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History

Laura O’Neill Hibbler, Editor

 

At ALA Annual, the RUSA History Section program “Library Engagement in National History Day Activities” featured a diverse panel of speakers: Crystal Johnson, Chicago Metro History Education Center; Gail Egbers, Pacific Lutheran University; Jennifer Hootman, Minitex, University of Minnesota; and Kris Maldre, National Archives and Records Administration. Attendees learned of creative and innovative ways for libraries of various types engage with students participating in National History Day competitions. Among the attendees there were a number of individuals interested in implementing programs at their institutions and creating relationships with their local schools. The four panelists offered great ideas for creating programs as well as enhancing existing programs. Our attendance was a small but enthusiastic thirty which we feel is pretty good considering we were competing against vendor breakfasts and Temple Grandin.

The History Section Program, “Digital History: New Methodologies Facilitated by New Technologies” sponsored by the Instruction and Research Services Committee, was held on June 30 at the McCormick Place in Chicago. The program was well attended and very well received. Speakers included Dr. Michael Kramer and Josh Honn both from Northwestern University and also Dr. Anne Flannery and Adam Strohm both from the Newberry Library. The program included discussion of digital tools available and how to use them, strides in using digital source materials and how to incorporate the new digital methodologies in the library and/or classroom.

The Genealogy and Local History Discussion Group’s conversation was kicked off by Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, which is hosted by the University of Chicago. Tamar presented on the innovative ways the consortium has worked with the community to preserve important pieces of local history that are too often overlooked by traditional repositories. There were a number of questions at the end of her presentation as well as informal discussions throughout the room after she concluded. Over fifty people attended the discussion group.

The Genealogical Preconference “Behind the Genealogy Reference Desk: Chicago Style Genealogy” had about eighty attendees at the Harold Washington Library Center of the Chicago Public Library on June 28. Matt Rutherford from the Newberry Library spoke on “ChicagoAncestors.org—Discover the Past by Address.” Curt B. Witcher of the Allen County Library System gave a wonderful account of early American history resources in “And the Rockets’ Red Glare: Sources for War of 1812 Research.” Elissa Scalise Powell, from Boston University and the Board for Certification of Genealogists, presented on “Genealogical Education Opportunities.” Chip Nilges from OCLC WorldCat and Michael J. Hall from FamilySearch discussed “OCLC WorldCat and FamilySearch; how the recent partnership can enhance the research experience from the Beginner to the Expert.” Sandy Joseph closed the preconference with “Beginning African American Research on Family Search.” All of the presenters gave a great account of themselves, and provided much needed information to the attending librarians. ProQuest provided an outstanding lunch with a presentation by William Forsyth of ProQuest.

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

Cathy Larson, Editor

Join the discussion at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/mars-l

RUSA MARS Best Free Web sites

While the MARS Best Free Reference Web sites did not meet at annual, they did work on the following:

MARS Best Free Reference Website Committee

  • 26 sites selected (from 70 nominated)
  • all selected sites have been notified that they were selected as one of the 2013 “Best Free Reference Websites”
  • RUSA/MARS web pages have been updated for 2013
  • text has been sent off to Barry for Fall RUSQ

View the 2013 winners: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marspubs/marsbestfreewebsites/marsbestref2013

And the combined list has also been updated: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marspubs/marsbestindex

Donna Scanlon
dscanlon@loc.gov

MARS Conference Program Planning Committee

After the award presentation, the committee hosted / facilitated a program titled, “Usability, the User Experience & Interface Design: The Role of Reference.” Each presenter discussed how their institutions have implemented innovative changes to their user interface and addressed the role of usability testing, data mining, and other research methods in their decision process.

Audience members had an opportunity to submit questions to the panelists as well as time to speak with the panelists directly following the program.

The program was a success with a nearly full room, especially considering the popular concurrent sessions with which it competed. Our best guess is that the room would accommodate approximately 400-425 people and we were at least 70% filled which put attendance at approximately 280-300 attendees.

Donna Scanlon
dscanlon@loc.gov
Chair, Conference Program Planning Committee, 2012-2013

MARS Professional Development Committee

MARS Professional Development Committee (PD) held several virtual meeting between Midwinter and Annual, at we reviewed our progress at Annual.

The role of PD in training and facilitating webinar proposals is no longer relevant since RUSA now has assigned staff for the new Adobe Connect software. Nor is MARS PD active in soliciting and reviewing webinar proposals since these now go through RUSA submission and review process by the RUSA Professional Development Committee. PD will be updating our website to reflect these changes. We are still interested in collaborating with other MARS committees in planning professional development workshops or webinars. Some of the ideas proposed included:

  • Reference statistics software (this is scheduled to be a webinar for Fall 2013 and may involve MARS PD members)
  • Best practices in reference/technology areas
  • Collaboration with Hot Topics
  • Regional half-day professional development activities. Could we organize regional groups to meet in different cities/areas on a specific topic? Could be difficult to implement, but perhaps would draw in local people to learn from each other.
  • Template for how to plan a professional development event.
  • Ideas from state library associations

​Joint RSS and MARS Midwinter Workshop: While the Midwinter Workshop in Seattle was a great success; RSS STARS will not be able to share space at Midwinter in Philadelphia. To date, we have been unable to secure space or content for a joint RSS and MARS workshop. There is a working group of RSS and MARS members still interested in developing a topic and locating a space. If planning does move forward by the working group, members of the MARS Professional Development Committee can be available to facilitate a free workshop.

Van Houlson
houls001@umn.edu
Co-Chair, Professional Development Committee, 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Discussion Coordinating Committee

The committee hosted and facilitated a discussion forum on the topic of virtual reference (VR). In response to feedback about the Midwinter discussion forum, at which we piloted a one-hour time slot, we eliminated kick-off speakers and devoted the entire time slot to small- and large-group discussion. Planning Committee member, Beth Boatwright (nee Overhauser) presented questions to guide discussion. These questions pertained to: VR platforms, staffing, assessment, best practices, marketing, emerging technologies, and the impacts of broader trends such as MOOCs. After a brief introduction by Boatwright, the thirty-five attendees engaged in small group discussions for approximately thirty minutes. And following that, we had approximately fifteen minutes in which each table reported the two or three most interesting things discussed at their table. The event was a success, especially considering the popular concurrent sessions with which it competed as well as its location outside of the conference center.

Jessica Sender will be taking over as chair for the 2013/14 year. Please contact her (jsender23@gmail.com) or Sam Stormont (srstormont@widener.edu) if you are interested in joining our committee. Virtual participation is possible for planning the forums. We will need some members to be able to attend each conference to assist with onsite discussion facilitation.

Julie A Piacentine
jpia@uchicago.edu
Chair, Virtual Reference Discussion Coordinating Committee, 2012-2013

MARS/RSS Virtual Reference Committee

The partnership with the RSS Marketing and Public Relations Committee for the Slam the Board series (webinar: May 2013; “Slamming”: June 10; in-person discussion forum: June 2013 @ Annual) was a success. The participants were treated to both background on the Slam the Boards initiative itself and also practical ideas on marketing reference services for their own institutions.

The partnership with the RSS Evaluation of Reference and User Services (ERUS) Committee is on going. The ad hoc virtual reference survey team presented a preliminary draft at our committee’s meeting at Annual. They are planning to continue to revise it (and the draft was also shared with incoming MARS chair, Sam Stormont).

The informal drop-in Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was held in the Networking Uncommons area of the McCormick Place from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM on Sunday at Annual. Although only fourteen people stopped by, there was a lively discussion on Wikipedia’s potential uses by libraries as a tool to provide access to resources and to promote libraries’ collections. One participant shared the article (Honan-Allston Branch of Boston Public Library) she created from scratch as a library school student (including photos she took). One participant who had never edited Wikipedia articles signed up for an account and edited her first article during the Edit-a-thon. Additionally, during the Joint RSS/MARS Executive Committee Meeting, attendees were intrigued by the idea of the Edit-a-thon and discussed ways something similar could be incorporated into section activities in the future.

Also at Annual, outgoing RSS Co-Chair, Don Boozer, introduced in-coming RSS Co-Chair, Cathay Crosby, who most recently was Chair of the RSS Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Committee. Crosby and Alisa Gonzalez (MARS Co-chair) will chair the committee beginning directly after ALA Annual 2013.

Alisa Gonzalez
acgonzal@nmsu.edu
Co-Chair, MARS/RSS Virtual Reference Committee, 2012-2014

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Message from the Chair

RSS

Amy Rustic,Editor

RSS_Logo

 

 

 

Hello RSS Members!

I’m so excited to start my year as chair of this exciting section. It was great seeing so many of you in Chicago, especially at our Open House, featuring breakfast from EBSCO and our second annual Trivia Contest put together by the fantastic Marjorie Lear. And thank you to Sarah Hammill, our outgoing chair, for her fantastic leadership and can do attitude!

I do have one thing to shout to the rooftops: Young Adult Reference Services (YARS) is a brand new joint committee with Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)! We look forward to expanding this new cross-division committee a success. Thank you to Joe Thompson (Chair-Elect of RUSA and former Chair of RSS) and Sarah Hammill for seeing this through for us!

For the coming year, I want us to do all that we can to market our section. In this day and age, anything we can do to provide our members with quality programming, webinars, and value is the best goal we can have. One thing you can do is become a fan of RSS on Facebook! Check us out here: http://www.facebook.com/rss.rusa. We post periodic updates, members of the quarter, and if you won ANYTHING at the Open House in Chicago—your picture is already up there!

Welcome to all our new members and congratulations our newly elected leaders: Qiana Johnson, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, and Don Boozer, Member-at-Large. I look forward to working with all of you in the next year!

Remember the code of the Reference Librarian—if you have any questions—ASK!

 


Ann Brown
agbrown@gwu.edu
RSS Chair, 2013-2014

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RSS Committee Reports

Catalog Use Committee
A new committee name and updated charge will be proposed at the next RSS Board meeting. The Catalog Use Committee will continue to update a bibliography of materials on the current and future state of the library catalog available at http://connect.ala.org/node/202483

Colleen Seale, Chair 2013-2014 

Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee
The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee sponsored two exciting Forums at Annual. “Keeping it Real in a Virtual World: Managing and Promoting Your Online Reference Collection,” was facilitated by Sara Memmott from Eastern Michigan University, and April Levy from Columbia College Chicago. The eleven attendees were from a variety of types of libraries, including academic, community college, and public libraries, plus there was one non-librarian in attendance. Discussions took place in small groups, with ideas reported back to the entire group. Suggestions included: correlating recommended reference sources with events in the news, for more information, via Twitter and Facebook; featuring a “highlighted” reference resource or tool on the library’s home page; QR codes in the stacks to connect users with online resources that relate to those in print (or those recently removed and sent to storage); building on the QR codes idea, having librarians assisting users model the behavior we want to encourage by taking a smartphone or iPad/similar device to the stacks and using it to connect to and demonstrate an online resource; and using infographics to share/summarize information for users (resources available, cost of subscriptions, etc.).

Our second Forum, “Technology Competencies for Reference Librarians,” facilitated by Tina Chan from the State University of New York at Oswego, had a total of twenty-one attendees from academic, public, school, and other libraries. The very lively discussion touched on topics including what to look for in interviewees, how changing technology affects staff, what should go into a staff manual, and whether resistance to change is age-related.

The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee did not meet at ALA Annual 2013. The committee’s meeting for Annual was conducted via email in May when the winning forum proposals for the conference were chosen.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2013-2014

Education and Professional Development for Reference
The RSS Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee is co-sponsoring a webinar on promoting reference products. The webinar is organized by the Reference Publishing Advisory Committee of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section in RUSA. The webinar will be held before the end of the year; look out for further announcement on this online event and other professional development opportunities related to reference service. The committee will commence our data gathering phase on assessing the state of reference education in the next few months. We are in the process of finalizing the various facets of this topic we want to explore in this initial phase of the project.

