by Kevin Quinn
Every other Tuesday from September 15th to November 10th, at 4:45, the DLIS at St. John’s University held Webinars for students who were interested in the Library and Information Science program. Each of these webinars engaged the attendees in topics that were relevant to obtaining a degree in LIS. The first Webinar was a gathering hosted by Vivian Ho, from the Emerging Librarians Committee of the Nassau County Library Association, where she talked about the services her committee offered for graduating students, and how the committee is involved in helping LIS graduates transition to the workforce. She presented upcoming events that served to help new graduates network and navigate the field they were entering. The second Webinar was an E-Portfolio workshop (E-Portfolio is the tool LIS majors will use to collect artifacts needed to graduate) with Gina Robinson that informed attendees how to effectively utilize E-Portfolio’s features so that when the time comes, prospective graduates are familiar with its intricacies. The third Webinar, run by Karen Acompado of University Career Services (UCS), highlighted how important it was to build relationships with UCS. Karen gave pertinent information about the hiring process and steps students could take to ensure that after graduation, they would be able to secure a job. She talked about the opportunities available to have cover letters and resumes edited, and the process for signing up for On Campus Recruiting, which brings organizations to campus to hire students on site.
Finally, the last two Webinars of the semester centered on the construction of the DLIS Student Association. The goal of the DLIS Student Association is to connect LIS students to each other (both local and distance) for social, scholarly, and professional development. The Webinars provided a collaborative platform for establishing the organization’s mission, as well as its leadership. DLISSA will be returning in the Spring semester with meetings after the Webinar series, and will be hosting a student research symposium in April 2016.