RUSA News/Announcements

Join us at 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco for some exciting events. Below are some highlights to look forward to. The ALA Conference Scheduler is now open to create a personalized schedule where you can view the most up to date information for the best conference experience.

Finalists: Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

The eagerly anticipated announcement and presentation of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, ALA’s only single-book awards for adult trade fiction and nonfiction, is followed by a chance to mingle at the dessert and drinks reception. The two books chosen as winners from the shortlist of six will be announced. Both winners attended the 2014 event to receive their medals and offered inspiring, entertaining remarks. Keynote speaker is best-selling author, actor, and NBA MVP all-star, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

KAJheadshotdcroppedThe awards are Co-Sponsored by Booklist and RUSA. The event is made possible by Ingram Content Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Random House, Penguin Group, and Simon & Schuster.HarperLogo

 

 

IngramSaturday, June 27. The ceremony will be from 8:00-10:00 PM, Hotel Nikko, Nikko Ballroom
Tickets are available here. RUSA members receive discounted price of $25.Penguin_logo

RUSA Direct
Have you seen the new e-newsletter, direct from the RUSA office? Emailed straight to your inbox every Friday morning and it’s free to all RUSA members. You can view all the issues here and at the RUSA website under the Communications tab.

RUSA’s Annual Signature Programs

  • RUSA 101
    Friday, June 26, 3:00-4:00 PM, Westin St. Francis, Tower Salon A & B

KAddison_TheGoblinEmperorshimABBrown_FlightOfSparrowshimSRojstaczer_MathematiciansShivashimJust_Mercy_StevensonshimAWeaver_MurderAtTheBrightwellshimJoWalton_MyRealChildrenshim

Listen to some of the year’s best authors discuss their work and the craft of writing, while enjoying the company of other book lovers. All Annual Conference registrants are invited to participate in this conference program. Sponsored by Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group and Random House.

Speakers:

  • Katherine Addison for The Goblin Emperor (Tor Books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Reading List’s Fantasy category.
  • Amy Belding Brown for Flight of the Sparrow (New American Library, 2014), shortlist selection for the 2015 Reading List’s Historical Fiction category.
  • Stuart Rojstaczer for The Mathematician’s Shiva (Penguin, 2014), Honorable Mention for the 2015 Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish Literature.
  • Bryan Stevenson for Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (Spiegel & Grau, 2014), shortlist selection for the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
  • Ashley Weaver for Murder at the Brightwell (Minotaur Books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Reading List’s Mystery category.
  • Jo Walton for My Real Children (Tor Books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Reading List’s Women’s Fiction category.

Not to Be Missed RUSA Preconferences

  • ILL Data Storm – Practical Assessment
    Friday, June 26, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM, Moscone Convention Center, 2000 West
    Register here (free event).

Conference Programs and Forums

For the complete RUSA Discussion Groups & Forums schedule, click here.


Upcoming Online Learning

As always, you can count on RUSA to offer signature courses like Genealogy and Reference Interview, but RUSA has added new upcoming online courses and webinars, that will interest learners at any level.

 

COURSES:
July
July 13 – August 2, 2015 Introduction to Spatial Literacy and Online Mapping
August
August 10 – September 20, 2015 Learner-Centered Reference and Instruction: Science, Psychology, and Inclusive Pedagogy
WEBINARS:
August
Monday, August 3, 2015:10:30-11:45am Boomerang Library Users: Implementing Effective, Enriching and Educational Library programs for target users to Learn and Return
Tuesday, August 4, 2015:10-11am Spice it Up with Pura Belpre! Using Award Winning Titles and Other Resources to Celebrate the Hispanic Influence in Literature for Youth

 

RUSA Election Results!

RUSA
VICE-PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT-ELECT
– Anne Houston
Director of Teaching, Learning & Research, Smith College Libraries, Northampton, MA
SECRETARY
– Kate Oberg
College & Career Librarian, Arlington Public Library, Arlington, VA
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
– Ed Garcia
Library Director, Cranston Public Library, Cranston, Rhode Island
– Mary Mintz
Associate Director for Outreach, American University Library, Washington, DC
DIVISION COUNCILOR
– Sarah J. Hammill
Distance Learning Librarian, Florida International University, Miami, FL

BRASS
VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
– Louise Mort Feldmann
Business Librarian, Colorado State University Libraries, Fort Collins, Colorado
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
– Penny Scott
Reference Librarian/Business Liaison, 2003-Present, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

CODES
VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
– Daniel C. Mack
Associate Dean, Collection Strategies and Services, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
– Emily Hamstra
Learning Librarian, Kinesiology Librarian, University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
– Matthew J. Wayman
Head Librarian, 2008-Present, Ciletti Memorial Library, Penn State Schuylkill, Schuylkill Haven, PA

HISTORY
VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
– Christina Thompson Shutt
Public Services Librarian & College Archivist, Hendrix College, Conway, AR
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
– Melissa Finley Gonzalez
Head of Reference, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
SECRETARY
– Jennifer Eileen McElroy
Reference Specialist (2013 – present), Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota.

ETS (MARS): EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES SECTION
VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
– Courtney Greene McDonald
Head, Discovery & Research Services, Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington, IN
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
– Jason Coleman
Undergraduate and Community Services Librarian, Kansas State University Libraries, Manhattan, Kansas

RSS
VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
– Amy Elizabeth Rustic
Associate Librarian/Reference and Instruction Librarian, Penn State University, New Kensington, PA
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
– Ellen Keith
Director of Research and Access/Chief Librarian, Chicago History Museum, Chicago, IL

STARS
VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
– Heidi Nance
Head, Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services and Collection Management Services Strategic Projects Librarian, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, WA
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
– Kerry Keegan
Customer Service Agent, Atlas Systems, Virginia Beach, Virginia

RUSA Committee Reports

Just Ask Task Force
Just Ask started in 2012 as a group to develop, among other things, advocacy tools for reference librarian. The charge of the Task Force has changed from its inception, but the one thing that remained was the desire to promote and advocate for reference librarians. After three years, the Just Ask Task Force is being discontinued. Just Ask will be meeting at ALA Annual (details below), but we wanted to highlight a few of the Task Force’s high points.

Just Ask Discussion Group, Midwinter 2013
This discussion group was interesting and informative. During the group, attendees were asked what they wanted from the Just Ask Task Force. A theme of tools to help reference librarians do their jobs, but also manage change and advocate for themselves both inside and outside of their libraries emerged. From that Discussion Group, three things emerged: Two webinars and a pilot marketing campaign. Notes and feedback from the discussion group can be found on ALA Connect.

Webinars

Ask Campaign Pilot
In addition to the webinars, Cathay Keough and Julie Strange put together the Ask Campaign pilot as a way to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Maryland AskUsNow!. The pilot featured patrons of the library holding up questions asked by patrons online (via Twitter, chat, etc.) as a way to highlight the kinds of questions reference librarians can ask For more information about their Campaign, please see their post on ALA Connect.

Just Ask will be meeting at Annual on Saturday June 28 from 1:30-3:00 in the Conference Center in room 226(S). We will use this meeting to wrap up and loose ends and to begin planning the final report the co-chairs will submit to RUSA.

On a personal note, we would like to thank current and past members of the Just Ask Task Force, Susan Hornung and the current and past presidents of RUSA (Mary Popp, Kathleen Kern, and Joe Thompson), for their support. We would also like to thank Liz Markel, Andrea Hill, Marianne Braverman, and Leighann Wood for their help and support; they were invaluable. And thank you to everyone who participated in our discussion groups, webinars, or who attended the meetings.

Diana Shonrock
Elizabeth Stephan

Co-chairs, Just Ask Task Force

AFL-CIO/ALA Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups
A name change for the AFL-CIO/ALA Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups was approved by committee members and the RUSA Executive Committee. The committee will now be known as the AFL-CIO/ALA Labor Committee.

Aliqae Geraci
Co-chair, AFL-CIO/ALA Labor Committee

RUSA Membership
Our Virtual RUSA 101’s have been an unqualified success! If you are interested in publicizing your group or would like to be a special guest, just let Ann Brown (agbrown@gwu.edu) know. Or if you are interested in a more focused audience, sign up for a RUSA 201.

But please join us for our in-person RUSA 101: Network, Get Oriented, Get Involved!

Friday, June 26, 3-4pm Westin St. Francis, Tower Salon A & B

If you’re new to RUSA or a longtime member looking for an opportunity to connect with other members and ways to get involved, make sure to put RUSA 101 on your calendar! Sponsored by all RUSA Sections.

Ann Brown, chair
agbrown@gwu.edu

RUSA Publications and Communications Committee
Launch of RUSA Voices – Call for Bloggers!

RUSA Voices (http://blog.rusa.ala.org/), the official blog for RUSA, is an virtual forum for the reference and user services community. It is an opportunity to not only raise awareness of and explore practices, technology, and issues in reference and user services, but also to voice and share a diverse set of perspectives that represents the diverse community of RUSA.

If you have something to say, we want to hear it. We want to know what challenges you have faced so that we might feel like we’re not alone as librarians. We want to hear what works and what doesn’t work. We want to know about people who have made a difference not only for their patrons, but also for the profession. Write and share what you know, what you have experienced. This blog is about YOUR voice! Give breath to your hopes for the future of reference and user services. Blogging is simple, just write. Put your thoughts down in a document. Share your Voice and improve not only your own understanding, but the understanding of the rest of the profession.

Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis. Please email editor David Midyette (david.midyette@roseman.edu) for questions or submissions.

BRASS Notes

John Gottfried, Editor

Message from the BRASS Chair

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at ALA Annual in San Francisco.
Here are the primary BRASS-sponsored events at Annual:

  • BRASS Preconference: Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs, 8am-1pm, Friday
  • BRASS Members Reception sponsored by ReferenceUSA, Friday 5:30-7:30pm at         ThirstyBear, 661 Howard St, San Francisco.
  • Public Libraries Forum – Revenue Streams for Libraries. Naming rights, corporate sponsorships, crowd funding, and other non-levy type revenue sources. Saturday 1-2:30pm
  • BRASS Discussion Group – Sunday 8:30-10am
  • Publishers forum – topic is financial literacy and the scheduled presenters are S&P Capital IQ, Mergent, Morningstar, and the San Francisco Federal Reserve. Sunday 1-2:30pm
  • 2015 BRASS Program – Not Elsewhere Classified: Different Approaches to Researching Emerging Industries. S&P Capital IQ sponsored breakfast: Monday, 8:00 – 8:30am. Program: 8:30-10am.
  • BRASS Dinner will be Monday night at 6:30pm. Location details will follow.

These BRASS awards and grants will also be recognized at the RUSA Awards Ceremony and Reception:

  • Peter McKay, Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship Award
  • Jason Dewland and Cindy Elliott, Emerald Research Grant Award
  • Barbara Alvarez, Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award
  • Grace Liu, Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award
  • Sara Hess, Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award

The full BRASS program/event guide will be sent out on BRASS-L.

Todd Hines
BRASS Chair 2014-2015

thines@princeton.edu

BRASS Committee Reports

Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee
The Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee is busy informing its members about the different programs at Annual.

Charles Allan, 2013-2015 Chair

Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee
The ALA Annual Forum panel discussion date and time have been assigned; Saturday June 27, 1-230pm. The program will be a panel discussion about Revenue Streams for Libraries. This would include naming rights, sponsorships, crowd funding, grants and other non-levy type revenue sources. Location MCC 236-238. Roslyn, Sal, and Ed will be in San Francisco. All speakers are in place. Presentation format: 10 minutes per speaker then open to Q&A. We’ll use 2 color-coded survey forms, one standard for RUSA, one more specific for BRASS.

Thanks to Annette Buckley who’s helped us upload recycled articles to the Public Libraries Briefcase that include updated information. The older articles’ content is valuable and it’s important to make them more up to date and easy to use.

See you in San Francisco!

Ed Rossman, 2014-2015 Chair

Business Reference Services Discussion Group
The BRASS Discussion Group hosted two virtual discussions during the spring semester. On February 20, 2015, a virtual discussion was held which centered around faculty liaison work and e-book collections strategies. The recording and chat transcript are available on ALA Connect.

On April 24, 2015, a collections-themed virtual discussion took place. We discussed resources we are renewing or cancelling and if we are subscribing to any new resources. During the meeting, people also shared a little about data acquisitions and managing data collections. The chat transcript is available on ALA Connect.

Thank you to the committee members who have helped coordinate these discussions! The next discussion of the BRASS Discussion Group will be in person at ALA Annual on June 28th with topics to be determined.

Emily Treptow 2014-2016 Chair

Business Reference Sources Committee
The Reference Sources Committee will be presenting the annual Publisher’s Forum at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. The forum will be held on Sunday, June 28th from 1-2:30 pm at the Moscone Convention Center (MCC), Esplanade 303. The forum is entitled: Money Smart—Sources for Promoting Financial Literacy to Your Community, and will feature presenters from Morningstar, Standard and Poor’s, Mergent, and the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.

The Reference Sources Committee is also in the process of nominating resources for its next column, which will appear in the winter 2015 issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly.

Ed Hahn, 2014-2015 Chair

Education Committee
The BRASS Education Committee is moving full speed ahead with our projects:

  • After discussing the progress with reviewing the BRASS Business Guides in April, the committee decided to touch base in mid-May after the school year is over. The goal is to have each guide reviewed by two people and coordinate with authors to ensure that all guides are up-to-date and provide correct information.
  • The 2015 preconference planning team (Natasha Arguello, Ashley Faulkner, Susan Schreiner, Christina Sheley, and Desirae Sweet) has been busy advertising the upcoming preconference “Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs” at ALA Annual (http://alaac15.ala.org/ticketed-events Event Code RUS3). The registration is a little slow, but we expect that the topic and excellent speakers will attract more registrants in the next few weeks.
  • The committee brainstormed a few topics for the next year’s preconference in Orlando and voted for a full-day workshop on business data for librarians which will focus on sources of data, data information literacy, data interview, and more.

We are looking forward to our meeting in San Francisco!

Natasha Arguello, 2012-2015 Chair

Membership Committee
BRASS Friday Reception Sponsored by ReferenceUSA!

Join old and new BRASS Members on June 26 in San Francisco. Enjoy the Business Reference and Services Section’s (RUSA’s BRASS) company around some food and drinks.

Friday, June 26th from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Where: ThirstyBear Brewing Company, 661 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA

RSVP to boettcher@georgetwon.edu or:

http://evite.me/g5UXJZSbtw

Jennifer Boettcher, 2014-2015 Chair

Publications and Communications Committee
Dear BRASS Friends,

It’s that time of year again—we’re requesting information for the 2015 BRASS Schedule of Events at ALA Annual publication. Please enter your program or meeting information by May 15 at:   http://goo.gl/forms/TvgQe0HxGK

If you are not responsible for your program, meeting, or event, please forward to the person on your committee who will fill in the form on your behalf. If you are responsible for more than one program, please fill out the form separately for each event.

I hope to publish the schedule the week of May 25, so your prompt response to this request for information is appreciated. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Thanks,

Chad Boeninger, 2014-2015 Chair

Vendor Relations Committee
We are pleased to welcome Global Financial Data (GFD) as the new sponsor of the Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award. The award offers $1250 to an individual new to the field of academic business librarianship to support attendance at ALA Annual. Please help get the word out.

The Committee is also working vendor sponsorship for the break between the two Discussion Groups on Sunday at Annual Conference. Details to follow once everything is confirmed.

Chris LeBeau, 2013-2015 Chair

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship award
We are pleased to announce that Peter Z. McKay of the University of Florida is this year’s recipient of the BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship award.

Peter’s multiple nominators noted his expertise in business librarianship and praised the Business Library 2.0 site (http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu) that he developed to help UF students achieve maximum success with their projects and which receives over 175,000 visits a year from the students, faculty and staff at UF, as well as national and international audiences.

Other nominators stated that Peter’s “tireless efforts have helped demystify the research process for thousands of our business-writing students over the years” and that “Mr. McKay is an invaluable resource to our business students and faculty.”

For his innovative development of online business collection development and instructional resources and his many contributions to the field of business librarianship, the committee is thrilled to honor Peter Z. McKay with this year’s Excellence in Business Librarianship award.

Celia Ross, 2014-2015 Chair

Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award Committee
Sara F. Hess, who will receive her Master of Science in Information, Library and Information Science degree at the University of Michigan School of Information in May 2015, is the 2015 award recipient. Sara was selected because she has articulated and demonstrated a clear passion for business librarianship and a commitment to going above and beyond to meet the business information needs of the communities she is already serving.

Michael Oppenheim, 2014-2015 Chair

Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee
Barbara Alvarez, Business Liaison Librarian, Barrington Area Library (IL) was selected for her extensive range of activities in support of the local business community, including one-on-one appointments to assist business professionals and entrepreneurs, podcasts, a business blog, and a SlideShare account with business database tutorials.

Karen Chapman, 2014-2015 Chair

CODES

Barry Trott, Editor

CODES Highlights for RUSA Update
CODES chair Deborah Abston reports that the CODES Board will be meeting prior to ALA Annual to review policies and procedures, including updating procedures for awards committees. Committee appointments for CODES Committees are nearly complete.

CODES AT ALA ANNUAL
CODES committees will be presenting two programs at annual:
Reading into the Future: Tips and Tools for Staying on Top of the Book World (Saturday, June 27, 2015 – 10:30 am to 11:30 am, Moscone Convention Center 2016) It’s a big book world, and someone’s gotta read it. Keeping up with the burgeoning world of publishing and popular culture can appear daunting, but it can be done! Be the first to know (instead of the last to hear) about reading trends and hot new titles.Join a panel of experts who will share practical techniques and invaluable resources to help you keep up with the current literary scene. Learn strategies to maximize your reading time, stay ahead of your patrons, and position yourself as a crucial literary resource in your library community.

Whacking the Weeds in the Library: Deaccessioning Print and Digital Materials in the 21st Century and Beyond (Saturday, June 27, 2015 – 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm, Moscone Convention Center 2012) This program will include a public, academic, and community college librarian to discuss strategies for weeding/deaccessioning materials in their libraries and how to do so in ways that make providing user services more effective.

CODES will have representatives at RUSA 101, Friday, June 26, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm to talk with potential new members about the work of the section.

The CODES Reference Publishing Advisory Committee Discussion Forum will take place at ALA Annual on Saturday, June 27, 2015 – 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the Hilton San Francisco Union in the Taylor Room.

CODES is also co-sponsoring a program with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) on university presses as an often-undiscovered gold mine of resources for school and public libraries. Sunday, June 28, 2015 – 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm.

CODES also is cosponsoring with ALCTS Collection Management Section the Collection Management in Public Libraries Interest Group on Monday, June 29, 2015 – 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm.

History

Laura Hibbler, Editor

The History Section is pleased to announce its incoming officers:
David Murray, The College of New Jersey, Chair
Christina Thompson-Shutt, Hendrix College, Vice-Chair, chair elect
Jenny Presnell, Miami University [Ohio],Past Chair
Jenny McElroy, Minnesota Historical Society, Secretary
Melissa Gonzalez, University of West Florida, Member at Large

Melissa joins two other Members at Large, Nancy Bunker, Whitworth University, and Chella Vaidyanathan, Johns Hopkins University.

History Section Events at ALA Annual
We invite everyone to check out the History Section at ALA Annual in San Francisco. Come and checkout what are committees are doing at the all committee meeting, Saturday June 27th (Moscone Convention Center room 200-220(S)) at 8:30AM. Visit different committees and discover what the section is about. For a list of the committees and activities see: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/committees.
You can also join us for the executive committee meeting, Monday, June 29th, at 8:30am at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco Club Room.

The RUSA Genealogy Preconference will take place on Friday, June 26.
Register online: http://bit.ly/1KxFOtQ
Free lunch will be provided! More details will be posted soon.

Join us for a panel discussion focused on Asian American records and local history at
ALA Annual:
“Connecting Communities: Documenting and Sharing Asian American Heritage,”
Saturday, June 27, 1:00pm-2:30pm at Moscone Convention Center 2004 (W).

The program is co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). Speakers include Florante Ibanez, Manager of Library Computer Services at William M. Rains Library-Loyola Law School; Michelle Caswell, Assistant Professor of Archival Studies at University of California-Los Angeles; and Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Joseph S. Atha Professor in Humanities at Stanford University. Jenna Makowski, Asian-American Products Editor at Alexander Street Press, will moderate the discussion.
More information: http://alaac15.ala.org/node/28612

The History Section also planned a field trip to the US Immigration station on Angel Island. Participants will learn about Asian immigration to the United States from 1910-1940.

The History Section will be getting together for a dinner at ALA. Keep watch for details about the dinner and other social events on the Section website, the history-l listserv, Facebook, and Twitter.

ETS (MARS): Update from the Emerging Technologies Section

Chanitra Bishop, Editor

 

ETS: Emerging Technologies Section is dedicated to the intersection of technology and library services. There is a place for everyone in ETS and we hope that you will join us at ALA in San Francisco. We have several exciting programs planned for ALA!