Joseph Yue, Chair 2013-2014 

Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee
Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee (ERUS) has partnered with Virtual Reference Services Committee to form an ad hoc team to survey the current state of virtual reference. The questions have been drafted and the goal is to have the survey out by the end of this summer. ERUS is currently working on a survey looking at reference service models and evaluation of service. The committee is reviewing a first draft of questions that came out of discussions from Midwinter and Annual 2013. The goal is to have this survey ready to send out to listservs by the end of this year.

Jason Kruse, Chair, 2013-2014

Health and Medical Reference Committee
Approximately sixty people attended the ALA Annual Conference program, “Different Strokes: Serving the Health Information Needs of a Diverse Community” held on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 1:00 PM. The committee met at the All-RSS meeting at the Conference. Ideas for a discussion forum at next year’s conference were discussed. The committee is planning a free RSS webinar, “Tried and True and Even Something New: Best Old and New Medical and Health Information Resources.” Details will be announced shortly. A subgroup to rewrite guidelines for medical reference continues to meet to discuss guidelines planning. The committee has established a listserv where librarians can discuss issues regarding medical reference. The email address is medref@ala.org. The link to subscribe is http://lists.ala.org/sympa/subscribe/medref. Plans are being made to promote this listserv.

Karen Vargas, Chair 2012-2014

Job and Career Reference Committee
The Job and Career Reference Committee met at ALA Annual. The Job and Career Reference Committee is moving forward with a wiki open to interested librarians and a listserv for librarians interested in Job & Career reference. Contact Kate Oberg (kathryn.oberg@gmail.com) if you have further questions.

Kate Oberg, Chair 2013-2014

Library Service to an Aging Population
Library Services to an Aging Population hosted “Boomers to Seniors: Library Models for Serving and Engaging Older Adults” that highlighted programs in California and Georgia, along with current research studies. Committee member Alan Kleiman moderated the panel. The presentation was enthusiastically received by the attendees; there was a strong sense among the group that this area of librarianship is being reinvented and many different models need to be tried.

In that same vein, the committee had an excellent meeting in which members decided that the current Guidelines for Library and Information Services to Older Adults no longer reflect current best practices. Committee members agreed that overhauling the Guidelines is the top priority this year. If you would like to be involved in this process, please follow us on ALA Connect or contact Abigail Elder (aelder@beavertonoregon.gov).

Abigail Elder, Chair 2013-2014

Library Services to the Spanish Speaking
The Services to the Spanish Speaking Committee met Saturday morning with only a few interested parties. The discussion group on Arizona libraries had twenty-five in attendance and seemed to be well received. Many of the speakers were also members of REFORMA who helped promote and support this program. ASCLA also has programs and webinars of interest to services to the Spanish Speaking. A few of the current and potential members suggested a change in the direction of this committee, perhaps in more dedication to services to immigrants. Rather than one specific group, this would include a broader spectrum of services libraries provide and potential expansion to include more libraries and government agencies interested in supporting these groups. Over the past few years, the Services to the Spanish Speaking had discussion groups for a limited audience. Consideration of changing the direction would enable more growth. I was not able to obtain a chair for the future. A few expressed potential interest and I am in contact with them to make their wishes known for your consideration. We were indeed fortunate to have the presentations on Sunday afternoon, but, as always, the programs often conflict with other broader interest programs such as this case with the Digital Public Library presentation.

The Committee hosted a discussion group on Sunday, June 30, 2013 3:00-4:00 PM, “Arizona Libraries: Spanish Services and Community Outreach.” As a border state, Arizona has historically always had a large Spanish Speaking/Latino community. Paulina Aguirre-Clinch, Marissa Alcorta, Paula Maez, Emily Scherrer, and Cecilia Tovar shared examples of successful programming and provide strategies for making connections to your own Spanish Speaking communities.

With the contemporary increase in recent immigration from Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries, library services and outreach to these communities is needed now more than ever. Two library systems in Southern Arizona, Yuma County Library District, and Pima County Public library, have used their resources, staff skills, and community building to provide relevant services and programming to these ever growing communities.

Finally, the Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users may be due for an update.

Stephen Marvin, Chair 2012-2013

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference
The Marketing & Public Relations Committee hosted a free webinar on the Slam the Boards concept in May. Attendees learned about the idea from Bill Pardue, who shared tips for finding questions on social question and answer sites, and tips for those who are new to the practice.

We also hosted a workshop at Annual in Chicago where Slam the Board participants shared their experiences. Thanks to Bill sharing his knowledge with us and to those who attended. If you’d like to continue participating in the Slam the Boards project, you can join a Facebook group to connect with others who’ve been caught by the Q&A bug.

We’re currently exploring ways to collaborate on event planning with other ALA groups interested in marketing and public relations. At our Annual committee meeting, we also discussed what we might learn from non-library marketers and public relations specialists, such as Jonah Sachs, author of Winning the Story Wars and social media experts who can help us learn tools and strategies for better telling our library stories.

Jessica Hagman, Chair 2013-2014

Recognition Committee
The RSS Recognition Committee chose Larayne Dallas as the RSS Service Achievement Award recipient for 2013. Larayne has had a long career in the Reference Services Section and is widely regarded as one of the most hard-working RSS members, having served on/chaired numerous committees and mentoring new and incoming chairs. Her involvement in RSS includes:

  • Served four years (2005-2009) as a member of the RSS Organization Committee.
  • Chair (2006-2007) of the RSS Management of Reference Committee, while continuing as a member (2003 -2007)
  • 2002-2004 first chair of the ALA/RUSA Hot Topics in Front Line Reference Discussion Group
  • Chair and RSS member of the RUSA RSS 2010 Nominating Committee
  • 2003-2004 member of the MOUSS Nominating Committee
  • RSS Honor Roll (2009)

Emilie Smart, Chair 2013-2014

Research and Statistics Committee
Over the 2012-2013 year, the Research and Statistics Committee solicited and selected proposals for the 19th Annual Reference Research Forum. This year’s forum included “Research Guides Usability Study,” by Angela Pashia, Instructional Services Outreach Librarian, University of West Georgia; “Two Birds, One Stone: Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Measure Service Process and Identify Usability Pain Points in Virtual Reference,” by Christine Tobias, User Experience and Reference Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries; “Query Clarification in Chat Reference: A Visual Transcript Analysis,” by Alexa Pearce, Librarian for Journalism, Media, Culture & Communication, New York University Libraries.

The Forum was held Saturday, June 29 from 1:00-2:30 PM at McCormick Place in Chicago. Approximately 180 people attended the event.

The committee also went through the literature from the past year to select exceptional articles detailing research in reference. The full Reference Research Review is available here.

Lynda Duke, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Services (MARS/RSS)
The partnership with the RSS Marketing and Public Relations Committee for the Slam the Board series (webinar: May 2013; “Slamming”: June 10; in-person discussion forum: June 2013 @ Annual) was a success. The participants were treated to both background on the Slam the Boards initiative itself and also practical ideas on marketing reference services for their own institutions.

The partnership with the RSS Evaluation of Reference and User Services (ERUS) Committee is on-going. The ad hoc virtual reference survey team presented a preliminary draft at our committee’s meeting at Annual. They are planning to continue to revise it (and the draft was also shared with incoming MARS chair, Sam Stormont).

The informal drop-in Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was held in the Networking Uncommons area of the McCormick Place from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM on Sunday at Annual. Although only fourteen people stopped by, there was a lively discussion on Wikipedia’s potential uses by libraries as a tool to provide access to resources and to promote libraries’ collections.

One participant shared the article (Honan-Allston Branch of Boston Public Library) she created from scratch as a library school student (including photos she took). One participant who had never edited Wikipedia articles before signed up for an account and edited her first article during the Edit-a-thon. Additionally, during the Joint RSS/MARS Executive Committee Meeting, attendees were intrigued by the idea of the Edit-a-thon and discussed ways something similar could be incorporated into section activities in the future.

Also at Annual, outgoing RSS Co-Chair, Don Boozer, introduced incoming RSS Co-Chair, Cathay Crosby, who most recently was Chair of the RSS Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Committee. Cathay and Alisa Gonzalez (MARS Co-chair) will chair the committee beginning directly after ALA Annual 2013.

Don Boozer, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The Subcommittee is excited to continue working on the Virtual Reference Companion (VRC) with the goal of completion by ALA Annual 2014. The group continues to meet monthly and works in subgroups between meetings. A fifth module will be complete by the end of summer, leaving four more to go.

One section of the VRC has Tips & Best Practices and we are looking for ideas from RSS members that may help those new to the world of virtual reference. Our modules include Planning, Skills, Information Literacy, Technologies, Staffing/Partners, Marketing, Assessment, and Professional Development. If anyone has words of wisdom to share on any of these or other topics related to virtual reference, please send them to Jared Hoppenfeld at jhoppenf@tamu.edu or Christine Tobias at tobiasc@mail.lib.msu.edu.

Although the VRC has been accessible to anyone with the URL, it will be going live by the end of summer as we will request that http://www.ala.org/rusa/vrc takes the place of the previous resource, as it is linked from its current RSS location(s).

Jared Hoppenfeld, Chair 2012-2014
Christine Tobias, Chair 2013-2014

 

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.

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Message from the Chair

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

 

Dear STARS,

My thanks to you for a terrific year. It has been my honor to serve as our section’s chair and to work with so many wonderful colleagues. As this newsletter attests, STARS is a very active and engaging organization. Our training, outreach, and membership initiatives now serve as models for RUSA.

As much as I’d like to bask the past year’s afterglow, I’m really looking forward to next year: Looking forward to Nora Dethloff’s tenure as our fearless leader. Looking forward to more sharing through our section’s webinars and programs. And looking forward to a celebration. During ALA Annual, 2014, Las Vegas, our section will celebrate 10 years of awesome. And STARS awesomeness is one thing that will not stay in Vegas.

Again, it has been my honor to serve such an outstanding organization and with such outstanding people. We do share and transform, and not just information resources. We share and we transform one another.

Thank you,

David Atkins
STARS Chair

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STARS Committee Reports

STARS Membership Committee
The Membership Committee was able to pass out and begin collecting updated committee information for the Web site. This initiative is step one in promoting committees to members in the coming year.

Membership is also organizing a party planning committee for the 10 year celebration of RUSA STARS @ ALA 2014. Committee members were solicited and, so far, we have Lars Leon, Heather Weltin, and Tina Baich on board. Membership will spearhead planning this celebration throughout the coming year.

Membership organized a review of the “Five Things” document to take place and also reviewed our STAR Gazing initiative to target non-academic members and past STARS Atlas-Systems Award winners. Naomi Chow has agreed to be a STAR Gazer in the near future!

Membership also shared some statistics with the group and confirmed all committee members would be staying on for another year!

Micquel Little, Chair

STARS Education and Training Committee
In March, the committee submitted a successful proposal for a free RUSA webinar. Amber Case, University of Washington, and Cherie Weible, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will present “Finding Dead People” on the topic of genealogy resources for ILL practitioners. The webinar will take place on October 16, and we anticipate strong interest from staff of public, academic, and special libraries. The committee will also partner with the RUSA History Section to produce a similar program at the 2014 ALA Annual Conference.

The Education and Training Committee continued to update the ShareILL wiki (shareill.org) and was grateful to receive assistance from many other STARS committees. Work on this project is ongoing, and plans include the addition of sections on open access, services to distance education students, and ILL best practices.

