ALA 2016 Student Chapter of the Year Award Winner Announced

The New Members Round Table (NMRT) and the American Library Association (ALA) Membership Committee wish to congratulate the ALA Student Chapter at the University of South Carolina (USC) as the winner of the 2016 ALA Student Chapter of the Year Award, and the Pratt Institute Student Chapter of ALA (SILSSA) at Pratt Institute as this year’s runner up.

The Student Chapter of the Year Award (SCOTYA) is presented in recognition of a chapter's outstanding contributions to ALA, its school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters and to recognize its leaders. Official ALA Student Chapters are organizations formed by students at schools offering accredited programs of library and information studies. The winning student chapter receives a $1,000 travel grant to help with the cost of ALA conference attendance.

This is the second consecutive year the University of South Carolina has received the award. This year’s Student Chapter of the Year Award Committee praised the chapter for their commitment to providing programing and communication for members both on campus and at a distance. The chapter excels in creative fundraising and the ability to offer scholarships for members’ professional development. Congratulations, University of South Carolina, on your continued excellence!

The runner-up of this year's award is the ALA Student Chapter at Pratt University. The variety and breadth of the group’s programming, which includes a mix of professional development, community service, and social events, was highly praised, as was their toolkit aimed at new student members, and active leadership. Congratulations, Pratt!

Both chapters will be recognized at an award ceremony during the NMRT Student Reception at the ALA 2016 Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. The reception will be held on Sunday, June 26 from 7:00-8:30PM, with the location TBA. Please save the date and join us in congratulating our award recipients!

The members of the SCOTYA Committee, NMRT, and the ALA Awards Committee appreciate the time and effort put in by all of the nominated ALA student chapters this year, and we encourage all of our student chapters to continue their outstanding work!

The ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) serves as the liaison for NMRT.

Related Links

New Members Round Table (NMRT)

Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR)