Members of the ALA Student Chapter at the University of British Columbia are invited to submit essays toward the Student-to-Staff Competition on or before December 2, 2011.
Essay Criteria
Interested applicants should address the following question in an essay not to exceed 500 words: How will the student-to-staff program contribute to your goals as a SLAIS student and future information professional?
Essays must be word processed and emailed to the ALA Student Chapter Advisor, Eric Meyers (eric.meyers@ubc.ca), no later than 11:59PM PST on December 2, 2011. In evaluating these essays, Eric will be wearing a device that measures electro-dermal activity (EDA – also known as skin conductance or Galvanic Response): whichever one provides an objectively measured warm, fuzzy feeling will be the winner. Just kidding. Essays will be judged on the quality of writing and potential of the author to contribute to the profession.
All contributors will be notified of the outcome of the contest by December 15, 2011. The name of the student chosen will be submitted to ALA as the UBC representative to the program. There can be only one…
About the ALA Student-to-Staff program
Each year, 40 MLIS students are chosen to assist ALA staff during ALA Annual Conference. In exchange for working four hours a day (or a total of 20 hours), these students receive free conference registration, housing, and a per diem for meal expenses. During free time, they may attend programs and participate in other conference activities.
Why is this cool?
The ALA Annual Conference, which will be held in Aneheim, California June 21-26, 2012, is the “the world’s largest and most dynamic library conference and exhibition for librarians from all types of libraries” (ALA homepage, 2011). ALA Annual is an opportunity to engage in significant professional networking activity, not to mention author events, workshops, panel presentations, and rockin’ parties. Oh, and there are free books coming out the wazzoo at the vendor exhibits. Sounds good, eh?
Who qualifies, and how?
To qualify for the ALA student-to-staff program, each student must be a current ALA member and a student chapter member, and cannot have previously participated in the program. Moreover, the student must remain an ALA member through the ALA Annual Conference that he or she is nominated to participate in. Once the UBC Student Chapter submits a name to the program, it cannot be withdrawn, nor can the position be transferred to another UBC student. Therefore, only students who are confident they can participate in the 2012 ALA Annual Conference should submit essays.
Don’t miss this amazing opportunity!