The committee also added several YouTube videos to the series “Exploring Library Careers in Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing.” New videos feature Megan Gaffney, Nora Dethloff, and Troy Christenson and are available at http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/stars/section/educationandtrainingcommittee/etc.

Finally, this year’s STARS Atlas Mentoring Award was presented to Daniel Chesney of Southern Nazarene University. The award committee was chaired by Collette Mak, University of Notre Dame.

Jennifer Jacobs, Chair

STARS Hot Topics Discussion Group
A vice chair for 2012/13, Chair Elect 2013/14 was elected: Jesslynn Shafer, MSLIS Resource Sharing and Document Delivery Coordinator, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton, NY.

A new assessment tool was implemented for 2013 ALA Midwinter and received only two responses. The tool was revised for the 2013 ALA Annual conference. The general response was affirmative.

When participants at the Hot Topics Discussion Group at 2013 ALA Annual were asked if they would like a short presentation to introduce topics or a specific subject, the response was primarily negative, stating that it would take away time from the general discussion. When asked if they liked the existing format, the majority of people said “yes” and would like it to continue in its current format, especially if the time was reduced to one hour.

Troy Christenson, Chair

STARS Interlibrary Loan Committee
Jeanne Voyles and Joanne McIntyre are the outgoing Co-Chairs. New Co-Chairs will be Carol Kochan and Zheng Yang. Jeanne Voyles agreed to stay on as a member of the committee to support the new co-chairs and the work of the committee.

For 2013 ALA Annual, the committee planned and coordinated the discussion group topic, entitled: “How Will the Current Climate/Trends in Libraries Influence/Impact the Future of Resource Sharing?” Lars Leon, University of Kansas, made a brief presentation, posed questions to the audience throughout the session, and engaged attendees in a variety of current topics and trends. There were ninety-three-plus attendees for the hour-long session. The room was a good size and accommodated the number of attendees. We believe that out of that session there will be ideas to consider for future programming. The committee was pleased with the attendance and participation by attendees. Lars did an excellent job presenting various topics and facilitating the discussion. This may be a good model for future sessions.

Jeanne Voyles, Co-Chair

STARS ILL Research and Assessment Committee
As of June 2013, the STARS Executive Committee approved a name change for the STARS ILL Research and Statistics Committee. The new name will be the STARS ILL Research and Assessment Committee with the following charge:

To explore, develop, and promote assessment activities focusing on library resource service communities and STARS membership needs. Support research and assessment collaboration among STARS members. Coordinate, produce, and review STARS program evaluations and other self-assessment activities.

The committee continues to brainstorm ideas about this new charge and the expectations that come with it. Much organization will need to be done over the next year to ensure the success of this new direction.

The committee worked diligently to plan a program for the 2013 ALA conference in Chicago. The program title was “Does Your Data Deliver for Decision Making? New Directions for Resource Sharing Assessment.” The presenters included: Charla Lancaster, Director of Assessment and Library Access Services, Virginia Tech; Collette Mak, Manager, University of Notre Dame; and Margaret Ellingson, Team Leader, Interlibrary Services, Emory University. The program was successful with over 200 attendees (standing room and sitting room on the floor only), as the room could not accommodate all that wished to attend.

In the year leading up to the program, the team worked on shaping the topic so that three different perspectives on recent data collections were given. Appropriate planning including marketing, feedback mechanisms, room planning, and organization of the day of activities to name a few was completed.

The committee also made some changes to the ALA Connect web pages in order to better reflect the committee charge.

The committee met several times over the course of the year via Blackboard to discuss these various topics. We look forward to another successful year and look forward to the changes in our charge to support RUSA STARS.

Charla Lancaster, Chair

Vendor Relations Committee
We have reviewed a number of topics that were of interest to members of the committee and determined that the question of how not to print requests and use of mobile technologies are areas that we’d like to pursue in the coming year.

Elizabeth Ringwelski, Chair

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From the President

We are fast approaching the Annual Conference in Chicago. Much work has happened since I last wrote to you and much will happen at the Annual Conference in Chicago in June. I am excited and I hope you will be, too, by all the wonderful things happening in RUSA.

RUSA President’s Program in Chicago: Come and Hear Lee Rainie
I am excited about the President’s Program this year, entitled The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron: The RUSA President’s Program. Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project will present information from Pew’s extensive research about how people use information and libraries, based on recent research completed by the Project he leads and give us food for thought about the questions we should ask ourselves and our users as we consider this data. Join us on Saturday, June 29 from 4:00-5:30 P.M. at the McCormick Place Convention Center, room S105 a-c.

Equally exciting to me is the follow-up discussion forum the next morning that carries Mr. Rainie’s information and ideas out to attendees. On Sunday, June 30 at 10:30 A.M. in room E351 of the McCormick Place Convention Center, our distinguished panel, moderated by Marie Radford, consisting of Emily Ford, David Lankes, Marie herself, and Joyce Valenza will interact with Mr. Rainie and the participants in the forum to discuss the characteristics of library users and their implications for libraries and the services we provide.

The co-chairs of the RUSA President’s Program, Mary Mintz and Joseph Thompson, along with the hard-working members of the committee, Emily Kornak, Dianna McKellar, Sherri Michaels, and Matt Neer, have planned a wonderful set of programs for Chicago and I am looking forward to them. I hope you will join us for one or both of these important sessions.

Mark Your Calendar for RUSA’s Wonderful Upcoming Programs in Chicago

RUSA’s Signature Programs:

  • RUSA 101
    Friday, June 28, 3:00-4:00 P.M.
    Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Jackson Park 10 A, B, C
  • RUSA President’s Program
    Saturday, June 29, 4:00-5:30 P.M.
    McCormick Place Convention Center, S105 a-c
  • Literary Tastes Author Event
    Sunday, June 30, 8:00-10:00 A.M.
    McCormick Place Convention Center, S103bc
  • RUSA Awards Reception and Volunteer Appreciation Party
    Sunday, June 30, 5:00-6:30 P.M.
    Hyatt-Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room
  • Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Ceremony and Reception
    Sunday, June 30, 8:00-10:00 P.M.,
    Ticketed event; separate registration required; registration information here.
    Radisson Blu Hotel, Atlantic Room A

Not to Be Missed RUSA Programs:

In addition, RUSA is sponsoring a number of important discussion sessions where you can share ideas with your colleagues.

Use the ALA Conference Scheduler to create a personal schedule and you will be alerted to any last minute location changes.

Free Upcoming Webinars
In an effort to provide greater value for RUSA members, the RUSA Board approved a plan to provide a group of high quality webinars, one sponsored by each RUSA section, free to RUSA members. The Professional Development Committee, led by Jim Rettig, has been carefully reviewing proposals and we will have seven new webinars free to RUSA members over the next eight to nine months. They will cover such topics as: genealogy and history resources, online reference resources, reference tracking and data collection, industry research, sharing resources worldwide, and creating an “elevator speech” to tell non-librarians about reference services. Stay tuned for more details!

Strategic Planning
At the Midwinter meeting, RUSA sponsored its annual Town Hall and Think Tank meetings with a theme of encouraging members to be more involved in RUSA and to support members as they engage in RUSA activities. As a result, the RUSA Board and Executive Committee are looking closely at the RUSA Strategic Plan and making plans to update it at the Annual Conference. Each section and standing committee has had an opportunity to weigh in on new initiatives they feel are high priority and we will add more objectives and tasks to facilitate member interest and engagement.

Leadership Development Plan
One of the pieces of the RUSA Strategic Plan (and a good complement to the plans of current ALA President, Maureen Sullivan) is to develop leadership skills in RUSA member leaders. This year we are trying a pilot project to send RUSA-level officers and chairs, standing committee chairs, and section leaders to the Servant Leadership in Your Library preconference at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago sponsored by our sister division ASCLA. Those who participate will be asked to help to develop a RUSA leadership program to help us support RUSA as the best division within ALA. See the RUSA Blog for more details.

Move to Adobe Connect from Blackboard
Our efforts, using RUSA Reserve funds, over the past year to provide greater support for online webinars and committee meetings using a combination of new conference call lines and Blackboard Collaborate software have been a resounding success. Now that ALA has purchased a subscription to Adobe Connect, RUSA will move to that software beginning in June and training programs are going on right now.

New RUSA Guidelines
The RUSA Board has approved two new sets of RUSA guidelines. They are: Guidelines for Business Information Responses and Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers. These will be posted to the RUSA web site soon. The Reference Services Section (RSS) has also put forward a proposal to update the RUSA Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians.

Congratulations to New RUSA Officers
Our new officers will join Kathleen Kern who will take over the reins of RUSA as its new president at the end of the Chicago conference.

  • President-Elect: Joseph Thompson
  • Secretary: Erin Rushton
  • Director-at-Large: Margaret W. Ellingson and Louise Mort Feldmann

The Last Word(s): Thank YOU!
As I end my term in the RUSA Presidency, I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of those with whom I have worked this past year.

Special thanks go to the RUSA Office staff, who were always kind and never laughed at my ideas, including our Executive Director, Susan Hornung, Andrea Hill, Liz Markel, and Leighann Wood. The Executive Committee members gave wonderful advice and also deserve thanks and high praise: Gary White, Past President; Kathleen Kern, Vice-President/President-Elect; Carolyn Larson, Secretary; and Jennifer Boettcher, RUSA Councilor. A big thank you goes out to Gary and Carolyn as they leave the Executive Committee at the end of their terms.

The members of the RUSA Board regularly and generously give of their time and their ideas. Thank you to all of the section chairs—David Atkins (STARS), Debbie Bezanson (MARS), Ann Fiegen (BRASS), Sarah Hammill (RSS), Sara Morris (History), and Mary Parker (CODES)—for their hard work and good advice.

Members-at-Large serve as mentors to standing committees, sections, and all of RUSA. I want to send a big thank you to Wayne Bivens-Tatum and Judy Solberg, retiring Members-at-Large, for all of your hard work. To our continuing Members, Cindy Levine, Celia Ross, Doris Ann Sweet, and Patrick Wall, my thanks and best wishes for the coming years.

Diana Schonrock and Elizabeth Stephan and the Just Ask Team are moving forward to help us tell the story of reference services to the world. Elizabeth (editor of the RUSA Update) and Barry Trott I (editor of RUSQ) continue to provide our members with up-to-date and useful information.

All the committee members, both of RUSA standing committees and RUSA sections, served everyone in RUSA very well. Know that you are appreciated!

To all of the members of RUSA who share your ideas and your joys and frustrations with us, a big “thank you”! for your support.

To Kathleen Kern and the new Executive Committee as well as the new members of the RUSA Board—I wish you all a happy and productive coming year.

Mary Pagliero Popp
RUSA President 2012-2013

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RUSA News

Special Leadership Development Opportunity for RUSA Members
Participate in the “Servant Leadership at Your Library” preconference at a significantly discounted rate! Act quickly to take advantage of this special offering. More information is at the RUSA blog.

Authors Announced for RUSA Literary Tastes Author Event
We have a stellar author lineup this year! Add the event to your conference schedule, and bring your book-loving friends. More Literary Tastes event information here.

This year’s authors:

  • Peter Heller, author of 2013 RUSA Notable Book The Dog Stars (Knopf).
  • Jonathan Tropper, author of 2013 RUSA Notable Book One Last Thing Before I Go (Dutton).
  • Matti Friedman, author of The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible (Algonquin), which won the 2013 Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish literature.
  • Lyndsay Faye, author of The Gods of Gotham (Putnam), the top pick for The Reading List’s Mystery category in 2013.

Time to Celebrate!
Mark your conference schedule for the RUSA Awards Reception and Volunteer Appreciation Party, which will be held from 5:00-6:30 P.M. on Sunday, June 30 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room. It’s always a fun event, and a great opportunity to celebrate the most outstanding people and accomplishments in our field.

