Message from the Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol Schuetz, Editor

Message from the Chair
Nothing like a walk under palm trees to make a working conference seem like a vacation! That was ALA Anaheim. The weather was magnificent, and we didn’t lose too many folks to Disneyland, at least not when we needed them.

The BRASS preconference, “Mastering Business Acumen (MBA in a Day),” was very well attended this year by an audience that toughed out management, accounting, finance, and marketing concepts in seven hours. Conference attendees chose from a diverse offering of programs: “Using Social Media to Promote Business Librarians and Resources,” “How Free Web Resources Can Complement Fee-Based Online Resources,” “How Private is Private: Is It Really Possible to Find Information on Private Companies?” and SmartInvesting’s “Program Models That Work.” The conference experience was topped off with the complimentary Monday morning breakfast from S&P Capital IQ, followed by the BRASS Program, “Adventures in Dataland: Business Data Sources.” ReferenceUSA (Infogroup) hosted a beautiful members’ reception at the Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria, and BRASS members ended the adventure with a dinner at La Casa Garcia Restaurant.

The PowerPoint presentations from these programs and forums can currently be found in ALA Connect and will soon be linked from the BRASS website. Our many thanks for the video recordings made possible by the volunteer efforts of Van Houlson and Christy Goodnight. These are in BRASS section of Connect, and will be made public after a three month embargo as a benefit of membership.

This year’s highlights included a new award (the Business Expert Press Award), revised “Guidelines for Business Information Responses,” a joint initiative with the Special Library Association (SLA) to create core competencies for business students, additional tools from Springshare, BRASS participation in a new RSS committee for Job and Career Reference, migration to a new website, new BRASS Facebook membership and program pages, new issues of “Academic BRASS,” a new “Best of the Best” business website, a new list of “Outstanding Business Reference Sources,” and the start of planning for the 25th anniversary of BRASS next year in Chicago! You will hear more about these and other developments on BRASS-L throughout the year.

It has been my privilege to serve BRASS. This is a fantastic group of professionals. Together we have accomplished some great things. So with stardust on my heels, I leave fairyland and return to man the decks in my home library. My sincere thanks to all the BRASS committees who made this conference a great success and a good time. Many thanks to our supportive sponsors. I turn over the gavel to my most able friend and colleague, Ann Fiegen, from whom you will be hearing much.

Chris LeBeau
BRASS Chair, 2011-2012