News from SCARLA

By Katrina Zwaaf and Kristen Matteucci

The 2017 spring semester brought a change in leadership for The Student College, Academic, and Research Library Association (SCARLA) at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information. When former SCARLA president, Diana Floegel, graduated in December 2016, Katrina Zwaaf and Kristen Matteucci stepped into the position as Co-Presidents. Returning SCARLA officers include Treasurer Emma Fasano and Webmaster Dana Eckstein. Dr. Marie L. Radford also continues to serve as Faculty Advisor. 

SCARLA Co-Presidents Katrina Zwaaf (left) and Kristen Matteucci (right).

SCARLA exists to promote students’ understanding of academic librarianship by organizing speakers, events, and trips. To that end, our spring 2017 semester has featured various speakers who have touched on topics ranging from research and publishing to job interviews and tenure. In February, we heard from Stephanie Mikitish, who recently accepted a position at Rutgers University Libraries as the new User Engagement and Assessment Librarian at John Cotton Dana Library in Newark. Together with our sister student organization, the Library and Information Science Student Association (LISSA), we hosted Kayo Denda, Women’s Studies librarian and head of the Margery Somers Foster Center at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library in March. We were eager to hear from Ms. Denda about the work that earned her the ACRL’s Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS) Career Achievement Award!

This semester, SCARLA’s activities have also fortuitously overlapped with those of NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ. On April 6th, SCARLA co-hosted the NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ Reference Services Committee's workshop entitled "The New Reference Librarian," inviting students to converse with librarians and faculty to explore academic reference service through Roundtables and Lightning Talks. Members of SCARLA also gained a better understanding of academic librarianship by participating in NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ’s job shadowing program this semester.

Coming up, we look forward to hearing from NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ Executive Board member Adriana Mamay. Ms. Mamay, Reference and Instruction librarian at Middlesex County College, will be sharing her insights into academic librarianship at SCARLA’s last meeting of the semester this April.      

Looking towards the fall, we are planning some exciting events and hope to set up a discussion panel to further our understanding of current topics within academic librarianship. We are pleased that SCARLA has been able to collaborate with NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ this semester and look forward to working together again in the future!

Katrina Zwaaf and Kristen Matteucci are the Co-Presidents of SCARLA. They can be reached at kzwaaf@rutgers.edu and kristen.matteucci@rutgers.edu, respectively.