Please join us as we welcome the newest members of our executive committee!
Laura Doublet will be serving as the assistant membership director. Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, Laura joined SLASC as a way to connect with other students in the SJSU MLIS program.
“I live in Canada, which feels very remote from the majority of the students. I became interested in special libraries while taking Dr. Cheryl Dee’s INFO 204 class last term,” she said. “Information students should get involved in student chapters because it opens up entire new fields and opportunities for them. It is an excellent way to learn more about the profession and to uncover new areas of interest.”
Laura has worked in various technical services roles at the University of Calgary Libraries and Cultural Resources since 1987. Building on her experience as a cataloging expert, and her previous responsibilities as the coordinator in the Metadata group, she was recently promoted into her current role as Metadata Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections.
Amy Nykamp is the group’s newest assistant communications director. Amy began her studies at the in iSchool in January 2016. Volunteering in her children’s school libraries reminded her of how much she was missing by not being a librarian, so on the advice of Dr. Dee, she joined the committee.
“I am really excited about the chance to learn much more about special libraries, the various collections (the more unusual, the better), and to share that with the rest of the student body. It is important to get involved in student chapters to add to the collective knowledge of what it means to be an information professional today and what it might look like tomorrow,” she said.
Stepping into the role of communications director, Kate Spaulding also functions as a copy editor for the iSchool’s Student Research Journal and writes for the Career blog. Kate said she’s enjoyed previous SLASC virtual events, so joining the executive committee seemed like a good fit.
“I’m excited about being the new Communications Director because I love the idea of helping to pull various other directors/teams (like social media, programming, blog, etc.) together so that we’re all working in harmony,” she said, adding, “It’s important for information students to get involved in student chapters to grow your network and learn more. Although ‘networking’ sometimes feels like a dirty word, it’s not, and it’s been my network that has helped me get jobs, and my internship, in the past. I know it will be the same in the future. Also, it’s fun! As someone who spends a lot of time alone with my laptop, having a virtual community makes the iSchool experience better.”
Joining us as programming director, Mary Vasudeva just completed her first semester as an MLIS student. Working as a teacher throughout most of her career, she said one of her greatest pleasures and passions of teaching is sharing knowledge with others, and she brings that enthusiasm to her new role.
“I would also really love to see more people engaged in SLA because I think it offers diverse perspectives on information science, and developing interesting programs is one way to get more people involved. The more people that are involved, the more perspectives and ideas the group will have,” she said.
Mary was recently had a book review published in the Student Research Journal.
Welcome, Laura, Amy, Kate, and Mary!
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