I'm on a roll with the mega-long FIMS-related posts this week so here's another one...a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the MLIS program.    more »

I mentioned the idea of (re)starting an alumni association in the "50 Ways To Improve FIMS" post a couple days ago.  Someone wrote to let me know there is a group that exists online via Western's Purple Cirlces community portal.  The MLIS one is called (in very logical fashion) MLIS Alumni Network. 

I don't think you have to be a grad to join (or at least they didn't ask for proof when I requested access - maybe they check behind-the-scenes to confirm?  But I would hope they would allow current students to join as well.) 

There's not a lot of activity from the looks of things but at least it's a start.  There's 205 alumni in the database they have online so it's a great networking (sorry, I think I've put that word on notice - "netsocialing") tool. 

One thing I suspect they don't do that I wish more online communities would - send out a yearly reminder asking people to update/confirm their contact information.  I saw a couple people, even as I scrolled through quickly, who I suspect have incorrect information just because they probably never revisted the site after they first joined. 

There's a Facebook group for MLIS grads too.  (Someone on co-op at an academic library observed how Facebook has become the default location for students to communicate.  "It's crazy - they check their e-mail first, Facebook second then go straight to MSN.")  So if you're not on Facebook, you should set-up an account and join the group!  It had been limited to people with a University e-mail in the past but I think they opened up membership (but you may still need somebody on the inside to invite you - not sure.)

There's a LiveJournal forum dedicated to FIMS that gets some attention too.

Our cohort has a Yahoo! group but membership is limited to people who started in January 2006.  But there may be other Yahoo groups out there related to FIMS.

Finally, Lauralee Gilmour set-up a forum that got some posts initially but never got that critical mass needed to make it viable (didn't help that I think it launched right around the time that the newly revised Student Council site went live as well.)

Any other online forums you check out for FIMS-related discussion?