Published: September 6, 2016 by Kate M. Spaulding

If you’re a student with varied interests within the world of library and information science, your fellow classmates want to connect!

Today I’d like to introduce you to SJSU’s student chapter of The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T). If you’re a student with varied interests within the world of library and information science, your fellow classmates want to connect!

What’s your name, and what role do you play in the organization?
My name is Tamarack Hockin, and I’m the current Chair for the SJSU ASIS&T Student Chapter. This is my second year with the chapter, having been Social Media Coordinator last year.

Can you tell us a little bit about the organization?
ASIS&T is The Association for Information Science & Technology, which I think is pretty descriptive of the focus and content of the association. There is a prominent research focus, and this is perhaps most evident in the association’s journal, JASIS&T, and the free (yes, free) webinars that are available to members. Since joining ASIS&T last year, I’ve tuned in for sessions on metadata schema, text-mining, and content strategy. There is also an active focus on digital libraries and the humanities.

More locally, within the student chapter, I’ve been so pleased to find we connect quite well, and there is a lot of commonality with which courses our executive members have taken. We don’t all have the exact same focus, but there does seem to be a lot of overlap. This especially comes up at our end of semester social events—where we get together and swap notes on which courses we’ve taken, are planning to take, and recommend. It’s really helped me choose my classes more strategically, and to know what to expect.

What do you like best about being a part of this organization? (or, what’s your best argument for persuading students to join?)
What resonated most with me was ASIS&T’s focus on the “I” in LIS (information science and research, rather than so much focus on libraries as institutions). I actually come from a background in public libraries, but my interests lay with a lot of the less traditional skill sets in our professions. Our recent exec hails from all types of libraries—schools, archives, public, corporate libraries—but there is a good fit with the theme of interests.

I think ASIS&T is also potentially a really good fit for students pursuing the MARA degree, especially if they are interested in areas like digital archives and asset management.  I’d strongly recommend students check out the ASIS&T central website, look though recent webinars and publications, and see if the topics spark your interest and excitement. If yes, then welcome to ASIS&T! We are delighted to have you.

How can students get involved?
Students can opt to join as members and take advantage of all that ASIS&T and the SJSU ASIS&T Student Chapter have to offer in terms of webinars, publications, and networking opportunities. However, we are also actively recruiting for positions on our Executive Committee, and this is a great chance to get more actively involved in the strong virtual community we have here at the iSchool, as well as build your resume.

Right now we’re especially interested in someone to take over our social media channels, so if that’s something you would like to add to your resume, then please get in contact! Our Membership Director, Secretary-Treasurer, and Communications Director will be graduating in December, so we’re definitely interested in recruiting students looking for a great leadership opportunity.

Are there any upcoming events you’d like to tell us about?
We just had a really successful event with Jill Klees: Gain Work Experience While Completing the MLIS (also applicable for MARA!), and I’d encourage anyone who missed it to check out the recording on our YouTube channel.

Next up, we’ll be part of the Student Associations Panel on Sept 14. I urge everyone to attend, since you’ll get to sample the buffet of excellent professional associations we have active at the iSchool and get a feel what’s the best fit for your professional interests.

Tell us where to find your organization on the interwebs!
We have a snazzy, refreshed website (where you can find, among other things, bios for our current executive team). You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Archived webinars from the chapter are available on our YouTube channel, and of course, we have email: sjsuasist at gmail dot com.