RASL meeting minutes- April 16th

In case you missed it, here's what happened at last week's RASL meeting:

Recap of "NJ Children's and Young Adult Author Day" at Woodbridge Public Library: see the NJLA website for details on the authors

Check out the Internet School Library Media Center: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/index.html
-ISLMC has pathfinders for specific subject areas (eg. Egyptology)
-the page is being shut down, so check it out while it's still there! Also, check archive.org for closed pages

Scholarship Reminder: Al Staley Scholarship
-$750
-3 available: one for a media specialist without certification, one for a current MLIS student, one for a potential MLIS student

Job Opportunities:
-Cranford High School: FT SLMS (listed on Cranford BOE)
-Ewing Elementary School: FT SLMS (listed on Rutgers job board)
-Jefferson High school: FT SLMS (Rutgers job board)

Discussion: School Library Media Month
-creative ideas:
-bookmarks with authors by genre
-scavenger hunt
-read-alouds (high schoolers to former elementary schools)
-reader recommendations (teachers write up blurbs about their favorite books from when they were teens, with photo)
-student book club (high schools): once a month students; student-run
-encourage students to donate books to school library/start a "take a book give a book" swap
-to find out what other schools have been doing, see these websites:
-http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/libslmday.htm
-http://schoollibrarymedia.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
-http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/aasladvocacy/schoollibrary.cfm

Discussion: Students with disabilities

-http://dsp.berkeley.edu/TeachStudentsWithDisab.html (college website, but applicable to school libraries)
-Collection: Books on CD/Playaways partnered with hard copy book; large print books
-Facilities: physical arrangement (aisles, shelving, seating areas); computer stations to accommodate wheel chairs, headphones, screen magnifiers
-"The High/Low Handbook"- high interest books for students at lower reading levels

Upcoming:

NJLA Conference: April 30-May 1 in Long Branch; early registration is closed
NJASL Spring Meeting: Saturday, May 3 at the Hilton East Brunswick; $35
NJASL Fall Conference: November 13-15 at the Hilton East Brunswick

Final meeting of the semester: tentatively scheduled for May 1st, but will probably change due to NJLA conference: check the RASL website/blog/LISSA listserv for updates!

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.]

RASL meeting this week!

Wow! It's that time again already. :-) We're meeting before the colloquium, this Wednesday at 5 pm in the SCILS lounge.

On the agenda this week: Registering for Fall 2008 and Planning Your Course of Studies. Also, Carol Gordon will be speaking with us, and we'll be sharing info re: scholarships and upcoming events.

Pizza will be served. Hope to see you there!

You're invited!

All MLIS students are invited to attend our first meeting of the semester. The first colloquium of the semester, featuring Librarian of the Year Norma Blake (NJ's state librarian), will begin at 7 pm, so we encourage you to come to the meeting and stay to hear Norma speak.

Here are the details:

Date:Wednesday, January 30th
Time: 5pm
Place: SCILS Lounge
Topics: Forum on what you'd like to get out of RASL, Scholarship/Award Opportunities for MLIS students
Other: Dinner (baked ziti) will be served.

Hope to see you there!