Spring greetings to all SAASC members and iSchool MLIS & MARA students. The Spring semester is in full swing and we already have plenty to talk about!
We are barely four weeks in and our vice-chair, Samantha Hamilton, has put on two great virtual events! In case you missed it: January’s presentation on the Walt Disney Archives (use the Contact form to request access to the recording) and February’s presentation on A4BLiP – Archives for Black Lives Philadelphia (recording to be posted soon).
And we’ve already scheduled the rest of the events for Spring. Check out our calendar for more info and registration links. Our goal is to bring you first-hand presentations of all types of archival environments: corporate, academic, and non-profit as well as collaborations between archival professionals. On the professional development front, we will be hosting the Academy of Certified Archivists in May to help those of you preparing to take the ACA exam this year.
In other news, we’ve got a new addition to the team, Sara Wang! Sara will be taking over as Blog Editor for the Spring semester. You’ll see her first post soon, and if you would like to work with her on a guest blog post, you can reach her via the Canvas group, or send a message via our Contact form.
If you are new to SAASC or new to iSchool, I recommend watching a couple of the other February meetings: the iSchool Student Group Meet & Greet to learn about all the MLIS/MARA-related student groups and the SAASC Spring Member Update.
We’ve got great things planned for you this semester, but most importantly, we need your help to keep momentum going into the Fall 2021/Spring 2022 term. We will be holding elections for all SAASC board positions in April: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Social Media Coordinator, Webmaster, Blog Editor, and a new role, Membership Director. Stay tuned for more information on each role, the nomination process, and key dates for nominations and voting.
Joining a student group like SAASC in a leadership role is a great way to build meaningful relationships with your fellow students, learn more about your profession, develop collaboration and presentation skills, and create evidence for your ePortfolio. I can’t recommend it enough based on my own experiences as SAASC Chair. Again, you can reach out to us in the Contact form if you can’t wait for more info to be posted and you want to nominate yourself now.
Good luck to everyone this semester, whether you are just starting or deep into your ePortfolio or somewhere in between. The SAASC team looks forward to assisting you in any way we can and making your semester enjoyable.
Alison Quirion, 2020/2021 Chair