Who is Joe Thompson?
Learn more about RUSA’s new Vice President/President-Elect with this fun Q&A over at the RUSA blog.

Read It: Reference & User Services Quarterly
Have you checked out the new issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly (RUSQ) yet? Here’s an overview. There’s lots of good stuff in this issue. If you haven’t activated your digital subscription yet via Metapress, look at the RUSA website under the Communications tab at the top of the page. Questions about RUSQ? Contact Andrea Hill, RUSA web manager at ahill@ala.org.

Finalists: Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction
Are you on #teamjunot, or #teamerdrich? Review the finalists for this year’s medals, and join in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #ala_carnegie. Don’t forget to buy your event tickets!

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RUSA Committees

RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee
As of this writing, the proposal form for 2014 Midwinter Institutes and 2014 Preconferences and Programs was about to close on May 15. The committee is preparing to review the proposals in advance of its next meeting on Friday, May 24. Recommendations will then be sent on to RUSA Board so that it can approve the slate of programs and budgets when it meets in Chicago during this year’s Annual Conference.

Many thanks go to this year’s CPCC members, who have worked through so many of the questions that followed the release of last year’s ALA Conference Changes Roadmap. It has been a great team effort!

ALA Annual 2013 in Chicago is almost here! See RUSA President Mary Popp’s report for a review of the fifteen fantastic programs organized by RUSA sections and committees, as well as the Business Reference 101 preconference from BRASS on Friday, June 28.

Joe Thompson, Chair

RUSA President’s Program Planning Committee
The committee is putting together the final pieces of this year’s RUSA President’s Program—one of the major events at this year’s ALA Annual Conference. We hope to see you at the program on Saturday, as well as the Sunday morning discussion! See below for details.

Saturday, June 29, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron: The RUSA President’s Program

Just how well do you know the people who use your library? Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and co-author of Networked: The New Social Operating System, shares the latest data about how our clientele are interacting with information technology. Learn about patron preferences and behaviors during this program. Then, join Rainie and library leaders on Sunday, 10:30-11:30 A.M. to discuss how the data will influence your library’s future. #rusapres13

Sunday, June 30, 10:30-11:30 A.M.

The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron: The Discussion Continues

The discussion continues following the previous day’s RUSA President’s Program! Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, returns to participate in a discussion with library leaders featuring Emily Ford, David Lankes, Marie Radford, and Joyce Valenza. We will discuss how the Pew data will influence your library’s future. #rusapres13

Joe Thompson and Mary Mintz, co-chairs

RUSA Just Ask
RUSA’s Just Ask Committee has been working on several projects, including an upcoming webinar on how to manage change. Several of our members, Julie Strange and Cathay Crosby, have been working on a pilot Ask Campaign. Strange, Statewide Coordinator or Maryland’s JustAskNow!, and Crosby, Operations Assistant of JustAskNow!, used the tenth anniversary of the service as a starting point. Their Ask Campaign, loosely based on the READ campaign, will feature library patrons holding a sign with a question asked through JustAskNow!. These will be turned into materials used to promote reference service. Crosby posted about their experience in ALA Connect along with some more background info on the JustAskNow! website.

Elizabeth Stephan and Diana Schonrock, co-chairs

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Emerging Leader Report

Being a member of the 2013 ALA Emerging Leader Class has been a great experience. I truly appreciate this sponsorship. My group is currently preparing to present our poster session in June at the ALA Annual Conference. So far, we have been researching information about the ways adult learners learn and other issues surrounding adult education. We created a survey about adult learning and sent them out to LIRT members to complete. That information is being used to help create our four tutorials about adult learning.

Our poster session is scheduled for Friday, June 28, 2013 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will be held in the McCormick Place Convention Center, Room S405. We are looking forward to more leadership training and presenting our research in Chicago.

Alicia Finley
MLIS Graduate 2013
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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Message from the Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol Schuetz, Editor

 

Hello BRASS members!

BRASS celebrates 25 years as a section at ALA annual in Chicago 2013. All committees have been hard at work to bring you a full program schedule beginning on Friday morning June 28 and continuing through Monday night’s 25th BRASS Anniversary reception and dinner July 1 and the Tuesday morning’s Executive Board meeting. Twitter will be right there with you this year, follow along at BRASS’ very own hashtag #bizref. All members are invited to committee meetings of BRASS where many initiatives that improve business librarianship are happening; read more in these notes about those activities. Not a volunteer yet? There are many ways to participate in BRASS virtually and in person. BRASS welcomes you, contact incoming 2013-2014 Chair Andy Spackman.

Congratulations to our BRASS award winners. Plan to attend the RUSA Awards Ceremony to honor the accomplishments of our colleagues.

  • BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence In Business Librarianship: Michael R. Oppenheim
  • BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award: Kelly LaVoice
  • BRASS Business Expert Press Award: Annette Buckley
  • Emerald Research Award: Jennifer Boettcher
  • Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award: Salvatore DiVincenzo

Congratulations also to our newly elected BRASS officers: Todd Hines, incoming Chair-elect and Elizabeth Malafi, incoming Member at Large.

The Publications and Communications Committee will be posting a detailed conference schedule including all committee meetings but in the meantime, here are the BRASS conference highlights in brief. Be sure to also watch BRASS-L, the BRASS Facebook andBRASS website, #bizref on Twitter and the RUSA Blog for information about section activities. Room locations are found on the ALA 13 scheduler.

Programs (watch for more updates on BRASS-L)

 

Ann Fiegen
BRASS Chair 2012-2013
afiegen@csusm.edu

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BRASS Committee Reports

BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee
BRASS will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with a reception and dinner at ALA Annual in Chicago on Monday evening, July 1; from 6:00-10:00 P.M. atFulton’s on the River BRASS members are invited to this free event. Please RSVP by May 23 by sending an email to RUSABRASS25@gmail.com. Many thanks to our Grand Sponsor, Gale Cengage Learning, and to our other vendor sponsors: S&P Capital IQ, ReportLinker, Morningstar, Annual Reviews, EBSCO, Mintel, PrivCO, SimplyMap, Mergent, and Emerald. The 25th Anniversary event will be preceded by a “Meet the Analysts” reception which will be hosted by Mintel in their new offices just across the river from Fulton’s. More details on that event will be forthcoming. Please visit our event website

Louise Feldmann, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee
Core Competencies for Business Students Task Force

The Business Reference in Academic Libraries committee is continuing its work with Special Library Association’s (SLA) College and University Business Libraries (CUBL) group on the Core Competencies Task Force. This task force is charged with creating research proficiency standards for business students. The first phase of the project was brainstorming what librarians think are good research skills for students. Currently, the committee is evaluating the literature and discussing what professors, employers, and student experiences report as good core competencies. A big thank you to CUBL’s Carissa Marie Phillips for starting this phase of the project. The group is planning on meeting at ALA Annual in Chicago.

BRASS/ RUSA EMERALD AACSB Workshop for Academic Business Librarians

You may have also noticed a call put out to the BRASS-L and BUSLIB-L listservs about the upcoming Emerald sponsored workshop on business accreditation at ALA annual: How can the library continue to support the business school through the accreditation process? BRASS is fortunate to have as keynote speaker Dr. Dan LeClair, VP and Chief Operating Officer of AACSB International speak to us about changes in AACSB accreditation. The workshop will also address your experiences with AACSB business school accreditation standards and your library’s involvement and their creation. Please take a moment to fill out the survey and share your experiences with us. Remember that you are a valuable source of professional information and your input is greatly needed and appreciated! The link to the free registration page is above.

Charles Allan, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee
Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee Forum on June 29 from 2:00-3:00P.M.—“Business Librarian’s Reference Shelf”—a panel discussion featuring authors of valuable and practical books for the business librarian.

Check out our new Public Libraries Briefcase – Harness the Power of Branding by Eric Petersen from H&R Block Business & Career Center at the Kansas City Public Library.

Elizabeth Malafi, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Program Planning Committee
Brass1

Investment Success! Building & Managing Your Retirement Portfolio

Monday, July 1, 2013, 8:30-10:00 A.M.

Good personal investment education is important for librarians and library staff. We are an occupational group that is rarely able to access top financial advice. In this program, investment professionals will demystify the process and help us understand essential principles and how to apply them to make better decisions to meet our retirement goals. The presentation will include a discussion of the common mistakes investors make, why we make them, and how to avoid them.

Speakers

Charles Rotblut, CFA, Vice President, American Association of Individual Investors
Rotblut is a vice president of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). He is the editor of the AAII Journal. He authors the weekly AAII Investor Update e-newsletter and his commentary is published on both Seeking Alpha and Forbes.com. He has analyzed both publicly traded and privately held companies. Charles’ experience includes working for Zacks Investment Research, an investment research firm; INVESTools, an investment education company; Curian Capital, a money management firm; and McClure, Schumacher & Associates, a business valuation firm. Charles is a graduate of the University of Kansas, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He is a holder of the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Jeremy Glaser, Morningstar Markets editor
Glaser is markets editor for Morningstar.com and responsible for directing all stock market coverage for Morningstar’s website for individual investors. Prior to assuming his current role in 2009, he was a senior equity analyst for Morningstar, covering the leisure, hospitality, and gaming sectors. He joined Morningstar in 2006. Glaser holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago.

Peter McKay, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee
The Business Reference Sources Committee Publishers’ Forum Sub-Committee headed up by Penny Scott has been hard at work finalizing details for the program.

The Publishers’ Forum will be held from 1:00-2:30 P.M. on Sunday, June 30 and is currently schedule in N227a of the McCormick Place Convention Center. The program is titled “Finding Business Information in a Googlized World: The Future of Business Research and Discovery Layers”. “What is the impact of discovery services on business information? How are discovery services affecting business publishers, particularly on the specialized business databases side? Most of the discovery platforms tend to be focused on articles, not pulling out data that business researchers seek. Representatives from Proquest, OCLC, Ebsco, and Ex Libris will speak and, more importantly, answer questions about their services and how they are working to incorporate these more specialized data sources”.

Ed Hahn has also been riding herd on the Reference Sources Nominating Sub-Committee and getting additional sources nominated for consideration by the committee as a whole. Currently we have twenty-nine titles nominated, but we would still like to have more as we get ready to make our final determinations. Please contact Ed (edwardhahn@weber.edu) or myself (hurstsj@miamioh.edu) if you have Business Reference sources you would like the committee to consider.

This year as our meeting time at ALA has been cut to one hour (4:30-5:30 P.M., Saturday, June 29); the Committee will be trying something new. We will hold a virtual meeting in May to discuss the nominated titles and make some preliminary decisions. This will hopefully free up some time at ALA to allow us to discuss other topics, including choosing next year’s nominating coordinator and making final preparations for the Forum as well as finalizing the winning titles and selecting who will write the reviews for each of them for the RUSQ column.

Susan Hurst, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Discussion Group Committee
The BRASS Discussion Group will host an open forum at ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago on Sunday, June 30, 2013 from 8:30-10:00 A.M. Two main points of discussion:

  1. Working with the tech transfer process and the librarian’s different roles in University, Public, and Private Sector. What we can learn from each other.
  2. Doing Market Research for online businesses. What are the best resources for researching the online environment? As always, there will be time for the lively open forum. A short all-BRASS membership meeting will precede the discussion topics.

Jason Dewland hosted the first Discussion Group online webinar on April 5,Commercialization Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CRIE). CRIE is the first patent database that will allow researchers to data mine all US patents with the ability to download up to 500,000 records per query. The webinar was well attended with about twenty-four people from around the country. Please be on the lookout for our first online BRASS Discussion Group announcement.

