CLA Talk - Careers Outside The Library

Come listen to our panel of speakers discuss the careers available to MLIS grads outside of the library. Speakers include:

Lisa Quinn, Acquisitions Editor
Wilfred Laurier University Press

Crystal Sharp, Grant Consultant,  Researcher & Writer
CD Sharp Information Systems, Ltd.

Yimin Chen, LIS Ph.D. Candidate
Teaching and Research Assistant, FIMS

Date: Thursday, July 12th, 12:00-1:30
Location: Back Room of the Grad Club

Summer Speed Networking

CLA will be holding Summer Speed Networking on July 18th at the Masonville branch of London Public Library. Currently, the following professionals will be there:

• Kevin Moore, Supervisor, Pond Mills Branch, London Public Library
• Maria Forte, Supervisor, Beacock Branch, London Public Library
• Fran Gray, Research and Instructional Services Librarian, LIS Librarian, Western University Library
• Debbie Meert-Williston, Head of Research and Instruction, Taylor Library, Western University Library
• Tracy Church, National Director, Prospect Research, CNIB
• Robert Craig, Learning and Development Specialist, London Life Insurance
• Karen Hine, Reference Librarian, University Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre

Tickets will be on sale soon - stay tuned!

CLA Conference

This year's CLA National Conference and Trade Show took place in Ottawa on May 30 to June 2. Our chair, Sarah Felkar, was there, and wrote several blog posts detailing the sessions she attended.

Day 0.5
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

You can read Twitter responses to the conference here.

CLA Student Bursaries Awarded

The CLA Student Chapter is pleased to announce the three recipients of the the $100 Conference Bursaries. This money has been raised through the group's fundraising efforts in order to assist students with conference expenses.

CLA Student Bursary Recipients:

• Christine Walde
• Mark-Shane Scale
• Sarah Simpkin

Congratulations to them, and we hope that they all have successful conference experiences.

A Thank-You

Sophia Apostol's Talk

Thanks to everyone who came out to Sophia Apostol's talk today about negotiating a job offer.  We hope it was informative and helps you advocate for yourself once you land the job.

Sophia's slides can be found here.

Guest Speaker - Sophia Apostol on negotiating an employment contract

Sophia Apostol (University of Guelph) will be presenting her crowd-pleasing talk from OLA 2012 "Negotiate? Who Me? Yes, You!" to FIMS Faculty and Students on Thursday, March 15 from 12-1pm in the Social Sciences Center (SSC) Room 2020. No sign-up, but we will meet in front of the GRC on Thursday at 1150am before walking over to the session.

Hope to see you there!

Thinking about attending the CLA Conference in May? And other CLA news

Links for the upcoming CLA 2012 National Conference and Trade Show in Ottawa:

Check out the CLA Conference Program Highlights.

Take a look at these tips on attending the conference when you have a tight budget.

Interested in volunteering for the conference? The application form and the volunteer job descriptions are available on the CLA website here. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 23, 2012.


In addition to the upcoming conference, consider these items of note:

Career Development Webinar Series

CLA Student Article Award

CLA Awards (there are some scholarship opportunities)

Speed Networking

Tuesday, March 20
6-8pm
Masonville Library

The way the event will work is that you will have 15 minutes with each professional, then there will be a break after 45 minutes, and  a chance to mingle at the end.

You will have a chance to speak with:

Trista Blonde, High School Librarian, Lambton-Kent School District
David Fiander, Web Librarian, Western University
Ellie Contursi, Supervisor, Cherryhill, London Public Library
Kevin Moore, Supervisor, Pond Mills, London Public Library
George Goodall, Senior Research Analyst, Info Tech Research
Jonothan Kidd, Research Analyst, Info Tech Research

Refreshments will be served.

$5 per ticket, get yours at the door.

Email sfelkar@uwo.ca if you have any questions.

CLA President's Visit

Canadian Library Association President Karen Adams visited Western’s CLA student chapter on Thursday, January 26th.

We were able to host Ms. Adams for the afternoon, and enjoyed the time she spent speaking with us about working in an academic library, the role of CLA and its current projects.

 
One of the topics of interest for us was that Ms. Adams is working on fundraising for new backend technology for the website and membership databases that will allow for a “gap year” for new LIS grads so that they can maintain membership when searching for jobs.

As well, our local Progressive Librarians Guild took the opportunity to engage Ms. Adams on the role of CLA as a leader/champion for librarians. From there they posted on their blog here: The Canadian Library Association's Failure to Advocate for Librarians and Libraries , sparking a discussion on the CLA & BCLA list-servs, as well as on other Canadian library blogs.

We want to thank Karen Adams again for her time and encourage other CLA student chapters to have her visit their campuses.

Bursaries available for conference attendees

This term, the CLA Student Chapter will award three $100 bursaries to assist students with conference expenses. This money has been raised through the group's fundraising efforts. Any current MLIS or PhD LIS student planning to attend a conference this term (Winter 2012) or next term (Summer 2012) is eligible to apply. 

 

Of the three bursaries: 

 

• One will give preference to a CLA Student Chapter member; 
• One will give preference to an out-of-province student; 
• One will have no restrictions. 

Applications will be accepted online until March 31, 2012. Bursary award announcements will be made no later than April 30, 2012.

 

Please direct questions and comments to claatuwo@gmail.com.

Bake Sale Tuesday February 7th

Come on out to CLA's bakesale on Tuesday for some delicious baked goods!  We'll be set up outside the GRC from noon to 3 pm.  Help CLA raise funds and satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time.  Hope to see you there!

Time to start up the CLA/FIMS Mentorship Programs again

Peer Mentorship

New to the MLIS program and looking for someone to talk to about what to expect re: courses, co-op, job-shadowing, and other issues? Why not sign up to connect with a peer student mentor also in the MLIS program here? 

The CLA student group’s peer mentorship program is geared to first-term students interested in exchanging information with other students with more experience with the program. Mentees are matched with volunteer peer mentors (other MLIS students who have completed at least 3 courses).

Professional Mentorship

Perhaps you are looking ahead to graduation time and what types of positions you can prepare for, in which case you might want to consider the professional mentorship program. This program aims to find mentors for students in a library field they are interested in knowing more about. Last term this meant matching students with professional librarians working in medical, regional, law, public, academic, and government library fields around Ontario and in one case, Newfoundland. 

The due date for applying to the Peer Mentorship & Professional Mentorship programs is February 17, 2012.

If you would like to participate in the mentorship program or have any other questions about it, please contact Nara Petchsy, Co-Peer & Mentorship Coordinator at westernmentorship@gmail.com.

For more information on the program, please see http://uwo-cla.blogspot.com/p/mentorship.html.