Want to go to ALA but worried about the costs? Participate in the Student to Staff Essay contest to potentially win a chance at a partly sponsored trip to ALA!

What is Student to Staff?

It is a program for SCALA chapters to send a member to ALA. As a part of the Student to Staff program, the participant will work part of the conference while also attending sessions at the conference. This is a great opportunity to lessen the financial burden of going, as well as help out with making ALA a great experience for other conference-goers.

Each SCALA chapter nominates one member for the Student to Staff program. Here at UNC-CH we facilitate an essay contest to determine who will go to ALA.

Any questions? Email Brittany Soder at britt36@live.unc.edu. Look out for an email in early November from Brittany with links to the contest.

General Announcements: Dean Marchionini updated faculty and staff on DC events, which included an alumni gathering on Thursday, October 19th, which was very successful. He also discussed SILS having more of a presence at local conferences and perhaps having people available to staff tables for alumni, if people were available. SILS is also having a gathering in Nanjing on July 4th weekend, 2018, and there might be space for two students to go. If you are interested, please reach out and let us know! A quick update was also given on admissions for new students – there are 2 new PSM students, 20 new MSIS, 8 new MSLS, 4 deferred MS students, 35 new BSIS majors, and 17 new BSIS minors starting in the spring!

EPA Update: The EPA library is thankfully running smoothly this year – recent events have not had a significant impact on their services, and they are still providing resources and help to their patrons!

SILS IT Updates: SILS is thinking of redoing Manning 214 so that it can be used for more than just a meeting room.

Independent Study for Proposals: SILS discussed the INLS 781, Proposal, for the master’s program, and the idea of extending the proposal class, offering more credits for the proposal class, or offering independent studies for extended proposal work. SILS approved a motion to have the Master’s Committee take this on, get more data on the class and its effects, and possibly propose changes in one of those directions. In general, 781 and 992 is something that SILS is working through still.

Master’s Committee Course Number Change: INLS 490’s course number was changed to INLS 570.

GRE Waiver for PSM Degree Program: PSM launches in the spring, and there has been discussion over whether or not applications should have to take the GRE. SILS discussed asking the Graduate School for a waiver for students who already have Master’s degrees/advanced degrees, or possibly asking for a five-year trial period. SILS also briefly discussed the GRE requirement for the master’s program, and whether the GRE is a good indicator of academic research potential, which is a focus of SILS’ master’s program. SILS tentatively decided on asking for a five-year trial period, but this is something that will probably be discussed again.

If you have any questions about the all-staff meeting, please email Amelea Kim at ameleak@email.unc.edu!

The SILS Diversity Committee met on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 to discuss goals and opportunities for the new school year. The main topic of discussion was on ways to begin the process of imbedding and integrating diversity into the day-to-day activities of SILS. We would like to bring to the forefront of everyone’s mind an awareness of what diversity is, its importance and benefit to us as individuals and as a part of a larger institution, and how we are always active participants.

Suggestions were as follows: Help faculty to integrate diversity into their syllabi, class discussions, and individual interactions with students. Speak to SILS student organizations about sponsoring diversity events. Further and actively promote the SILS Diversity Certificate to current students. Coordinate with other campus organizations to plan and sponsor diversity events and training. Update the SILS diversity statement and renewing the diversity statement poster (have you seen it?).

The committee met once to discuss feedback from this year’s doctoral cohort about our recruitment techniques. The committee resolved to continue early contact with advisors and modifying how we conduct admitted student day. The committee discussed numerous options to increase applications from individuals already working in the field, focusing on listservs and local business. We also determined the need for a brief summary document of classes that meet course requirements for doctoral students and which classes are only available to doctoral students.

Carson Fish (MSLS ’18) is serving on SLAB (Student Library Advisory Board) this year and would love to hear your input about how UNC Libraries can better serve its students and the UNC community.  If you have suggestions, comments, or concerns about how UNC Libraries can be more effective at meeting your needs as a student, please contact her via email (cnfish@live.unc.edu) or Twitter (@karsyeni).

The responsibilities of SLAB include “communicating thoughts, ideas, and concerns to the University Librarian and the Library administration. The primary responsibility of this group is to make suggestions on ways to improve the effectiveness of the Library.”

For more information about SLAB and its charge see here: http://library.unc.edu/about/slab/

TRU- 114 Henderson St.

Wednesday, November 8th

6-8 pm

Check out the conference schedule here

This is a great opportunity to meet and network with librarians from around the state. Look out for information from SCALA about coordinating carpools.

Come help out with the ILSSA bake sale on Monday, October 16th! We’re looking for volunteers both to bake goods and to table the sale outside the UL.

Sign up HERE to wow us with your baking skillz:

Sign up HERE to hang out and sell treats:

For more information, contact ameleak@email.unc.edu or cdolling@live.unc.edu. Hope to see you there!

Note: In light of the recent hurricane devastation, 15% of all proceeds will be going to the Hispanic Federation Hurricane Relief.