Have a topic idea? Please post suggestions to the BRASS Suggestion Wall. Past discussions have focused on working with businesses and entrepreneurs, free business related web resources, publishing, and other topics related to business librarianship. We look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Jason Dewland, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Education Committee
The BRASS Education Committee will be presenting the 2013 preconferenceBusiness Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship on June 28 from 8:30 A.M.-4:00 P.M. at the ALA Annual conference in Chicago. It will address the most common business reference issues and core resources, evaluation of your business collection, and licensing electronic business products. The registration is in full swing, and we are expecting another successful event! You don’t need to be registered for the ALA Annual Conference to attend this workshop. Register here.

Our proposal to the BRASS Executive Committee to tweak the webinar submission and approval process was approved. The goal of the proposal is to increase visibility of BRASS initiated webinars. We are glad to report that RUSA will be adding section affiliation to the webinar submissions and publicity. The second proposal to offer discounts at the section level was unfortunately not possible.

Jennifer Boettcher will be offering a free webinar on industry research as part of the RUSA’s “one-free-webinar-per-year” initiative. As part of this program, she will cover updates on using the Census information for industry research. Stay tuned for more details!

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

BRASS Membership Committee
Don’t you LIKE us? Please become a “friend” of BRASS Facebook page. See pictures and events. Committee chairs this is your opportunity to publicize your events and previews of your speakers. You can LIKE US viahttps://www.facebook.com/ala.rusa.brass.

Kelly Janousek, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Vendor Relations Committee
The BRASS Vendor Relations Committee has continued to assist the BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee by reaching out to new vendors and working with longtime partners to help secure funding for the event. We are looking forward to celebrating in style! Committee members include Paul Brothers and Lydia LaFaro.

Celia Ross, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Publications and Communications Committee
In anticipation of the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, the BRASS Publications and Communications Committee is working on updating the BRASS web pages. We are trying to clean up links and content to ensure that we can deliver all the information needed for BRASS members to have a great and productive time at Annual, including events related to our BRASS 25th Anniversary celebration. At this time we are also working on producing a BRASS events schedule—this popular resource shows all the BRASS-related events at the Conference so everyone can find and enjoy all that BRASS has to offer. We will post it to the BRASS listserv and to the BRASS web page.

Finally, one more bit of great news: We are delighted to welcome Annette Buckley to the BRASS Publications and Communications Committee as our new Webmaster. Buckley has already done some great work on the BRASS website, and we look forward the many innovations she has planned for the future!

John Gottfried, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Section Review Committee
This is the year for the review/evaluation of the committees that comprise the BRASS section of RUSA. If you are a committee chair, you should soon be contacted by a BRASS member asking permission to be included on the agenda of your committee’s meeting at the ALA annual conference in June. More information to follow soon. Thank you in advance.

Paul Brother, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee
The committee for the Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award is proud to announce this year’s recipient; Salvatore DiVincenzo, business librarian at Middle Country Public Library in Long Island, New York. The award, sponsored by Morningstar, offers $1,000 in travel funds for ALA’s Annual Conference to a business librarian from a public library.

Melissa Jeter, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship Award Committee
Michael R. Oppenheim is the 2013 recipient of the Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship. Oppenheim is the Collections & Reference Services Librarian at the Rosenfeld Management Library, UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management. He is the co-author of: Marketing Information: A Strategic Guide for Business and Finance Libraries, and co-editor of the recent The Basic Business Library: Core Resources and Services (5th ed., 2011). He has also made countless contributions as a leader in professional associations. One of his colleagues summed it up best, “he is the business librarian’s librarian”.

Congratulations, Michael!

Patricia Kenly, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award Committee
Kelly LaVoice, graduate student of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University, and current business librarian intern at the University of Pennsylvania’s Lippincott Business Library, is being awarded the 2013 BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award. The award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning and the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA, offers $1,000 and a one year membership to BRASS to an outstanding MLIS student to fund travel to the ALA Annual Conference.

Todd M. Hines, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Business Expert Press Award Committee
The BRASS Business Expert Press Award for Academic Librarians Committee is proud to announce this year’s recipient of the travel award to attend the annual conference in Chicago. Please congratulate Annette Buckley, Business Research Librarian at UC Irvine. By the way, some of you may know Annette as the upcoming volunteer BRASS Webmaster—A BIG THANK you from your BRASS colleagues!!!

Paul Brothers, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Emerald Research Award Committee
The Emerald Research Grant ($5000) was awarded to the following person:

Jennifer Boettcher, Business and Economics Reference Librarian at Georgetown University Library. Her winning proposal, “Zombie List: for information sources that should not die,” outlined the process of developing an online finding aid of business-related sources that have been discontinued or changed formats and list alternate ways to get the same or similar information. Boettcher’s research interests are in government sources and industry research.

Christy Goodnight, 2012-2013 Chair

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CODES Section

CODES

Barry Trott, Editor

 

The Readers’ Advisory Research and Trends Committee’s latest CODES Conversation had over 400 participants. Co-Chair Neal Wyatt notes, “We all got multiple personal notes of thanks for offering it and detailing how useful it was.”

From Bill McHugh, “I just wanted to let everyone know that the proposal from the Reference Publishing Advisory Committee for one of the free RUSA Webinar slots has been approved. The proposed Webinar will be based on our discussion forum in Seattle, ‘Are Users Finding Our Online Reference Resources?’ The four speakers at that forum have agreed to take part in the Webinar. The committee will be working on the planning for this event in the coming weeks and in Chicago; we’re anticipating that it won’t happen until after annual, but it will need to happen before December 31 in order to receive this funding. The RSS Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee has also been working with us on this project.”

Don’t forget to attend the Literary Tastes event at Annual, Sunday, June 30, from 8:00-10:00 A.M., to listen to some of the year’s best authors discuss their works 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.

Now’s the time to complete the RUSA Volunteer Form, especially if you are interested in serving on one of the many CODES awards committee which are appointed in the fall.

CODES is offering several programs at Annual and we welcome everyone to attend CODES committee meetings to learn about CODES and see which committees in which you might be interested joining. Check the conference scheduler for program times and details.

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Message from the Chair

History

Laura Hibbler, Editor

 

You will notice some changes in the History Section’s activities in Chicago. For the first time in many years the Section will have an All Committee Meeting on Saturday, June 29 at 8:30 A.M. In addition to a time for all committees to work, there will be a brief open meeting to provide updates on some exciting changes in the Section. On Sunday the section will have two programs! At 8:30 A.M. Library Engagement in National History Day Activities, will highlight how librarians at a variety of different institutions support this activity. Later on Sunday, June 30 at 1:30 P.M. Digital History: New Methodologies Facilitated by New Technologies, will explore the efforts of librarians and instructors to use technology to teach history. And as always, on Friday, June 28, we will have the Genealogy Pre-Conference and on Saturday, we hope you will participate in the Genealogy and Local History Discussion group.

If you cannot make it to Chicago, please keep up with posts to History-L concerning ways to be involved in the History Section without attending conferences.

Sara E. Morris

History Section Chair, 2012-2013

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Message from the Chair

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

Join the discussion at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/mars-l

Cathy Larson, Editor

 

Annual Conference time is just around the corner, and I hope to see many of you in Chicago! The Emerging Technologies in Reference Group (MARS) has two programs and four discussion forums planned as well as several committee meetings, so mark your calendars and we hope to see you often. Also RUSA has a program in two parts as well as an orientation, so there are lots of ways to get involved, learn more, and network with your colleagues. If you haven’t tried out the ALA Scheduler, (http://ala13.ala.org/scheduler) I recommend it. ALA will keep this service up-to-date to reflect last minute room changes, and they monitor the site and may add seats to events where they see high advance demand. The good news is that most of our events are either in the Convention Center, or across the way in the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place which should cut down on many long trips back and forth on the buses.

Friday, start out with RUSA 101: Network, Get Oriented, Get Involved. This is a fun orientation and get-together. Friday, June 28, 2013 from 3:00-4:00 P.M. at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Jackson Park 10ABC.

Saturday morning, June 29, from 8:30-10:00 A.M., the Planning Committee will be meeting in the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Boardroom 5 to work on Section Review and to continue updating the section Handbook. If you are interested in observing the work and possibly volunteering for the coming year or two, please join us. At the same time, the RSS All Committee meeting, including joint RSS/MARS Virtual Reference and Virtual Reference Tutorial Committee will be held at the McCormick Place Convention Center N226.

Next up, our Management of Electronic Resources Committee is sponsoring a discussion forum, Counting the Counts: the State of Public Services Statistics and Reporting. We’re all faced with the increasing need to make thoughtful data-driven decisions and to demonstrate our value to our communities and our parent institutions. Please join us from 10:30-11:30 A.M. in the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place Burnham 23AB, for what is sure to be a critical conversation. The Committee will be following up the conversation after Annual with a webinar on reference statistical tools, so keep an eye on your email for further details.

Saturday afternoon from 1:00-2:30 P.M. our newest committee, User Experience Design will host a discussion forum, How Wide the Divide—Why We are Still Asking, followed by our Virtual Reference Discussion Group forum on Saturday, from 3:00-4:00 P.M. at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Room N135.

Capping off Saturday, from 4:00-5:30 P.M. in the Convention Center, room S105a-c will be the RUSA President’s Program: The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron, featuring Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. If you like what you hear, you’ll want to participate in part II, which will take place Sunday morning from 10:30-11:30 A.M. in the McCormick Place Convention Center room E351, where Rainie will again join us to facilitate a more interactive conversation.

On Sunday, June 30, join us for our all committee meeting from 8:30-10:00 A.M. at the McCormick Place Convention Center, room N426a. If you’re on a committee already, this is your primary meeting time. If you’re a member who can volunteer to help with the work of the section, this is a chance to stop by, talk with the committee chairs and members in one location, and find a committee that fits your interests.

Sunday from 1:00-2:30 P.M. will be the MARS Chair’s Program also at the McCormick Place Convention Center, room S403. We will start out honoring Nancy Cunningham, this year’s recipient of the MARS Achievement Recognition Award. Then we have four great speakers lined up: David Bietila, Web Program Director from the University of Chicago, Lesley Moyo, Director of Research & Instruction and Tracy Gilmore, Technical Services Librarian, both from Virginia Tech, and Elizabeth German, Web Services Coordinator from the University of Houston Libraries. They will address the topic: Usability, the User Experience & Interface Design: The Role of Reference.

Sunday from 3:00-4:00 P.M., at the McCormick Place Convention Center, room S404bc, the Local Systems and Services Committee will host a program entitled, Leveraging Open Source Software to Create Library Websites. Nicole Engard will provide an overview on open source software and talk about WordPress, Brendan Quinn will speak about Drupal, and Julie Hardesty will discuss Omeka.

Also on Sunday, from 4:30-5:30 P.M., in McCormick Place Convention Center, room N127, our Hot Topics Discussion Group will host a discussion forum, Big Data at the Desk: Data Visualization and Research for the Rest of Us.

And the last event of Sunday evening will be the RUSA Awards Reception and Volunteer Appreciation Party from 5:00-6:30 P.M. at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room.

On Monday, July 1, if you’re still in town, plan to stop by our MARS Executive Committee Meeting from 8:30-11:30 A.M. at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place Hotel, Room Burnham 23A-C. The meeting is where MARS Committee and Discussion Forum chairs, as well as MARS representatives to RUSA level committees share their activities of the last six months and their upcoming plans. We are meeting jointly with the RSS Executive Committee for the last hour to coordinate activities of our two sections.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to volunteer, please go to http://www.ala.org/rusa/volunteer, or contact Sam Stormont, Vice Chair, Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS) at srstormont@widener.edu.