Friday, June 26
RUSA 101
Want to get involved or learn more about RUSA and all of its sections?
Come learn more about RUSA at RUSA 101

Westin St. Francis (WEST)
WEST – Tower Salon A&B
3:00 – 4:00 pm

Saturday, June 27
ETS Planning Committee
Hilton San Francisco Union (HIL)
Union Square 09
8:30 – 10:00 am

ETS Executive Committee Meeting I
Hilton San Francisco Union (HIL)
Presidio Room
10:30 – 11:30 am

Library Guides in the Era of Discovery Layers (ETS Chair’s Program)
Discussion of library guides in light of both discovery layers and enhanced platforms such as LibGuides v2.
Moscone Convention Center (MCC)
3008 (W)
1:00 – 2:30 pm

Lessons Learned: Libraries, Course Management Systems and Future Directions
Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Discussion Forum

This discussion will encapsulate key findings, trends and future directions of the role of libraries in Course Management Systems (CMS). The discussion will include lessons and take-aways       regarding the implementation of a robust presence for libraries in the CMS. The discussion will highlight developments in library systems compatibility with CMS, such as Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas Instructure, and others. Focus will be on the future of these services for librarians and best practices.
Westin St. Francis (WEST)
Elizabethan A
3:00 – 4:00 pm

Sunday, June 28
ETS All Committee Meeting
Visitors interested in ETS are welcome to join us and learn more about ETS and how to get involved.
Moscone Convention Center (MCC)
250-262 (S)
1:00 – 2:00pm

Hot Topics: Drones and Robots for Reference?
Moscone Convention Center (MCC)
3000 (W)
3:00-4:00pm

Now You’re Talking: Tools to Utilize for Virtual Services
Virtual Reference Discussion Group
Moscone Convention Center (MCC)
120 (N)
4:30 – 5:30 pm

Monday, June 29
ETS Executive Committee Meeting II
Moscone Convention Center (MCC)
220 (S)
8:30 – 10:00 am

Joint ETS/RSS Executive Committee Meeting
Moscone Convention Center (MCC)
234 (S)
10:30 – 11:30 am

RSS Review

Amy Rustic, Editor

RSS logo

Message from the Chair

ALA Annual in San Francisco is right around the corner and RSS is sponsoring several programs and discussion groups on topics from the updated guidelines for health and medical reference, reference education, discovery systems in light of the New Framework for Information Literacy, and much more. All of the programs and discussion forums sponsored by RSS are put together by the committees. Conference programming is often just a part of the work of the committees. Join us on Saturday, June 27 from 8:30-10am at the Parc 55 San Francisco Hotel for the RSS Open House and All-Committee meeting. This event allows attendees to learn about the work of the committees and to talk to its members. At the Open House there is also the opportunity to express interest in joining a committee. Also at Annual, RSS and MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference section will be hosting a joint happy hour where people can learn about the sections and network with other library professionals. Details will be available in the coming weeks.

This year’s RUSA President’s Program is on “It’s Complicated: Navigating the Dynamic Landscapes of Digital Literacy, Collapsing Contexts, and Big Data” presented by danah boyd on Saturday, June 27 from 4-5:30pm.

Again, these are just a small selection of the programming sponsored by RSS and RUSA. Stay tuned to the Conference Scheduler and the RSS-L listserv to learn more. I look forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco!

Qiana Johnson
q-johnson@northwestern.edu
RSS Chair, 2014-2015

 

RSS Honor Roll

When you hear Honor Roll, do you have flashbacks to high school? Maybe you have happy memories of the honor roll or maybe you think “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve…”

Regardless of your experience in high school, you may be eligible for the RSS Honor Roll.

The RSS has an Honor Roll that gives recognition to active RSS members who have served the section in three different capacities since its inception.

If you have been a member of three or more committees or discussion groups since RSS was established in 2004 and have not previously been added to the honor roll, please send your name and a list of the three ways you have served RSS to Sarah Hammill at hammills@fiu.edu

Not only will you become a member of this esteemed group, you will also be recognized at ALA Annual in San Francisco!

RSS Committee Reports

Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee
Please join us in San Francisco for a discussion forum on Challenges and Opportunities for Reference and Instruction at the Point of Need. The results of a survey conducted by the committee earlier this year will be briefly discussed followed by a short presentation and breakout sessions on related topics.

When and Where:
Sunday, June 28th, 3-4 pm, HIL – Franciscan A/B
Colleen Seale, Chair 2014-2015

Discovery Services Committee (Formerly Catalog Use Committee)
We will be holding an RSS Discovery Services Discussion Forum June 28th, 3:00-4:00 PM in the Convention Center, MCC-133 (N). This year’s theme is titled “Examining Discovery Platforms within the New Framework of Information Literacy.” We have three speakers selected to start the discussion and look forward to an informative discussion.

Anne Larrivee, Chair 2014-2015

Education and Professional Development for Reference
The committee has been focusing on developing programming for three upcoming conferences:

At ALA Annual 2015, we will host a discussion forum titled “What Should be the Future of Reference Education for Libraries?”​ That session will be held on Saturday, June 27 from 1pm-2:30pm in the Hilton San Francisco at Union Square in the Continental 3 room. Committee member Laura McClanathan has recruited Michelle Simmons to be our kick-off speaker. Michelle comes highly recommended as an outstanding reference instructor at San Jose State University’s MLIS program. Add the session to your conference planner: http://alaac15.ala.org/node/29464.

For ALA Midwinter 2016, we are partnering with MARS’ Professional Development Committee and MARS’ User-Experience Design Committee to host a 3 hour workshop on strategies and principles for user testing. These three groups have worked together to recruit several user-experience design experts to develop the content of the session. Our committee will provide logistical support. We have submitted a draft proposal to RSS’ Executive Committee and to MARS’ Executive Committee.

For ALA Annual 2016, we are partnering with ALISE’s Curriculum Special Interest Group to host a panel presentation at ALA 2016 on the topic of aligning library school’s reference curriculum with the needs of libraries and patrons. We have submitted a draft proposal to RSS’ Executive Committee.

Between now and ALA Annual 2015 we plan to write a brief article summarizing what we have learned from phase 1 of our State of Reference Education Project.

​If you are interested in learning more about our projects or are interested in joining us in our efforts, please drop by our business meeting at ALA Annual 2015, which will be part of RSS’ All Committee Meeting on Saturday, June 27 from 8:30am-10am. That meeting will take place in the Market Street room at the Parc 55 hotel. Add the meeting to your conference planner: http://alaac15.ala.org/node/29470

Jason Coleman, Chair 2014-2015

Evaluation of Reference and User Services
The committee led a discussion session at Midwinter titled “Reference Services in Transition: Changing Models and Assessing Success,” based on a survey distributed in January 2014. The results from the survey were distributed as a handout and were used as a jump starter for the discussion. ERUS will be looking at using the results for further analysis.

Jason Kruse, Chair 2014-2015

Health and Medical Reference Committee
The Health and Medical Reference Committee will offer a Discussion Forum entitled “Get to Know the New RUSA Guidelines for Health and Medical Reference Services: on Sunday, June 28th, from 3-4 pm in Parc 55 San Francisco—Mason, at ALA Annual 2015. At this forum we will introduce the new Health and Medical Reference Guidelines, slated to replace the Guidelines for Medical, Legal, and Business Responses (2001). While the new Guidelines will unlikely be available online at that time, the RUSA Board expects to approve the new Guidelines during its meeting at ALA, and post them online soon after. We look forward to presenting the new Guidelines, and opening a discussion on the opportunities and challenges that arise during health reference interactions.

HMRC continues to work on content to add to the Health and Medical Reference Committee’s Website. The Committee aims to add top-level resources that all ALA members who provide health or medical reference services to patrons will find useful. The focus will be on large-scale information sources and best practices, and is seen as an extension of the Health and Medical Reference Guidelines. Since our last report, member Ann Glusker has presented the Committee with a draft website of health and medical reference sources that features 2 sites each for a variety of categories such as consumer health, scholarly research, online tutorials and more. The Committee is discussing this draft via email, will make any necessary changes, and hopes to upload the content to the Health and Medical Reference Committee’s web space on the ALA site by fall 2015.

The Health and Medical Reference Committee will also meet during the RSS All-Committee Meeting and Open House on Saturday, June 27th from 8:30-10 am in Parc 55—Market Street at ALA Annual in San Francisco. This is a great chance to stop by, meet members of the HMRC, and find out more about us. Please join us!

Laura Louise Haines, Chair 2014-2015

Library Service to an Aging Population
Library Services to an Aging Population nears completion of a draft of the guidelines Best Practices for Library Services with Midlife and Older Adults to submit to the Standards and Guidelines committee for their review at ALA Annual. Library Services to an Aging Population will meet twice at Annual: at the RSS Open House on Saturday, June 27 from 8:30-10am (Parc 55 Hotel), and for a working meeting on Saturday, June 27 from 1-2:30pm (Marriott Marquis).

Angela Fortin, Chair 2014-2015

Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking
The Library Services to the Spanish Speaking Committee will be meeting during the RSS All-Committee Meeting at Annual. Please join members of the committee to discuss goals for the coming year.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2014-2015

Management of Reference
On March 10 and 11, the Management of Reference Committee held their Spring E-Forum. The theme was Reference as Outreach.

Overall discussion stats:
Day 1 was a total of 8 threads and 70 messages with 12 people contributing (4 moderators and 8 others)

Day 2 was a total of 4 threads and 48 messages with 12 people contributing (3 moderators and 9 others)

The total number of unique librarians was the 4 moderators and 12 others (or 16 unique people)

Day 1 main discussion threads:
Desk placement

Most institutions in the thread had some type of merged desk structure

Most were also using some type of statistics tracking to mark both quantitative data (such as number of transactions) but also satisfaction and qualitative feedback

Chat reference

Institutions reported varying degrees of success with chat, especially when staffed internally with limited hours.

There simply was not enough traffic to justify having the service

Other still see it as an important extension of reference services and have encouraged faculty and students to utilize this service or have joined a consortium that allows for 24/7 support albeit from librarians at other institutions

The spectrum between teaching how to find the answer and giving the answer during the desk/reference interaction

Some institutions are making efforts in working with faculty to design better assignments and make things like scavenger hunts more research based

Others try to spend as much time as possible with research questions and turn them into teachable moments

Day 2 main discussion threads:
Gaining faculty buy-in

Explaining the benefits of library services during meetings

Joining them on Linkedin or other similar social media venues

Simply trying again-many faculty were not aware of existing library services so going to departmental meetings or inviting departmental chairs to one might be helpful

Marketing research assistance as much as instructional collaboration and encouraging students to come in after a class can be just as valuable and knowing when students might be better served by an appointment as opposed to a one-time session. Some are using the idea of Research Coaches as a way to market this

Scalability is always an issue especially for smaller institutions, there seems to be no good solution for how to do it all and still be effective other than to make a case for hiring additional staff

Use of an on-call system

For those institutions who had the model where staff were on the desk, librarians had an on-call system where they had “office hours” when they could be reached. They would have similarly scheduled shifts as when on the desk but devote more time to in-depth research assistance

Others brought librarians back to the desk because they found it more effective

Others still offer on-call during certain times of the semester but there is the question of how to balance being available with having enough time off the desk to pursue the other activities

Staffing with non-librarians (full or part time staff and students) and when/how the request is passed to a reference librarian

Most institutions with merged desks had them staffed by non-librarians with librarians concentrating on outreach work to departments and instruction in addition to consultations

Training is a key issue especially for staff and students knowing when to make referrals

Cinthya Ippoliti, Chair 2014-2015

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services
The Marketing & Public Relations for Reference Services committee will be meeting virtually instead of an in-person meeting for ALA Annual 2015. Since the last Review, the committee has continued to work with the presenters for our ALA Annual 2014 session, “The Soft Sell: Sales Skills for Librarians,” to create a proposal for possible future webinars.

Elizabeth DeCoster, Chair 2014-2015

Research and Statistics Committee
The Research & Statistics Committee has chosen the presenters for the Annual Reference Research Forum, which will take place during the Annual on Sunday, June 28th from 10:30-11:30 am in the Moscone Conference Center, room 2014 (W). There were a number of strong proposals and the committee employed a blind review process to select proposals that would provide a variety of research foci. Here are the presenters and their topics:

“Information Behavior of Foreign-Born Students at Brooklyn College,” City University of New York, Frans Albarillo

This presentation reports the results of a survey of immigrant and international students at Brooklyn College, a large public liberal arts college with a diverse campus that serves many foreign-born and first-generation immigrant students. The survey gathers data on students in these communities to investigate common patterns and explore how these students experience the academic library with a focus on language and culture. This exploratory study was funded by a grant from the PSC CUNY and further developed at the 2014 inaugural Institute of Research Design in Librarianship.

“Understanding the Research Needs of Mid-level Undergraduate Students,” Reed College, Marianne Colgrove and Annie Downey

How do sophomores and juniors learn to do independent research and what services, resources and curriculum strategies would help? As part of a larger Mellon-funded initiative, the Reed College Library and IT departments collaborated on a needs assessment in order to understand the gap between faculty and student perspectives on the research process. Using both focus group discussions and a student survey, the needs assessment showed that faculty characterize research as a complex, multi-faceted process and emphasize the importance of a researchable question that drives the process. Many students aren’t sure what faculty expect and often invest so much energy in gathering resources that they run out of time to conduct analysis and integrate their assignment into a unified whole. This study also exemplifies how IT and the library can collaborate to conduct a low-cost self-study that informs the development of new research curriculum and services.

“Library as Endangered Species in the Information Ecosystem, Borough of Manhattan Community College,” Jean Amaral

When students and faculty need information, where do they go? A year-long ethnographic study at an urban community college suggests it may be anywhere but the library. Amaral will present the results of this study, which call for engaging in a creative reassessment of library services in community colleges.

Ava M. Iuliano Brillat, Chair 2014-2015

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The Virtual Reference (VR) Tutorial Subcommittee held its most recent meeting (virtually) on Tuesday, April 7. The discussion was about ways of keeping up with the literature on virtual reference in order to keep the Virtual Reference Companion current and helpful.

The Subcommittee continues to work toward changing its name to the Virtual Reference Companion Subcommittee. Though the approval process for this name change is not difficult, actually making the change in all the places where the name appears (e.g. the RUSA committee appointment database; ALA Connect) will be painstaking.

Co-Chairs Christine Tobias and Laura Friesen shared information about the VRC at the annual meeting of the consortial VR group “Research Help Now” in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 17, 2015. In addition to the presentation about the Virtual Reference Companion, this was an opportunity to solicit tips and best practices for the VRC from librarians who are very involved in providing virtual reference services, and to potentially find new members for the Subcommittee.

The Subcommittee continues to ask for input from all librarians who provide virtual reference to submit tips and best practices to be incorporated into that section of the Virtual Reference Companion. RSS members may submit suggestions for this content by leaving a comment on ALA Connect ( http://connect.ala.org/node/225501 ) or by sending an email to Christine Tobias ( tobiasc@msu.edu ) or Laura Friesen (lflynn@umflint.edu ).

In addition to being accessible from http://www.ala.org/rusa/vrc , the Hot Links section of the RSS Virtual Reference Committee page, and the Professional Tools section of the RUSA Resources page, the VRC is now linked in the Web Resources section of the ALA Library Fact Sheet 19: Virtual Reference: A Selected Annotated Bibliography .

Laura Friesen, Chair 2014-2015
Christine Tobias, Chair 2014-2015

Young Adult Reference Services Committee
The YARS co-chairs had a conference call with YALSA’s with Beth Yoke and Carrie Kausch to discuss our initiative to publish the In-House Homework Help Best Practices. They provided suggestions for how to how to re-arrange and improve the document to better align with the Future of Library Services for and with Teens. After the committee reworks the document, it will be sent through the RUSA S&G process.

The committee selected three well-qualified librarian panelists for our Annual Program, “The Core: A Year (Or More!) In, How Does This Affect Librarians?” which will provide information and discussion points on how to improve resources and service for the common core curriculum.

Allyson Evans Malik, Chair 2013-2015

RSS Review is the newsletter of the Reference Services Section of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association. Please send suggestions for future issues to Amy Rustic (aer123@psu.edu), editor.

 

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

 

Message from the Chair

Dear STARS Members and Friends,

STARS has some great programming planned for ALA Annual in San Francisco! In addition to our staple Discussion Groups, we are sponsoring a program titled Acquisitions, Collection Development, Electronic Resources, and ILL, Oh My!: Connecting Users to What They Want! (Sunday, June 28, 1-2pm, MCC 2002 (W)). This lightning round session will cover topics like how patron ILL requests influence collection development; how demand driven acquisitions affects interlibrary loan; adapting ILL operations to the current environment, and more.

STARS is also offering a pre-conference, ILL Data Storm – Practical Assessment (Friday, June 26, 9am,-1pm). Our programs on data use in ILL are always popular, so the Research and Assessment Committee has put together an amazing panel of speakers to provide further insight on this important topic. The panel will speak to how they collect and use data, whether to improve services, influence collection decisions or justify their existence. At the end of the program, attendees will walk away with ideas about how to assess their ILL data for improvements in their department. Be sure to register!

I sincerely hope you’ll be able to join us for these exciting learning and networking opportunities! If you aren’t able to be in San Francisco, watch the STARS Facebook page for updates from the conference.

It’s hard to believe how quickly my year as STARS Chair has passed. Since this is my last RUSA Update column, I want to take this opportunity to thank all the amazing STARS who have helped me move our section forward. I think we’ve accomplished great things this year and look forward to continuing our work as I transition to my role of Past Chair. Thank you so much!!

Tina Baich
STARS Chair 2014-2015

STARS Committee Reports

Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee
The Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee has completed work on the initial revised drafts for the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States and the Explanatory Supplement and submitted them to Tina Baich for distribution to the STARS Executive Committee. We plan on submitting them to the RUSA Standards and Guidelines Committee by late May 2015, and we project that approved drafts will be ready for general comment by the ILL community in late summer/early fall. Members of our group are providing updates on the revision process at various conferences we each attend. This past quarter, our committee also completed a review and revision of the ShareILL Codes and Guidelines web page.

Brian Miller, Chair

ILL Committee
The ILL Committee will be meeting in San Francisco and is sponsoring a program. This program will be held on Sunday, June 28 from 1-2PM in MCC – 2002 and is titled “Acquisitions, Collection Development, Electronic Resources, and ILL, Oh My!: Connecting Users to What They Want!” It will be a great presentation, so make sure to attend!

Both Co-Chairs will be rotating off the Committee this year, so a new Chair will need to be elected.

Carol Kochan, Co-Chair

STARS Education and Training Committee
In January, the Education and Training committee hosted the 8th annual “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about ILL” workshop at the University of Chicago, during ALA Midwinter 2015. The workshop featured presentations on Borrowing, Lending, Copyright, and Assessment & Statistics by Megan Gaffney, Karen Janke, Cindy Kristof, and Collette Mak, respectively.

Lars Leon’s Emerging Leaders proposal, which would have supported the migration of ShareILL.org to a new platform, made it to the final proposal pool, but was not selected. The Education and Training committee is currently working with Linda Frederiksen on selecting a new host for ShareILL.org.

Kristen Palmiere, Chair

STARS Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee
The Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee has continued to work on creating Version 2 of the ALA RUSA STARS Rethinking Resource Sharing STAR Checklist. Version 2 has been approved by the RUSA Stars Executive Board and the Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative Steering Committee. We expect to have it available on the Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative website for libraries to use by June 2015. We will meet at ALA Annual Conference to plan promotion and training events.

Sue Kaler, Chair

STARS Research and Assessment Committee
The Research and Assessment Committee is working on plans for the ALA pre-conference and is in the last stages of organization. Since Mid-Winter, they have finalized assessments for all STARS sponsored sessions through Annual 2014. We are currently working on assessments for Mid-Winter 2015. Finally, Krista Higham has been elected co-chair for next year.

Bethany Sewell & David Ketchum, Co-Chairs

STARS Legislation and Licensing Committee
The Committee has met via conference call and finished drafting a survey that will be sent to STARS Members on May 18, 2015. The very brief survey will help us to determine the future directions of the committee, including whether we should continue or disband, and we hope that all STARS members will participate. We will collect responses through June 6 and plan to have a report prepared before the ALA Annual meeting.

Sherri Michaels, Chair

Atlas Systems Mentoring Award Committee
The Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS) of ALA has selected the winner of the 2015 Atlas Systems Mentoring Award, Karen Thomas, access services librarian at Krauskopf Library, Delaware Valley College, as this year’s recipient as she has demonstrated a passion and need for professional development, networking, education and service to her local community. Sponsored by Atlas Systems, Inc., the award offers $1,250 to a library practitioner new to the field of ILL and resource sharing to fund travel expenses to the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco.

Amy Paulus, Chair

 

From the President

President’s column

Were you there in Chicago for the great ALA Midwinter blizzard of 2015? The Sunday of Midwinter was an event that few of us will forget. The snow blew sideways and it was recorded as one of the city’s top ten most intense snow storms! Through it all however, the relentless librarians forged on. We walked through swales of snow four feet deep. The cabs and shuttle buses even kept running. So, we hearty folk went on with our meetings, discussions, and awards events. Our RUSA membership demonstrated their dedication and the overall experience was awesome.

Strategic Planning Update

Before the storm, those of us on RUSA Board began ALA Midwinter 2015 with a full-day strategic planning session on Friday. This was the first time (in recent memory) that we had allocated this much time to focus on the future direction of the association. Our session was facilitated by Paul Meyer of Tecker International Consulting.

Paul began the day by helping us understand the process for planning, and how to think strategically in order to make progress toward an envisioned future. In our first activity we broke into five groups to do an environmental scan of our member libraries and the larger world that we’re operating. Each group identified current conditions, trends, and assumptions about the future. This next led to work defining our Core Purpose – the organization’s reason for being – and our Core Organizational Values – those essential and enduring principles that guide the behavior of an organization. By the end of this activity we agreed upon the Core Purpose (a.k.a. Mission) statement: “RUSA is a member community engaged in advancing the practices of connecting people to resources, information services, and collections.” This activity also led us to develop the following three Core Organizational Values statements:

  • We believe in the benefits of a shared experiences that comes from connecting members from all types of libraries
  • We believe in promoting excellence in library services and resources
  • We believe in innovation to support and advance to the needs of our members and communities

It is possible that this language could change as RUSA’s Strategic Plan Coordinating Task Force and the Board continues its work, but this should give you a good sense of the priority values that were identified at this early stage. The final hours of the day were dedicated to starting the process of developing Goals and Objectives that will move RUSA toward its envisioned future. Flexibility, Member Engagement, Leadership Development, and Training came forward as priorities as we began to develop the Goals. Some rough Objective statements were also developed. By the end of the day the broad feeling in the room was one of great accomplishment, and the effort that had been put forth showed on almost every face in the room. It was indeed a tiring but productive day!

As of this writing in early March, the Strategic Plan Coordinating Task Force has met three times by telephone conference since returning from Midwinter to continue the work. Chaired by Anne Houston, the task force has reviewed what we accomplished in Chicago and is incorporating member priorities that were identified in the RUSA Review Task Force survey of summer 2014. The next step is to clean-up and revise the draft Goals and Objectives that came out of the planning meeting. Two goal areas that we have identified are the need for RUSA to have a flexible structure and the need for membership in RUSA to have clear measurable values. We anticipate having a revised draft plan for review by the RUSA Board before the end of March. I very much want to thank Anne for her leadership through this process, as well as RUSA Secretary Erin Rushton, who is serving above and beyond by taking comprehensive notes at each of our strategic planning meetings. The demand on her time is much more than could be expected during a normal year for a RUSA Secretary, and we appreciate all of the efforts she is putting forward. Our process is still on track to have a new RUSA Strategic Plan in place before ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco.

ALA Midwinter 2015 Wrap-Up

Did I earlier mention awards? Yes, I’m specifically referring to the RUSA Book and Media Awards Ceremony. At the height of the snowstorm and while many across the country watched

the Superbowl, about one hundred of us came together at the Hilton Chicago to recognize the best in adult fiction, nonfiction, reference, book reviewing, and websites. This year we also tried

something new. We were very happy to have highly acclaimed Chicago author Margaret Hawkins kick-off the event by sharing some of her thoughts about the craft of writing, including insight into why she has set some of her scenes in libraries. The event then went on without a hitch. For a comprehensive list of the selections, including the Notable Books, Reading List, Listen List, and the Best Free Reference Web Sites, see http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/literarytastes. Also, catch up on what attendees and others have been saying by following the hashtag #literarytastes.

I do have one more item to share about RUSA Awards. Though January 2016 might seem far in the future, I want to give you the early news that we will have even more to celebrate while we’re in Boston for ALA Midwinter next year. Not only will we announce all of our Book and Media Awards, but we will be announcing the winners of the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Fiction and Nonfiction while in Boston as well! Be on the lookout later this year for news about what may evolve into a combined event at Midwinter 2016 and how it is shaping up. We have a rare crossover in place right now, as the members of both the 2015 and 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal Award committees are currently at work reading and preparing to make their selections! The 2015 Andrea Carnegie Medals winners will be announced during ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco.

Among other noteworthy events at Midwinter in Chicago included the first ever RUSA Speed Mentoring Session, organized by our Leadership Development Task Force. Many thanks go to Gary White for serving as the event’s lead organizer, and to Diane Zabel for opening the session with words of experience regarding the importance of mentoring. About fifteen mentees attended, with more than that number of mentors available to pair-up. Immediately following this session we walked down the hall to the RUSA Membership Social, which received an excellent turnout of both new and familiar faces. The Social again served as a great informal opportunity to talk to others about our work in RUSA. I want to especially thank Ann Brown of the RUSA Membership Committee for serving as emcee for the event.

2015 RUSA President’s Program Planning Committee and the RUSA Just Ask Task Force joined forces in Chicago to host a discussion about some of the themes in danah boyd’s book, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (available for free download at http://www.danah.org/itscomplicated). One of our key discussions involved the collapsing of contexts, specifically relating to the modern reality that an online post made by an individual in one place might take on a very different meaning when interpreted in another. It was a dynamic discussion and we truly could have used more time than the hour that had been allocated!   I want to thank Peter Bromberg for organizing the discussion and Cathay Keough for taking notes and posting these on our Facebook event page. You can find these at https://www.facebook.com/events/562596213874497/permalink/580179555449496.

Are you planning your schedule for ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco? The RUSA President’s Program with danah boyd, It’s Complicated: Navigating the dynamic landscapes of digital literacy, collapsing contexts, and big data” will take place on Saturday, June 27, 2015 from 4:00 to 5:30. If you haven’t read danah’s work before, you can learn more by taking a look at her blog, where she focuses on the intersection between technology and society at http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts. danah is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research and is a 2008 PhD graduate of the School of Information (iSchool) at the University of California-Berkeley.

Great learning opportunities abound – at conferences and online!

Remember that RUSA’s opportunities for learning are available year-round online. Our upcoming online courses include the ever-popular Business Reference 101, Genealogy 101, and Health Information 101. Xtreme Bibliographic Searching for Interlibrary Loan & Reference as well as Introduction to Spatial Literacy and Online Mapping with both be offered this spring. Make sure to find these courses and our upcoming and archived webinars at http://www.ala.org/rusa/development/onlinece.

If you are new to RUSA please also be aware that Ann Brown and I are continuing to offer free RUSA 101 webinars (orientations to all things RUSA) normally on the second Thursday of each month at 4:00 pm ET / 3 pm CT. We are also offering a free RUSA 201 webinar on the third Thursday of each month at 4:00 pm ET / 3 pm CT. The topic of each RUSA 201 is geared to current members and addresses how to get the work of the association accomplished. For the January and February sessions we had Don Boozer, chair of RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee, address how to propose a RUSA conference program, preconference, or institute for Boston or Orlando in 2016. Topics for upcoming RUSA 201 sessions will be announced on the rusa-l listserv.

Volunteers!

Are you looking to get involved in RUSA this year? Now is the time! RUSA’s Vice President/President Elect Liane Taylor and the RUSA Section Vice Chairs are appointing people to committees now, with terms to officially begin on July 1, 2015. If you are interested in joining a committee, go to http://www.ala.org/rusa and select the link in the upper right, “Volunteer for a RUSA or section level committee.” If you’re not sure which committee is right for you, send Liane an email at ltaylor@txstate.edu to let her know your interests. If it’s actually a BRASS, CODES, History, MARS, RSS, or STARS section-level committee you’re interested, she can put you in touch with the right person there.

I want to take this opportunity to again thank all of our fantastic RUSA member volunteers across the association, with special thanks to everyone working in the BRASS, CODES, History, MARS, RSS, and STARS committees who are putting together great programming, developing discussions, reviewing materials, selecting awards, and working on other initiatives that provide our members a valuable RUSA experience. We each have many competing priorities in our lives and you cannot be thanked enough for your time and dedication to our work.

With great appreciation,

-Joe

Joseph Thompson
RUSA President 2014-2015

Emerging Leader

Greetings from RUSA’s 2015 Emerging Leader

I confess. I behaved unprofessionally when I found out I would be representing RUSA in the 2015 class of ALA Emerging Leaders. Excited young librarians had begun tweeting about their acceptances the day before, so I began preparing myself for the inevitable “thanks but no thanks” notification. When I opened an acceptance email instead, there were several minutes of untoward shouting, cheering, and jumping up and down.

The shock has worn off, but I’m still delighted to introduce myself as a 2015 Emerging Leader. My name is Beth Boatright, and I’m a Business and Emerging Technologies librarian at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. I’ve been active in RUSA for several years, serving on committees in MARS and BRASS and eventually accepting some committee-level leadership roles. RUSA has been an important part of my growth as a professional, and I am honored to be representing our organization as an Emerging Leader this year.

The Emerging Leaders program is an ALA initiative that helps fifty librarians develop their leadership potential, collaboration skills, and volunteerism. After a one-day training session at Midwinter, groups of emerging leaders tackle service projects for the Association. This year, teams will be working on projects for AASL, APALA, ALCTS, ALSC, GODORT, HRDR, LearnRT, NMRT, PLA, and RUSA. (If you don’t know what those acronyms are, it’s okay. ALA is a confusing place.) I’m proud to be serving on the RUSA project team. We are learning about libraries that provide publishing services, with the goal of discovering how RUSA might provide meaningful support for this area of librarianship.

The Emerging Leaders program has changed over the last several years, but most alumni agree that it’s up to each participant to make the most of the experience. I am working hard to develop my leadership and project management skills while I collaborate on RUSA’s project. I’m also hoping to find and foster relationships with librarians across ALA; our profession is full of amazing mentors, and I have a lot to learn. I’m grateful to RUSA for sponsoring my participation in this program.

I’m eager to share with you the ways that Midwinter exceeded my expectations and other updates from my Emerging Leaders experience. Watch RUSA News for new posts in the coming months!

Beth Boatright
2015 RUSA Emerging Leader

RUSA News/Announcements

Join us at 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco for some exciting events. Below are some highlights to look forward to. Come April, you will be able to use the ALA Conference Scheduler to create a personal schedule and you will be alerted to any last minute location changes.

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

Finalists: Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

The two books selected as recipients of the Medal will be announced during the Awards ceremony on Saturday, June 27. The ceremony will be from 8:00-10:00 PM. Location will be announced in April. Tickets are available here. Cosponsored by Booklist and RUSA.

RUSA Direct
Have you seen the new e-newsletter, direct from the RUSA office? Emailed straight to your inbox every Friday morning and it’s free to all RUSA members. You can view all the issues here and at the RUSA website under the Communications tab.

RUSA’s Annual Signature Programs

Not to Be Missed RUSA Preconferences

Conference Programs and Forums – All Date and Times to be Announced in April

Upcoming Online Learning

As always, you can count on RUSA to offer signature courses like Genealogy and Reference Interview, but RUSA has added new upcoming online courses and webinars, that will interest learners at any level.

Courses:

Reference Interview – April 6 – May 17. This is a comprehensive course focusing on the methods of evaluating reference service, behavioral aspects of reference service, and the different types of questions that can be used to help patrons identify what they need. Read more and register.

Xtreme Bibliographic Searching for Interlibrary Loan & Reference – April 20 – May 17. (Live Sessions on Thursdays, Time 1 p.m. CST) Mansel Pre 56 to Digital Repositories, DOAJ to Trove to HathiTrust. Don’t know those terms…then this course is for you! Read more and register.

NEW COURSE! Learner-Centered Reference and Instruction: Science, Psychology, and Inclusive Pedagogy – April 6 – May 17. This course will introduce library practitioners to empirically sound approaches to learner-centered teaching that can be applied to creating effective reference and instruction services that maximally facilitate student learning. Read more and register.

NEW COURSE! Introduction to Instructional Design for Librarians – April 20 – May 31

Students will learn to use the Instructional Design Process and apply it effectively to library instruction which includes: identifying instructional problems, learner analysis, task analysis, defining instructional objectives, sequencing content, identifying instructional strategies, message design, instructional delivery, and evaluation instruments. Read more and register.

Webinars:

●     Universal Design for Learning, Information literacy, and Libraries – April 1, 1:00 – 2:15 PM. Gain information about Universal Design for Learning… Read more and register.
●     What is Content Marketing + Should You Be Using It at Your Library? – April 3, 2015, 2:00 – 3:15 PM. Understand content marketing. Read more and register.
●     Reference Interviewing: Best Practices in Action April 06, 1:00 – 2:00 PM.How to improve interaction with the online. Read more and register.
●     Spice it Up with Pura Belpre! Using Award Winning Titles and Other Resources to Celebrate the Hispanic Influence in Literature for Youth April 30, 10:00 -11:00 AM. Read more and register.
●     Exploring Partnerships with Faculty and Other User Groups for Digital Humanities Projects May 12, 2:00 – 3:30 PM. Learn to identify partnership opportunities within your institutions. Read more and register.

2015 Achievement Award winners

RUSA Division Level Achievement Award Winners

“RUSA’s Achievement Awards provide us the very special opportunity to recognize the most outstanding librarians, libraries and projects in the field. At this event we also highlight the successes of our future leaders on what they’ve worked so hard to achieve. These awards recognize important contributions and allow our next generation of leaders to gain further experience through attendance at the ALA Annual Conference and conduct further research,” remarked RUSA President, Joseph Thompson. “I want to congratulate this year’s award recipients on their accomplishments. We look forward to celebrating with everyone in June at the RUSA Achievement Awards Reception in San Francisco – one of the signature events of the ALA Annual Conference. I would like to sincerely thank the members of our award committees for their invaluable volunteer work through the selection processes and our generous sponsors for their support.”

The 2015 winners are:

  • Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award, RUSA’s highest honor, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $5,000 and a citation to an individual who has made a distinguished contribution to reference librarianship. Denise Beaubien Bennett, Engineering Librarian, University of Florida, was selected for her instrumental shaping of the instructional program for thousands of students in many disciplines, with a reputation for inspired teaching and creation of many online and video tutorials, and presentation of workshops nationwide.
  • Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $3,000 and a citation to a library or library system for developing an imaginative and unique resource to meet patrons’ reference needs. Lauren Comito was selected for the development of the interactive database, “Where in Queens?” which uses GPS technology to help users connect to social services that are closest to where they are located at any given time.
  • NoveList’s Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, sponsored by NoveList, which offers $1,250 and a citation to a librarian who has made significant contributions to library adult services. Neil Hollands, Adult Services Librarian, Williamsburg Regional Library, was selected for being a leader in the Readers’ Advisory (RA) world. Holland’s development and advocacy of form-based RA has been a tremendous advancement in RA services.
  • Reference Service Press Award, sponsored by Reference Service Press, consists of $2,500 and a plaque which recognizes an author(s) of the most outstanding article published in Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ), RUSA’s research journal, during the preceding two-volume year. Pauline Dewan, Laurier/Nipissing Liaison Librarian for the Brantford, Ontario campuses of Wilfrid Laurier University and Nipissing University was selected for her article, “Reading Matters in the Academic Library: Taking the Lead from Public Librarians.” Summer 2013, Volume 52, Issue 4. This article explores the idea of revitalizing academic libraries by reconsidering the place of pleasure reading in them.
  • John Sessions Memorial Award, consists of a plaque sponsored by the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, and recognizes a library or library system which has made a significant effort to work with the labor community and by doing so has brought recognition to the history and contribution of the labor movement to the development of the United States. The Calcasieu Parish Library System was selected for its Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) Workforce Resource Guide. The guide offers essential step-by-step instructions for job seekers and providing contact information and guidance for where to go, who to call and what to say.

BRASS Achievement Award Winners

  • The Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award, which consists of citation and $1,250, is awarded to an individual new to the field of academic business librarianship in order to support attendance to the ALA Annual Conference. Grace Liu, Business Reference Librarian at University of Maine, was selected as this year’s recipient.
  • The Emerald Research Grant Award, sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing, consists of one $5,000 grant awarded to an individual or team seeking funding support to conduct research in business librarianship. Jason Dewland, Assistant Librarian and Cindy Elliott, Engineering & Innovation Librarian, University of Arizona were selected for their study, “Review of Research Methods Employed by Start-Ups,” which will identify networks of new businesses that can be targeted for data collection and to identify the research practices and information needs of new start-up businesses.
  • The Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $3,000 to a librarian providing outstanding business reference services. Peter Z. McKay, Business Librarian, University of Florida is this year’s winner for his innovative development of online business collection development, instructional resources, service to BRASS and his invaluable contributions to the profession.
  • The Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $1,250 in travel funds to the ALA Annual Conference and a one year BRASS membership to a student in an accredited MLIS program. Sara F. Hess, MLIS candidate, University of Michigan School of Information was named as this year’s recipient.
  • The Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award, sponsored by Morningstar, offers $1,250 to a public librarian providing business reference services so they may attend the ALA Annual Conference. Barbara Alvarez, business liaison librarian, Barrington Area Library (Illinois) was selected for her extensive range of activities in support of the local business community, including one-on-one appointments to assist business professionals and entrepreneurs, podcasts, as well as maintaining a business blog and a SlideShare account with business database tutorials.

CODES achievement Award winners

  • Zora Neale Hurston Award, sponsored by HarperCollins, offers $1,250 in travel funds to the ALA Annual Conference, tickets to the United for Libraries’ Gala Author tea, and a set of the Zora Neale Hurston books published by Harper Perennial. Carolyn Garnes, Founder and CEO of Aunt Lil’s Reading Room. Aunt Lil’s Reading Room serves as a platform for children, authors, and illustrators of color and African descent. The project aims to promote the unique history and culture of African Americans through books, literature and storytelling.
  • Louis Shores Award, offers a citation which recognizes an individual reviewer, group, editor, review medium, or organization for excellence in book reviewing and other media for libraries. Brad Hooper, Editor of Booklist was selected for his passion and commitment to book reviewing. Hooper reviews a wide variety of genres for Booklist, hosts workshops and has published books that give librarians reviewing and readers’ advisory skills they need for success.

History achievement award winners

  • The Gale Cengage Learning History Research and Innovation Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $2,500 and a citation to a librarian in need of funds to facilitate and/or further research in history or historical librarianship. David J. Gary, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, Yale University Library was selected as this year’s winner for his project “Toward a Sociology of Knowledge: The History of Acknowledgment Pages in American History Monographs,” which will “take thousands of acknowledgement pages from e-books and hand-selected acknowledges since 2000 and use the methodology of the digital humanities to analyze them en masse,” said Gary.
  • The ABC-CLIO Online History Award, a bi-annual award of $2,500 sponsored by ABC-CLIO, recognizes the accomplishments of a person or a group of people producing (1) a freely available online historical collection, or (2) an online tool tailored for the purpose of finding historical materials, or (3) an online teaching aid stimulating creative historical scholarship. Joanne Murray, Historian and Director, The Legacy Center, Drexel University College of Medicine, was selected for her work as Principal Investigator of the online history project called “Doctor or Doctress?: Explore American history through the eyes of women physicians.” The first runner up was Jason Roe for “The Civil War on the Western Frontier”; the second runner up was Robin Katz for TeachArchives.org.
  • The Genealogical Publishing Company Award, sponsored by Genealogical Publishing Company, offers $1,500 and a citation to a librarian or library in recognition of their professional achievement in historical or genealogical reference, service or research. Michael D. Kirley, retired librarian from Los Angeles Public Library History & Genealogy Department after 39 years of service (1970-2009). Kirley single-handedly built the Genealogy Collection at the Los Angeles Public Library, which consists of more than 50,000 volumes of individual family histories in addition to more than 2,500 circulating books about genealogical research, heraldry and related subjects. These include print, microform and digital resources. The Genealogy Collection wouldn’t be what it is today without his painstaking efforts.

MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference award winner

The My Favorite Martian Award, which offers a citation to a member of the MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section that has contributed exceptional service to the section. Debbie Bezanson, Associate University Librarian for Research and User Services, George Washington University Libraries, was selected for her tireless advocacy for the section and her service as a role model for collaborative teamwork and leadership.

RSS achievement award winner

The RSS Service Achievement Award consists of a citation which recognizes a member that has made exceptional contributions to the Reference Services Section. Liane Taylor, Head of Acquisitions, Texas State University, was selected for continuously playing a vital role in RSS, both in leadership, and as Chair, but also by representing RSS to RUSA and beyond throughout the library profession.

STARS achievement award winner

  • The Atlas Systems Mentoring Award, sponsored by Atlas Systems, Inc., offers $1,250 to a library practitioner new to the field of ILL and resource sharing to fund travel expenses to ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. Karen Thomas, Access Services Librarian at Krauskopf Library, Delaware Valley College was named as this year’s recipient.
  • The Virginia Boucher-OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award, sponsored by OCLC, offers $2,000 and a citation to a librarian showing outstanding professional achievement, leadership, and contributions to interlibrary loan and document delivery. Lars Leon, Resource Sharing Librarian and Head of Organizational Development, University of Kansas Libraries, was named as this year’s winner for his impressive breadth and depth of knowledge about interlibrary loan, his enthusiasm about mentoring new practitioners and advocating with upper-level library administrators to recognize the importance of resource sharing in their organizations.

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

Longlist announced!

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult/longlists

Sponsor a table at the ceremony!

Table reservations will open in late February. Stay Tuned! Each table can accommodate up to 10 individuals and ensures that attendees will enjoy this exciting evening with their friends, colleagues and fellow book lovers. Table reservations will open late February and will remain open until mid-May. The table reservation form can be found here.

Maroon Sponsor ($750 per table)

  • 10 tickets to the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence award ceremony and dessert reception
  • Sponsorship recognition in award ceremony PowerPoint

Gold Sponsor ($1,000 per table)

  • 10 tickets to the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence award ceremony and dessert reception
  • Sponsorship recognition in award ceremony PowerPoint
  • Sponsorship recognition in award ceremony program
  • Pre-event acknowledgement in Booklist’s June REaD ALERT newsletter and the June issue of RUSA’s newsletter RUSA Update

If you wish to order one or more individual tickets, you may do so via Annual Conference registration site at www.alaannual.org. Individual ticket holders will find open seating at non-reserved tables. If you order 10 individual tickets from conference registration, you will be ordering 10 individual open-seating tickets. Individual ticket holders who reserved their ticket before conference will pick up their banquet ticket on their first day of conference at registration. Individual ticket sales close at 12 Noon (CST) on Friday, June 26.

RUSA Committee Reports

Just Ask Task Force

The Just Ask Task Force has continued to meet have been discussing its future goals. The Task Force is developing social media tools that reference staff can use to highlight what they do, including a #JustAsk social media campaign. Reference staff would be encouraged to Tweet some of their most interesting questions using the #JustAsk hashtag. We are hoping to compile these as a way to highlight the variety of questions we receive. Said another way, it’s a way to tell our story. Stay tuned for more details.

Just Ask co-sponsored the Midwinter RUSA Discussion Forum as a lead-in to the upcoming President’s Program. Although the attendance was only about 20 the discussion was lively.

Just Ask met on Saturday, January 31st at Midwinter in Chicago and determined to focus in the following areas:

  1. Creating a the prototype of “librarians are” posters working with the RUSA Office marketing staff, and work with “Librarian Wardrobe” blog to get photographs for the posters.
  2. Plan a free webinar for late spring related to President’s program and our committee goals of marketing reference librarians and use of social media in reference or privacy and censorship—how do we adjust reference to meet the real needs of new types of searchers?
  3. Writing an “Emerging Leaders” proposal to get an emerging leader group to work on the marketing campaign.
  4. Further define how to market what a “reference librarian” is; please feel free to share your ideas with us.

Just Ask will meet online early in March.

Elizabeth Stephan
Diana Shonrock

Co-chairs

RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee

The RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee (CPCC) held two meetings since the last RUSA Update, one virtual and one in-person. The in-person meeting took place in snowy Chicago at ALA Midwinter. Among other topics discussed at each was the request by the RUSA President to work on a database (in collaboration with other RUSA committees and members) of professional development offerings presented by RUSA. The results of this discussion were presented at RUSA Board II and resulted in the formation of a “task force” to investigate and implement this project.

The CPCC chair also presented information to RUSA membership on the process of submitting programs and pre-conferences at the inaugural RUSA 201 webinar in January 2015.

RUSA will be posting the submission form for 2016’s Midwinter pre-conferences and Annual programs in early March. CPCC is looking forward to receiving proposals in early May.

Don Boozer
RUSA CPCC, Chair 2014-15

RUSA Membership

The RUSA Membership Social at ALA Midwinter Chicago was a resounding success with more than 100 attendees!

RUSA 101 and 201 are doing very well, averaging 14 people per session. If you or your group would like to participate in either RUSA 101 or 201, please let Ann Brown (agbrown@gwu.edu) know. We’re always looking for special guests!

