The popular Annual New Jersey Open Libraries Tour, previously known as the “school library bus tour,” which provides SC&I Master of Information and Ph.D. students, NJ librarians, and NJ school administrators the opportunity to visit innovative school and public libraries across the state, will be held twice during the Rutgers 2024-2025 academic year, in the fall from November 19-21, 2024 and in the spring from April 1-3, 2025.
NJOLT, a program the organizers envision as a national model for collaboration and professional development, highlights the innovative programs, cutting-edge services, creative space designs, effective instruction techniques, technology integrations, community engagement initiatives, and more, at well-run elementary, middle, and high school libraries and public libraries.
Although no bus has ever been part of the tour, in the spirit of garden or art tours, attendees drive alone or join carpools to visit the participating school and public libraries over three days to observe their cutting-edge practices and techniques.
This year, NJOLT will be hosted by the SC&I Library and Information Science Department, the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL), and the South Brunswick School District, in partnership with the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA), the New Jersey State Library, and LibraryLinkNJ.
According to SC&I Associate Teaching Professor of Library and Information Science Joyce Valenza, the tour’s co-founder, “the tour has become a highlight of many of our Rutgers Master of Information students’ experiences and allowed practitioners to see outside their own libraries as a professional development experience. For many pre-service students, networking during the experience has led to career path decisions, field experience placements, and network-building, as well as leads to professional positions. In their reflections, several of the student participants have labeled the tour career-changing. In addition, student friendships developed.”
To learn more about, or to sign up for the 2024 fall and/or spring tours, email Joyce Valenza: joyce.valenza@rutgers.edu.
Discover more about the Master of Information and Ph.D. programs at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website.
Image: Courtesy of Joyce Valenza