For those of you who have already volunteered, thanks for all your contributions to MARS and MARS members this year. You are making a difference. Thanks for making this a great year to be Chair.

Debbie Bezanson
bezanson@gwu.edu
Chair, Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS) 2012-2013

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MARS Committee Reports

User Experience Design Committee
After an exciting and productive inaugural program at Midwinter, we are hosting our first official event in Chicago. Guest speakers LeiLani Freund and Michele Crump, both of University of Florida, will present the fascinating data published in their new book, Meeting the Needs of Student Users in Academic Libraries: Reaching Across the Great Divide. Their presentation is called, How Wide the Divide—Why We Are Still Asking? In 2011/12, the presenters examined the perceptions and preferences of users and library staff in the information commons (IC) environment. Two survey instruments, one for library users and one for library staff, measured responses to same or similar questions asked of IC users and staff at five academic university libraries throughout the United States. With the analysis of the Crump/Freund surveys, the presenters discuss the perceptions of library staff and library users to confirm the existence of a divide and determine if assessing the user experience will offer strategies to narrow the divide. Will asking the users about their library needs bring about a real understanding of library services? Can academic libraries put the users and their needs at the center of service development and if they do, will this revitalize the library as more than “place”? The presenters will involve the audience through discussion of assessment practices and implementations. Their examples ask the user to participate in the library community, a community defining every user as a distant learner and incorporating mobile technology to access resources at point of need.

The presentation will take place at 1:00-2:30 PM on Saturday, June 29 in the McCormick Place Convention Center, room N135.

Melissa Clapp
shoop@ufl.edu
Chair, User Experience Design Committee, 2012-2013

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Message from the Chair

RSS Review

Amy Rustic, Editor

Hello RSSers!!

It’s hard to believe that the ALA Annual conference is in a little more than a month away. By the time you read this, you probably have already purchased your plane ticket and booked your hotel so now it’s time to plan your conference schedule!

RSS has a number of exciting events scheduled at the conference including the Second Annual Trivia Contest!

Be sure to mark your calendar with the RSS Open House on Saturday, June 29 at 8:30 A.M. in the McCormick Place Convention Center, N226. The Open House includes:

  • A Trivia Contest
  • Opportunities to meet new people and reconnect with old friends!
  • Many thanks to EBSCO for the Refreshments!

In addition to the RSS Open House, there are lots of opportunities to discuss hot topics including Arizona Library Services to the Spanish Speaking, Serving the Health Information Needs of Communities, New Reference Services, and more. Through RSS Committees you can also find out the latest in reference research and learn all about Slam the Boards. Read below for more information and see the RUSA for RSS event page for descriptions!

If you can’t make it to ALA, don’t despair! RSS has plans for free webinars, including, “Tried and True and Even Something New: Best Old and New Medical and Health Information Resources.” Stay tuned to RSS-L for more information.

In addition to all of the great happenings from RSS Committees, I would like to say congratulations to the many leaders in our section! This issue of the RSS Review features Cindy Levine as the Member of the Quarter. Read below to learn more about Cindy.

Additionally, the RSS Recognition Committee has selected Larayne Dallas as the RSS Service Achievement Award Winner for 2013. The committee used a number of adjectives to describe Larayne including modest, dedicated, kind, good-humored, and a quiet and effective leader. Be sure to attend the RUSA Awards Reception where we will honor and celebrate Larayne’s quiet but hard-working dedication to the section. Mark your calendars with Sunday June 30th from 5:00-6:30 P.M. at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room.

RSS Members are doing lots of great things including quietly leading and serving on committees, publishing pertinent research related to reference and more. To read about what the RSS community is publishing be sure to check outhttp://connect.ala.org/node/184065.

Finally I would like to take a minute to thank you everyone for making RSS the best section in RUSA. As the RSS Chair, I enjoyed working with each and every one of you. I would like to say a special thank you to Jason Coleman who did a great job of always making me sound eloquent in the minutes. Thank you to all of the chairs for your dedication and enthusiasm in leading your committees. Many thanks to Liane Taylor for making my job a lot easier by organizing timelines, deadlines, and expectations during her term. Finally, a huge welcome to Ann Brown, who will take over as chair in July. I think you will find Ann’s leadership style to be relaxed yet purposeful. I look forward to working with her and continuing the great successes of RSS!

I look forward to continuing the successes of RSS!

RSSsarah

 

 

RSS Member of the Quarter: Cynthia Levine
Humanities Reference Librarian, Research and Information Services, NCSU Libraries

RSScindylevine

Describe yourself in 3 words.
Striving for balance.

What do you like to do for fun?
Yoga, cooking, reading, and going to restaurants with friends in ALA conference cities.

Describe RSS in 3 words.
Supportive, smart, friendly.

What do you value most about RSS and/or RUSA?
I’m grateful to both RSS and RUSA for providing a kind of parallel professional life that complements and supports my primary role as a reference librarian at North Carolina State University. It’s been great to be part of these overlapping communities, and to build relationships with librarians across the country. Another benefit has been the ability to experiment with, and practice different kinds of roles, such as leadership and event planning, in a supportive environment. All in all, it’s been a great opportunity to develop skills to bring home, and to share ideas with great friends from other libraries.

Where do you see reference services going in the next 3-5 years?
My hope is that those of us in reference and public services can focus on clarifying and articulating our core values, and use those values as the foundation for moving forward. This should allow us to do what we do best – help people find new ways to connect to the information they need in order to grow, to learn, and to create.

In your own words…
I like to believe that reference librarians can maintain a kind of independence that allows us to be real advocates for our users who seek information – that whenever possible we can help our users overcome barriers – and that in this quest, we can skillfully be on their side.

What makes RSS Great?
“RSS is constantly innovating and adjusting to stay current with the needs of front-line librarians and staff. This includes creating new committees as well as sunsetting old ones and being at the forefront of using conferencing software to share information with its members through webinars and online meetings. Successful libraries live and breathe user-centered design and services. RSS is great because it models this commitment and challenges us all to put users first.”

Jason Coleman, Kansas State University

“When I first started with RSS, I was appointed to a committee. From then on, I made great friends, learned a lot from librarians in all sorts of libraries, and found professional development opportunities not readily available in other parts of ALA. “

Ann Brown, George Washington University

“I appreciate the opportunities for learning from each other as well as to share what I can, and I feel that RSS offers guidance about being involved professionally in the best possible ways. The organization has improved over the last couple of years, too, thanks to the efforts of some great leaders. I love being able to collaborate with academic and public librarians, gaining perspectives I may not otherwise hear.”

Cathay Crosby, Ask a Librarian Delaware Statewide Coordinator

Have a story to share? Let us know what makes RSS Great!
tinyurl.com/rssgreat

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RSS Committee Reports

Catalog Use Committee
The Catalog Use Committee will meet during the RSS All Committee meeting on Saturday, June 29 from 8:30-10:00 A.M in McCormick Place Convention Center, room N226. Our meeting agenda will include discussion of a new committee name and updated charge and plans for a discussion forum for Midwinter 2014. The Committee has compiled a bibliography of books and articles on value-added features of both the present and future library catalog available on ALA Connect.

Colleen Seale, Chair

Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee
The committee met virtually on February 13, 2013. This was a time to check in with the committee and to strategize how to move forward. The committee agreed that broadening the scope of the goals beyond technology concerns would be beneficial. As a result of the meeting, the goals were revised and we have begun work on an additional survey that we intend to send out early this summer.

The revised goals are as follows:

  • to explore issues around teaching at the point of need and identify areas where additional support may be needed (we will begin with surveying the community)
  • based on that exploration, build a portfolio of best practices for engaging at the point of need and resources to assist with meeting challenges that arose in the survey data

Holly Wilson, Chair 2013-2014

Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee
The RSS Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee will be holding two discussion forums on reference-related topics at Annual.

Keeping it Real in a Virtual World: Managing and Promoting Your Online Reference Collection
Facilitators: Sara Memmott, Eastern Michigan University Library, and April Levy, Reference & Instruction Librarian, Columbia College Chicago Library

Sunday, June 30, 1:00-2:30 P.M., Hyatt Regency Chicago, Columbus KL

As reference sources continue to migrate from print to online, librarians face challenges in managing and promoting these new online reference collections.  Increased cost, restrictive subscription models, less visibility, and increasing use of mobile devices and apps are just a few of the issues being encountered in all types of libraries.  Gather with colleagues to discuss how we can “keep it real” and acquire, manage, and promote online reference collections that provide real, valuable information for our community members.

Technology Competencies for Reference Librarians
Facilitator: Tina Chan, State University of New York at Oswego

Monday, July 1, 8:30-10:00 A.M., Hilton Chicago, Buckingham Room

Patrons expect reference librarians to know the latest technology.  From basic computer skills and computer troubleshooting, to using the online catalog and databases, to navigating and troubleshooting mobile devices, questions run the gamut and require utilizing a variety of skills and knowledge. What technology competencies does your library expect librarians to have?  What competencies should librarians have to help them better assist patrons?  How do you keep skills up-to-date?  Meet with colleagues to discuss these and other questions related to the ever changing technology landscape in libraries and its impact on providing quality reference services to customers.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2012-2013

Education and Professional Development for Reference
The Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee will meet at Annual during the All RSS Committee meetings on Saturday, June 29 from 8:30-10:00 A.M. at McCormick Place Convention Center, room N226. The Committee hopes to offer a free workshop opportunity at an upcoming ALA conference, watch for future information.

Kristen Mastel & Joseph Yue, Co-Chairs 2012-2013

Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee
ERUS has joined forces with the Virtual Reference Services (VRS) Committee and created an ad hoc committee to survey the current state of virtual reference. VRS chairs Don Boozer and Alisa Gonzalez and I are very excited about this and sat in on an excellent virtual meeting the ad hoc committee had. Anyone who is interested in hearing an update in person should find the ERUS and VRS tables at the RSS Open House at Annual.

Ellen Keith, Chair, 2011-2013

Health and Medical Reference Committee
The committee will host a program during the ALA Annual Conference, Different Strokes: Serving the Health Information Needs of a Diverse Community. The program will take place Sunday, June 30, 2013 from 1:00pm to 2:30 P.M. in the McCormick Place Convention Center, room S102a. The committee’s suggestion for a free RSS webinar on health and medical resources has been accepted, and the presenters are planning the date and time for the webinar. Details will be announced shortly. A subgroup to rewrite guidelines for medical reference has met several times to discuss guidelines planning. The committee continued to discuss the creation of an ALA Connect Community for health and medical reference discussions. The committee has established a listserv where librarians can discuss issues regarding medical reference. The email address is medref@ala.org. The link to subscribe is http://lists.ala.org/sympa/subscribe/medref.

Karen Vargas, Chair 2012-2014

Job and Career Reference Committee
The Job & Career Reference Committee is setting up a wiki for use by librarians to include career resources. This wiki is intended for different types of institutions (public, academic, & career colleges). For more information or to get involved with our online wiki efforts, contact the committee chair Kate Oberg (Kathryn.oberg@gmai.com).

Kate Oberg, Chair 2012-2013

Library Service to an Aging Population
Library Services to an Aging Population met in April to review its charter, and the Guidelines on Library and Information Services to Older Adults. We expect to approve new charter language at the June meeting. The committee is sponsoring a program at ALA Annual in Chicago: Boomers to Seniors: Library Models for Serving and Engaging Older Adults on Monday, July 1 from 8:30-10:00 A.M. at the McCormick Place Convention Center, room S106b.

