Created by a student taskforce, the iSchool store offers a variety of items including shirts, hats, laptop sleeves, keychains, mugs, flash drives and more, and 100% of the proceeds from the store go toward student scholarships.

Looking for a commemorative gift? Want to show your school spirit? Now you can! The School of Information (iSchool) at San José State University opened a new online store. Created by a student taskforce, the school store offers a variety of practical items featuring the iSchool name including shirts, hats, laptop sleeves, keychains, mugs, flash drives and more, and 100% of the proceeds from the store go toward student scholarships.

Dr. Sandra Hirsh, iSchool professor and director, asked representatives from the school’s student chapters of professional associations to serve on the taskforce during a student leadership meeting in fall 2015. Student Heather Lawson, who is the secretary of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) student chapter at the iSchool, volunteered for the job and really enjoyed the collaborative experience.

“It was great to work with other students and the iSchool staff on this project,” remarked Lawson. “My favorite part was working with my amazing fellow student committee members, Tiana Trutna and Dana Spinney. They were fantastic, and we had a lot of fun.”

The project also gave the student taskforce members a valuable experience in data collection. “I really enjoyed working on the survey that we sent to students to gather input for the types of items to sell in the store,” explained Lawson. “We got some great suggestions from the survey responses. Plus, it was terrific practice for my INFO 285 Survey Research class I’m taking this semester with Professor Luo.”

With the end of the semester in sight, the new online store already offers many items suitable for graduation presents and souvenirs of the iSchool experience with more items to be added in the future. “I’m even more excited to see how the store will evolve over the years,” noted Lawson, “and I am looking forward to coming back to shop as an alumna!”

To purchase iSchool swag and support students enrolled in the iSchool’s programs, please visit the SJSU iSchool Online Store hosted on Zazzle.