Leadership – SJSU SAASC

Fall 2020 Wrap Up

by SAASC Team

This may be an understatement, but what a semester! This Fall (for that matter, this year) has been a challenge for many of us. Whether you were starting or ending your MLIS or MARA journey, this semester will go down in the books for being quite extraordinary. Although we experienced a few hiccups, the SAASC team worked hard to offer our fellow students multiple ways to enhance their academic experience and connect with each other. As chair, I may be biased, but I think we did a great job this semester and I hope you agree!

During the Summer, the Archeota team was hard at work editing the Spring/Summer issue, which was jam-packed with interviews, delved into critical issues impacting archives, and highlighted collections preserving the history of diverse and underrepresented communities. And all written by students! Kelli, Alyssa, and Christine are once again spending their break putting together the Fall/Winter issue. I can’t wait to check it out! Read the latest issue and find out what it takes to submit an article in the Archeota section of our website. Fall/Winter submissions are due by January 10, 2021.

One of the first things the incoming team tackled was a complete redesign of our website and migration of the site to the iSchool WordPress server. Our webmaster, Barbara, did a fantastic job in creating a fresh, modern look along with organizing the resources, which sometimes required a bit of a scavenger hunt to find the original sources. She integrated new functionality, such as the event calendar, the contact form, and the social media feed. If there is anything you’d like to see added to the site, please let us know.

Related to the website, the SAASC blog, written primarily by our blog editor, Stacy, has provided insightful recaps of our events, the SAA annual conference, National Archives Month, and more. With Stacy’s guidance, we published our first guest student blog post this semester. If you have suggestions for blog posts or would like to write one, please contact us.

Our social media team – Sabrina, Angela, Cristy, and Nique – really ramped up our online activity, resulting in a nice bump in our followers. Between our Facebook page, YouTube Channel, and Twitter feed, SAASC is sharing archives and LIS news and events, participating in discussions, and connecting with students, faculty, groups, and organizations. We even live tweeted a few events! If you aren’t following us, what are you waiting for?

Last, but not least, our dynamic duo of events — Samantha and Danielle — put together a phenomenal lineup of presentations this semester. We had speakers representing corporate archives, academic archives, and public library archives. We had the pleasure of hearing about a range of collections, from Levi Strauss to an archive specifically for Hops & Brewing. We discovered the achievements and challenges of preserving and sharing the archives of underrepresented communities in the Mujeres Latinas Project at the Iowa Women’s Archive and the Schomburg Research Center’s LGBTQ collection. Not only were the collections amazing, the curators and archivists generously shared their knowledge, experiences, and career tips with us. Danielle and Samantha also put together a great end of semester Zoom Happy Hour! To see which events have been recorded, check out the archive in the Events section.

In the spirit of connection and partnership, SAASC collaborated with the iSchool student groups in September’s new student presentation and December’s Zoom hangout. We were thrilled to partner with SJSU REFORMA on our Mujeres Latinas Project event and the Cafecito con Barbara Miller presentation. We look forward to finding more ways to work with the other groups this Spring.

On the administration side, we also accomplished a few things. Early in the semester, we had to deal with the resignations of our vice chair, Nicole, and our social media coordinator, Jenny, both needing to focus their time and energy on family. We were fortunate that Danielle picked up the slack in event planning, and Samantha quickly and enthusiastically jumped in. We were also lucky to have Angela, Cristy, and Nique all express interest in joining the team and focusing on social media, with Sabrina leading the charge. Sabrina also kept us all on task and connected by organizing our monthly planning meetings and spearheading group communication.

Not quite as exciting, we made some overdue updates to the SAASC constitution to address outdated items and fill in some gaps. These changes were presented to the membership and ratified at the end of November.

And, finally, a big thanks to our faculty advisor, Lori Lindberg, for her guidance, time, and expertise!

With everything going on in the world and in our personal lives, I want to give a big round of applause to the SAASC and Archeota team for achieving so much this semester. Many of us have been touched by the pandemic and the last few months have not been easy. I am honored to be working with such a great group of people and have found joy in connecting with all of you. Enjoy your winter break, stay healthy, and let us know if there is anything we can do better. We have some great things planned for Spring and can’t wait to share with you.