Ann Brown, chair
agbrown@gwu.edu

BRASS Notes

John Gottfried, Editor

 

Message from the BRASS Chair

BRASS elections are coming up soon. Be on the lookout for the official ALA election emails. Once again we have a great group of candidates:

  • BRASS Vice-Chair / Chair Elect: Louise Feldmann and Michael Oppenheim
  • BRASS Member-at-Large: Jared Hoppenfeld and Penny Scott

There are also several BRASS members on the ballot for RUSA elections:

  • RUSA Vice-President / President-Elect:   Celia Ross
  • RUSA Director-at-Large: Jennifer Boettcher
  • Division Councilor: Sarah Hammill

Todd Hines
BRASS Chair 2014-2015
thines@princeton.edu

Call for BRASS Volunteers!

Calling all BRASS volunteers. Please considering serving our wonderful BRASS section. Committee positions will start after ALA Annual 2015 (San Francisco) and are generally for a two-year term. I hope you all will begin considering to serve on a committee again, or perhaps for the first time.

Here’s how to volunteer:

  • Visit http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass/committees to review the BRASS committees;
  • Go to http://www.ala.org/rusa/volunteer and login to the ALA website;
  • Select RUSA from the dropdown menu;
  • Fill out the initial form about yourself and your current ALA responsibilities;
  • Select RUSA_BRASS from the second drop down menu;
  • Indicate which committees you would like to help with.

You do not have to commit to traveling to conferences in order to volunteer. While some committees must meet in-person, many have virtual assignments, and some do all their work online. Most committee assignments last two years (there are exceptions) and begin and end after ALA Annual conference.

I’m looking forward to working with all of you in BRASS.

Best regards,

Paul Brother
BRASS Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect

Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee recently conducted a virtual Midwinter conference meeting. The committee discussed the upcoming program at ALA annual. Charles Allan, the committee chair and editor of the BRASS newsletter, solicited submissions for the newsletter from those present. We also discussed program ideas for the 2016 conference.

Charles Allan, 2014-2015 Chair

Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee

The Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee Meeting was held Jan. 26, 2015 at 2:00pm ET. Among items discussed were:

  1. New Additions to the Public Librarians Briefcase.
  2. Details on this summers’ Forum, about new revenue streams for libraries, to be held Saturday, June 27, 1 – 230pm. The panel includes Deborah Doyle, current Development Director of the Friends of San Francisco Public Library, John Trischitti III, Director, Midland County Public Libraries and the Texas Library Association 2014 Librarian of the Year, and Jan Busa, Jan Busa, Management Analyst II, who set up the San Mateo Public Library passport Assistance Center. Ed Rossman, chair of the committee, will moderate. One more panelist is expected to speak on crowdfunding.
  3. Solutions to the problems faced by the IRS not issuing the quantities of paper tax forms they’ve done in the past.
  4. SmartMoney Week programming.

Ed Rossman, 2014-2015 Chair

Business Reference Services Discussion Group

The BRASS Discussion Group hosted a virtual discussion on November 21, 2014. Topics focused on providing support for entrepreneurs and small business development. Makerspaces were also discussed. The recording is available on ALA Connect. The BRASS Midwinter All Member Committee Meeting and Discussion Group took place on February 1, 2015. There were about 20 people present, and we had a lively discussion about vendor and resource updates.

Thank you to the committee members who have helped coordinate these discussions. The next virtual discussion of the BRASS Discussion Group will take place on February 20, 2015. We will be discussing faculty liaison work and e-book strategies.

Emily Treptow 2014-2016 Chair

Education Committee

The BRASS Education Committee has been busy working on several projects:

  • Editorial review of the new BRASS Business Guides is on the way. The estimated completion time is April 15th. The goal is to have an editorial team of at least two editors to work with a guide’s author to ensure currency and quality of the BRASS content.
  • We are about to start advertising the new RUSA BRASS preconference “Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs” at ALA Annual (http://alaac15.ala.org/ticketed-events Event Code RUS3). Take full advantage of the Early Bird rates before March 14th! Only $129 for RUSA members! Register here (http://alaac15.ala.org/register-now)
  • 2014 Best of the Best Business Websites were announced at the RUSA Book and Media Award Ceremony at the ALA Midwinter by Kelly LaVoice. The winners are Patent Lens http://www.bios.net/daisy/patentlens/patentlens.html, Intellectual Property Basics http://www.cfe.umich.edu/intellectual-property/, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov/. See the official press-release for more information: http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2015/02/brass-best-best-business-websites-selected-business-reference-experts

Natasha Arguello, 2012-2015 Chair

Program Planning Committee
BRASS 2015 ALA Annual Program

Monday, June 29, 2015, 8:30-10:00 AM

A continental breakfast will be sponsored by S&P Capital IQ from 8 to 8:30 am.

Not Elsewhere Classified”: Researching New and Niche Industries

How do librarians teach business students and entrepreneurs the research techniques for a budding industry or market? How do we help our clients get ahead of an emerging industry or a new idea? Learn from experts about how to locate and evaluate information on leading-edge industries, assess markets, and lead your clients in making strategic decisions when their business crosses traditional NAICS code boundaries or is part of a new field.

Speakers:

Laura Young | Founding Partner + CEO | Bizologie

Business Research Simplified

Laura Young is a seasoned expert in business research and competitive intelligence. Combining seven years leading the research department at Austin Ventures, four years coordinating the Reference and Information desk at the University of Texas Perry Casteneda Library and seven years honing her customer service expertise as a Walt Disney World Guest Services Supervisor, Laura can tackle any research project, in any industry, with grace and speed. She has performed Due Diligence analysis for HomeAway, RetailMeNot, MapMyFitness, Magnablend, Bazaarvoice, Silvercar, Spredfast, Food on the Table, Delta Rigging & Tools, among many others. She is a highly sought after speaker on emerging research trends and regularly presents for Texas Library Association, Special Libraries Association, and American Library Association.

When she’s not digging for the next important piece of data, Laura can be found relaxing with her Basset Hound and PBGV rescues, catching up on the latest episodes of Mad Men, or culling design ideas from local architectural tours.

Amelia Kassel | President + Owner | MarketingBase

Research is your first step

Amelia Kassel is president and owner of MarketingBase, a global business research firm since 1982, specializing in industry, company and competitive and market intelligence research. Amelia holds a master’s degree in library science (UCLA) and combines expertise about the Internet and electronic databases with knowledge of business and marketing strategies. A recognized author and international speaker, Amelia conducts seminars for associations and conferences and gives workshops onsite for companies and organizations. She is also known for her successful one-on-one email-based Mentor Program in which she trains business searchers how to conduct research and aspiring independent information professionals how to develop to successfully develop and grow their businesses.

Diane Campbell, 2014-2015 Chair

Publications and Communications Committee

The Publications and Communications committee will be meeting shortly after the BRASS Chairs meeting. The Publications and Communications Committee will be putting together a preliminary draft of the BRASS ALA Annual 2015 Schedule of Events in March. The P&C Committee will be soliciting committee chairs for their program and meeting information via a Google web form, as we did last year. This draft version will not have as much information as the final version, but will be a means to notify BRASS members well in advance of ALA Annual about the types of programming available. The preliminary draft schedule should make it easier in piecing together the final schedule in May/early June.

Chad Boeninger, 2014-2015 Chair

Vendor Relations

The Committee worked with Todd Hines to arrange for the annual breakfast sponsorship with S&P Capital IQ at the 2015 ALA Annual.

Chris LeBeau, 2014-2015 Chair

Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award Committee

Sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, this $1,250 monetary prize is given to a student enrolled in an ALA accredited master’s degree program to fund travel to and attendance at the ALA Annual Conference and a one-year membership in the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA. At this writing, the committee is still accepting applications through Sunday, February 8, 2015. Watch for RUSA to announce the 2015 award recipient in March!

Michael Oppenheim, 2014-2015 Chair

Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee

The award committee was pleased to receive several nominations of public librarians providing excellent business reference support for their communities. The committee selected Barbara Alvarez, Business Liaison Librarian at the Barrington Area Library in Barrington, Illinois, as this year’s recipient of the BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award. Ms. Alvarez works with business persons in her area both individually and in partnership with a number of local organizations, offering training in business research, job seeking, and creating podcasts and websites. We are delighted that she will be present to participate in BRASS activities at the ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

Karen Chapman, 2014-2015 Chair

Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award Committee

Grace Liu, Business Reference Librarian at University of Maine, is the recipient of the RUSA BRASS Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award. Ms. Liu’s background in industry has allowed her to leverage a recent education in librarianship to help her constituents. Projects in her first year as a business librarian include library instruction to classes and local small business, design of a library 101 class for first year business students, development of an embedded library service model, and creation of a student advisory committee. We wish Ms. Liu all the best in her new career and hope that this travel grant for the ALA annual meeting will help her to enhance the development of her career and to further contribute to the profession of business librarianship.

Julia A. Martin, 2014-2015 Chair

History

Laura Hibbler, Editor

 

Midwinter Recap

Genealogy Institute: Meeting the Needs of Your Family History Patrons

The Genealogy Preconference at ALA Midwinter had something for everyone, from the librarian who specializes in genealogy reference to those who find themselves answering family history questions in a general reference setting. Attendees learned about free resources for learning more about family history so they can better understand their patrons’ questions. They also discovered online resources for genealogical and local history materials, including those for ethnic populations. Those with collections that they would like to see online were particularly interested in the session on partnerships with commercial and non-profit organizations.

Discussion sections

Genealogy and Local History Discussion Session had a lively discussion about building relationships between different types of libraries engaged in Genealogy reference service.

The History Librarians Discussion Session explored crowdsourcing digital projects, including:

  • University of Louisville Archives & Special Collections (Carrie Daniels) began providing online access to all extant copies of a defunct local African-American newspaper, The Louisville Leader
  • University of Iowa Libraries (Tom Keegan) began the DIY History Project, transcribing civil war letters and diaries with the help of volunteers.

Presenters’ slides are now available on the History Section website: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/presentations.

Historical Materials Awards

The Best Historical materials list was announced at the RUSA Book and Media Awards Ceremony at ALA Midwinter. Annually, this committee selects the best historical bibliographies and resources. For a complete list of the winners with descriptions see: http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2015/02/annual-list-best-historical-materials-selected-rusa-s-history-section. Winners are: Europeana 1914-1918; Mapping Gothic France; 1914-1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War; Lowcountry Digital History Initiative; Darwin Online; Freedom Summer Digital Collection; Densho Digital Repository; Roaring Twenties.

 

Webinars

Webinar in the works: Personal Archiving Program

We are working on a webinar that highlights three programs developed to support individuals’ efforts to archive their personal and family histories. In the fall of 2013, Jordan Welborn, a librarian at Campbell County (VA) Public Library got a six-week pilot program on personal digital archiving set up for less than $300. At the University of Central Florida, graduate student Ashley Vance conducted a History Harvest, a community-based digitizing event of personal artifacts to be placed onto the UCF digital archive. And Noah Lenstra, a PhD candidate at UIUC’s Graduate School of Library & Information Science, has given a series of public workshops on “Digital Local & Family history” across Illinois.

Paid Webinar

We have an upcoming webinar on Tuesday, May 12, 2015: 2-3:30pm: Exploring Partnerships with Faculty and Other User Groups for Digital Humanities Projects. (see http://www.ala.org/rusa/exploring-partnerships) which will provide specific examples of the ways in which librarians from two academic libraries actively participated in digital humanities projects with different user groups. Hear Chella Vaidyanathan from Johns Hopkins, Caitlin Christian-Lamb from Davidson College, and Mary Elings from The Bancroft library on the UC Berkeley campus talk about specific collaborative projects.

 

Updates from History Section Committees

The History Section Instruction & Research Services Committee (IRS) is revising the RUSA page “Using Primary Sources on the Web” (http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources) Originally written in 2003 and last revised in 2008, the Committee’s work will include updated content, a more contemporary look to the page and include new content for students and the public on ethical uses of internet sources. More to come later this spring. The Committee is also beginning to look at ways of improving communication among history librarians beyond the ALA Annual and Midwinter conference experiences. The Committee would like to keep the conversation about ideas, best practices, and clever solutions to promoting and supporting history librarians going; the Committee wants to reach out across the spectrum of libraries and cultural institutions, so watch for news on this communications front as well.

The Genealogy Committee is working on revising two sets of guidelines: Guidelines for a Unit or Course of Instruction in Genealogical Research at Schools of Library and Information Science and Guidelines for Developing a Core Genealogy Collection.

The Genealogical Publishing Company Award Committee has revised its charge and had it approved by the HS executive committee:

Revised January 31, 2015

Established in 1992 and sponsored by Genealogical Publishing Company, this award may be presented to an individual, group, publisher, or institution in recognition of achievements and activities in historical or genealogical reference, service or research. Sponsored by Genealogical Publishing Company; the 2015 award is $1,500 and a citation.

The recipient shall be selected for exceptional accomplishment in one or more of the following areas: leadership; service; training; reference; or publication of recent, significant print or digital reference works/projects that offer access to genealogical or historical sources. Preference shall be given to members of RUSA.

HSGPC committee:

Helen Gbala, Chair
Mary Bogan, Scribe
William J. Forsyth, Member
Sarah Kirby, Member

Between now and annual the Genealogical Publishing Company Award Committee will be working an Award manual following the style suggested by the RUSA awards coordinating committee.

MARS: Update from the Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS)

Chanitra Bishop, Editor

 

MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section

MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section is a busy group of folks dedicated to the intersection of technology and library services. There is a place for everyone in MARS and we hope that you will join us at conferences or engage in our online offerings. Below are some highlights from this past year of MARS happenings, as well as some announcements on things to come!

News from the Planning Committee

This year’s ballot will bring you not only a slate of well qualified candidates for the Vice Chair/Chair Elect position and a Member at Large position, but also, for the first time in a number of years, a number of bylaws changes on which to vote. First, we’re voting to change the acronym from MARS, which we have known and loved for 37 years, to ETS, for Emerging Technologies Section. Although the MARS acronym has a good history and holds significance for many of us who have been in the profession a while, we’re finding our newer colleagues are confused by the lack of alignment between the MARS acronym and the name we choose in 2010: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section.   By aligning our acronym with our name, we hope to eliminate a lot of the confusion. Additional bylaws changes are being made primarily to clean up language and bring the handbook up to date with current practices. Please take a look and remember to vote this Spring. The Planning Committee and the Executive Committee recommend you vote YES on all six (6) items.

A brief summary of the Bylaws changes can be found below:

  1. To amend Bylaws Article I, Name, Section 1 by changing the acronym from MARS to ETS.
  2. To Amend Article II. Objectives, to delete the unneeded acronym
  3. To amend Article V. Nominations and Elections to add the procedure of online balloting for       elections in accordance with current ALA practice.
  4. To amend Article VII. Executive Committee to delete references to positions which no longer   exist.
  5. To amend Article IX. Discussion Groups to remove the acronym and to clarify roles.
  6. To amend Article XII. Adoption and Review by adding language to include the ALA balloting process.

Submitted by Debbie Bezanson, Chair Planning Committee

From the Nominating Committee

Votes for New Officers

For the 2015 Spring ballot, the Nominating Committee has identified four well qualified candidates for the positions of Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Member at Large.

They are:

For Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Shannon D. Jones, and Courtney Greene McDonald.

For Member at Large: Jason Coleman, and Beth Boatright.

Be sure to check out their biographies when you receive your ballot. Eligible members will be sent their voting credentials between March 24-27, 2015. Votes must be received by May 1, 2015. For more on the ALA 2015 election cycle, including a link to the video of the ALA presidential candidates forum, please see: http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/alaelection.

Submitted by Debbie Bezanson, Chair, Nominating Committee

Volunteer for MARS: Emerging Technologies

Are you interested in the great work that MARS is doing? Interested in participating in committee work? Take a look at the variety of committees available as part of the MARS: Emerging Technologies Section: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marssection/marscomm/committees. If you see one that interests you or you have questions about a particular committee, please contact me, Donna Scanlon (dscanlon@loc.gov), MARS Vice Chair, for additional information or to volunteer for a MARS committee.

MidWinter Conference Wrap-Up

MARS hosted some great discussion groups at ALA MidWinter 2015 in Chicago. Despite the blizzard, lots of folks came out to discuss how they are using technology to help their library users.

Our Virtual Reference Discussion Group met on Saturday, January 31st for an opportunity to share ideas about front-line virtual reference services and best practices.

On Sunday, February 1, 2015, the Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Discussion Group held a well-attended discussion group.   They focused on assessment of library resources embedded in course management systems. Participants heard from several panelists, as well as sharing experiences from their libraries.

Also on Sunday, February 1st, the Hot Topics group hosted a discussion forum on Augmented Reality. Participants explored how augmented reality was being applied in libraries.

Sunday night, MARS Best Free Reference Web Sites presented their list of award winners at the RUSA Book & Media Awards Ceremony. For a list of this year’s winner, see http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marspubs/marsbestfreewebsites/marsbestref2014

Annual Conference is Coming

Check out the great MARS programming that is coming your way during the Annual Conference 2015 in sunny San Francisco.

Saturday, June 27
1:00 – 2:30 — MARS Chair’s Program: (Library Guides in the Era of Discovery Layers)
3:00 – 4:00 – Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Discussion Forum (Join     us to talk about libraries in Course Management Systems)

Sunday, June 28
1:00 – 2:00 – MARS All Committee Meetings (Visitors interested in MARS are welcome to join us and learn)
3:00 – 4:00 — Hot Topics (Come hear about the use of drones and robotics in libraries)
4:30 – 5:30 – Virtual Reference Discussion Group (Come hear about the latest developments in virtual reference)

MARS Management of Electronic Reference Services

Midwinter Discussion Update

The Midwinter MARS Management of Electronic Reference Services Discussion Forum, Assessing Integration of Library Services into Course Management Systems, was a follow-up to the MERS Forum at Annual 2014. We began with a short panel presentation moderated by Lily Todorinova (Rutgers). Beth West (Linfield College), Lindsay Johnston (University of Alberta), and Matt Torrence (University of South Florida Tampa) described assessment activities that they are planning and have undertaken at their institutions. This was followed by a lively discussion with the 40 participants on the challenges that academic librarians face when undertaking to integrate library services into content management systems. Four themes emerged during the course of the discussion:

  1. Despite the variation among our institutions, efforts to integrate library services into Course Management Systems involve negotiating a combination of technical and political challenges. Relationship-building, leveraging existing relationships, and acting as liaison between different campus partners must be combined with learning the technical possibilities and constraints of CMS architecture.
  2. Analytics are extremely important for the placement of links to library resources and services anywhere in the institutional online presence, including within the CMS. We need to work together to explore ways to demonstrate the impact of library resources and services on student success. The ACRL Assessment in Action Program was cited as an avenue that could provide support in proposing this type of research to campus partners and overcoming privacy issues.
  3. Opportunities: services that we already provide, such as Reserves and Reading List Services (which we should start rebranding as Resource List Services to indicate that we are not limited to the printed word) are examples of services that translate naturally into the CMS environment. Once this type of service is established within the CMS, relationships with campus IT and Learning colleagues are established, and the library presence within the CMS can be expanded. Course Management Systems provide us with the opportunity of pushing relevant library content within the appropriate context and at point of need for students.
  4. Quality & Sustainability: what library staff resources does it take to successfully integrate library services into the CMS? With CMSs such as Canvas, the architecture is available to automatically embed relevant library guides into individual courses by subject, course code, etc. When we push our content, it must be of excellent quality and continually maintained. Common issues such as libguide tab-mania and out of date guides must be managed and avoided. There pushed content, such as library guides. These guides are learning objects, which should adhere was general consensus on the importance taking a minimalist approach in the creation of to information literacy principles.

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated. Look for our final Forum on CMS Integration at Annual 2015 in San Francisco!

Submitted by Lindsay Johnston

RSS

Amy Rustic, Editor                         

RSS logo

Message from the Chair:

Hello Everyone,

Chicago rolled out the snowy carpet for Midwinter! And while the weather was not always agreeable, RSS was active with discussion forums, committee meetings, and the annual Pancake Breakfast. I’m sure the weather in San Francisco will be slightly warmer.

Are you interested in becoming involved in an RSS committee or representing RSS on a RUSA-level committee? Now is the time to volunteer. Crystal Lentz, RSS Vice Chair, will be starting the appointment process shortly. Here is the form to note your interest in volunteering: http://www.ala.org/cfapps/committee/volunteerform . If you have questions or would like to learn more about RSS and its committees, please feel free to contact me at q-johnson[at]northwestern[dot]edu or Crystal Lentz at crystal[dot]lentz[at]sos[dot]wa[dot]gov . Want to learn what committee might be the best fit for you? Check out the RSS committees through ALA Connect to learn about ongoing work and future projects.

Keep an eye out for information about the RSS and RUSA sponsored programs and discussion forums at Annual!

Qiana Johnson
q-johnson[at]northwestern[dot]edu
RSS Chair, 2014-2015

 

RSS Honor Roll

When you hear Honor Roll do you have flashbacks to high school? Maybe you have happy memories of the honor roll or maybe you think could of, would of, should of…

Regardless of your experience in high school, you may be eligible for the RSS Honor Roll.

The RSS has an Honor Roll that gives recognition to active RSS members who have served the section in three different capacities since its inception.

If you have been a member of three or more committees or discussion groups since RSS was established in 2004 and have not previously been added to the honor roll, please send your name and a list of the three ways you have served RSS to Sarah Hammill at hammills@fiu.edu

Not only will you become a member of this esteemed group, you will also be recognized at ALA Annual in San Francisco!

Join the RSS Honor Roll today

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

 

Message from the Chair

Dear STARS Members and Friends,

At Midwinter, I once again witnessed our engaged, thoughtful, and hard-working STARS members. We had interesting conversations during the Discussion Groups and accomplished a great deal in our committee meetings. Our annual free workshop, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about ILL,” had close to 60 attendees. I’d like to extend a big thank you to the University of Chicago Regenstein Library for hosting the event!

If you aren’t a STARS member and have an interest in resource sharing, I would encourage you to join our amazing community of knowledge and support. If you have questions about what STARS does, feel free to contact me at cbaich@iupui.edu.

For you current STARS members, Vice-Chair Tom Bruno is gearing up for the committee appointment process. You can contact him at tom.bruno@yale.edu to express your interest in serving on a STARS committee or as a STARS representative to a RUSA committee.

