2006 Student Chapter of the Year Announced

The New Members Round Table ( NMRT) and the American Library Association ( ALA) Membership Committee wish to congratulate the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Library and Information Science ALA Student Chapter as the winner of the 2006 ALA Student Chapter of the Year Award. The runner-up of this year’s award is the Indiana University at Bloomington ALA Student Chapter.

The Student Chapter of the Year Award 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 conference attendance.

This year’s Student Chapter of the Year Award committee members note the University of Hawaii at Manoa ALA Student Chapter for its balance and strength of professional programming and social activities, membership recruitment and retention efforts, and demonstrated leadership by creating a Membership Committee which organized library tours, conferences, and service projects. They also updated the Chapter’s constitution, offered a series of brown bag seminars, sponsored numerous social activities, and proposed a student panel at the Hawaii Library Association conference. They maintained this high level of involvement while enduring a devastating flood.

According to Dr. Rebecca Knuth, Associate Professor and Chair, LIS Program, “I am writing to endorse our Student Chapter’s application for “Chapter of the Year.” Their ongoing contributions sustain and enhance our program. This year, in the aftermath of a devastating flood, their efforts have been Herculean and of immense significance in keeping the program vital.” She adds, “During the last year, because of a flood that destroyed our facility and its contents, their contribution to the program, students, and faculty was part of the glue that fed the “soul” of the program.”

The runner-up of this year’s award, the ALA Student Chapter of the Indiana University at Bloomington, is honored for its membership recruitment and retention efforts, the breadth and variety of committees, programming opportunities for its membership, and chapter involvement on the State and National level.


The SCOTYA committee members, the ALA Membership Committee, and NMRT extend their appreciation to all the ALA student chapters for their time and effort in submitting nominations for 2006. Keep up the good work!

Terry Buckner, Chair

ALA NMRT Student Chapter of the Year Award Committee