Abigail Elder, Chair 2012-2013

Library Services to the Spanish Speaking
Arizona Libraries: Spanish Services and Community Outreach will take place at ALA Annual in Chicago, Sunday June 30, 3:00-4:00 P.M. at the McCormick Place Convention Center, room N227a.

As a border state, Arizona has historically had a large Spanish-speaking/Latino community. With the recent increase in immigration from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, library services and outreach to these communities is needed more than ever. Come learn how Yuma County Library District and Pima County Public Library have used their resources, staff skills, and community-building to provide relevant services and programming to these ever-growing communities. We will share examples of successful programming and provide strategies for making connections to your own Spanish Speaking communities. Presented by Paulina Aguirre-Clinch, Marissa Alcorta, Paula Maez, Emily Scherr, and Cecilia Tovar.

Stephen Marvin, Chair 2012-2013

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference
Our committee is pleased to be co-sponsoring a three part program, Slam the Boards: a Model for Marketing through Action with MARS/VR (Don Boozer and Alisa Gonzalez). The third part of the program will be held at ALA Annual on June 29.

Let’s Discuss How it Works for You/Your Library (on June 29). Attend the follow-up discussion forum based on the previous webinars held on May 21 and June 10. Share your “Slam” experiences and learn from your colleagues! Saturday, June 29, from 3:00-4:00 P.M. Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, room Clark 22A-C

The webinars and discussion forum have been co-sponsored by the RSS Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services Committee and the RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Services Committee.

If you have any questions, please contact webinar organizers Don Boozer (librarian.don@gmail.com) , Alisa Gonzalez (acgonzal@nmsu.edu) or Cathay Crosby (cathay.Crosby@lib.de.us).

Cathay Crosby, Chair 2011-2013

Recognition Committee
The Recognition Committee received a number of nominations for the RSS Service Achievement Award and selected Larayne J. Dallas (engineering librarian at the University of Texas at Austin) as the 2013 winner!

Larayne will be honored at the RUSA Achievement Awards Reception and Volunteer Appreciation Party, which will be held from 5:00-6:30 P.M. Sunday, June 30 at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room. All conference attendees are invited to participate in this celebration, which will include hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar, so please consider attending.

Larayne has had a long career in RSS. She is widely regarded as one of the most hard-working RSS members having served on, or chaired, numerous committees over the past ten years. She’s also an active and generous mentor for members and new chairs. Her involvement in RSS includes:

  • Served four years (2005-2009) as a member of the RSS Organization Committee.
  • Chair (2006-2007) of the RSS Management of Reference Committee, while continuing as a member (2003 -2007)
  • 2002-2004 first chair of the ALA/RUSA Hot Topics in Front Line Reference Discussion Group
  • Chair and RSS member of the RUSA RSS 2010 Nominating Committee
  • 2003-2004 member of the MOUSS Nominating Committee
  • RSS Honor Roll (2009)

These are a few words and phrases that immediately come to mind when Larayne’s name comes up:

  • Modest
  • Dedicated
  • Kind
  • Good-humored
  • A quiet and effective leader

Virginia Cole, Chair 2012-2013

Research and Statistics Committee
In January, the RSS Research and Statistics Committee selected three presenters for the 19th Annual Reference Research Forum. The program is scheduled for Saturday, June 29th from 1:00-2:30 A.M. at McCormick Place Convention Center, room S404bc and will include the following:

  • Research Guides Usability Study, by Angela Pashia, Instructional Services Outreach Librarian, University of West Georgia
  • Two Birds, One Stone: Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Measure Service Process and Identify Usability Pain Points in Virtual Reference, by Christine Tobias, User Experience and Reference Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries
  • Query Clarification in Chat Reference: A Visual Transcript Analysis, by Alexa Pearce, Librarian for Journalism, Media, Culture & Communication, New York University Libraries

In addition, the committee is currently selecting articles to annotate for the annual Reference Research Review.

Lynda Duke, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Services (MARS/RSS)
The RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Services (VRS) Committee has been busy and has several exciting initiatives planned for the upcoming ALA Annual Conference!

The VRS Committee and the RSS Evaluation of Reference & User Services (ERUS) Committee have begun co-sponsoring an ad hoc team to ascertain the current state of virtual reference. The team consists of six individuals from a variety of backgrounds: public, academic, ipl2, and one librarian who also staffs OCLC’s QuestionPoint. They have had their initial meeting and will begin creating a survey instrument and considering the logistics of administering it. The ad hoc team will be giving a status report on their project at our joint VRS-ERUS committee meeting at Annual during the RSS Open House & All-Committee Meeting on Saturday, June 29, 8:30-10:00 A.M. in McCormick Place Convention Center, room N226. All those interested in the work of the team are welcomed to attend!

Along with the RSS Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services Committee, the VRS Committee is also co-sponsoring Slam the Boards! A Model for Marketing through Action: A Reference Services Discussion Forum on Saturday, June 29, from 3:00-4:00 P.M. in Clark 22A-C at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. Anyone is welcome to attend the forum, especially those who also attended the webinar on the same topic in May. This lively discussion will focus on sharing ideas on active marketing and promotion of your institution’s reference services (both in-person and virtual).

The VRS Committee is also, for the first time, sponsoring an informal Wikipedia Edit-a-thon during Annual. Final details are still being planned, so stay tuned to the committee’s ALA Connect site as that info becomes available. For those who have never edited or contributed content to a Wikipedia article before, this is an opportunity to experiment. We’re planning on providing a quick-n-dirty introduction to being a Wikipedian as well as the opportunity to add your own content. The focus will be on “hyper-local” resources, but you’re welcome to edit any article that strikes your fancy. For those interested in dropping by the Edit-a-thon itself, we’ll be holding it in the Networking Uncommons area at McCormick Place. We’ll be posting our schedule there as well. We’re also still looking for anyone who would be interested in serving as a Wikipedia Mentor for our Edit-a-thon to help people get accustomed to the role of editor. The committee is excited about this informal, pilot project and, if successful, looking for ways to make it a regular part of the annual conference.

Don Boozer, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The Subcommittee has been hard at work on the tutorial, renamed the “Virtual Reference Companion: A Guide for VR Coordinators and Librarians,” or “VRC” for short.

We had two new members join us in the Fall: Christine Tobias and Neal Pomea. They replaced Jason Coleman, who had to resign. Jennifer Lau-Bond and Valli Hoski will also be leaving the subcommittee after ALA Annual. Jared Hoppenfeld will continue on as Co-Chair and be joined by new Co-Chair Christine Tobias.

The group has fully set up the VRC in Drupal and has moved on to major content creation and updating. In order to expedite the work, we divided into two subgroups. Each subgroup meets separately and works on one module at a time, incorporating the decisions of the larger group. Then, we hold an all-group virtual meeting approximately once a month to update everyone on progress and plan the next steps. Currently, we have finished the Planning and Technologies modules, and the Skills module is nearing completion. Next, we will be tackling the Marketing module and one other module to be determined.

We will be holding an all-group virtual meeting for ALA Annual. Subcommittee members attending ALA Annual in person will also meet during the RSS Open House & All Committee Meeting on Saturday, June 29 at 8:30 A.M. at mcCormick Place Convention Center, room N226. We will have further details about the VRC and what we have done for all those interested.

Jared Hoppenfeld, Co-Chair 2012-2013

Jennifer Lau-Bond, Co-Chair 2011-2013

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.

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Message from the Chair

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

STARS members have been busy in the past few months and volunteering up a storm! We would like to congratulate Chair-Elect Christina “Tina” Baich and Member-at-Large Megan Gaffney for representing resource sharing in this year’s RUSA Section Election. Also making waves is Margaret Ellison, who will now be acting as Director-at-Large for the RUSA Board.

Our new initiatives are still underway and the STARS team is focusing on compiling the data collected at ALA Midwinter in an effort to improve the quality and relevancy of our many offerings, including those upcoming at ALA Annual in Chicago.

If you would like to become involved in our dynamic section or have questions out what STARS can do for you and your library, please drop me an email (datkins@utk.edu) or give me a call (865-974-6866). There is always room for more STARS.

David P. Atkins

STARS Chair

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STARS Committee Reports

STARS Committee Members Needed!
If you are already a STARS committee volunteer, thanks for your service. Because of your contributions, our section accomplishes much.

If you are not yet a member of any of our committees, please join. STARS offers terrific opportunities for service and your professional growth. We also offer opportunities to represent our section in RUSA-level committees and working groups.

Check out your opportunities to be a STAR at the STARS Committee and Task Force Changes page. You can volunteer via RUSA’s website or you can contact Nora Dethloff at ndethloff@uh.edu

Committee Reports

STARS Membership Committee
STARS Membership Committee has been busy organizing the ALA STARS Social at The Berghoff Restaurant, Friday, June 28, from 5:00-7:00 P.M. We’re also planning on publishing the next STARGazer before ALA Annual, so please join us in recognizing Tina Baich!

ALA Agenda items consist of organizing membership initiatives to highlight STARS committees and encourage participation from STARS members not yet involved!

Micquel Little, Chair

STARS Cooperative Collection Development Committee
The CODES/STARS Cooperative Collection Development Committee program, Enhancing Services through Integration of Interlibrary Loan and Acquisitions, will be held on Saturday, June 29, from 1:00-2:30 P.M. at McCormick Convention Center, room S103d.

This panel will explore the opportunities and challenges that arise from merging interlibrary loan and acquisitions departments, as well as the administrative aspects of such a partnership.

Through examining the reasons why ILL/Acquisitions mergers may be beneficial, and hearing from peers engaged in the process, attendees will gain an understanding of how to weigh the merits of such an arrangement and determine if it is appropriate for their institution, as well as hear insights on how to move forward. This session is appropriate for all library types.

Sydney Thompson, Co-chair

STARS Education and Training Committee
The Education and Training Committee is currently working on a number of projects. These include preparing a free RUSA STARS webinar on obtaining genealogical resources through interlibrary loan and updating the ShareILL site, with a completion goal of pre-ALA Annual. We are also in the midst of securing a location for our free ILL workshop for ALA Midwinter 2014.

Karen Okamoto, Chair

Boucher Award Committee
Collette G. Mak has been named the Virginia Boucher/OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award winner for 2013. Collette is Head, Resource Access and Delivery at the Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame. She is recognized for her exceptional, sustained contributions to resource sharing and for her ongoing dedication to education and training for interlibrary loan practitioners. Please join me in congratulating Collette!

Questions and nominations can be directed to Megan Gaffney, 2012-2013 Boucher Award Committee Chair, at gaffneym@udel.edu.

Megan Gaffney, Chair

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Letter from the President

Midwinter has come and gone and a great deal of work happened in Seattle (and at home around the Seattle conference). Now it is time to look forward to the ALA Conference in Chicago. What are YOUR ideas? Let me know what you think.

RUSA Book and Media Awards
On Sunday, January 27 in Seattle, there was a glittering reception with a standing-room only crowd to celebrate the winners of the annual RUSA Book and Media Awards. These awards honor wonderful books in print and on audio that you will want to read as well as websites you will want to bookmark and visit again and again. Follow the links below to see the winners.

Mark Your Calendar for RUSA’s Premier Book Celebrations
Join us in Chicago at the Annual Conference on Sunday, June 30, 2013, for a day devoted to books. The day begins with the Literary Tastes author program where you will hear authors talk about their work, then meet them in person as they sign (free) books for you.

At the end of the day we will celebrate the gala 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, sponsored by RUSA and Booklist. RUSA provides a home to the best in adult reading! Get your tickets at the conference registration site.

Lee Rainie Headlines RUSA President’s Program in Chicago
I am pleased to announce that Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project will present information at the RUSA President’s Program during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago about how people use information and libraries, based on Pew’s recent research. You have often seen the media coverage of the many wonderful surveys from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Several reports, on teens and young adults, on the use of e-books in libraries, and on the use of libraries have come out in the past year. The most recent of these was released on January 23 and others are scheduled to be released this spring.

