The BRASS Program for the 2011 ALA Annual Conference was “Business of Social Media: How to Plunder the Treasure Trove.” Scott Brown, Laurie Bridges, and Stephen Abram spoke about how businesses can successfully use social networking applications and how librarians can better position their services and collections to assist business users with leveraging their social capital. The committee extends their appreciation to Standard & Poor’s for their generous sponsorship of the breakfast.
One-hundred thirty-seven attendees participated for the first part of the program and eighty-seven attended the second portion of the program. Laurie Bridges demonstrated interactive social networking applications using Twitter as part of the program and, thanks to Betsy Clementson, program evaluations went virtual with a QR code that linked from smart phones to electronic survey forms. Christy Goodnight and Van Houlson handled recording of the full program. The video has been posted to the BRASS Section of ALA Connect for viewing by BRASS members. After six months, these files will be made available to the broader public.
Marketing for the program was well received and fifty-eight people “friended” the BRASS NOLA Business of Social Media Facebook page started by Jason Dewland. Members of the committee are writing an article to supplement the program that will be available in the winter issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ).
Program committee members: Paul Brothers, Laura Carscaddon, Betsy Clementson, Julia Martin, Ed Hahn, Tony Lin, Mary Van Ullen, Jason Dewland, Ann Fiegen (Committee Chair), and Mark Andersen (BRASS Chair).
Ann Fiegen, Chair 2010-2011