Alison Quirion, SAASC Chair, 2020-2021

Calling Future Archival Leaders!

by SAASC Team

Why join student chapters of professional associations for information professionals? For one thing, student organizations are a great way to connect with peers from all across the country. Distance education can be, well, lonely, and we all should be aware of how important it is to start networking early in your career, so having the chance to build relationships among peers and future colleagues is invaluable during the time that you are a student. Alongside the wonderful social bonding and professional networking student organizations provide, student organizations offer many opportunities to develop and demonstrate leadership skills that will help you later on in the job market and to further explore areas of your field that you feel most passionate about. San Jose State’s Society of American Archivists Student Chapter (SAASC) offers many opportunities for personal and professional growth. SAASC Executive Board members coordinate all kinds of on-site tours and virtual events with professionals in the field, communicate with members through various social media channels, organize and host regular meetings, and contribute to the production of Archeota, our chapter’s semiannual publication written by and for information students interested in archival studies.

Kelli Roisman, 2019-2020 SAASC Chair, describes the benefits of taking on leadership roles through student organizations in this way: “I joined the SAASC team because I wanted to make personal connections with other iSchool students who share similar interests. I enjoy reaching out to professionals in the field to create new programming for our membership. There are so many benefits, but I’ll pick just one! Student leadership is a great opportunity for career growth. Employers are looking for ‘demonstrated experience’ in addition to coursework. You can build up your skills and boost your qualifications by taking on a leadership role in student organizations.”

Students seeking to build up leadership and communication skills in a friendly and collegial environment should consider running for an executive board position. We’re now accepting nominations for our 2020-2021 SAASC Executive Board. Our new leadership team will be key to organizing chapter activities including site tours to Blizzard Entertainment and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Open positions: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Events Coordinator, Social Media Coordinator. Nominations will be accepted up to May 2. Send a brief bio to sjsusaasc@gmail.com. We’d love to have you join us. Please help us achieve our chapter’s goals for energizing our membership, creating new opportunities, and fostering career development! For more details, visit our website http://sjsusaasc.weebly.com/. Send us a message if you have any questions; we can be reached at sjsusaasc@gmail.com.

Leaders Wanted: An iSchool Student Organization Collaborative Event

by SAASC Team

SAASC’s 2019-202 Executive Committee elections are coming soon. Have you thought about running for a position with SAASC or another iSchool student group? Not sure what you would be getting into? What are the benefits? But what if you’re on the East Coast? And what if you’re an introvert?

Leaders from iSchool’s student organizations came together for a special collaborative event to talk about what their experience has been like, what benefits they’ve enjoyed most, and how they’ve managed to fit this important work into their busy lives. Before the event, current and former officers participated in an informal survey to answer questions like, “How much time per week do you spend on student organization work?”

The survey revealed some interesting things. For instance, most participants emphasized a few important benefits to participating in student groups. The experience translates directly to your resume/CV, and your experience can provide great talking points for interviews. A few student leaders shared during the event how they were able to use certain experiences for e-Portfolio competencies. Survey participants also pointed out the importance of getting involved in professional associations for career development, and many leaders found that their student chapter experience helped them understand and access these professional organization benefits more fully. Some students were able to receive financial help to attend professional conferences, as well. Above all, student leaders pointed to the very valuable networking opportunities that student association work provides.

The event’s participants also had some insights into some of the challenges that come with student leadership. They stressed the need for developing time management skills and a team mentality. Also, although many students self-identify as introverts, most of them claim that their experience in student groups helped them gain confidence in their ability to manage their tendencies toward introversion and shyness, both now as students and also in their future professional life.

Furthermore, the event participants stressed that the various “challenges” such as lack of experience and introversion, should not prevent students from getting involved. Indeed, student groups provide the perfect environment to learn, to gain experience, and to grow into your professional life.

A full recording of the event is available at on our Past Events page, and also on our YouTube channel. Check it out.

For more information, get in touch with your student organizations directly:

SAASC: sjsusaasc@gmail.com
FirstGeneration: firstgen.sjsu@gmail.com
ASIS&T: sjsuasist@gmail.com
ALASC: sjsualasc@gmail.com
SLASC: sjsu.slasc@gmail.com

And keep an eye open for upcoming information about nominations and elections!

Category: <span>Leadership</span>

Fall 2020 Wrap Up

Calling Future Archival Leaders!

Leaders Wanted: An iSchool Student Organization Collaborative Event

Become a SAASC member today!