SCARLA Event – CritLib: AI and Academic Librarianship

Join SCARLA and LISSA on March 25^th for an open discussion on AI, ethics, and academic librarianship!

What is CritLib?
Critical Librarianship explores and discusses librarianship and information work through a critical and activist practice.

We will be discussing the article “LLMs beyond the lab: the ethics and epistemics of real-world AI research” written by Joost Mollen.

You can access the article through the Rutgers Libraries: https://bit.ly/3DgDhfJ

From the abstract: “…this paper provides an analysis of real-world research with LLMs and generative AI, assessing both its epistemic value and ethical concerns such as the potential for interpersonal and societal research harms, the increased privatization of AI learning, and the unjust distribution of benefits and risks.”

When: March 25, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Register here and join us over Zoom:
https://forms.gle/MGHC8oTkMjRfD7Xy7

Join SCARLA (the Student College and Research Libraries Association—the Rutgers chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries) on Tuesday, October 29 at 4:00 p.m. EDT for our next general interest meeting! Come chat, make friends, learn more about past SCARLA activities like our Banned Books Week readings, Critical Librarianship Collective, guest speakers and alumni and networking panels, help plan this year’s events, and find out how you can get involved.

Zoom: https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/2244511291?pwd=ZmNIVnNBYStkcW1CQ0lxZ0tzRXMxUT09

More books are being targeted for censorship than ever—according to the ALA, over four thousand titles were challenged in 2023, 65% more than in 2022, with organized pressure groups increasingly targeting public libraries as well as school libraries.

Join SCARLA (Student College, Academic, and Research Libraries Association) on Tuesday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. EDT for a free-ranging discussion of censorship and book challenge issues and readings from our favorite banned books.

Sign up here (Rutgers login required) if there are particular books you want to read from, resources you want to share, or things you want to talk about. Or just show up!

Resources and information:

• ALA’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023
• “Censorship Attacks”: Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson’s database of book bans and challenges in the United States, sponsored by the EveryLibrary Institute

Zoom: https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/2244511291?pwd=ZmNIVnNBYStkcW1CQ0lxZ0tzRXMxUT09

SCARLA—the Student College and Research Libraries Association, the Rutgers chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)—is holding its first meeting of the new semester!

Please join us on Tuesday, September 10, at 7pm EDT via Zoom.

If you are interested in learning more about the academic library community and career opportunities. Come chat, make friends, learn more about SCARLA activities. SCARLA sponsors several events like our Banned Books Week event, Critical Librarianship Collective, guest speakers and alumni and networking panels. We have open leadership positions, so please come to find out how you can get involved.

Please join SCARLA on April 16th at 7pm for Post MI-Employment: the First Five Years. We’re excited to welcome three panelists who are recent grads of the RU-MI program, all employed in higher education settings.

Joining us on April 16th are:

• Michael Murphy, RU MI ’22, Politics, Policy, and Data Librarian at Seton Hall University
• Chelsea Rizzolo, RU MI ’20, Instructor / Librarian at Brookdale Community College
• Victoria Sun, RU MI ’23, Business & Research Support Services Librarian at Penn Libraries

Topics to be covered include: How do I parlay my internship into a full-time gig? How do I make the leap from paraprofessional to librarian status? How do I leverage student leadership and publication experiences into marketable assets of my candidacy and CV? What is the best advice for a graduate student preparing to enter the academic library job market?

All will share a bit about their job search and initial months in their current positions, in addition to talking about the specific aspects highlighted above. There will also be time for Q&A from attendees.

This event is co-sponsored by the MI Colloquium, and is an eligible Colloquium event. It will be recorded for those who cannot attend on the 16th. Please use the following link to register: https://rutgers.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkfu-prTwpGdNFQsvNLiGjl80bQyJfbRCH

Can’t wait to see you there!