BRASS Committee Reports

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee
The Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee is getting ready to present the BRASS Academic Libraries Forum at the 2014 ALA Annual Convention. Our speakers will be Ilana Stonebraker, Mary Dugan, Tom Ottaviano, and Jason Sokoloff. The general theme of the forum is scalability of instruction and business students. Different methods and results of scalability will be discussed. Jason Sokoloff’s presentation deals more with assessing one shot instruction. A previously scheduled speaker, Lisa O’Connor, had to withdraw due to a family health emergency. The committee thanks Tom Ottaviano for agreeing to present at such short notice!

The committee encourages everyone interested in this issue to attend. The Academic Libraries Forum will take place at Las Vegas Convention Center, room N111, Sat 1:00-2:30 PM.

Charles Allan, Chair 2012-2013

BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee
Last Virtual Meeting was Friday April 4, 2014 via ALA connect.

We have added a new Briefcase article, No. 30, 2nd Quarter 2014, “Best Practices of Adult Financial Literacy in a Large Public Library System” by Melissa Jeter, Adult Services Librarian, Heatherdowns Branch; Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. Information on this article has been forwarded to Genifer Snipes and various listservs.

We appreciate BRASS Web Editor Annette Buckley setting up Google Analytics software to show the number of views the Briefcase receives as a whole, and the views which individual articles are receiving! We also appreciate Genifer Snipes’ assistance with social media.

Next Briefcase topic will be Consumer Research Tools.

Our 2015 ALA Program will be on naming rights as revenue generators for libraries.

Ed Rossman, Chair 2013-2014

BRASS Program Planning Committee
BRASS 2014 Program: Mad Men: The Business of Advertising
When: Monday, June 30, 2014 8:00-10:00 AM
Location: Las Vegas Convention Center, room S230

Many companies spend millions on advertising their brands and products, yet data can be hard to find. Specialized sources, available at many large libraries, focus on these statistics. The information they contain can be used by business students, researchers, or the general public. In addition media planning, a component of a company’s marketing plan, will be covered. Entrepreneurs need information on placing ads (and on how much it costs); reference librarians assisting these users will find the content of the program very useful.

The session kicks off with breakfast, 8:00-8:30 AM, sponsored by S&P Capital IQ.

Speakers:

  • Wendy Diamond, Business and Economics Librarian, California State University, Chico. Ms. Diamond has been a featured speaker at two prior BRASS annual programs (2001 and 2008) on marketing. She is the co-author of: Marketing Information: A Strategic Guide for Business and Finance Libraries (2004).
  • Dale Skarl, Search Engine Marketing Manager for MGM Resorts International

Patricia Kenly, Chair 2013-2014

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee
The committee is preparing to review the nominations for Outstanding Business Reference Sources. We currently have twenty-seven titles for consideration. Review and voting will be done virtually, prior to ALA.

The Business Reference Source Committee (BRSC) will be meeting in person from 4:30-5:30 PM in the Las Vegas Convention Center, room N220 on Saturday, June 28. This is an open meeting and visitors are welcome to attend. Ed Hahn will be the incoming Committee chair, starting July 1, so wish him congratulations or condolences, as you see fit.

The BRSC is once again sponsoring the Publishers Forum at ALA. This year it will be held in the Las Vegas Hotel, Ballroom F on Sunday June 29th from 1:00-2:30 pm. The forum is titled “Hitting the Jackpot – Sources for Local and Regional Business Information” and the discussion will focus on the various types of local business information that are available through a variety of sources.

Representatives from Euromonitor (featuring their new Passport Cities product); Demographics Now (US Census data); Data Planet (United States statistical datasets); and ProQuest ABI Inform (Dateline product focusing on local and regional business journals) will be the speakers. Each has agreed to demonstrate their products specifically concerning the types of data they have for Las Vegas and Nevada in general. The last half-hour of the Forum will be a Q&A session from the audience, so come prepared with questions and issues that you have with finding local information.

Susan Hurst, Chair 2012-2013

BRASS Discussion Group Committee
The BRASS Discussion Group will host an open forum at ALA’s Annual Conference in Las Vegas on Sunday, June 29 from 8:30-10:00 AM in Caesars Palace, Octavius 05-06. We will be sending out a survey in the first week of June to determine what topics we will put on the agenda for discussion.

