Midwinter has come and gone and a great deal of work happened in Seattle (and at home around the Seattle conference). Now it is time to look forward to the ALA Conference in Chicago. What are YOUR ideas? Let me know what you think.
RUSA Book and Media Awards
On Sunday, January 27 in Seattle, there was a glittering reception with a standing-room only crowd to celebrate the winners of the annual RUSA Book and Media Awards. These awards honor wonderful books in print and on audio that you will want to read as well as websites you will want to bookmark and visit again and again. Follow the links below to see the winners.
- The Notable Books List for fiction, nonfiction and poetry
- The Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish literature
- The Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration
- The Reading List, including winners, short lists and readalikes for eight popular genres
- The Dartmouth Medal, recognizing the most outstanding reference work of the year
- Outstanding Reference Sources, a list of top reference titles for your library
- Best Free Websites selected by the MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section
- Outstanding Business Reference Sources and “Best of the Best” Business Websites curated by the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS)
- Best Historic Materials selected by the History Section, to be published in Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ) this spring
Mark Your Calendar for RUSA’s Premier Book Celebrations
Join us in Chicago at the Annual Conference on Sunday, June 30, 2013, for a day devoted to books. The day begins with the Literary Tastes author program where you will hear authors talk about their work, then meet them in person as they sign (free) books for you.
At the end of the day we will celebrate the gala 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, sponsored by RUSA and Booklist. RUSA provides a home to the best in adult reading! Get your tickets at the conference registration site.
Lee Rainie Headlines RUSA President’s Program in Chicago
I am pleased to announce that Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project will present information at the RUSA President’s Program during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago about how people use information and libraries, based on Pew’s recent research. You have often seen the media coverage of the many wonderful surveys from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Several reports, on teens and young adults, on the use of e-books in libraries, and on the use of libraries have come out in the past year. The most recent of these was released on January 23 and others are scheduled to be released this spring.
Join us for Rainie’s presentation, entitled The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron: The RUSA President’s Program, scheduled for 4:00 P.M. on Saturday June 29. He will talk with us about the results of the Pew studies and the questions librarians in all types of libraries should be asking themselves as they consider this data. Be sure to also attend the follow-up discussion forum the next morning (Sunday, June 30) at 10:30 a.m. where Emily Ford, David Lankes, and Marie Radford will interact with Mr. Rainie and the participants in the forum to discuss the characteristics of library users and their implications for libraries and the services we offer.
Financial Literacy Education
The RUSA Executive Director participated in a meeting in Washington, D.C., with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) leadership team about financial literacy education, and RUSA has been encouraged to develop new financial literacy resources. The BRASS Executive Board enthusiastically agreed to work on a plan and the RUSA Executive Committee approved applying for a Sparks grant to develop a plan to create guidelines and best practices/competencies in financial literacy education for libraries. The grant proposal has been submitted. Keep your fingers crossed!
Just Ask Team Moves Forward
The Just Ask Team is charged to develop a plan to celebrate the reference services of libraries and to raise awareness of library information services. As a first step, the group sponsored a very well-attended discussion at the Midwinter meeting in Seattle focused on reviewing the current RUSA definition of reference services, on discussing the roles of reference librarians, and on generating ideas for advocacy tools for reference librarians to use in promoting their work. A number of exciting ideas were generated for campaigns and advocacy tools. Stay tuned for more on this exciting work.
Volunteer!
We want to include you in our work next year. The incoming RUSA President, Kathleen Kern, will be appointing RUSA level committees this spring. Section vice-chairs will be appointing section committees as well.
Share your expertise! You will find more information at the RUSA web site at http://www.ala.org/rusa/. Click on the link to Committee Rosters to see the charge for each group.
Once you know what you want to do, fill out the online form at the RUSA Committees site and click on the link to the RUSA Online Volunteer Form. We want to hear from you!
The Last Word….
Please take a few minutes to review the information from sections and committees that appears in this newsletter. RUSA, its sections, and its members are doing marvelous things. Be in the know!
Don’t forget to vote in the ALA and RUSA Elections. We have a wonderful slate of candidates for RUSA and section offices. Please be sure to cast your ballot before the deadline. RUSA is your organization. It is important for you to determine its direction.
As always, I want to hear from you about any ideas and suggestions you might have. Please write to me at popp@indiana.edu.
Mary Pagliero Popp
RUSA President 2012-2013