Committee Charge
Choose a recipient and runner-up of the Student Chapter of the Year Award (SCOTYA).
Purpose of the Award
In the spirit of ALA's New Member's Round Table (NMRT), the Student Chapter of the Year Award is presented in recognition of a chapter's outstanding contributions to the American Library Association, their school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters, and to recognize future leaders in the profession.
Award and Award Criteria
The Student Chapter winner will receive $1,000 to help defray travel expenses to ALA Annual, and the winning chapter, along with the runner-up, will each receive a certificate. Both will be recognized at the NMRT Awards Reception at ALA Annual.
Information on the current award cycle can be found on the [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/awscotya/scotya.cfm ALA SCOTYA website].
The seven categories of Student Chapter of the Year Award criteria include:
- Membership Engagement
- Leadership
- Communications
- Programs
- Financial Health
- Awards and Honors
- Student Chapter Advisor Statement
Eligibility
All ALA Student Chapters in good standing are eligible to receive the ALA Student Chapter of the Year Award. There is no limit on the number of times a student chapter may win the award. Any ALA Student Chapter advisor, Student Chapter officer or member, or ALA member may nominate a Student Chapter for the award. Self-nominations are encouraged.
History of the Committee
NMRT recognizes outstanding contributions of a student chapter to the American Library Association, their school, and the profession. The award winners and runners-up since 2000 include:
2000 Winner: San Jose State University
2001 Winner: SUNY at Buffalo
2001 Runner-up: San Jose State University
2002 Winner: Clarion University of Pennsylvania
2002 Runner-up: UCLA
2003 Winner: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2003 Runner-up: SUNY at Buffalo
2004 Winner: UCLA
2004 Runner-up: University of Hawaii at Manoa
2005 Winner: Indiana University at Bloomington
2005 Runner-up: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2006 Winner: University of Hawaii at Manoa
2006 Runner-up: Indiana University at Bloomington
2007 Winner: University of Arizona
2007 Runner-up: University of South Carolina
2008 Winner: University of South Carolina
2008 Runner-up: UCLA
2009 Winner: San Jose State University
2009 Runner-up: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2010 Winner: San Jose State University
2010 Runner-up: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2011 Winner: Indiana University
2011 Runner-up: San Jose State University
2012 Winner: Florida State University
2012 Runner-up: Indiana University at Bloomington
2013 Winner: University of Rhode Island
2013 Runner-up: Florida State University
2014 Winner: San Jose State University
2014 Runner-up: Indiana University at Bloomington
2015 Winner: University of South Carolina
2015 Runner-up: Indiana University at Bloomington
2016 Winner: University of South Carolina
2016 Runner-up: Pratt University
2017 Winner: Emporia State University
2017 Runner-up: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Major Responsibilities
1. Solicit applications from ALA student chapters in good standing.
2. Select recipient and runner-up.
3. Notify recipient and runner-up and those chapters not selected.
4. Prepare application for the following year in consultation with the new chair if he/she has been appointed.
5. Promote winners and the conferring of award at Awards Reception.
6. Coordinate conference attendance and responsibilities of recipient with the Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee (SASCO) chairs and Awards Reception Committee to present award at Annual Conference.
Procedures Used to Accomplish Major Responsibilities
- Regularly review nomination criteria for relevance.
- Work with SASCO chairs to publicize award with and encourage applications from student chapters. Publicize award in Footnotes and on ALA website.
- The SCOTYA Committee acts as the jury, evaluating nomination forms.
- Maintain communication with committee members, award recipient and runner-up, and SASCO chairs.
- Arrange for certificates for recipient and runner-up to be presented at the NMRT Awards Reception at the Annual Conference. Once ALA Awards Committee approves, a travel grant of $1,000 is presented to the winning student chapter. Work with the Awards Reception Committee to present certificate at the NMRT Awards Reception at the Annual Conference.
Committee Composition and Term(s) of Office
One chair with five to seven members, all serving a one year term, from Annual to Annual.
Reports to
NMRT Leadership Director
Contact People for Accomplishing Committee Objectives
- NMRT Student Reception Committee
Publicity Needs
With the exception of Footnotes, all publicity for the award must go through the Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee (SASCO). Remember the usual 2-3 months lead time necessary for most publications when arranging for publicity.
Records Generation and Archiving Schedules
The Chair keeps the original applications and any other records generated during the year. At the end of the chair’s term, he/she should check with the NMRT President to see if records should be transferred to the Archives Committee, incoming chair, or NMRT President.
A Planning Report is submitted online via ALA Connect in mid-September.
A Final Committee Report is submitted online via ALA Connect in early June.
