 faculty advisers) and someone from Prof. Dev. can stop by to give a little chat. This is all tentative, so as we get confirmation, we'll let you know!

We're looking for a new secretary for RASL as well - the secretary is primarily responsible for recording meeting details - if you are interested or have questions on the position, PLEASE email us! It's a great way to boost your resume!

Also, as discussed, here is a link for the NJASL (New Jersey Association of School Librarians) conference for 2007 - it's Nov 14-16 - they are looking for volunteers, so if you're interested at helping out, please see the following link: http://njasl.org/Conferences.htm

This is a GREAT opportunity to meet a lot of the movers and shakers in NJASL, make some great contacts, and find out some vital information, so take advantage of it if you can!

That's all for now - we'll keep you posted about the meeting details as they unfold to us!

Chrissy George
Co-Pres

Certification

So, what REALLY is the deal with this NJ certification? Ask your questions here!

First Meeting a Success!

A Thank you!
Hi everyone!

Thanks to all of you who came out to the meeting yesterday afternoon - we met a lot of new faces, saw some old ones, and had a great conversation (and some tasty fondue and pasta)!!

Some Points
- I know starting at SCILS IS overwhelming, no matter how old or young you are. Rest assured that EVERYONE is nervous - so it's ok!

- For those students who are looking to go into public libraries/childrens and youth services, it may have seemed like all we disussed yesterday about classes revolved around ed media. That's mostly because the ed media program of study is so exact and structured because of ceritfication in NJ. This structure is fairly new and, I think even the powers that be in Trenton don't exactly "get it" - hence the confusion and the discussion always leadng back to certification.

Do not despair, public librarians - we will have many more conversations about topics that are children's and youth service oriented across the board!

Pep Talk #1
It was GREAT to hear so many people speak up and give their opinions! There were lots of questions about classes, plans of study, certifications, etc. I hope we tried to ease some of your fears and stresses about the program. Trust me, it's all completely normal - I went home after the orientation and cried!

BUT the GOOD NEWS is that will go away! Starting a grad school program in ANY subject is stressful and takes some getting used to - so PLEASE don't let that get the best of you!! You CAN do this, you CAN get your studies done - just keep repeating that!

Q & A!
Soooo, the pep talk now being out of the way, I had mentioned what a help posting your questions and comments and answers that were brought up in the meeting (and whatever came up AFTER the meeting in your heads) will be helpful to us, you guys, and any students who couldn't make it to the meeting.

Here's the deal. I've broken up the categories of what kinds of questions we were asked into separate blog posts. Comment with your question or remark to the appropriate category. If we don't know the answer, we'll find someone who does. After a week or so, I'll post ALL the questions and answers in its own post - this way you'll have an "unofficial guide to the Ed Media/SCILS program at RU" to refer to, and we can use it for future SCILS students as well!

Feel free to post thoughts too, that aren't exactly questions - those are a help as well!

Sooooo, start thinking about those questions - post 'em to the right topics - and next week, I'll compile them all with the answers and post them! PLEASE sign your name though!

Still In a State of Confusion? Pep Talk #2!
I just want to mention that being confused is normal. I came from an undergraduate background that was very structured and told you, each semester, exactly what to take. Rutgers doesn't always tell you everything about everything - a lot of times, unfortunately, you have to find answers out yourselves - about programs of study, about ids or loans or whatever. Fellow students and professors are THE BEST resource for finding out information that isn't laid out in black and white (and red) on the website.

What we hope to do with the next few posts is answer your questions and comments about the programs and general "stuff" at Rutgers so you feel a little more secure. I know it's tough - my undergraduate program at The College of New Jersey was much more straight forward. And it's a double edged sword with education media - there are rigid guidelines to follow but at the same time, HOW to follow those guidelines is not always straightforward. That's where RASL comes in - we can talk to other professors, administrators, and even members of NJASL (the New Jersey Association of School Librarians) to find answers for you and for ourselves.

So I guess what I am trying to get at is - DON'T WORRY!

Thanks again for coming out yesterday - keep checking this blog back for more information, and get to posting your questions!

Thanks!!
Chrissy George, Co-Pres