I’m already looking forward to seeing all of you in San Francisco!

Tina Baich
STARS Chair 2014-2015

 

Research and Assessment Committee

The Research and Assessment Committee has finalized the speakers for the pre-conference at ALA Annual 2015. The preconference will be held on that Friday, from 9AM-12PM. We are working on marketing the workshop. The presenters will include:

Kerri Goergen-Doll
Oregon State University
Resource Acquisition and Sharing Director
kerri.goergen-doll@oregonstate.edu

Heidi Nance
University of Washington
Head, ILL and Document Delivery
hnance@uw.edu

Collette Mak
University of Notre Dame
Outreach and Scholarly Communications Librarian
cmak@nd.edu

Tom Bruno
Yale University
Associate Director for Resource Sharing and Reserves
tom.bruno@yale.edu

Krista Higham
Millersville University
Access Services Librarian
krista.higham@millersville.edu

Sue Kaler
Massachusetts Library System
ILL Manager
sue@masslibsystem.org

Micquel Little
Claremont University
Director of User Services and Resource Sharing
micquel_little@cuc.claremont.edu

Bethany Sewell, Chair

Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee

The Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee continues to review and revise the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States and its Explanatory Supplement. Feedback from the October 2014 survey has greatly informed our discussions and decision-making. We are on target to have first drafts ready for the STARS Board and RUSA Standards and Guidelines Committee by April/May 2015, and we project that approved drafts will be ready for general comment by the ILL community in late summer/early Fall. By request of the STARS Education and Training Committee, we are also reviewing and updating the ShareILL Codes and Guidelines web page.

Brian Miller, Chair

Atlas Systems Mentoring Award Committee

The STARS Atlas Systems Mentoring Award Committee received 30 nominations and, after careful evaluation, have chosen a winner. The STARS Executive Board has approved the choice and we are waiting for RUSA to make the official announcement, before we promote our selection of the nominee.

Amy Paulus, Chair

Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee

STARS Policies met at Midwinter to discuss the revised Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative Star Checklist. The revised version was approved by the Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative Steering Committee and the STARS Executive Committee. We also discussed the logistics of mounting the new checklist, publicizing it and training with it and making data from it more available and useful to the greater resource sharing community.

Sue Kaler, Chair

From the President

President’s column

To begin this issue of RUSA Update, I’d like to highlight some of the not-to-be-missed events that will be taking place at the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. Whether you are a new member or you have been involved in RUSA for many years, these events are sure to peak your curiosity and engage your interests.

ALA Midwinter Events

[Free!] Genealogy Institute: Meeting the Needs of Your Family History Patrons:
Friday, January 30, 2015 – 8:30am to 4:00pm; Enjoy an interactive day of learning and networking for all librarians serving genealogists. Leaders from the library and genealogical industry will cover a variety of topics, including strategic planning, partnerships, and serving diverse populations. Luncheon provided by our sponsor, ProQuest. Registration is free, but required. Limit 150 participants. Find the link to register at http://alamw15.ala.org/ticketed-events#RUSA

RUSA President’s Program Discussion Forum:
Saturday, January 31, 2015 – 10:30am to 11:30am; Get a preview of the 2015 RUSA President’s Program by taking part in a thoughtful discussion about the themes in danah boyd’s book, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (available for free download at http://www.danah.org/itscomplicated). We’ll discuss implications on privacy, information seeking behaviors, and library service of the future. Even if you haven’t read the book, feel free to join us for what is sure to be a wide ranging discussion on how libraries can best serve teens. This discussion is organized by the 2015 RUSA President’s Program Planning Committee and the RUSA Just Ask Task Force.

We are very excited to be able to announce that danah boyd will be our 2015 RUSA President’s Program speaker at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco! danah boyd is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research and is a 2008 PhD graduate of the School of Information (iSchool) at the University of California-Berkeley. Her research focuses on the intersection between technology and society and she blogs at http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts. Mark your calendars now – the RUSA President’s Program will take place on Saturday, June 27, 2015 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm.

RUSA Leadership Development and Speed Mentoring Session:
Saturday, January 31, 2015 – 3:30pm to 5:30pm; Join a group of experienced RUSA leaders and engage in a fun, interactive “speed mentoring” session. Similar in format to “speed dating”, MLS students, new librarians, and mid-career librarians are invited to participate in this session where they will have the opportunity to gain leadership advice from a number of senior librarians and RUSA leaders.

RUSA Membership Social:
Saturday, January 31, 2015 – 5:30pm to 7:00pm; Kick off the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting in style with the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Membership Social—an opportunity to eat, drink, network, win door prizes and learn more about RUSA. The social is open to all ALA Midwinter attendees! RUSA members are encouraged to bring their friends and anyone interested in learning more about the association and networking with peers. All attendees will have the opportunity to win fantastic door prizes!

Book & Media Awards Ceremony and Reception:
Sunday, February 1, 2015 – 5:00pm to 6:30pm; The highly acclaimed Chicago author, Margaret Hawkins will be our feature speaker and kick off our premier awards event for adult reading and reference. We’ll unveil the winners of The Reading List, Listen List selections—lists that are used by readers advisory librarians nationwide, Notable Books, which forms the basis for the Carnegie Medals Longlist —as well as the winners of the Dartmouth Medal for reference, the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish literature, the Zora Neale Hurston Award for achievement in promoting African-American literature and the Louis Shores Award for book reviewing. All ALA Midwinter Meeting participants are invited to this celebration on-site in Chicago. Can’t attend? For the most up-to-date announcements, follow the event on Facebook and track it on Twitter with hashtag #literarytastes.

Discussion Forums/Discussion Groups:
The RUSA Sections (BRASS, CODES, History, MARS, RSS, and STARS) are organizing open discussions on a number of timely and relevant topics. All registered ALA Midwinter attendees are encouraged to drop in, listen, learn, and contribute. These include Hot Topics: Augmented Reality, the Genealogy and Local History Discussion Group, the Future of Reference Education for Librarians, and STARS Hot Topics – to name a few.

Meetings:

Keep in mind that except for meetings involving awards or nominations, most other meetings are open, meaning that anyone registered for ALA Midwinter may attend. Visiting a meeting can often be a great way to learn about the work being done in a certain area and meetings of some groups may allow you to demonstrate your own interest in a topic. The RUSA Board will be holding two open meetings at Midwinter, on Saturday, January 31 from 1:30 – 3:30 pm and on Monday, February 2 from 2:00-4:00 pm.

Online Courses – attend where you are!
More and more of our members are taking advantage of our online learning opportunities. Make sure to check out RUSA’s great selection of continuing education courses that will be offered over winter/spring 2015. These include the ever-popular Business Reference 101, Genealogy 101, Readers Advisory 101, Xtreme Bibliographic Searching for Interlibrary Loan & Reference, Introduction to Spatial Literacy and Online Mapping, and – available for the first time – Introduction to Economic Data on the Web. Find these courses and our upcoming and archived webinars at http://www.ala.org/rusa/development/onlinece.

Checking in on Strategic Planning
On September 15, 2014 the RUSA Review Task Force completed its work through the release of a final report, which can be found on ALA Connect at
http://connect.ala.org/node/229140. This was a vast project that took a great deal of coordination along the way. Credit for the success of the project goes to all of the members of the task force, but most significantly to co-chairs Chris LeBeau and Diane Zabel. The report now serves to highlight the key challenges and opportunities that RUSA faces as it strives to be a responsive and sustainable organization. It is now one of the primary research documents that is informing our Strategic Planning Process.

RUSA has contracted with Paul D. Meyer, President and Co-CEO of Tecker International, LLC to provide strategic planning coordinating and facilitation services. Paul has worked with large, complex and multi-system organizations as well as small community-based institutions, corporations, and nonprofits representing a variety of industries and professions. He has previously consulting services to several ALA divisions, including ACRL, ALSC, PLA, and YALSA. The members of the RUSA Strategic Plan Coordinating Task Force met with Paul for a Process Design session on October 25. The task force is now gathering and reviewing secondary research in advance of the creation of a new survey questionnaire that will be distributed electronically to the RUSA membership. The task force will then create draft core purpose and core value statements for review by the full RUSA Board. On Friday, January 30th, 2015 the full\ RUSA Board will participate in a day-long facilitated strategic planning discussion at ALA Midwinter in Chicago. This timeline will allow us to complete a new plan before the ALA Annual Conference 2015 in San Francisco.

That’s a brief summary to a substantial project for RUSA!

Best wishes to all of our RUSA members and may you have a wonderful winter!

-Joe

Joseph Thompson
RUSA President 2014-2015

Senior Administrator – Public Services
Harford County Public Library
1221-A Brass Mill Road
Belcamp, MD 21017
thompson@hcplonline.org

Emerging Leader

This year’s ALA Annual in Las Vegas was a bittersweet experience, because although the conference was wonderful it also signaled the end of my time in the Emerging Leaders program. I made some great connections with other librarians from across the country, particularly the four people on my project team. It’s odd not to talk to them each Thursday at our weekly meeting, which we previously had done for about six months.

Thank you again to RUSA for sponsoring me as your Emerging Leader; I’m still so grateful for this opportunity, which absolutely helped me to strengthen my leadership skills and to network with librarians outside of my direct geographical community. Now that I’m an Emerging Leaders alum I’ve already begun encouraging other librarians and LIS graduate students to apply!

Although I have graduated from the Emerging Leaders program I am still very involved with RUSA! I’m presenting interning on the RUSA Professional Development Committee. The project that I’m primarily working on is RUSA’s Free School Subcommittee, a project that aims to provide LIS graduate students opportunities to engage in professional development and to meet library practitioners.

I look forward to continuing my involvement with RUSA in the future!

Katelyn Angell
RUSA Emerging leader

RUSA News/Announcements

Dear RUSA Members,

With a new year looming, I want take a moment to let all RUSA volunteers know how much we appreciate all the work, time and energy you put into RUSA. RUSA has so many wonderful things to offer members such as service on our book award committees, our beloved Literary Tastes and Book & Media Awards events, guidelines for reference and user services and online educational sessions among others. We couldn’t have done any of this without the invaluable advice and assistance of our member leaders and volunteers. I also want to thank every RUSA member for all their dedication and loyalty in helping to make our division successful; it’s a pleasure and a privilege to serve you! The entire RUSA office staff thanks you all!

The Midwinter conference will be in Chicago this year and I hope those of you who will be there will take time to visit with us at the RUSA Membership Social. It will be held Saturday, January 31, 2015, 5:30 pm 07:00 pm, at the Hilton Chicago – Williford B. Join us to mingle, meet the RUSA board members, committee chairs, and volunteer leaders, and have some fun. We’ll have a raffle with great prizes and refreshments will be available so be sure to come and bring your friends and colleagues – all members and visitors are welcome!

One other event that is always of interest to all RUSA members and book lovers is the Book & Media reception taking place Sunday, February 1, 2015, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm at the Hilton Chicago – Williford. We are excited to announce that we have a featured guest speaker this year: Margaret Hawkins, author of Lydia’s Party and senior lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ms. Hawkins will be signing copies of her book after the reception. We’ll also unveil the winners of The Reading List, Notable Books list (which help form the long list for the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Excellence for Fiction and Nonfiction), the Listen List selections, and many more (see all of our awards here: http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards). All ALA Midwinter Meeting participants are invited to this celebration in Chicago. If you can’t attend, you will be able to track the announcements on Twitter with the hashtag #literarytastes. Don’t miss this wonderful event. We hope to see you there!

In addition, the RUSA board will meet three times in Chicago; please feel free to join us as our honored guests. The meetings will be held:

RUSA Strategic Planning Discussion
Friday, January 30, 2015
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
McCormick Place West – W192a

Board of Directors Meeting I (RUSA)
Saturday, Jan 31, 2015
01:30 pm – 03:30 pm
Hilton Chicago – Grand Tradition Room

**Don’t miss our Town Hall, where we invite all RUSA members to provide input on RUSA’s strategic path.**

Board of Directors Meeting II (RUSA)
Monday, Feb 2, 2015
02:00 pm – 04:00 pm
McCormick Place West – W195

See you in Chicago and best wishes for a happy new year!

Susan Hornung
Executive Director, ASCLA/RUSA

Book & Media Awards Ceremony and Reception:
Sunday, February 1, 2015 – 5:00pm to 6:30pm;
The highly acclaimed Chicago author, Margaret Hawkins will be our feature speaker and kick off our premier awards event for adult reading and reference.

We’ll unveil the winners of The Reading List, Listen List selections—lists that are used by readers advisory librarians nationwide, Notable Books, which forms the basis for the Carnegie Medals Longlist —as well as the winners of the Dartmouth Medal for reference, the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish literature, the Zora Neale Hurston Award for achievement in promoting African-American literature and the Louis Shores Award for book reviewing. All ALA Midwinter Meeting participants are invited to this celebration on-site in Chicago. Can’t attend? For the most up-to-date announcements, follow us on Facebook and track us on Twitter with hashtag #literarytastes.

Membership Social:
Saturday, January 31, 2015 – 5:30pm to 7:00pm;
Kick off the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting in style with the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Membership Social—an opportunity to eat, drink, network, win door prizes and learn more about RUSA. The social open to all current RUSA members, friends of RUSA and those meeting attendees interested in learning more about the association and networking with peers. All attendees will have the opportunity to win fantastic door prizes!

RUSA Leadership Development and Speed Mentoring Session:
Saturday, January 31, 2015 – 3:30pm to 5:30pm;
Join a group of experienced RUSA leaders and engage in a fun, interactive “speed mentoring” session. Similar in format to “speed dating”, MLS students, new librarians, and mid-career librarians are invited to participate in this session where they will have the opportunity to gain leadership advice from a number of senior librarians and RUSA leaders.

Genealogy Institute: Meeting the Needs of Your Family History Patrons:
Friday, January 30, 2015 – 8:30am to 4:00pm; Enjoy an interactive day of learning and networking for all librarians serving genealogists. Leaders from the library and genealogical industry will cover a variety of topics, including strategic planning, partnerships, and serving diverse populations. Luncheon provided by our sponsor, Proquest. Registration is free, but required. Limit 150 participants. Please register here:

RUSA Online Learning

Webinars:

Embedded Librarianship Across Disciplines.
December 9: 2:00-3:15 PM

Examine three successful models.
Read more. Register here.

GlobalEDGE: Your Free Resource for Global Business Knowledge.
December 11: 1:00-2:15 PM

Learn about globalEDGE, a free international business website.
Read more. Register here.

Online Courses:

Introduction to Economic Data on the Web.
Feb. 2 – 28, 2015

Economic concepts and terms essential to understanding economic reference questions.
Read more. Register here.

Business Reference 101.
Feb. 9 – Mar. 6, 2015

Demystify SIC and NAICS codes, ROI and 10k’s.
Read more. Register here.

Readers’ Advisory 101.
Feb. 16 – Apr. 5, 2015
(Chats on Thursdays, Time 3 p.m. CST)
Be more comfortable providing readers’ advisory (RA) services.
Read more. Register here.

Introduction to Spatial Literacy and Online Mapping.
Mar. 23 – Apr. 12, 2015

Introduction to mapping tools and GIS technologies for public and academic library users.
Read more. Register here.

Genealogy 101.
Mar. 23 – Apr. 26, 2015

Introduction to American genealogy reference service and assist patrons with family history research.
Read more. Register here.

Xtreme Bibliographic Searching for Interlibrary Loan & Reference.
Apr. 20 – May 17, 2015
(Live Sessions on Thursdays, Time 1 p.m. CST)
Mansel Pre 56 to Digital Repositories, DOAJ to Trove to HathiTrust. Don’t know those terms, then this course is for you!
Read more. Register Now!

RUSA Committee Reports

Just Ask Task Force
The Just Ask Task Force has continued to meet since ALA Annual and have been discussing its future goals. The Task Force is developing social media tools that reference staff can use to highlight what they do, including a #JustAsk social media campaign. Reference staff would be encouraged to Tweet some of their most interesting questions using the #JustAsk hashtag. We are hoping to compile these as a way to highlight the variety of questions we receive. Said another way, it’s a way to tell our story. Stay tuned for more details.

Midwinter Meeting:
Task Force Meeting: The Task Force will be meeting on Saturday January 31 from 1:00-2:00 PM, location to be determined. The meeting is open to anyone.

Elizabeth Stephan
Diana Shonrock

Co-chairs

Professional Development Committee
The Professional Development Committee (PDC) provides leadership and coordination of learning opportunities beyond the geographic constraints of conference meetings. This year the committee already reviewed proposals for online courses and webinars. Peruse the outstanding new offerings and register for one or more of these great learning opportunities http://www.ala.org/rusa/development/onlinece. We are excited to announce that RUSA Executive Committee once again agreed to offer each section one free webinar in calendar year 2015. The PDC will review the proposals in spring 2015 but now is the time to start thinking about submitting a proposal. Stay tuned for the call for proposals and deadlines.

Elizabeth Kline, chair
klinee@email.arizona.edu

RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee
The RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee (CPCC) will be meeting at ALA Midwinter in Chicago on Sunday, February 1, 1-2:30 pm to discuss logistics, priorities, and projects. However, the “rubber will really hit the road” beginning in May 2015. Be on the lookout for the RUSA announcement for program submissions for ALA Annual 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Once announced, the deadline for submissions will be May 1, 2015! So, it’s never too early for RUSA Sections to begin thinking about program offerings in Orlando. Currently, each section has one slot available for a program offering, but, as additional details become available, we’ll be keeping everyone informed. If any section chairs have questions about 2016 programming, feel free to communicate these to your liaison and we’ll get answers for you. The current CPCC roster is available at http://www.ala.org/rusa/contact/rosters/rusa/rus-cfcoord.

RUSA CPCC will also be having a pre-Midwinter online meeting with a meeting time to be announced to kick off the 2014-15 committee’s activities.

Don Boozer, chair 2014-15

RUSA Membership
In a new initiative, RUSA Membership has been holding monthly sessions of a virtual RUSA 101 on the second Thursday of the month. Not only does Joe Thompson, current RUSA President join, but we’ve also had Tina Baich, Chair of STARS, Qiana Johnson, Chair of RSS; Jenny Presnell, Chair of History; Ed Kownslar for RUSA Awards; Todd Hines, Chair of BRASS; and Stephanie Graves, Chair of MARS. Thank you to all of these amazing volunteers! We’ve averaged 15 people at every session which has been amazing! (And if you’re interested in guest starring–send Ann Brown an email at agbrown@gwu.edu)

We’re going to start RUSA 201 in December. This will be a virtual session aimed at people already in RUSA and on Section Committees. Watch the listservs for an announcement!

Ann Brown, chair
agbrown@gwu.edu

BRASS Notes

John Gottfried, Editor

Message from the BRASS Chair

Planning for Midwinter in Chicago is underway. As a reminder, there are no required committee meetings at Midwinter. BRASS will hold an all-member meeting, which includes time for an open-floor business topics discussion. It will be held on Sunday, February 1 from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. BRASS discussions and committee work will continue virtually as well during the Midwinter period. Please read the committee reports below for updates on current planning and initiatives.

Our Vice Chair Paul Brothers will be sending out a call for BRASS committee volunteers in the near future. These appointments will start after Annual 2015. The call will go out on BRASS-L, so please join the BRASS-L listserv if you aren’t already subscribed and watch for the notice. Members are not required to attend conferences in order to participate on committees.

Please contact me if you have BRASS-related questions or ideas.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Chicago.

Todd Hines
BRASS Chair 2014-2015
thines@princeton.edu

BRASS Committee Reports

Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee
A new article has been posted to the Public Libraries Briefcase: “Help! I’m not a Business Librarian,” by Sal DiVincenzo

Other ideas for articles:

  • Terry Zarsky: Description/case study of the opening of a new high-tech library center, library21c (http://ppld.org/library-21c).
  • Article or presentation about building a Local Business Contact List at the city-county-state levels
  • Julia Herrington: considering an article on “Libraries in Boomtowns”
  • Updating past Public Library Briefcases: committee divided the workload for a dead link check
  • Topic for 2015 ALA Annual Convention Program:
  • Panel about Revenue Streams for Libraries (would include naming rights, sponsorships, crowd funding, grants and other non-levy type revenue sources)
  • Midwinter: committee will meet virtually sometime in January.

Ed Rossman, 2014-2015 Chair

 

Business Reference Services Discussion Group
To date, the BRASS Discussion Group has hosted two virtual discussions during the fall semester:

On September 19, 2014, a virtual discussion was held which centered on collections. This topic was chosen based on responses to a survey sent out earlier to all BRASS members. Several resources were discussed including HBR, WRDS, Thomson Reuters Eikon and other Thomson resources, Investext (Mergent vs. Thomson), Bloomberg, and MSCI ESG Research. The recording is available on ALA Connect.

On October 24, 2014, an instruction-themed virtual discussion took place. We discussed faculty outreach, strategies for one-shot and embedded instruction, business information literacy, and assessment. During the meeting, many people shared links to instructional resources. These links are available in the chat transcript posted on ALA Connect.

The discussions held so far involved around forty participants each. Thank you to the committee members who have helped coordinate these discussions. The next virtual discussion of the BRASS Discussion Group will take place on November 21, 2014 with a topic to be determined.

Emily Treptow 2014-2016 Chair

Business Reference Resources Committee
The latest column on outstanding reference resources will be appearing in the next issue of the Reference and User Services Quarterly. There will be eleven resources reviewed for this issue.

The committee also approved of a topic for the publishers forum for the next ALA annual conference next June in San Francisco. The forum will be on Financial Literacy and will be titled Money Smart – Sources for Promoting Financial Literacy to your community.