Forms Used by the Committee
There is one standard application that chapters submit, which remains fairly standard from year to year, although wording will differ slightly.
The ALA Request for Reimbursement Form is used for reimbursing the purchase of materials to create certificates.
The SCOTYA winner is sent a physical letter of congratulations that includes the NMRT Conditions for the Award Acceptance and the NMRT Check Request Form. If these forms are not available on ALAConnect, contact previous year’s Chair or the NMRT Treasurer.
Documents to Create/Update
The SCOTYA web site and ALA Connect should be updated at the beginning and end of the chair’s term, as well as other times as necessary. All documents should be up to date in ALA Connect. If missing, please contact the previous year’s Chair.
SCOTYA Scoring Rubric (Do not post actual scoring results on ALA Connect. If any are posted, please delete them.)
SCOTYA Application.
SCOTYA Letter/Email of Congratulations to winner and runner-up.
SCOTYA rejection letter/email to applications not chosen for the award.
Reminders and Helpful Hints
Procedures are fairly uncomplicated during most of the year. Highly visible publicity is critical. Work closely with the SASCO Chairs to ensure maximum coverage of publicity and encourage nominations by student chapters. The current chair is responsible for preparing next year’s application form. Input from the previous chair is valuable in this process to the incoming chair. Maintain contact with the past chair for help, clarification, questions, and answers to problems or challenges.
The NMRT budget includes $1,000 for a travel grant to be used by the winning student chapter.
Maintain continued contact and communication with your committee, your Supervising Officer, SASCO, and the award recipient and runner-up.
General Timetable of Activities
July
- Review previous year’s files.
- Become familiar with the NMRT Handbook.
- Subscribe to NMRTBD listserv.
August/September
- Obtain list of committee members; write to inform them of responsibilities and give them the tentative schedule of the year’s events.
- Schedule an online meeting or conference call to discuss the application form. Any changes must be made to the website before a call for applications can be made.
- Prepare and submit Committee Planning Report.
- Set deadline for applications. Deadline is typically the last week of February or the first week of March.
- Update SCOTYA web pages and work with web liaison and Web Committee to ensure that all award information on NMRT website is current and correct.
October/November
- Compose award application announcement. Work with Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee (SASCO) Chairs to publicize award and encourage nominations. Submit notice of award availability to Footnotes. Consider social media posts and other places where announcements can be made.
December
- Have committee send the chair information on the progress of their assigned duties.
Midwinter
- No need to meet at Midwinter. All work can be done by email and phone.
February
- Prepare report of proceedings of individual meetings. Continue publicizing award to ALA student groups. Enlist assistance from committee members to contact the library programs/schools in which they graduated.
March/April
- Send copies of applications to committee members, reminding them of award criteria. Once deadline has passed, evaluate applications and withdraw all that are not complete or do not meet requirements. Instruct committee members to rank applicants and be prepared to discuss their choices.
- Notify winners first informally via e-mail, then formally in writing. Present report to Executive Board announcing award recipient and runner-up. Send information about the award recipient and runner-up to SASCO, Footnotes Editor, and Web Committee for press releases and to update information on NMRT web page as necessary.
- Once the Committee has notified the recipient and runner-up, notify applicants not selected of their status. Arrange for NMRT Treasurer to distribute $1,000 travel grant to winning student chapter, pending approval from ALA Awards Committee.
- Arrange for award certificates to be created, framed and presented to student chapter recipient and runner-up.
- Assist NMRT Awards Reception Committee with coordination of activities at the NMRT Awards Reception at the Annual Conference.
- Maintain communication with SASCO, student chapter recipient and runner-up, before and after Annual Conference.
- Correspond with recipient student chapter, conveying dates/times of meetings they need to attend at Annual Conference. Send award announcements describing NMRT Awards to the NMRT Booth and NMRT Orientation Committees.
- Check with committee members to determine who is attending the Annual Conference and who plans to attend the All-Committee meeting.
May/June
- Maintain contact with recipient student chapter and committee members, answering questions, etc.
- Ask the winning student chapter and runner-up to provide names of their members who will be attending the NMRT Awards Reception at Annual and send the list of names to the Chair of the NMRT Awards Reception Committee so they can be recognized.
- Obtain name of next year’s chair and together, prepare a new application for distribution at the Annual Conference.
- Pass along suggestions for a smoother process and changes that need to be made or are suggested by current committee.
- Update SCOTYA web pages and work with web liaison and Web Committee to ensure that all award information on NMRT website is current and correct.
Annual
- Coordinate award presentation of certificates to the winning and runner-up student chapters during the NMRT Awards Reception at the Annual Conference.
Last Revised: May 2016
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