SLAIS Student Chapter - Year End Review

Strategic Planning Session by Camille Noel

On January 12th Carol Williams, Lynne Foster, and Tracey Carmichael of the SLA Western Canada Chapter guided eight student chapter members through a strategic planning session. After identifying our stakeholders, we brainstormed a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) and ideas for our vision, mission, goals and objectives. While faces of the chapter will change over time, having a strategic plan and a vision at its foundation will ensure the chapter’s success and continuity.

Bobbi Merilees by Camille Noel

On January 16th, ten students gathered at SLAIS for a chance to speak with Bobbi Merilees of Merilees Associates Inc. As a Canadian working in the U.S. with an MBA in addition to her MLS, she shared her experiences and gave us advice on how to add value to our services. Whether you are a web site designer or a knowledge manager, you have to take risks, sell yourself to your employers, know your contribution, and most importantly, you must connect with your users to understand how you can give them what they need.

CBC Library Tour by Bronwen Sprout

February 12th, six SLA student chapter members toured several CBC libraries with media librarian Gillian Guilmant-Smith. Gillian gave us a tour of the Radio Archives and talked with us about the archiving project she is working on there. Media librarian Colin Preston led us on a tour of the Film and Television Archives, and then Gillian showed us the Record and Music Libraries. The CBC tour was enjoyed by all, and was an interesting complement for those of us who had previously toured the Pacific Newspaper Group library.

Another Day in the Life of a Special Librarian by Hansel Cook

On February 26th, the SLA student chapter hosted "Another Day in the Life of a Special Librarian". Joel Minion of Pacific Newspaper Group, Patricia Cia of Teck Corporation, and Brad McGuigan of AMEC came in to talk about their library school experiences, their careers, and what it’s like working in special libraries. After their informal talk the presenters answered questions from the students. This lunchtime event provided students with an excellent opportunity to hear from people working in the field. The talk was well attended, with at least 15 students present, and plans are already underway for another such event early in the fall term.

1st Annual Special Librarian/Student Pub Night by Gordon Coleman

On March 2nd almost thirty special librarians and soon-to-be librarians met in the TC Lions Pub for an informal social get-together. The numbers were almost equally balanced between the two groups, and all seemed to enjoy the opportunity to mingle and chat in a casual setting. Conversation buzzed enthusiastically until sometime after 7 pm (when this writer left), and several participants commented later that the pub night should "be an annual event, or even more often than that!" Thanks go out to all the attendees, and in particular to Debbie Millward for arranging snacks and Brad McGuigan for suggesting the event.

Resume and Job Skills Workshop by Jessica O’Neill

On March 6th, twenty-five students attended the Resume and Job Skills session presented by Bill Mathieson, a consultant in the field of Human Resources. The seminar covered five processes that are important facilitators for employment: defining your skills, identifying opportunities, resumes and cover letters, interviews and keeping current. He recommended keeping a catalogue of relevant skills, experience, results, and interests (SERI) that could be applicable to your career. Identifying opportunities means checking newspapers and associations for job postings and since most positions are not advertised, networking is equally important if not more so. Bill also recommended using a one-page cover letter and a two-page resume which incorporates both the chronological and skill set formats. And lastly, Bill left us with a great piece of advice -- researching the company and anticipating the questions is the key for a successful interview.

Andronot DB Textworks Presentation by Suzanne Green

On March 14th, the students at SLAIS were lucky enough to have the opportunity to learn all about Inmagic’s DB/TextWorks thanks to Denise Bonin and Katharine Bryce of Andornot Consulting Inc. In total, 27 students attended the presentation, hosted by the SLA Student Chapter, a testament to the importance of DB/TextWorks in the fields of Library Science and Archival Studies. Denise and Kathy gave an overview of the software and then spent some time discussing the library module that is available. They were happy to answer all of the students’ questions about thesaurus capabilities, linking images to records, scripting, spidering and other specifics of DB TextWorks and DB Text WebPublisher. In addition to their presentation, Denise and Kathy brought along a number of informative handouts about Andornot, Inmagic products, Archives Online and Inmagic database design. Many thanks to both Kathy and Denise for an interesting and informative presentation.