Ed Hahn, 2014-2015 Chair

Education Committee
The BRASS Education Committee is up to a great start this year. We’ve been busy working on a number of projects:

  • Migration to the new LibGuide 2.0 platform led by Peter McKay is completed. Last year’s effort was focused on combining the Selected Core Resources and Best of the Best Business Websites guides into single topical guides [http://brass.libguides.com/index.php]. Now all members are reviewing and updating their guides to take full advantage of new functionality. The plans for November include a virtual meeting to further discuss style guidelines and come up with a process for editorial review.
  • The preconference working group, including Natasha Arguello, Christina Sheley, Ashley Faulkner, Desirae Sweet, and Susan Schreiner will coordinate the 2015 RUSA BRASS preconference in San Francisco. We are trying a new half-day format and a new topic on intellectual property for entrepreneurs. We have been able to recruit excellent presenters who will discuss IP challenges faced by entrepreneurs, patent and trademark searching, and best practices in business librarians’ collaboration with the campus technology transfer office.
  • Nominating and voting for three Best of the Best Business Websites which will be announced at the RUSA Book and Media Award Ceremony at the ALA Midwinter is also under way. Our theme for selecting the best business website aligns with the upcoming 2015 Preconference “Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs.” The working group which includes Susan Schreiner, Kelly LaVoice, and Penny Huffman continues developing a marketing plan to raise the profile of the award. To see the previous winners, please visit http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/bestofthebestbus.

Natasha Arguello, 2012-2015 Chair

Program Planning Committee
BRASS 2015 ALA Annual Program!

Mark your calendars:

Monday, June 29, 2015, 8:30-10:00 AM

“Not Elsewhere Classified”: Researching New and Niche Industries

How do librarians teach business students and entrepreneurs the research techniques for a budding industry or market? How do we help our clients get ahead of an emerging industry or a new idea? Learn from experts about how to locate and evaluate information on leading-edge industries, assess markets, and lead your clients in making strategic decisions when their business crosses traditional NAICS code boundaries or is part of a new field.

Speaker(s):

Laura Young, Co-Owner of Bizologie (and another speaker, to be announced)

Laura is a Research Analyst for Austin Ventures, a 30-year-old venture capital firm with $3.9 billion of assets under management. She received her MSIS from the University of Texas and her BA from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Before pursuing a career in the private sector, she provided research and instruction services for the University of Texas Libraries. The other speaker will be associated with new ventures also.

Diane Campbell, 2014-2015 Chair

Publications and Communications Committee
The Publications and Communications Committee will be putting together a preliminary draft of the BRASS ALA Annual 2015 Schedule of Events in March. The P&C Committee will be soliciting committee chairs for their program and meeting information. This draft version will not have as much information as the final version, but will be a means to notify BRASS members well in advance of ALA Annual about the types of programming available. The preliminary draft schedule should make it easier in piecing together the final schedule in May/early June.

Chad Boeninger, 2014-2015 Chair

Vendor Relations
Business Expert Press’s three year support for a BRASS travel award has come to an end. RUSA will fund the award for one year while we try to find another sponsor for next year. The Vendor Relations Committee also made a proposal to Gale to retain our awards and were successful.

Chris LeBeau, 2014-2015 Chair

Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship Award
The BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship committee continues to solicit nominations through December 14th, 2014. The award recognizes a business librarian who has made a significant contribution to our field. Take a look around you (or in the mirror!) and if this sounds like you or someone you know, then please take a look at this page for more information on how to submit a nomination:http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/businesslib

Celia Ross, 2014-2015 Chair

Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award Committee
Sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, this $1,250 monetary prize is given to a student enrolled in an ALA accredited master’s degree program to fund travel to and attendance at the ALA Annual Conference and a one-year membership in the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA. Candidates for the award should have demonstrated interest in a career in business librarianship and the potential to be a leader in the profession, as evidenced by activities that may include (but are not limited to) coursework, internships, jobs, special projects, and publications. Applicants may download the form here:nomination form (PDF format). Deadline for all nominations is February 8, 2015.

Michael Oppenheim, 2014-2015 Chair

Emerald Research Award Committee
The Emerald Research Award Committee is currently seeking nominations for the $5000 award described below. Please let colleagues know about the award. Feel free to distribute the announcement below to your local listservs:

Are you a librarian in need of funding for a business research project?

The Emerald Research Grant Award, sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing Limited offers one award of $5,000 and a citation to an individual or team seeking support to conduct research in business librarianship. The awards will be presented at the RUSA Awards Ceremony at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. Recipients will be required to attend the RUSA Awards Ceremony.

Candidates must submit a detailed proposal outlining their proposed research project; methodology, scope and timetable; how this project fits into the existing literature; and projected outcomes, including a statement outlining how this research will benefit the library profession. Proposals will be reviewed for thoroughness; potential to positively impact the library profession; and potential to provide a useful addition to the existing library literature. Proposals will be accepted from both individual researchers and those working collaboratively. At least one member of a collaborative team must be a member of ALA.

The recipient(s) may be asked to present their findings at a public BRASS event within two years of receiving the award (at the discretion of the BRASS Executive Committee). The recipient will also be required to acknowledge the Emerald Research Grant when publishing or presenting their research. The deadline for proposals is December 14, 2014. Proposals can be sent to: leticia_camacho@byu.edu.

Leticia Camacho, 2014-2015 Chair

Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee
Do you know a public librarian who has performed outstanding business reference service and whose attendance at the ALA Annual Conference is not fully funded by their institution? Please nominate your colleague for the Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award! The recipient will receive $1250 in travel funds to attend the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. If you meet the qualifications, please don’t hesitate to nominate yourself! The deadline for nominations is December 14, 2014. For details, see http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/publibsupport.

Karen Chapman, 2014-2015 Chair

Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award Committee
You may not recognize this committee—that’s because it’s undergone a name change while we look for another vendor sponsor. However, the charge is still the same! We are looking for a new academic business librarian to give a $1250 grant to travel to ALA. Please nominate yourself or a new business librarian at: http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/brass_business_expert_press_award

Julia A. Martin, 2014-2015 Chair

CODES

Barry Trott, editor

 

Chair’s Note

The CODES Board will not hold meetings at ALA Midwinter in Chicago, but will be meeting virtually prior to and following Midwinter.

We encourage all CODES and RUSA members to make plans to attend RUSA’s Book and Media Awards Reception on Sunday evening during ALA-Midwinter. At this time, award winners will be announced for numerous awards that CODES committees are currently working on, including Notable Books, Sophie Brody, Reading List, Dartmouth, Best Reference Books, and others.

Anyone interested in getting involved in CODES should fill out the committee volunteer form to indicate their interest in serving. Many CODES committees are now virtual, so opportunities may exist for participating that were not available in the past. Anyone with questions about appointments to CODES committees should check with Edward Kownslar, CODES Vice Chair/Chair-Elect if you have any questions (Edward.Kownslar@tamucc.edu). More information is available on the CODES web site: http://ww.ala.org/rusa/sections/codes/section.

 

Deborah Abston, CODES Chair, 2014-15

History

Laura Hibbler, Editor

 

Please join the RUSA History Librarians Discussion Group to learn about two outstanding crowdsourcing projects from the University of Iowa and the University of Louisville. The group will meet at the 2015 ALA Midwinter Conference on Sunday, February 1, from 1-2:30 pm. The panelists will talk about how they successfully engaged their local communities in transcribing historical materials for these two digital projects.

Chella Vaidyanathan, History Librarians Discussion Group

The Historical Materials Committee is in the process of creating its annual Best Historical Materials list. We have selected the winners and are in the process of writing abstracts for the RUSQ article.

Matthew J. Wayman, Chair of the Historical Materials Committee

Nominations are being accepted for the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) History Section Genealogical Publishing Company Award. This award is presented to a librarian, library or publisher, who is a RUSA member, and recognizes professional achievement in historical or genealogical reference, service or research librarianship. Sponsored by Genealogical Publishing Company; the 2015 award is $1,500 and a citation. For more information and to download the nomination form, please visit http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/genealogicalpublishing

Helen Gbala, Genealogical Publishing Company Award Committee

MARS: Update from the Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS)

Chanitra Bishop, Editor

 

Message from the Chair of MARS

Greetings!

ALA Midwinter is fast approaching. MARS: Emerging Technologies section will have meetings and a great set of discussion groups. Below is a tentative schedule of events. Locations to be announced later.

I encourage you to attend one or more of our engaging discussion groups. It’s a great way to see the work of our MARS Committees. If you are interested in joining MARS, we’d love to have you! Let us know at ALA MidWinter, fill out the RUSA volunteer form located on the RUSA website, or email Donna Scanlon (djbrearcliffe@gmail.com).

 

Overview of MARS Events at ALA MidWinter 2015

SATURDAY, January 31, 2015

MARS Planning Committee
8:30 – 10:00 am
MARS Executive Committee Meeting I
10:15 – 11:30 am

Virtual Reference Discussion Group: Online Chat Services
4:30 – 5:30 pm

RUSA Membership Social
5:30 – 7:00 pm

SUNDAY, February 1, 2015

MARS Discussion Group: Assessing Integration of Library Services into Course Management Systems
8:30 – 10:00 am

Hot Topics Discussion Group: Augmented Reality
1:00 – 2:30 pm

MONDAY, February 2, 2015

MARS Executive Committee Meeting II
8:30 – 11:30 am

 

Sessions @ Midwinter

Talking Chat: The Good, the Bad, and the “What Were We Thinking?”!
The RUSA MARS: Virtual Reference Discussion Group will be holding a forum on January 31st, 2015 from 4:30-5:30 pm in McCormick Place West w474a. The forum topics will be focused on online chat services and known issues, characteristics of successful and unsuccessful implementations, and more. Panelists will share their experiences with online chat services and participates will have an opportunity to ask questions. If you are considering implementing online chat services in your library or you would like to learn more about what has worked and not worked for other libraries, this is an opportunity to gain insight on how other libraries are implementing their online chat services. Moderators of the forum will be Jessica Cerny (Chair) and Matt Torrence (Member at Large).

Management of Electronic Resources & Services
Join the MARS Management of Electronic Resources & Services Panel Discussion at Midwinter 2015 in Chicago on Sunday, February 1, 8:30-10:00am: Assessing Integration of Library Services into Course Management Systems: Where We Stand Now

Our panel of presenters will engage the audience in a group discussion of best practices for implementing and assessing a robust library presence in the CMS environment. The attendees will benefit from an exploration of the challenges and advantages of integrating library services into university-wide systems and platforms.

Hot Topics in Emerging Tech

You’ve heard of Oculus Rift and you’ve seen Google Glass. What are libraries doing with augmented reality? It’s time to move beyond QR codes!

Join us for a Hot Topics session to learn about new and successful augmented reality projects in libraries – and bring your questions, ideas, and cool tech toys for discussion and Q&A! Hot Topics will meet on Sunday, February 1, from 1-2:30pm at Midwinter. See you there!

MARS Committee Updates

Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee, composed of Nancy Cunningham, Dianna McKellar, Kelley Ann Lawton, and Debbie Bezanson was able to successfully recruit a complete slate of talented candidates for your Spring 2015 ballot. Thanks to all those who agreed to run. We encourage everyone to vote when the emails come to us in the Spring.

Debbie Bezanson, Chair, Nominating Committee

‪Planning Committee
The Planning Committee is working on a complete update/overhaul of the MARS Handbook which was last revised in 2008. We have been working on the introductory sections this Fall and will be working with Committees on the parts of the Handbook describing their work next. We hope to have a revised draft ready for comment from the membership in late Spring of 2015.

The Planning Committee is also working on a by-laws change to come to you along with your ballot this Spring– to change our acronym from MARS to ETS to more closely match our section name.   Since we changed our name in 2010, many new and potential members have been confused by the acronym that no longer matches our name. So the Executive Committee has recommended we put an acronym change on the ballot for this year. Another reason to look for your ballots and vote this Spring!

Debbie Bezanson , Chair, Planning Committee

Best Free Reference Web Sites
The RUSA MARS Best Free Reference Web Sites committee is eager to add a couple new members to their group. If you are a savvy internet researcher and would like to help us create our list of the best free websites that are useful for ready reference on various subject areas, please fill out a volunteer form at http://www.ala.org/rusa/volunteer. Thank you!

Changes to Website Updates
In response to recommendations from last year’s Section Review, MARS Members-at-Large (Courtney McDonald, Amy Fry, Matt Torrence) will now be collaborating on updates to the MARS web site. We anticipate the first overall ‘refresh’ on the Section website should be complete early next summer. Committee chairs are encouraged to review their committee page (charge, etc.) and contact their Member at Large liaison with any corrections or new information.

Martian Award – Who will be our Favorite Martian
Take the time to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions and achievements of “your favorite Martian”!

Nominations are being accepted now through December 14th for this year’s MARS Achievement Recognition Certificate (also known as the “My Favorite Martian” Award). This award, which recognizes excellence in service to MARS Emerging Technologies in Reference section, is presented at the annual MARS Chair’s Program.

The recipient will have made either
1)   sustained contributions toward attaining the goals of MARS; or
2)   a single, significant contribution that has resulted in a positive impactupon the work of the section.

Nominees must be a current member of MARS, and have been an active member for the past two years.

For more information, and a list of recent recipients, see http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/martian

To nominate someone, please complete the nomination form (http://tinyurl.com/mars2014) and email to Courtney McDonald, crgreene@indiana.edu, by December 14.

RSS

RSS logo

Amy Rustic, Editor  

  

Message from the Chair

Things are starting to ramp up in preparation for Midwinter. And while Chicago can be cold in late-January, it’s a fantastic place to visit. And I’m not just saying that because I live here. There will be a number of signature RUSA programs and networking events, as well as opportunities to meet or get to know other RSS members. Be sure to stop by the RUSA Social on Saturday, January 31 from 5:30-7:00 pm to meet other RUSA members, learn a bit about RUSA and the sections, and do some general networking. Also join us for what is becoming a great tradition–the RSS Pancake Breakfast. Look for details on both events coming soon on the RSS-L list.

Midwinter is also a time for business meetings. On Friday of the conference, the RUSA Board will be meeting to begin strategic planning for RUSA for the coming years. The planning will be led by the Board, but there will be many opportunities for input by the membership. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me. I welcome the opportunity to bring forward the ideas of RSS members.

I look forward to seeing you at Midwinter!

Qiana Johnson
q-johnson@northwestern.edu
RSS Chair, 2014-2015

RSS Honor Roll

When you hear Honor Roll, do you have flashbacks to high school? Maybe you have happy memories of the honor roll or maybe you think could of, would of, should of…

Regardless of your experience in high school, you may be eligible for the RSS Honor Roll.

The RSS has an Honor Roll that gives recognition to active RSS members who have served the section in three different capacities since its inception.

If you have been a member of three or more committees or discussion groups since RSS was established in 2004 and have not previously been added to the honor roll, please send your name and a list of the three ways you have served RSS to Sarah Hammill at hammills@fiu.edu

Not only will you become a member of this esteemed group, you will also be recognized at ALA Annual in San Francisco!

Join the RSS Honor Roll today!

2015 ALA Annual Scheduling

Even though winter isn’t even quite here, the scheduling site for ALA Annual 2015 is already open! If your RSS committee would like to schedule a meeting or host a discussion forum in San Francisco this summer, you can now begin thinking about titles, descriptions, A/V needs, etc. Deadline for submissions of committee meetings and committee-hosted forums is February 11, 2015. For additional details, required information, and submitting instructions, check out http://connect.ala.org/node/230656.

Don Boozer, RSS Scheduler/Member-at-Large

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

 

Message from the Chair

Dear STARS,

Our committees have made great progress on important projects this fall. An Ad Hoc Website Review Committee has been working to inventory and update the STARS website. My hope is that the end result will be a more useful and easily navigable website for our members. The Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee is still hard at work revising the Interlibrary Loan Code for the U.S. Thanks to those who provided input by responding to the Committee’s recent survey. If you didn’t respond, don’t worry! There will be additional opportunities for feedback in the coming year.

Our awards committees are just beginning their work and are awaiting your nominations for the Virginia Boucher OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award (http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/boucher) and the STARS / Atlas Systems Mentoring Award (http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/mentoring).

Midwinter will be here before you know it as will STARS’ annual FREE workshop, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about ILL,” presented by the Education and Training Committee. This year’s workshop will be held at the University of Chicago Regenstein Library on Friday, January 30, 2015, 8:30am-12:30pm. If you would like to attend, please register at http://stars.hosts.atlas-sys.com/.

If you are attending Midwinter, please join your fellow STARS at the ILL Discussion Group (January 31, 10:30-11:30am) and the Hot Topics Discussion Group (January 31, 4:30-5:30pm). The Hot Topics Discussion Group will be focused on shared collections so come with your questions and ideas to share with the group. STARS is a section built on networking and sharing, and the discussion groups offer a great opportunity for both.

I hope to see many STARS at Midwinter and encourage you to come up and introduce yourself if we haven’t yet met!

Hoping to see you in Chicago,

Tina Baich

STARS Chair 2014-2015

 

 

STARS Committee Reports

STARS Membership Committee
STARs Membership is continuing to work with the ad hoc Web Committee to update committees’ information and incorporate initiatives into our marketing efforts. We’re also beginning to organize our collaborations with other committees to build a STARs Timeline complete with documents, pictures, etc., highlighting all the work STARs does throughout the years.

Micquel Little, Chair

STARS Legislation & Licensing Committee
Our committee recently held a conference call to review our charges and to plan for the year. We are discussing ways in which the committee can better meet the needs and expectations of the STARS membership. To that end, we will be conducting a survey soon for all STARS members. Please keep an eye on the STARS Listserv for an announcement and link to the survey.

Sherri Michaels, Chair

Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee
The Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee is currently reviewing and revising the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States and its Explanatory Supplement. A survey was shared with the ILL community in October to gather suggestions for revisions from ILL practitioners around the country. In addition, the committee has negotiated with the ALA Video Roundtable the retirement of their separate document on the interlibrary loan of audiovisual materials. The Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee is aiming to have a first draft of the ILL Code and Supplement completed by Spring 2015 for the STARS Board and RUSA Standards and Guidelines Committee to see before ALA Annual. An approved draft will then be shared for general comment with the ILL community in late summer/early fall 2015.

Brian Miller, Chair

Vendor Relations Committee
The Vendor Relations Committee met on 10/28/14 and decided to add a section in Shareill.org for hardware, to include information on minimum requirements for ILL scanners. This is titled “What to Look for When Buying a Scanner for ILL.” This will be expanded upon using an upcoming survey of ILL practitioners’ feedback on their current scanners’ use. Finally, we are looking into co-sponsoring (possibly with the STARS ILL Discussion Group) a session of scanner talks at ALA Annual, with vendors giving short presentations about their products and potential uses for ILL.

Robin Moskal, Chair

From the President

Annual Conference 2014 Wrap Up and a Look Ahead

Although some of us may have gone in with concerns or even trepidation about what an ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas might turn out to be like, many of us found the conference content and overall experience to be on par with the best. I’d like to begin this RUSA Update with a review of some of my stand-out experiences at ALA Annual 2014. I’ll then turn to the future, with a look ahead at online learning being offered by RUSA this fall and a review of some activities going on right now that will take us into RUSA’s next strategic planning process.

Before going any further I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Elizabeth Stephan for serving RUSA as the RUSA Update Editor for over 5 years. Elizabeth was responsible for moving this newsletter, RUSA Update, to a completely electronic publishing platform and for positioning RUSA Update to serve as a major online service to RUSA members. With this issue we welcome Carol Schuetz as our new RUSA Update Editor. Carol comes to us after previously serving as the editor and production editor of the Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Newsletter and most recently as the editor of BRASS Notes.   We appreciate her now sharing her skills with us at RUSA Update. Welcome, Carol!

I also want to thank our over 900 volunteer members who serve as chairs and members on all of our committees at the section and division levels. Every member who prepares agendas, takes minutes, participates in discussions, and responds to emails with ideas is directly responsible for the success of the division. We are all pulled in many directions by a plethora of commitments, but our member volunteers each find a way to make an individual contribution that benefits us and the larger profession. Among our volunteer members I absolutely must recognize are my immediate predecessors, Kathleen Kern and Mary Popp, who have responsibly guided RUSA and contributed innumerable hours in support for the association and our members. I’m especially grateful to our past presidents for their time, dedication, and for always caring about doing the best job possible. Thank you.

Annual Conference 2014 Wrap Up

It is very hot in Las Vegas, that’s true. Once you’re indoors, it can be confusing to navigate through the smoky seas of slot machines on your way to a meeting. That said, those will be the memories that I know I will selectively forget. What I won’t forget are the people, the programs, and the RUSA events. In this issue of RUSA Update you will see reports from many of our division and section committees on their activities. Though I wish I could have attended them all, here I’m only going to focus on those that I was lucky enough to attend.

I’d like to first highlight some of the important social opportunities – those places where people interested in joining the division have the chance to informally connect with established members. The first notable event was Friday afternoon’s RUSA 101. We welcomed over 100 people who wanted to know more about RUSA. Each of our six sections had representatives stationed around the perimeter of the room and were able to make personal connections. I want to especially thank RUSA Membership co-chairs Ann Brown and Alicia Ahlvers, as well as Marianne Braverman and Leighann Wood from the RUSA office for pulling the event together. One highlight for me was getting to meet four reference librarians from Nigeria who came to ALA specifically to attend our RUSA events and programs!

Did you know that the STARS section is now 10 years old? The members planned a great celebration and networking event at the local Bahama Breeze on Friday evening. It was a blast getting to talk with people that I’d served with previously on committees and meet new people. Almost all of the STARS chairs — past, present, and future– were in attendance able to be photographed together.

Saturday offered multiple opportunities for making connections with RUSA colleagues. Bright and early were the RSS Open House and All-Committee meeting, where I was able to meet with my RSS colleagues, including members of the Young Adult Reference Services Committee (“YARS!” – say it like it’s “Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day”). YARS is our first joint committee with YALSA. The members are already doing great work delivering programs and discussions that delve into the methods we use to connect young adults with reference services. On Saturday evening MARS offered their signature social event, the MARS Happy Hour. I really want to commend the organizers of this long and successful series. It was another great opportunity to connect with fellow “MARStians.” BRASS, CODES, and History also held great networking events, but I’m sorry I missed them this time around. There’s always Midwinter and Annual next year! In addition to being a lot of fun, one thing that all of these social events have in common is that they provide our members who attend conference excellent opportunities to talk informally about their work in RUSA, to share personal experiences across library types, and make connections that could lead to the next career advancement.

Among the headline RUSA events was Kathleen Kern’s RUSA President’s Program, Our Values, Ourselves: Examining Our Values and What Others Value About Us. The “Waynes” (Wayne Bivens-Tatum and Wayne Wiegand), Lisa Carlucci Thomas, and Jeanne Goodrich each provided personal reflections on the development of the modern library service structure and influence of past precedents on libraries today.

