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SIG News

There are still a few SIGs that have yet to complete SIG Officer elections for the upcoming year. If you haven't gotten started with nominations process please reach out to Terrence Curtiss so he can assist you in getting started.

SIG Awards

We are pleased to announce the 2020 ASIS&T SIG Award Winners:

SIG of the Year -- SIG III
The SIG III has been active and highly effective all year. Their officers have engaged with their students/colleagues in recruiting/retaining members. The officers were successful in getting new members to join and communicating to others on the benefits of ASIST.  The SIG-III Chair (Ashraf) distributed the InfoShare Award Certificates to Pakistani and Kenyan winners. One of the certificates was given at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya. Ashraf also introduced ASIS&T to some 20 librarians in this internationally-known park. The SIG sponsored the Pakistan Library Club Annual Convention in Karachi, Pakistan.

The plan included SIG-III Chair’s presentation on ASIS&T and its benefit to the professional community. They were expecting to recruit new members during the event, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19. SIG III was very active at the AM in Melbourne, Australia, and has maintained frequent communication and news shring using iConnect, Facebook, Twitter and the ASIS&T/SIG-III website.

SIG Member of the Year -- Devendra Potnis – SIG III
Devendra Potnis has chaired the International Paper Contest (IPC) for three consecutive years. He invited and formed a jury of eight researchers and practitioners from China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Turkey, and Zimbabwe to work on the IPC committee which approved the review criteria, ethical guidelines, and overall review process for the competition developed by Devendra. In the spirit of recognizing and awarding researchers in developing countries, Devendra also proposed a new criterion of limiting the paper contest to the researchers and practitioners living and working in developing countries alone, which also was approved by the IPC committee. He developed a new mechanism of information sharing on Google Spreadsheets, wherein all members of the IPC recorded the venues (e.g., professional listservs, websites, personal emails) where the call for IPC was advertised, which avoided the replication of outreach efforts and would inform the future paper contests.

For the last three years, he individually communicated the qualitative feedback provided by the IPC jury to over 30 authors of paper contest submissions so that they can improve their work. Thus, the IPC served as a way of receiving feedback on research for several researchers and practitioners in developing countries. Devendra also coordinated email communications with the ASIS&T office for seeking certificates for the winners. He has documented the best practices for conducting IPC, which can be used in the future.

SIG Publication of the Year -- SIG-III Newsletter, March 2020
The newsletter has a vibrant layout and new design, interesting content and a comprehensive coverage of SIG III activities. The marketing strategy of sharing the newsletter with a larger audience was adopted, and most importantly the newsletter was published at a time when the whole world was facing COVID-19.

In March 2020 there was uncertainty, fear and anxiety around the globe, still SIG III officer motivated the community with a timely publication, furthermore the note from the newsletter officer encouraged the audience particularly LIS professionals to play their role during this uncertain time.

SIG-DL Call for Nominations

SIG-DL is seeking nominations for the 2020-2021 executive team. We are looking for nominees interested in the following positions:

  • Co-chair
  • Secretary /Treasurer
  • Communications Officer
  • Webmaster
  • Webinars Committee Convener

Additional details about the roles and responsibilities of each position can be viewed here. Current SIG-DL members in good standing are eligible to nominate, vote for, or serve office.

Submit nominations / self-nominations using this online form by Monday, October 12th (one week from today).

Nominations must include the following information:

  1. Full contact information of Candidate (Name, Professional Title, Organization, email).
  2. Short biographical statement (2-3 sentences)
  3. Brief description of the candidate's qualifications for the position (2-3 sentences)

Nominations are due by Monday, October 12th. The election will occur between October 12th and October 19th.

If you are unable to meet this timeline but interested in participating please contact us. We will find a way to welcome you into the SIG.

SIG-HFIS Officer Announcement

Thank you to all those who voted in the SIG-HFIS election this year. We are happy to announce the results:

Asen Ivanov (University of Guelph) has been elected as Chair-Elect.
Lin (David) Wang (Tianjin Normal University) has been elected as Secretary.
Cameron Pierson (Victoria University) has been elected as Treasurer.
These officers will begin their one-year terms as of the 2020 Annual Meeting later this month. Please join me in giving them congratulations and best wishes for the coming year. As always we welcome any ideas and input from all of you at any time.

SIG-IEP Call for Nominations

On behalf of current SIG-IEP officers, I'd like to invite you to self-nominate for four SIG IEP officer positions of 2020-21: chair, communication officer, treasurer, and secretary.

If you are interested in serving, please see the position descriptions and fill out the form at here.
Deadline: October 15th.

SIG-III Call for Nominations

SIG-III is going to hold its election for 2020-2021 Officers. We are requesting to send nominations for the vacant positions for the coming year.

Please have a look at the by-laws here, which describes the roles and responsibilities of the SIG III Officers. The list of current Officers can be seen here.

Please remember we appreciate diversity. The SIG should ask for nominations from various cultural background and geographies, especially for IPC and InfoShare posts. Please nominate yourself, or share names who are interested. The nominator and the nominees should be current members of ASIS&T. Please do provide all the required information.

Nominations with missing information wouldn't be entertained. We are open to take any suggestions we should follow for the election. Please click this link to open the nomination form.

SIG-MET Call for Nominations

It is time to elect new SIG/MET officers for 2020-2021. We are seeking candidates for the following positions:

  • Chair-Elect
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Webmaster
  • Communications
  • Awards coordinator
  • Others (we also accept proposal and nomination for potential new positions)

You can nominate yourself or someone else by filling this form: Nomination - SIG/MET officers 2021.

Nominations must be received no later than Sunday, October 18 and all nominees must be ASIS&T members. This is a one year commitment, starting in October 2020, except for the Chair-Elect which is a three year commitment as the Chair-Elect typically transitions into the Chair position in October 2021 and the Past-Chair position in October 2022.

The election will be held from October 19th to October 25th, and the results will be announced on October 26th.

SIG-STI

It is time to elect our SIG-STI officers for 2020-2021. We are seeking candidates for the following positions:

  • Chair-Elect
  • Secretary/Treasurer
  • Communications/Webmaster
  • You can nominate yourself or someone else.

Please submit the name of your nomination and a brief bio, if you are interested in being a part of creating the future of SIG-STI. By being an officer you can also bring insights, experience, and knowledge to the SIG-STI members.

Please send your information to mc@nju.edu.cn no later than Tuesday, October 20 and all nominees must be ASIS&T members.

Return to Inside ASIS&T, October 2020