Friday, June 6 at 2:00 PM EST we have tentatively scheduled an online discussion. We are compiling feedback to see if people wish to take part in the discussion prior to the annual meeting. Do you have a topic idea? Please take a moment to fill out this survey

Please be on the lookout for additional information about the online discussion and the Annual conference on topics on BRASS-L. We look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas!

Jason Dewland, Chair 2012-2013

BRASS Education Committee
The BRASS Education committee is happy to report that so far thirty-three people have registered for the 2014 RUSA BRASS preconference “How Business Librarians Support Entrepreneurs.” Our dynamic speakers will cover market sizing for a technology start-up, licensing business e-resources, and best practices in engaging entrepreneurs in public and academic libraries.

Next year we are going to try something new. Instead of a full day, we have proposed a half day preconference, “Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright.”The topic is still tentative, and we’ll be thrilled to hear any ideas or suggestions of interest to our members.

We are exploring new LibGuide functionality to enhance BRASS Business Guides, generously provided to us by Springshare. Peter McKay is spearheading this effort. In the meanwhile, committee members are busy working on updating and consolidating existing guides. We are still on target to complete the transition to topical guides by June 20th, 2014.

Natasha Arguello, Chair 2012-2013
University of Texas at San Antonio
http://connect.ala.org/node/65121
http://brass.libguides.com/

BRASS Membership Committee
The BRASS Membership Reception will be Friday June 27 from 6:00-8:00 PM, location TBA on BRASS-L and Facebook. Come network with colleagues while enjoying food and beverages. Plan your flights so you can join us on the Vegas Strip for a fun time!

Membership committee meeting at ALA Annual will be June 29, 3:00-4:00 PM. at Las Vegas Convention Center, room N217.

Kelly Janousek, Chair 2012-2013

BRASS Vendor Relations Committee
Vendor Relations spent the past two months talking to several vendors who expressed interest in getting more involved with BRASS. Ultimately for different reasons, they have withdrawn their interest at this time. We will continue to explore new opportunities. Vendor Relations is also working on a preconference half-day workshop with another vendor for the 2015 conference in San Francisco. More information will be forthcoming when the details are more fleshed out.

Vendor Relations has also been coordinating with Membership for the Member’s Reception in Las Vegas on June 27, and with the Program Committee to see that our sponsorship from S&P Capital IQ runs smoothly.

Chris LeBeau, Chair 2013-2015

BRASS Publications and Communications Committee
The Publications and Communications Committee is working on the BRASS at ALA Annual Events and Program guide. We met in March to discuss various activities of the committee, including the BRASS website, our social media presence, and topics of discussion for our in-person annual meeting in June. We are looking forward to getting together at ALA Annual in Las Vegas. We’ll be meeting on Saturday, June 26 from 4:30-5:30 PM in the Las Vegas Convention Center, room N202.

Chad Boeninger, Chair 2013-2015

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship Award Committee
Award-winning author and Associate Librarian, Celia Ross, of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business was selected for her dedication and commitment to the field of business librarianship and its practitioners.

Mark Andersen, Chair 2013-2014

BRASS Gale Cenage Learning Student Travel Award Committee
Katharine Macy, MLIS candidate at the University of Washington was selected because of her extensive background and education in business.

Matthew Brower, Chair 2013-2014

BRASS Business Expert Press Award Committee
Desirae Zingarelli-Sweet, at the Carrier Library of James Madison University was selected for her outstanding efforts in collaboration with business faculty; students and community partners; library instruction; and business reference research at the university.

Kaiping Zhang, Chair 2013-2014

BRASS Emerald Research Award Committee
Ilana Barnes, Business Information Specialist and Tao Zhang, Digital User Experience Specialist of Purdue University Libraries are the project heads of “Assessment of Business Undergraduate Student Engagement and Behavior in a Crowd-Sourced Library Help System: Best Practices and Emerging Technology Opportunities.”

Elizabeth Stephan, Chair 2013-2014

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee
No award was presented this year.

Karen Chapman, Chair 2013-2014