RUSA again offered great opportunities to meet authors and hear from them directly. Held on Saturday evening, this was the third year for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction and also the third year that Nancy Pearl chaired the selection committee. You can find out more about the 2014 winning titles Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism at http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult. I’m now on page 45 of The Bully Pulpit and making steady progress! Though this was Nancy’s last year as chair, the 2015 award committee is in great hands for the coming year. It will be chaired by Brad Hooper of ALA Booklist and has a membership representing both RUSA and Booklist. Then, on Sunday morning, I saw some of the same people from the night before at the Literary Tastes Author Program: Celebrating the Best Reading of the Year. Though I ran late from a very early morning meeting I was able to slip into the back of the room to hear two out of three of our authors speak. You can find out more about their books at http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/literarytastes.

On Sunday afternoon we held our annual RUSA Awards Reception, where we were able to honor the achievements of our colleagues who have excelled in the field of reference and user services. See the RUSA Blog at

http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2014/03/07/2014-achievement-award-winners for details about those who were recognized.

The RUSA Board met twice, on Saturday and Monday afternoons. Key accomplishments included the passage of the FY2015 operating budget and reserve fund proposal as recommended by RUSA’s Budget and Finance Committee. The allocations from the reserve fund will allow RUSA to continue its efforts related to member recruitment and retention, which includes funding for a high-profile speaker at the 2015 Annual Conference, growing the Just Ask campaign, and contracting for strategic planning consulting services. Approved expenditures also provide support for History section’s visit to Angel Island on the Friday of Annual Conference 2015 in San Francisco. RUSA members will be able to learn about the island’s role as the Ellis Island of the west. The Board also approved the slate of 2015 RUSA programs for San Francisco as presented by the RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee.

A Look Ahead

Our RUSA Committees are now at work making plans for the 2014-2015 year. I’d like to first recognize the members of the RUSA Professional Development Committee for reviewing proposals and coordinating the process for approving our slate of fall 2014 online courses. You can find these at http://www.ala.org/rusa/development/onlinece. Over at the RUSA Membership Committee, they will be involved in supporting RUSA’s member recruitment efforts through monthly RUSA 101 orientation webinars and by connecting our sponsored student members with experienced RUSA members who will be available to serve as mentors.

Our current RUSA strategic plan will come to a conclusion in June 2015. Therefore, the upcoming year will offer us a great opportunity to reflect and define how we will move forward providing our members the experience that they desire. A key focus for us will be on the value proposition for our members. Over the long term, what are those experiences that RUSA offers our members that make each person want to continue as a member? Equally important, what are those experiences that encourage new members to join? How can we show that nobody else can provide this same value proposition?

Important member data that will help to inform the strategic planning process is being compiled through the work of the RUSA Review Task Force. I especially want to thank the co-chairs Chris LeBeau and Diane Zabel for their leadership and for preparing a preliminary report for the RUSA Board for the ALA Annual Conference 2014. Their work continues through an online survey. From mid-June through late July the RUSA Review: Summer 2014 Survey of our Members was posted with 406 members completing the survey. The Task Force members are currently reviewing the results.

The next steps for strategic planning are to bring together members of RUSA Board and RUSA Organization and Planning Committee to create a Strategic Planning Coordinating Task Force. The group will work with the RUSA office staff to contract for strategic planning consulting services. In addition to using the data that has already been gathered, we are tentatively planning on using the face-to-face opportunity that ALA Midwinter 2015 in Chicago will offer for a facilitated discussion with the members of the RUSA Board. A targeted online survey of all RUSA members during the process will provide us with additional information about what our members desire from their RUSA experience. This timeline will allow us to complete a new plan before the ALA Annual Conference 2015 in San Francisco.

What’s next? If you are able to attend both ALA Midwinter 2015 in Chicago and ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco, you’ll want to mark your calendar for September 9th when bundled registration for both conferences opens. See http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents. Regular registration for the ALA Midwinter Meeting opens on October 1. What does RUSA offer at ALA Midwinter you may ask? Though we don’t offer formal programs, we do provide attendees many opportunities to network and share ideas through the RUSA Social, RUSA Book and Media Awards, and Discussion Forums organized by the RUSA sections.

Best wishes to all of our RUSA members for a fantastic fall!

-Joe

Joseph Thompson
RUSA President 2014-2015

RUSA News/Announcements

Call for online learning proposals!

Proposals for webinars and online courses are being accepted through September 1! There’s a wide variety of topics. Get the scoop on what we’re looking for, and find links to the submission form here

Online Learning

http://www.ala.org/rusa/development/onlinece

Let’s get in touch, and get social!

Are you connected? Stay in touch with these RUSA communication tools:

Reference and User Services Quarterly: Accessing the journal

Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ), a quarterly benefit of RUSA members, is an all-digital journal available online via Metapress; however, you will need to set up a Metapress account. Complete, detailed instructions for accessing the journal can be found on the RUSA website or visit www.ala.org/rusa, then float over the “Communications” button near the top left portion of the page, and scroll down to “RUSQ”. If you run into challenges with journal access, contact support@metapress.com for assistance.

Once you’ve accessed the journal, make sure to check out the following content for volume 53, issue 4.

The Reference & User Services Association (RUSA), with the support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), presents the following draft guidelines and best practices for feedback. These guidelines and best practices relating to financial literacy education in libraries are the result of a SPARKS! Grant awarded to RUSA by IMLS.

The purpose of these guidelines and best practices is to facilitate the provision of financial literacy education in libraries nationwide. It is intended that these will standardize the content and delivery of financial literacy education programming and services in libraries. This project demonstrates a commitment to ensure that patrons in libraries of all types have access to effective and efficient personal finance reference services and unbiased financial educational programming.

Please send your comments and feedback to the following email:

fle.guidelines.bestpractices@gmail.com

The deadline for comments is Friday, August 22.

Thank you for your careful consideration of these documents.

Advisory Team:

Ted Beck, National Endowment for Financial Education
Lori Burgess, Fond du Lac Public Library (WI)
Judy Chapa, Financial Services Roundtable
Kristin Eschenfelder, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Robert Ganem, FINRA Investor Education Foundation
Chris Lebeau*, RUSA/BRASS Member
Laura Levine, Jumpstart
Elizabeth Malafi*, RUSA/BRASS Member
Kerwin Pilgrim, Brooklyn Public Library
Adi Redzic, iOme Challenge
Dan Rutherford, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
John Spears, Salt Lake City Public Library (UT)
(* indicates also serving on Working Team)

Working Team:

Kit Keller, Project Director
Chris Lebeau, RUSA/BRASS Member
Elizabeth Malafi, RUSA/BRASS Member
Andy Spackman, BRASS Chair

RUSA Committee Reports

Just Ask Task Force

A pared-down Just Ask group met at ALA Annual to discuss the next steps. After several successful ventures during the last year, it was decided that the group would focus on external Reference advocacy efforts. Using Maryland’s AskUsNow pilot of the ASK Campaign, members of Just Ask will develop a marketing plan and working with RUSA marketing to develop a national ASK Campaign featuring promotional items that librarians and libraries could use to promote reference services. Initial thoughts for the campaign were ASK posters featuring real questions asked by library users. The goal is to have a plan and advocacy toolkit ready to present at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference.

Elizabeth Stephan
Diana Shonrock

Co-chairs

Emerging Leader

A little less than a month ago I returned to New York from an amazing trip to Las Vegas for ALA Annual. It was a very enjoyable but also bittersweet experience, as the conference signaled the official end of a wonderful year in the Emerging Leaders (EL) program

My first full day at Annual was spent at an all-day EL event at the Las Vegas Hilton (where Elvis lived!). The agenda consisted of engaging talks by a variety of leaders within ALA, as well was a panel discussion featuring EL alumni. The program concluded with a poster session open to all ALA membership, in which each EL team shared a poster based upon our group projects.

I was part of Team B, a group of five tasked to work with ACRL’s Science & Technology Section (STS) to assist them in developing a virtual research collaboratory. My team was able to narrow a multitude of potential software solutions to three free collaboration tools, which we researched carefully and identified what we believed to be the optimal solution for their needs, a program called Wiggio.

It was very exciting to present a poster at ALA Annual- I’ve been in the profession for nearly five years and this was my first time presenting at Annual. I was pleased at how many people attended the poster session, and met a number of librarians outside the program who were interested in our project. I was able to share some advice and insight for other librarians looking to connect and conduct research across distance. I feel that I gained so much from participation in the EL program, in terms of both leadership skill development and introduction to over fifty other librarians committed to making a difference in the profession and the association.

Katelyn Angell
RUSA Emerging leader

RUSA Spectrum Intern

My Time as the RUSA Spectrum Intern
Hello everyone, my name is Kirk MacLeod and I’m the current RUSA Spectrum Intern. Although I’ve still got just over half a year to go in the position, so far this has been one of the most rewarding in my professional career, a career that has (for me), spanned three libraries, three rounds of education, and ten years of (mostly) continuous part-time education. But before I get into my involvement with RUSA and Spectrum, it’s probably best to give a bit of background information on myself, so here goes.

I’m from Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA, which also happens to be the Northernmost city in North America with a population over one million. I was lucky enough to marry the nicest woman I’ve ever met, have two lovely daughters (aged 21 and 17 – who also both work in libraries right now), and spend my free time reading, blogging, gaming, book clubbing, and cycling. I am also Cree Indian (one of the largest tribes in Canada), and have spent the majority of my career to this point working in libraries which support First Nation communities.

As a young man I decided to follow in my mother’s footsteps and get my Library Technician Diploma (which is like an Associate Degree here in Canada), as I had grown up watching her work in libraries and thought it might be a good fit for me as well. My first permanent job in the profession, running a one-person library for two First Nations Non-profit organizations, specializing in addictions and legal counselling in 2000, started as a summer student job and quickly became my professional focus for the next ten years. My library was pretty great; I had regular, dedicated patrons and although I was housed in a basement with no windows, as a one person library I always had work to do. While working I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree through Athabasca University (an excellent distance-learning institution), and for the next seven years, sometimes only doing one or two courses a year, I worked part-time towards getting a degree majoring in Communication Studies, having decided a bachelor’s degree would be good enough for me.

Then I got a first-hand look at the power of libraries. My one-person library got involved with The First Nation Information Connection, an online catalogue shared by a number of Alberta-based First Nation Library post-secondary libraries and was an initiative of University of Alberta Libraries, which dramatically increased my library’s visibility and I got a better understanding of the power of consortiums. Seeing the kind of things Librarians could do, I decided to take my undergraduate goals to the next level and begin working towards grad school. Four months after finishing my undergrad, I began my MLIS work at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta.

In 2012 I applied for an ALA Spectrum Scholarship and was overjoyed when the call came in saying I had been selected, as it would financially cover a significant part of my grad school costs and as it also included a trip to an ALA Annual Conference and the Spectrum Institute held there. In the four days I spent in Chicago at ALA 2013, I was overwhelmed by the welcome I received from other Spectrum scholars and alumni, conference attendees and vendors, and the wonderful folks at ProQuest who sponsored my Spectrum Scholarship along with 9 others funded through proceeds from the ALA/ProQuest Scholarship Bash.
My Time with RUSA actually began just before the ALA Annual Conference in 2013 (Chicago), where the 2012 cohort of Spectrum Scholars who had joined RUSA were offered the opportunity to apply for the position of the RUSA Spectrum intern from July of 2013 to February of 2015. Although initially hesitant, my wife suggested I apply and two weeks before the Conference I was given the news.

My time as a RUSA Spectrum Intern has largely focused on one area, The IAmRUSA project (sorry for the mild advertising here), an amazing little community on ALA Connect which allows anyone who visits the site to ask that week’s participant pretty much anything they like regarding the profession, reference and user services, career path advice or virtually anything else. To date we’ve had 36 participants, from all across the States (and even a few from up here in Canada), and the interview pages have had more than 35,000 page views. Not only are the interviews really interesting, but participating in them as an interviewee can be a lot of fun as well (if anyone happens to be interested, please contact me via email – bookmonkey00k@yahoo.ca or on twitter @bookmonkey00k ). The project has worked as a great way for users to chat with and interview other RUSA members from across the continent, working in various forms or libraries, or for businesses or vendors, and ask them about their time in school, their career paths and their opinions on trends and issues in the field of librarianship.

When I think of the Influence being a RUSA Spectrum Intern has had on me, my first thought immediately goes to the interconnectedness of the profession; being involved in the IAmRUSA Project has shown me so many different opportunities and passions shared by others in the professions, and especially reinvestment in the profession through association work and connecting with others in all sorts of fields, which makes the profession stronger overall. For me the value of those connections is my greatest takeaway from my experiences overall and with RUSA specifically. I have seen first-hand the results that come from mentoring, partnerships and joint ventures in the profession, and can’t wait to start working with others to grow their own networks and professional relationships as I progress through my own career.

Kirk MacLeod
RUSA Spectrum Intern

BRASS Notes

John C. Gottfried, Editor

 

Message from the Chair

Hello BRASS members:

Once again we enjoyed a full slate of programming at ALA Annual. Las Vegas may have been hot and inconvenient, but it was productive for BRASS committees, as seen in the reports below, and it was a great location for our social events. I enjoyed visiting with everyone at the Friday Member Reception, the Awards Ceremony, and the Monday Dinner; I found the BRASS Discussion Group as enlightening as always; and the Preconference, Academic Forum, and Publisher’s Forum were all well-attended and helped make the trip to the desert worthwhile. There was also an update from the BRASS/RUSA working group on guidelines for financial literacy education in libraries, and the BRASS Program “Mad Men: The Business of Advertising” was a conference highlight.

BRASS continues to boast the best programming, best vendor support, and best people in all of ALA. Every organization has plenty of what I think of as “back seat volunteers.” BRASS is an organization of “front seat volunteers” and it’s been a happiness for me to work with all of you during my year as Chair. Now, with Todd Hines taking the lead, I look forward to another great year for BRASS!

Andy Spackman
BRASS Chair, 2013-2014
andy_spackman@byu.edu

Dear BRASS members:

I just wanted to briefly introduce myself, I’m currently BRASS Chair and my term runs through ALA Annual San Francisco. I also wanted to thank Andy for his service as Chair. BRASS is a strong, active organization because of all the hard work of its volunteers. Additionally, I wanted to remind everyone that there are no required BRASS Committee meetings at 2015 ALA Midwinter in Chicago (committees now meet virtually instead of at Midwinter).

I look forward to working with all of you over the next year.

Todd Hines
BRASS Chair 2013-2014
thines@princeton.edu

BRASS Committee Reports

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee
The Business Reference in Academic Libraries committee met on Saturday, June 28th.

The committee had organized the forum for 2014 and solicited feedback from those present.

The committee discussed ways to become more active during years when it does not organize forums. Several ideas were mentioned, including creating a way to share instructional material and surveying members about their reference working environment (information commons, research appointments, etc.). Other members shared future topics of discussion, including better integration into the curriculum, how to use APA to cite sources for business as a possible project, and for the committee to share outreach methods.

Ann Fiegen also brought up the possible involvement of Emerald as a sponsor of a preconference event next year.

Charles Allan, 2012-2014 Chair

BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee
Briefcase Articles:

The next Briefcase Article will be “Consumer Research” by Terry Zarsky, anticipated publication in 3rd quarter. Analysis of usage data indicates that responses to recent articles has been good, and the articles are getting good exposure. The committee will also go back and check previous articles for update/rewrite possibilities. There was discussion of seeking articles with a more positive approach.

Recruitment Efforts:

Committee members will check with state organizations and perhaps develop a database of business sections in local organizations. Other strategies were discussed, such as advertising briefcase articles, or cross-promotion with organizations like SLA and PLA.

Looking Toward ALA Annual 2015:

Every other year the BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee does a major program, and 2015 will be the next. The committee is looking into various forms of support (naming rights, crowdfunding, honorariums, and so on) and beginning to consider speakers and organizations that might want to be involved. It is also the time to research scheduling and communication.

The chair will contact members about a virtual committee meeting sometime in August.

Ed Rossman, 2014-2015 Chair

BRASS Program Planning Committee
BRASS Conference Program Planning Committee: BRASS 2014 Program

Mad Men: The Business of Advertising

About 150 attendees were at the program and heard from 2 knowledgeable speakers:

  • Dale Skarl, Search Engine Marketing Manager for MGM Resorts International

Summary notes were posted to ALA Connect at: http://connect.ala.org/node/226985

Committee members: Andy Spackman (BRASS Chair), Ilana Barnes, Mark Bieraugel, Bobray Bordelon, Greg Fleming, Patrick Griffis, Elizabeth Malafi

We would like to thank S&P Capital IQ for their continued support of BRASS by providing a continental breakfast.

Patricia Kenly, 2013-2014 Chair

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee
The committee met virtually on June 5, 2014 and identified eleven titles that will appear in the Winter RUSQ column of Outstanding Business Resources. Of the eleven titles, four were identified as outstanding, six as notable, and one as an overlooked treasure. The titles will be presented at the Midwinter RUSA Awards meeting.

At the ALA Annual Conference, the committee met and discussed various items including:

  • Susan Hurst will be rotating off as chair and being replaced by Ed Hahn
  • The previous issue with Harvard Business Review (HBR) restricting access to 500 of their most popular articles was discussed, HBR will continue to restrict access but is open to suggestions on this matter, one thing suggested was for better communication with BRASS and HBR so business librarians can prepare and help their faculty plan for their course work.
  • The committee was asked by the BRASS executive committee to consider a proposal to purchase Robert Berkman’s “Best of the Business Web” email alert; The committee recommended that the BRASS Executive Committee not purchase this.

At the ALA Annual Conference the committee presented the Publishers Forum titled “Hitting the Jackpot, Sources for Local and Regional Business Information”. The presenters were from Data Planet, Euromonitor, Proquest, and Alteryx. There were 55 people attending the forum.

Ed Hahn, 2014-2016 Chair

BRASS Discussion Group Committee
The BRASS Discussion Group hosted their annual discussion at the ALA annual conference in Las Vegas on Sunday, June 29, 2014. The conference room was filled to capacity with over 80 people attending the proceedings.

The discussion kicked-off with outgoing President Andy Spackman hosting the annual BRASS membership meeting, which was followed by individual announcements. The discussion this year centered on best practices for managing student and faculty requests for information consultations. A wide variety of practices and strategies were covered for dealing with drop-in advanced referrals.

The second part of the discussion focused on the ACRL’s new n literacy standards and their impact on business instruction. Ann Fiegen encouraged participants to reach out to the committee writing the standards to ensure that business librarians have a say in the final product.

As of July 1, 2014 Emily Treptow from Michigan State University is the new BRASS Discussion Chair, we look forward to her leadership over the next year.

Jason Dewland, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Education Committee
At our annual meeting in Las Vegas we had an opportunity to say good-bye and a big thank you for valuable contributions to Louise Feldman, Jared Hoppenfeld, and Rhonda Kleiman, whose terms ended this year. We were also excited to welcome Kelly LaVoice from Cornell University, Desirae Sweet from James Madison University, and Ashley Faulkner from Texas A&M.

The largest event of the year for the BRASS Education Committee is the annual preconference. The 2014 RUSA BRASS preconference “How Business Librarians Support Entrepreneurs” was very successful. Helen Kula from the University of Toronto, together with Chris Kim and Hyun-Duck Chung from the University of Toronto / MaRS Discovery District delivered a dynamic interactive workshop on market research. Posie Aagaard from the University of Texas at San Antonio offered practical approaches to licensing e-resources for entrepreneurial uses. Her presentation was complemented by a vendor’s perspective from Matt Dunie, CEO of Data-Planet. Jared Hoppenfeld from Texas A&M and Elizabeth Malafi from Middle County Public Library discussed best practices for engaging with entrepreneurs in public and academic libraries.

46 people registered and 45 attended, representing 14 public and 29 academic libraries, as well as one state library and the Library of Congress Science, Technology and Business Division. Five participants and three presenters hailed from Canada, and we also had a librarian from Trinidad and Tobago, making this event truly international. We received very positive feedback from the participants who appreciated the timely topic and opportunities for networking. Andy Spackman, the past BRASS Chair, dropped by to present us with a RUSA voucher for one free registration for the next year’s preconference. The lucky winner was Michelle Kowalsky from Rowan University.

Now we are getting busy planning the next year’s preconference Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright which will focus on commercializing IP, patent searching, IP licensing to third parties, and other issues of interest to entrepreneurs. If you have any good speakers on these topics in mind, let us know!

We will be migrating BRASS Business Guides http://brass.libguides.com/to LibGuides v.2.0 platform, with Peter McKay from the University of Florida in charge of this effort. The new Business Reference Essentials guide with tips for new business librarians is now featured on the BRASS website http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Natasha Arguello, 2012-2015 Chair

BRASS Membership Committee
Thanks to all who attended the BRASS Membership Reception sponsored by InfoGroup—the event was great.

The membership committee reminds members you are not automatically added to the BRASS Facebook page or brass-l. You must “like” or subscribe through ALA connect. It’s a great way to stay connected with BRASS events! See the website for more information:

http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass/involved

BRASS met new business librarians at the RUSA 101—if you are a fairly new business librarian looking for tips and ideas, we have a networking group for you. The New Business Librarians Discussion Group. Contact Greta Wood (gwood@library.msstate.edu) to participate.

Kelly Janousek, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Vendor Relations Committee
Vendor relations remain strong; our vendors continue to be very supportive. Current vendor support comes from InfoGroup, S&P Capital IQ, Springshare, Gale, Morningstar, Emerald and Business Expert Press. InfoGroup hosted a wonderful member reception in Las Vegas for us. Our award sponsors are greatly appreciated by the membership. Emerald has expressed interest in sponsoring another preconference workshop in San Francisco. BRASS is working to

develop a program for that. The Vendor Relations committee is also working on a partnership with new vendor, details hopefully to follow.

Chris LeBeau, 2013-2015 Chair

BRASS Publications and Communications Committee

  • The committee encourages BRASS members to promote their tutorials, Libguides, and cool finds on Twitter using the hashtag #bizref throughout the year.
  • The committee is exploring new projects and activities
  • Congrats to Carol for being selected as the RUSA Update editor! John Gottfried will be our new BRASS Notes editor
  • Thanks to all members and chairs who provided input on the official ALA BRASS events schedule

Chad Boeninger, 2013-2015 Chair

BRASS Emerald Research Award Committee
Ilana Stonebraker accepted the BRASS Emerald Research Award on behalf of herself and Tao Zheng. Committee Chair, Elizabeth Stephan, and Emerald representative Eileen Breen were on hand to help present the grant. BRASS would like to extend a heart-felt thank you to Emerald for their continued support of research related to research librarianship!

