I was also in the no. Cal. chapter at that time and broached the idea of a
Student Chapter during a Chapter Business Meeting. The other members
thought that this would be redundant since students can be full members in
the chapter. After thinking about it, I agreed, since participating in the
chapter was a great way to get to know professionals, learn about the
profession, and find mentors. At that time the No. Cal. chapter met four
times a year and always within easy driving distance from the two no. Cal.
library schools. And the student body at Cal was rather small: no telling
whether there would always be enough students to have a full slate of
chapter officers!
Here in Texas the chapter only meets once a year and we are so spread out
(even more now that we include Mexico) that members often have to fly to
meetings and spend a few nights in a hotel. It makes it a rather different
situation. Our library school students are spread out as well (and the
programs are much larger in student body than was the program at Cal).
However, local students have not been shy at all about making contacts with
art & architecture librarians on campus and around town. Some of us get
more offers from students wanting to volunteer than we can manage to
supervise during a semester and we have to turn some offers away. But we
always take time to meet, chat, provide professional advice, etc. both with
library school students and with undergrads. or others considering going to
library school. Quite a few library school faculty members bring their
students our way during class time or arrange for class projects using our
collections, so I can't imagine anyone not being given the opportunity to
make appropriate contacts. I'm happy to report that some of these former
students & volunteers are now active members of arlis/na who are thriving
in our profession! Our local chapter offers a professional development
award for travel to the arlis/na conference that has been given to student
members. U.T. librarians signed up right away to host arlis/na student
interns since we're definitely interested in encouraging students to
consider art & architecture librarianship. Our chapter used to send its
newsletters with conference registration information to library schools,
but now that our newsletter is on the web we stopped doing so. Perhaps we
should make sure that library school web sites provide a link to our
society? We do announce our conference on arlis-l and I would hope that
interested students are reading our listserv!
All of this to say that chapters and library schools can vary so much in
size that one model probably will not fit all! How about informal clubs at
library schools for arlis/na chapter members, rather than having to
formalize a structure that might not suit anyone very well? And if the
issue is that students want some professional society involvement on their
resumes: my advice is to become active in arlis/na committees & chapters
while a student!
Cheers,
Janine Henri
>While working on my MLIS at UC Berkeley in 1987/88, I was a member of the
>northern California ARLIS chapter. It was a very warm and welcoming group,
>and I learned a great deal about art librarianship and the library
>resources in the area. I agree that student participation in regional
>chapters is a far better solution than student subgroups. Students should
>also be encouraged to attend regional or national ARLIS conferences when
>feasible. It's a great way to learn about the field and make professional
>contacts.
>
>Nina Stephenson
>Fine Arts Library
>Univ. of New Mexico
>
>--On Wednesday, January 16, 2002 12:09 PM -0500 Ray Anne Lockard
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Great idea, Paula. In that case, each chapter of ARLIS/NA would need to
>> strive to inform library schools within their chapters aware of ARLIS/NA
>> and send them posts of their meetings and programs. RAL
>>
>> Paula Hardin wrote:
>>
>>> I think it would be great and better if students participated in ARLIS/NA
>>> regional chapters instead of forming another subgroup, further fracturing
>>> the profession. It is so great to talk to other librarians and make those
>>> connections and learn about real life challenges. They put on excellent
>>> programs too! I am sure all of them would welcome the new participants
>>> ideas and contributions! We are stronger together than apart. PH
>>>
>>> Paula Hardin
>>> South Regional Representative
>>> Visual Resources Library
>>> University of North Carolina
>>> Chapel Hill, NC 27599
>>> 919-962-3034
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
>>> Administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
>>> to [log in to unmask]
>>> ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
>>> http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
>>> Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at:
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> --
>> Ray Anne Lockard, Head Librarian
>> Frick Fine Arts Library
>> University of Pittsburgh
>> Pittsburgh, PA 15260
>> Voice: 412-648-2411
>> Fax: 412-648-7568
>> E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> "A book should be a ball of light in one's hands."
>> Ezra Pound
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
>> Administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
>> to [log in to unmask]
>> ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
>> http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
>> Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at:
>> [log in to unmask]
>
>__________________________________________________________________
>Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
>Administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
> to [log in to unmask]
>ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
> http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
>Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
Head Librarian
The Architecture and Planning Library
The General Libraries, P.O. Box P
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78713-8916
(512) 495-4623
[log in to unmask]
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
Administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
