Recap of 2009 ASB

The 2009 School of Information Alternative Spring Break resulted in another week of great experiences for the entire SI community! After months of collaborative fundraising, 94 SI students departed the weekend of February 21, 2009 to Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. This was the 11th year of ASB at SI.

In Washington, D.C., 51 students headed off to a wide range of returning and new organizations. The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History, re-opened after a several-year remodeling hiatus, hosted SI students for the ninth consecutive year. The Library of Congress hosted thirteen students this year; the matched students did projects in a wide range of departments and with several alumni such as Abbey Potter at the National Digital Information Infrastructure & Preservation Program. Many new organizations joined ASB in Washington D.C. for 2009. These included American University, Association of American Medical Colleges, Community IT Innovators (CITI), Georgetown University Law Library, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Library of Medicine, and Open The Government. Several new federal libraries joined our 2009 line-up including the State Department, the Naval Observatory, the Department of Transportation, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Adding to our regular Smithsonian participation, we had the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and National Museum of African Art join us.

2009 was the second year back to Chicago after a lull since the inaugural year of ASB in 1998. Almost all of the same organizations returned from 2008 for 2009 with a few new additions that included both the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Park District. The 23 students there worked on projects ranging from Space Visualization Lab Usability Testing to children’s services at the libraries and they also got to participate in restaurant week, an annual dining festival.

Twenty students participated in ASB in New York City. However, the growth in the number of organizations in New York from 2008 to 2009 was remarkable (the number of participating organizations in New York for 2009 greatly increased from four to fourteen!) Many new connections were made with small non-profits in NY; the students that worked at these tiny NPOs such as ABC No Rio and Green Map Systems got to experience the community-engagement experience of ASB in a more pure way than many other ASB participants. In line with the ASB mission, these non-profits provided a range of opportunities to work on unique archives, develop wikis, and test run new web sites at which the students were able to make a significant difference in the work that is done by these organizations. Socially, these students saw Broadway plays and bluegrass music and also sampled the excellent NYC cuisine!

ASB Coordinator Kelly Kowatch called upon New York City for her 2009 visits. You can read about her visits to the students and sites on the ASB Blog.

ASB will help you explore your opportunities in the summer!

My supervisor is one of the nicest boss I've ever had.
Why wouldn't you want another perspective on your career, at a leading organization that might hire you no less? Score: ASB 1 to TSB 0 (Traditional Spring Break)

I had a fantastic experience at Georgetown Law Library - the staff were so welcoming, the work was interesting, and the building was breathtaking. DC rocks!

I processed a donation that was all about the United States Antarctic Program. I can now tell you more about the South Pole Station Modernization project than you ever needed to know! Plus, we saw Obama as the presidential motorcade was driving down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. That alone was worth participating in ASB!

Here's my thinking on ASB: I've had plenty of time in my life to relax and explore big
cities. I'm glad I got to spend my spring break, sleep deprived as it was, doing fulfilling work on a rewarding project with an inspiring organization.

The most productive Spring break I've ever had

"This is everything I wish I had learned in library school." Tomas Mann as he handed me a 40+ page paper he wrote.

Even though a week seems so short, the truth is you really can make a difference to an organization in that time frame, and come up with a great portfolio builder to boot.

ASB is very helpful for teaching students organization values, standards and culture even before they start working.

"I am really grateful for this opportunity to work in Gotham Gazette, from which I leant what it is like to work in a nonprofit organization, what it is like to work in NYC, and, mostly important, hanging out with SIers over 600 miles away from Ann Arbor. We are traveling!"

NPR is a great organization for SI students to get real-world project experiences. It has a friendly yet fast-paced working environment. The supervisors helped me to get involved in their organizational culture and also provided me valuable suggestions for my project. I really enjoyed my time working there.

Our project was to evaluate the use of Microsoft's mobile tag technology for the Adler planetarium, and we successfully planned and conducted a user test in only one week. I had a blast and learned a lot about this new cutting-edge technology, and our supervisor even forwarded our report to the team at Microsoft Research! Overall, it was a great experience and I would encourage all SI students to participate in ASB!

This has been a highlight of my experience at SI. Both years I have had the opportunity to gain skills in a new area, and each time it has had an invaluable and significant impact on my career goals.

Participate early and often. Really, make the time to participate in your first year. The networking opportunities are outstanding.

Working with National Digital Infrastructure Information Preservation Program at the Library of Congress gave me the opportunity to meet bright and interesting people in the digital preservation field, see ideas and practices I have learned about in the classroom in action, while also helping a program that I admire.

The free museums and monuments make DC a worthwhile trip for those inclined toward such attractions!

Fundraising
Fundraising for 2009 reached a new peak. The second year of the Book Drive/Book Sale was hugely successful; the thousands of donated books brought in almost $2,000, almost a 100% increase from the inaugural year of the sale. In late January, many SI students showcased their talents at the annual SI Revue. With a late winter term start date, the Fundraising Committee did an amazing job of pulling this event off in only three weeks of planning and raised over $1,200 for the 2009 ASB. In the weeks immediately preceding ASB, the annual SI Penny War took place. The Faculty, Staff, and Doctoral Student group was victorious, crushing the other specializations with a winning total of $280.31 raised. Over $1,700 was raised from this annual campaign. SI students also were active in individual fundraising; several 2008 ASB participants met with alumni donors in the fall to share with the benefits of participating in ASB along with SI Dean Martha Pollack. Near the holidays, SI students also were active in sending out donation letters to family and friends. These individual efforts resulted in $7,000 raised. All of the fundraising efforts described here were also matched one to one by an endowed fund here at the School of Information.

Service
New to the 2009 ASB program was the Service Committee. With the mission of developing pre-ASB service projects for SI students to participate in and enhancing service opportunities overall at SI, the Service Committee coordinated an Adopt-A-Family gift drive for three local families in association with Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Washtenaw County. The Service Committee’s efforts resulted in two car loads full of gifts for the three families. The BBBS staff was amazed at the demonstrated commitment of SI for giving back to the community.

Technology
For the second year in a row, SI students developed the ASB website. Working off the 2008 foundation, this group incorporated new ideas, colors, and themes, and were able to effectively and efficiently display the projects that were submitted by the organizations. Separate from the committee, a individual SI student also developed a Drupal site for the ASB project submission and application process, which saved the ASB coordinator an immense amount of time in processing the information submitted by the organizations and the participating students.

Lastly, but not least, also new to 2009 is the ASB Blog. You can check out entries by students and news that at this link.

Alternative Spring Break Recap