Elizabeth Stephan, 2013-2014 chair

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee
Unfortunately, the Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award was not given this year. The committee has worked on updating the criteria for the award and preparing for our fall nomination campaign. Please be thinking about what deserving public librarian you will nominate this fall — perhaps yourself! The award, sponsored by Morningstar, offers $1,250 in travel funds for ALA’s annual conference to a public librarian who provides business reference services.

Karen Chapman, 2013-2014 Chair

CODES

Barry Trott, editor

 

Notable Books Council
The announcements of the 2014 winners for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction & Nonfiction in Las Vegas was a lively event. This year the Notable Books Council was asked to put their super-human readers’ advisory skills to use and compile a list of read alikes for the finalists and reading group discussion guides for the winners, Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch for fiction and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism.

Here’s what Katharine Phenix, chair of the Notable Books Council had to say about the process:

What’s it like for a group of 12 librarians, spread out from Washington to Florida, North Carolina to New Mexico to work together on a project with a 2-week deadline? First we had to agree on which Internet cloud to work on….Then conversation became lively, one suggestion led to another, one author to another, and our mini-book club and bibliographer brains got to work. Which micro-history is most like On Paper? Salt? Coffee? Oysters?” and “Is this too academic?” and “Looking for more literature of disaster and redemption…” are a few of our gambits.

Did you love the Carnegie finalists? RUSA’s Notable Books Council recommends these other fantastic reads!

Interested in hosting a reading group for the Carnegie winners? Take a look at the discussion guides the Notable Books Council has created.
The Goldfinch
The Bully Pulpit

History

Laura Hibbler, Editor

 

Congratulations to William Forsyth and Yvonne Carignan!
HistoryPic

  • William Forsyth, director of product management for ProQuest, was awarded the Genealogical Publishing Company Award in recognition of professional achievement in historical or genealogical reference, service or research. Please contact Helen Gbala for details about this award.
  • Yvonne Carignan, of George Mason University, was awarded with the RUSA History Section/Gale Cengage Learning History Research and Innovation Award. This award is granted to an MLS degreed librarian from an ALA accredited school to facilitate and further research relating to history and history librarianship. To learn more about the Gale Cengage Learning History Research and Innovation Award, please visit the History Section website: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/research_award or contact Sara Morris, semorris@ku.edu.

The ALA RUSA History Section hosted a trip to the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas on Friday, June 27th, during the ALA Annual Conference. Thirty-seven people attended and, thanks to RUSA’s generous support, the attendees received a guided tour and were able to take a chartered bus.

The Historical Materials Committee met during at the Annual Conference to discuss responsibilities for the coming year and procedures for creating the annual Best Historical Materials article. On Sunday, June 29th, the committee co-sponsored a program entitled, “The Nevada Test Site Project: Bringing Primary Resources to Researchers.” Nicholas Wyant, immediate past chair of the committee, served as moderator. The program focused on the creation and curation of the project, which consists of 335 hours of transcripted and digitized material regarding the “nuclear proving ground” in Nevada. Check out the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project: http://digital.library.unlv.edu/ntsohp

The History Librarians Discussion Group held a panel discussion, “The Role/s of Humanities Librarians in Digital Humanities”, on June 28th at the ALA Annual Conference. Panelists Thomas Padilla (Digital Humanities, Linguistics, & Philosophy Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries) and Harriett Green (English & Digital Humanities Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) each spoke about their experiences working with digital humanities and then answered questions from attendees. The panelists’ presentation slides have been posted online at the History Section’s website: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/presentations

And stay tuned for the publication of Padilla’s book, co-authored with Trevor Getz:

Getz, Trevor, and Thomas Padilla. Subjecting History: Building a Relationship Between History and its Alternatives. Athens: Ohio University Press, Forthcoming Fall 2015.

The Genealogy pre-conference at the ALA Annual Conference included a panel, “Getting More Than You Pay For,” about the free resources available on Ancestry, Fold3, Newspapers.com, Archives.com, and Ancestry’s various social media outlets. The panelists Kim Harrison and Amy Johnson Crow (Ancestry.com) have made their presentation slides available on slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/ancestry/free-resources-on-ancestrycom-fold3-newspaperscom-and-archivescom

MARS: Update from the Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS)

Cathy Larson, Editor

Message from the Chair

MARS: Emerging Technology in Reference Section is looking forward to an exciting year of programming and service. The Section recently submitted our section review to RUSA and it was favorably received. The Executive Committee and Planning Committees will be reviewing recommendations over the coming year and working on changes to further the mission of MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section.

Congrats are well deserved for our newly elected members.

Vice-Chair/Chair –Elect – Donna Scanlon

Secretary (two-year term) – Chanitra Bishop

Member-At-Large (three-year term) – Matt Torrence

Our members hosted a suite of excellent programs and discussion groups during ALA Annual 2014 in Las Vegas, NV.

Management of Electronic Resources Committee sponsored “Libraries in the Course Management System: Best Practices and New Directions,” to a standing room only crowd in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Panelists shared their experiences with integrating library resources in various systems and the audience participated in a lively discussion.

The MARS Chair’s Program began by honoring Anne Houston, this year’s recipient of the MARS Achievement Recognition Award (My Favorite Martian). After the presentation, 150 participants gathered to hear, Angela Zoss, Data Visualization Coordinator, Duke University and Josh Boyer, Head, User Experience, North Carolina State University present their perspectives and experiences with data visualization in a session entitled “New Directions for Data Visualization in Library Public Services.”

At the Virtual Reference Discussion Group, a group of dedicated folks demonstrated the Virtual Reference Companion, a resource for those implementing or managing virtual reference services. Be sure to check out this wonderfully helpful resource at http://www.ala.org/rusa/vrc

The Hot Topics Discussion Group met on Sunday to discuss makerspaces in libraries. Participants heard from several librarians engaged in makerspaces activities and even played with some 3D objects.

The MARS Happy Hour at Firefly provided an opportunity for members, new and old, to enjoy each others’ company and learn about MARS in a relaxed, friendly environment.

The last event of Sunday evening was the RUSA Awards Reception and Volunteer Appreciation Party at Caesars Palace. Our very own Anne Houston was presented with the MARS Achievement Recognition Award (My Favorite Martian). Thank you to Anne for all her hard work and dedication to MARS over the years.

We welcome your participation in MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference.   If you would like to know more about MARS or are interested volunteering for a committee, please contact Stephanie Graves (stephgraves3@gmail.com)

 

Stephanie Graves
MARS Chair, 2014-2015

RSS

Amy Rustic, Editor   

RSS_Logo

  

Message from the Chair

Greetings RSS Members!

I am thrilled to start my year as Chair of RSS. It was great to see so many new and returning faces at the RSS Open House and All-Committee meeting. Our third trivia contest stoked the competitive fires of the group. Thanks to Sarah Hammill and Marjorie Lear for pulling questions and prizes together. Thanks also go to Ann Brown who so ably led the section as Chair last year.

RSS has been my home within ALA and RUSA for many years in large part due to the work of its committees and the people involved. RSS organizes informative and lively discussion forums and programs, many of which are described below. It also contributes to the profession through its creation and maintenance of guidelines. I know this year will be just as productive.

Be sure to stay in the loop with RSS activities and programs through the RSS listerv (rss-l@ala.org); the RSS Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/rss.rusa ); and the RSS ALA Connect page (http://connect.ala.org/rusa_rss). Also, all RSS committees have a page on ALA Connect where they highlight their activities and programs. Be sure to take a look and see if there is something you’d like to become involved in.

Finally, congratulations our newly elected leaders: Crystal Lentz, Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, Cathay Keough, Member-at-Large, and Tom Reinsfelder, Secretary. I look forward to working with all of you in the next year!

If you have any questions about RSS, don’t hesitate to ask!

Qiana Johnson
q-johnson@northwestern.edu
RSS Chair, 2014-2015

RSS Committee Reports

Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee
Our initial plans are to carry on work started last year with the distribution of a survey to gather information to aid in planning programs, discussion forums, and professional development opportunities. Once survey results have been gathered and analyzed, the committee will brainstorm activities to implement over the coming year.

Colleen Seale, Chair 2014-2015

Discovery Services Committee (Formerly Catalog Use Committee)
The RSS Discovery Services Committee welcomed over 120 attendees and 4 great speakers during this year’s ALA Annual Conference RSS Discovery Services Forum, held on Sunday, June 29th, from 3-4 pm.

Forum speakers included Mireille Djenno, Gwen Gregory, and Ling Wang of University of Illinois at Chicago Library presenting “What We Discovered About Discovery: Comparing Two Discovery Systems at One Academic Library,” Emily Keller of University of Washington Libraries presenting “Dumbing down or drilling down? Librarians’ perspectives on discovery tools,” Van Houlson of University of Minnesota presenting “Alma in the Morning: The Impact of a Next Generation Discovery System on Patrons and Staff at a Research Library,” and Rosalind Tedford of Wake Forest University presenting “Future of Discovery: Analytics, Meet Instruction.” The first half of the forum included lightning round style presentations from each of the speakers and the second half allowed participants to discuss important topics that revolved around the forum’s theme of Discussing Discovery Services: What’s working, What’s not, and What’s Next?. Feedback from the evaluation forms rated the forum from ‘very good’ to ‘excellent.’ To review the PPT slide presentations from the forum visit the RSS Discovery Services Committee’s ALA Connect page (http://connect.ala.org/node/63993).

After the forum some attendees suggested possible ideas for future forum topics such as how to use discovery systems within the threshold concept instructional themes, discussing the grey literature, or collaborating with LITA to think about what reference librarians can learn from systems. More brainstorming ideas are sure to will follow over this upcoming year.

In addition to planning this year’s forum, the committee has also been actively maintaining a bibliography of materials concentrating on catalog and other discovery services. To view the bibliography visit: http://connect.ala.org/node/202483.

RSSpic1 RSSpic2

 

 

 

 

 

Anne Larrivee, Chair, 2014-2015

Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee
The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee hosted two popular discussion forums at Annual:

“Extreme Customer Service: Reference at Its Finest!” was facilitated by Jeanne Holba Puacz, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. A scenario was provided to kick off the discussion and it flowed freely from there. Over 60 participants asked questions and discussed ways to create a customer service culture. Training strategies were discussed as were suggestions for dealing with grumpy patrons (and even for dealing with grumpy staffers!). Non-traditional concepts in customer service, such as traffic flow and signage were also considered. Among the tips that were shared were – don’t read at the desk, acknowledge patrons with open faces and attitudes; lead by example; smile while on the phone; and show interest in all questions.

“Readying Reference: Training for Public Service Reference Providers” was facilitated by Geoff Johnson and Joe Dobbs from the University of Texas Libraries, University of Texas at Austin. After sharing information about the training program at their library, Geoff and Joe had the approximately 35 attendees divide into small groups to discuss training at everyone’s libraries. Discussion questions were provided to help guide the discussions. The discussion began with focusing on what training looks like – who is responsible for training, who gets trained and are there refreshers or ongoing training. The discussion then touched on service standards and developing competencies. After the small group discussions the large group reconvened and people shared what they had discussed.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2013-2014

Education and Professional Development for Reference
On Monday, June 30, the committee sponsored a discussion forum at ALA Annual titled “The State of Reference Education: What We Have Learned and What Would You like to Find Out?” The 15 attendees participated in a lively discussion centered around four questions:

  • With Google, do we still need reference librarians?
  • Do working librarians find that new hires have the requisite reference skills?
  • What changes, if any, have you observed in reference work in recent years?
  • Based on your own view of the future of reference, what reference education should library schools provide?

Bryna Coonin, Rayette Sterling, and Jason Coleman created a summary of the discussion (attached to the comments at http://connect.ala.org/node/223262). As the summary indicates, there was a consensus that the skills and expertise of reference librarians are still needed. While WebScale discovery simplifies some aspects of research, it also creates a significant need for information about what the services lack. Some noted that library schools should continue to provide subject-specific reference knowledge, but should augment that with customer service skills and hands-on experience through internships and practicums.

The committee will use the insights gained from this discussion to inform its decisions about next steps to take in its ongoing investigation into the state of reference education. One likely next step is dissemination of the results from the committee’s preliminary examination of the slate of reference courses library schools are currently offering and what topics those courses are addressing. Another likely next step is discussions with members of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) and further discussion forums with practicing reference librarians.

Jason Coleman, Chair 2014-2014

Evaluation of Reference and User Services
A group made up of members of ERUS and Virtual Reference Services Committee distributed a survey in August/September 2013 with the goal to assess the state of the profession in the provision of virtual reference services. The analysis stage was completed and initial results were reported to ERUS at our ALA Annual meeting. Results will be shared more broadly, and recommendations for regular surveys on this topic will be explored. ERUS also conducted a survey looking at reference service models and evaluation of service. At the close of the survey, we received a very large number of responses. Initial analysis of the results has begun and the goal is to disseminate the findings broadly. The committee will submit a proposal for a discussion forum at Midwinter 2015 on this topic, with the hope that the survey results can be incorporated or used to inform the discussion.

Jason Kruse, Chair, 2013-2014

Health and Medical Reference Committee
The Health and Medical Reference Committee has been hard at work completing the new Health and Medical Reference Guidelines to replace the Guidelines for Medical, Legal, and Business Responses (2001) currently on the RUSA website. Outgoing Chair Karen Vargas met with the Standards and Guidelines Committee on Sunday June 29 during the ALA Annual Meeting. The Health and Medical Reference Guidelines have to be approved by the Standards and Guidelines Committee, then they go out for public review, and finally to the RUSA Board. When the board approves them, they are good for 7 years. During the meeting on June 29, the Standards and Guidelines Committee had positive feedback about this draft of the new guidelines. Since they work entirely online, it is possible the process of adopting these new guidelines will be completed by Midwinter 2015.

The Health and Medical Reference Committee welcomes new member Ann Gluske, BST Librarian from The Seattle Public Library, as well as new Chair Laura Haines, Health Sciences Librarian from the Dana Medical Library at the University of Vermont. Welcome!

The Committee looks forward to completing a few different projects this coming year: the completion of the Guidelines; creating a web site for the committee; and getting medref-L, a listserv focused on health and medical reference topics, up and running.

Laura Louise Haines, Chair, 2014-2015

Job and Career Reference Committee
Most recently, at Annual, The RSS Job & Career Reference Committee held a discussion forum entitled “Community Needs, Reference, & Assessment in Job & Career Reference.” Its description stated “Large and small libraries hold a variety of programs for job seekers – regular classes, one-shot sessions, traditional reference services, reference appointments and others. How do libraries and information providers determine needs of the community and which services & programs to offer? How do they assess outcomes?” The discussion was pretty informal and intimate—it seems that while some libraries have in-house-designed systems for monitoring success rates and outcomes at the job seeker level, many of us are still struggle with assessing how much we help each job seeker and where we fall short. As a result, we are hoping to create a conference program, possibly inviting professionals from Queens Library which seems to succeed at assessment, for a future conference.

Another possible topic we would like to investigate is possible collaboration on a program on assisting and facilitating youth entrepreneurship. As many jobs traditionally held by this age group are being taken by adults, leaving youth to develop service businesses on their own, channeling the knowledge of entrepreneurship librarians with a program designed for teens and using the expertise in this patron group of YALSA or YARS seems worthy of exploration.

Our new chair is Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, though Kate Oberg is still going to be fully involved in the committee.

Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, Chair 2014-2015

Library Service to an Aging Population
Library Services to an Aging Population Committee held two meetings at ALA-Annual in Las Vegas and worked through the current draft of the Guidelines for Library Services with Midlife and Older Adults: Best Practices with the goal of finishing the draft by the end of 2014. The committee also decided to discontinue the recommended websites that was created years ago, and to fold particularly excellent websites into the OLOS Keys to Engaging Older Adults @ Your Library.

Committee members organized and presented the program “Creative Aging @ Your Library,” highlighting successful arts programs at public libraries. Approximately 150 people attended, and several signed up to learn more about the committee and its projects.

Abigail Elder, Chair 2013-2014
Angela Fortin, Chair 2014-2015

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services
The Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services Committee coordinated a discussion forum entitled, “The Soft Sell: Sales Skills for Librarian.” Nathaniel King, Director of Library Services, Nevada State College and Jacqueline Solis, Coordinator of Liaison Services for Subject Librarians, University of North Carolina presented on the SALES technique as it applies to library services. After the presentation, the 44 attendees were walked through a case study utilizing the technique, and broke into small groups to workshop additional examples.

Elizabeth DeCoster, Chair 2014-2015

Research and Statistics Committee
This year, the Research & Statistics Committee hosted the 20th Annual Reference Research Forum on Sunday, June 29th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. After a double-blind review process, the committee selected 3 research teams to present their results. Ixchel Faniel, Lynn Connaway, and Kendra Parson from OCLC presented “Building Relationships for the Effective Development and Delivery of Research Data Services,” which related the results of in-depth interviews conducted with librarians on the topic of data management. Curt Friehs presented the survey results on the use of technology by college students gathered by himself and his research partner, Jason Kaloudis, in “College Student Tech Usage: A Recent Survey of Trends.” And finally, Jenny Bossaller and Guinevere Lawson presented their survey results of libraries and their involvement with the Affordable Care Act, revealing interesting trends in “Libraries and the Affordable Care Act”. Each presentation garnered a number of interesting questions. The committee also reviewed and posted an annotated bibliography of articles relating to reference research for the Reference Research Review: 2013.

Ava M. Iuliano Brillat, Chair 2013-2014

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The VR Tutorial Subcommittee has almost completed work on the Virtual Reference Companion (VRC). Content has been created for the eighth and final module, Staffing/Partners, but the subcommittee still needs to finalize a few details before it can be made available. The committee will meet in August 2014 to complete the VRC.

Although we did not meet our goal of completion by ALA Annual 2014, some members of the subcommittee presented the VRC at the MARS VR Discussion Group meeting on Sunday, June 30, in Las Vegas, NV. The presentation included information about the history of the subcommittee, the process of creating the VRC, and the content and organization of the VRC. Meeting participants offered input and feedback to help populate the Tips & Best Practices section of the VRC, which is now available. We encourage RSS members to submit suggestions for additional content by leaving a comment on ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/node/225501 ) or by sending an email to Christine Tobias ( tobiasc@msu.edu ) or Laura Friesen ( flynnl@umflint.edu ).

In addition to being accessible from http://www.ala.org/rusa/vrc , the Hot Links section of the RSS Virtual Reference Committee page, and the Professional Tools section of the RUSA Resources page, the VRC is now linked in the Web Resources section of the ALA Library Fact Sheet 19: Virtual Reference: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet19).

Laura Friesen, Chair 2014-2015
Christine Tobias, Chair 2014-2015

Young Adult Reference Services Committee
YARS hosted the ALA Annual discussion forum, “Of *Course* It’s Due Tomorrow: What is the Appropriate Level of Homework Assistance in Libraries?” held on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at 10:30am. Among the topics discussed were the following:

  • What are the obstacles to offering HW in libraries?
  • How do we offer in-house HW without the use of library resources (funding, staffing)?
  • How should we evaluate alternative tutoring services?
  • What would be the most help to you to provide HW help in your library?
  • Should ALA officially encourage libraries to provide in-house HW?

As a result of the ideas that emerged from the discussion, YARS will compile a resource of best practices, contacts, and templates for libraries that wish to offer in-house homework help or tutoring services to their student community. Details on the location of that resource will be decided shortly. The committee met at the All-RSS meeting at the Conference where we discussed ideas for next year’s conference program. A subgroup will work to plan that program, which will focus on issues surrounding library participation in Common Core standards, and will continue its search for panel speakers.

Allyson Evans Malik, Chair 2013-2015

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

 

Message from the Chair

Hello All,

STARS had a very eventful ALA Annual in Las Vegas. In addition to terrific programming and discussion groups, the section celebrated its 10th Anniversary. It was a wonderful party and a great opportunity for our members to connect. Nearly every STARS Chair – past, present, and future – was in attendance, and it was a great visual representation of our history. My sincere thanks to the planning committee that put together the event! My additional thanks to Past Chair Nora Dethloff for her leadership throughout 2013-2014.

Photo: Past, present and future chairs of STARS at the 10th Anniversary Party – Tom Bruno, Tina Baich, Nora Dethloff, David Atkins, Heather Weltin, Sherri Michaels, Denise Forro, Margaret Ellingson, Tanner Wray, Mary Hollerich. Photo taken by Joe Thompson, RUSA President.
Photo: Past, present and future chairs of STARS at the 10th Anniversary Party – Tom Bruno, Tina Baich, Nora Dethloff, David Atkins, Heather Weltin, Sherri Michaels, Denise Forro, Margaret Ellingson, Tanner Wray, Mary Hollerich. Photo taken by Joe Thompson, RUSA President.

 

There is much more to come for STARS this year as we work to provide professional development opportunities and helpful resources to our members and the resource sharing community at large. Here are just a few of our plans for the coming year.

  • The Codes, Guidelines, and Technical Standards Committee will be working diligently on the revision of the ILL Code for the United States. We’ll be looking for feedback from the resource sharing community at some point in the process, and I encourage you to participate.
  • The Education & Training Committee will once again be providing the FREE “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about ILL” workshop at ALA Midwinter. Watch the e-mail discussion lists for details.
  • The ILL Committee is planning an ALA Annual 2015 program titled “Acquisitions, Collection Development, Electronic Resources, and Interlibrary Loan, Oh My!: Connecting Users to What They Want!” I think this is a timely program as the lines between collection development and resource sharing continue to blur.
  • The Research & Assessment Committee is planning an ALA Annual 2015 pre-conference focused on ILL data, a topic that is always a big hit with our resource sharing colleagues!

Though I’ve been placed at the helm of STARS, I obviously can’t do all this alone. Luckily for me, our section has the most engaged and dedicated members I’ve ever encountered in a professional organization. I’m excited to begin my year as STARS Chair and look forward to working with each of you as we move STARS forward!

Many thanks and best regards,

Tina Baich
STARS Chair 2014-2015