Join us for Rainie’s presentation, entitled The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron: The RUSA President’s Program, scheduled for 4:00 P.M. on Saturday June 29. He will talk with us about the results of the Pew studies and the questions librarians in all types of libraries should be asking themselves as they consider this data. Be sure to also attend the follow-up discussion forum the next morning (Sunday, June 30) at 10:30 a.m. where Emily Ford, David Lankes, and Marie Radford will interact with Mr. Rainie and the participants in the forum to discuss the characteristics of library users and their implications for libraries and the services we offer.

Financial Literacy Education
The RUSA Executive Director participated in a meeting in Washington, D.C., with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) leadership team about financial literacy education, and RUSA has been encouraged to develop new financial literacy resources. The BRASS Executive Board enthusiastically agreed to work on a plan and the RUSA Executive Committee approved applying for a Sparks grant to develop a plan to create guidelines and best practices/competencies in financial literacy education for libraries. The grant proposal has been submitted. Keep your fingers crossed!

Just Ask Team Moves Forward
The Just Ask Team is charged to develop a plan to celebrate the reference services of libraries and to raise awareness of library information services. As a first step, the group sponsored a very well-attended discussion at the Midwinter meeting in Seattle focused on reviewing the current RUSA definition of reference services, on discussing the roles of reference librarians, and on generating ideas for advocacy tools for reference librarians to use in promoting their work. A number of exciting ideas were generated for campaigns and advocacy tools. Stay tuned for more on this exciting work.

Volunteer!
We want to include you in our work next year. The incoming RUSA President, Kathleen Kern, will be appointing RUSA level committees this spring. Section vice-chairs will be appointing section committees as well.

Share your expertise! You will find more information at the RUSA web site at http://www.ala.org/rusa/. Click on the link to Committee Rosters to see the charge for each group.

Once you know what you want to do, fill out the online form at the RUSA Committees site and click on the link to the RUSA Online Volunteer Form. We want to hear from you!

The Last Word….
Please take a few minutes to review the information from sections and committees that appears in this newsletter. RUSA, its sections, and its members are doing marvelous things. Be in the know!

Don’t forget to vote in the ALA and RUSA Elections. We have a wonderful slate of candidates for RUSA and section offices. Please be sure to cast your ballot before the deadline. RUSA is your organization. It is important for you to determine its direction.

As always, I want to hear from you about any ideas and suggestions you might have. Please write to me at popp@indiana.edu.

Mary Pagliero Popp
RUSA President 2012-2013

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RUSA Announcements

Online Learning
RUSA has several upcoming online courses this spring! Topics include reference interview; interlibrary loan; spatial literacy, GIS and online mapping; and more. Webinars are being scheduled now, too. Dates, course descriptions and registration information are found at the Online Learning page on the RUSA website.

RUSA @ ALA Annual Conference
Learn more about what’s happening with RUSA in Chicago at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference by visiting the RUSA website. Highlights include Business Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship, a preconference hosted by RUSA BRASS; the RUSA President’s Program featuring Lee Rainie; the Literary Tastes author program and the announcement of the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Fiction and Nonfiction at an evening reception on Sunday, June 30! Learn more about the conference at www.alaannual.org and register now.

Stay in Touch! Explore ways to engage with RUSA and get the latest division news.

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RUSA Committees

RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee
The RUSA sections and committees will be presenting fifteen fantastic programs at Annual Conference 2013 in Chicago, as well as the Business Reference 101 preconference from BRASS on Friday, June 28. Register now at http://ala13.ala.org.

The preliminary RUSA program schedule for Annual 2013 in Chicago:

Friday, June 28
8:00 am-4:00 pm
Preconference: Business Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship
[Special registration required]

Saturday, June 29

  • 8:30 -10:00 A.M.
    Collection Development & Community Expectations: Managing collections and balancing resources in an era of budgetary constraints
  • 10:30 -11:30 A.M.
    Beyond Genre: Exploring the Perception, Uses, and Misuses of Genre by Readers, Writers, and Librarians
  • 10:30 -11:30 A.M.
    Smart investing@your library: Community Connector
  • 1:00 -2:30 A.M.
    19th Annual Reference Research Forum
  • 1:00 -2:30 P.M.
    Enhancing services through integration of Interlibrary Loan and Acquisitions
  • 4:00 – 5:30 P.M.
    The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron: The RUSA President’s Program

Sunday, June 30

  • 8:30 am-10:00 A.M.
    Library Engagement in National History Day Activities
  • 8:30 am-10:00 A.M.
    Literary Tastes
  • 10:30 am-11:30 A.M.
    Does Your Data Deliver for Decision Making?: New Directions for Resource Sharing Assessment
  • 1:00 pm-2:30 pm
    MARS Chair’s Program: Usability, the User Experience & Interface Design: The Role of Reference
  • 1:00 pm-2:30 P.M.
    Different Strokes: Serving the Health Information Needs of a Diverse Community
  • 1:00 pm-2:30 P.M.
    Digital History: New Methodologies Facilitated by New Technologies
  • 3:00 pm-4:00 P.M.
    Leveraging Open Source Software to Create Library Websites

Monday, July 1

  • 8:30 am-10:00 A.M.
    Investment Success! Building & Managing Your Retirement Portfolio
  • 10:30 am-11:30 A.M.
    Preserving Labor’s History

This year the committee has focused much of its attention on ALA Annual Conference 2014 in Las Vegas. Over the fall the committee met twice using RUSA’s Blackboard Collaborate room. We then met in-person during ALA Midwinter in Seattle.

In response to ALA’s Conference Changes Roadmap, the committee has developed a set of recommendations that will impact 2014 Annual Conference programming. Earlier decisions by RUSA Board were used as our starting point. These recommendations were approved by the RUSA Board during ALA Midwinter in Seattle:

  1. Literary Tastes will take the place of “Another RUSA Committee” as a guaranteed program slot.
  2. Each section will be allotted one guaranteed program slot (as opposed to the current guaranteed two programs) with the possibility of additional programs if RUSA receives more options from ALA.
  3. The Executive Committee and CPCC will encourage all sections to consider co-sponsoring programs.
  4. Sections may need to consider diverting program ideas to discussions (face to face or online).
  5. The CPCC will develop a rating tool to approve programs proposed by RUSA sections if additional program slots are available beyond those that are guaranteed.
  6. The RUSA office will develop a process for program organizers to submit an evaluation following every program, which will include attendance numbers. This information will thereafter be available to the CPCC and program planners.

As of this writing, we do not yet know how many programs RUSA will be able to offer at the 2014 Annual Conference. RUSA sections should proceed on developing multiple program proposals with the understanding that at least one should be able to be presented at the conference, and maybe more!

Many thanks to the committee for their teamwork and cooperation!

-Joe Thompson, chair

Just Ask: Defining and Advocating for the Reference Librarian
The Just Ask discussion group, sponsored by RSS, was intended to help the Just Ask committee create a RUSA member-influenced vision of both, which in turn will assist the organization in advocating more effectively for the support and development of quality reference services. Just Ask Committee will further discuss the results of the discussion group at a virtual meeting held after Midwinter.

The discussion was centered around three questions:

  • What do you see as the new or changing roles of reference/information librarians?
  • How might this differ by the type of library?
  • What kind of support (i.e., advocacy, tool kits) will you need to make the public aware of these changing rolls?

With forty-five people in attendance, small groups discussed these questions and then presented their ideas back to the main group.

Some of the themes brought up during the discussion (this is not an exhaustive list): Our roles haven’t changed, but the tools have; services needed to be taken directly to our communities; we need to be better advocates for ourselves and our services.

Some suggestions for what RUSA can do to help: A national marketing campaign, and webinars for library staff related to developing advocacy tools, like elevator speeches.

If you are interested in contributing to the conversation, please contribute your thoughts to the Just Ask forum.

Elizabeth Stephan, co-chair

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Emerging Leader Report

As a proud participant of the 2013 ALA Emerging Leader Program I am working with my team to create adult learning tutorials. The project idea was created from the LIRT Committee. During the ALA Midwinter we met for a planning and training session that included meeting with member guides and staff liaisons. I am looking forward to transferring the skills learned for this project into other areas of my professional library work.

On Saturday, January 26th I attended the RUSA Board Meeting at Midwinter. The board members made me feel welcome at the committee meeting. That experience allowed me to observe and partake in group discussions. I am excited about working with committee members with an upcoming project.

I enjoyed attending other committee meetings such as LIRT. I also attended an informative meeting about the school media centers’ role in education. Most of the research came from Pennsylvania and Florida. The presentations highlighted the importance of having an effective school media program.

My final day at the conference started early with a sunrise program celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Jeanne Theoharis, a professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York was the keynote speaker and she discussed the life of activist, Rosa Parks, from her new book The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Dr. Theoharis talked about Mrs. Parks’s advocacy for justice for African Americans prior to her political stance on the bus in the days of Jim Crow south. The Call-to-Action speech came from Dr. Sandra Hughes-Hassell, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science. The professor urged the audience to work with male African American youth to help close the literacy achievement gap.

The finale was attending the Youth Media Awards and hearing the announcements of literary award winners. It was with great pleasure to see the committees who selected the books recognized also.

From my experience some of the themes of the conference felt to be about the growing need for advocacy for libraries, diversity, sustainability, and reaching out to disadvantaged youth. As a MLIS student I walked away feeling that much work is needed in the field of librarianship and I want to make a positive difference.

I must say that I am grateful for the RUSA sponsorship as I look forward to serving on the RUSA Committee. This experience has opened the door for new possibilities. I left the conference feeling energized and inspired about my chosen profession.

Alicia Finley
MLIS Graduate 2013
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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Message from the BRASS Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol L. Schuetz, Editor

Hello BRASS members!

Don’t you love traveling in January? BRASS was certainly in Seattle. Read Jason Dewland’s notes about the very informative discussion group on what libraries are doing to support entrepreneurs in our communities. The group of about thirty librarians attending also welcomed six librarians new to BRASS. Midwinter was also a time to attend more sessions of RUSA or other division forums and discussions than may be possible at Annual. Many of us also noted that midwinter was a good time to visit with library vendors on the exhibit floor.

Are you looking forward to the BRASS 25th anniversary year in Chicago? All hardworking volunteer committee members are planning a full line-up of pre-conferences, programs, forums, and discussion groups. Read on about the Business 101 all-day preconference set for Friday June 28th. Also new this year will be a Friday afternoon workshop for academic librarians interested in AACSB accreditation topics, sponsored by Emerald. Information about registering for that workshop will come out later this spring.

Make this year a goal to get your financial house in order and attend the July 1, Monday morning BRASS program: Investment Success! Building & Managing Your Retirement Portfolio. Look for registration information for the 25 years of BRASS celebrating business librarian-to-librarian networking.

Read on about how BRASS helps each of us every day do our jobs better. As you can read from these notes BRASS never sleeps, more and more we are conducting our business year round and virtually. New volunteers are needed for BRASS committees; please fill out the volunteer form in the RUSA website.

Ann Fiegen
BRASS Chair 2012-2013
afiegen@csusm.edu

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BRASS Committee Reports

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee
Charles Allan participated in a conference call with the BRASS committee and shared the research competencies committee’s progress in writing rough drafts of research competencies and creating an annotated bibliography. The committee has a rough research competencies draft of seven points with subcategories that cover key components of information literacy, database searching techniques, framing research questions and specific research questions related to business information research skills.

The Research Committee is continuing to incorporate members’ inputs on the content and wording of the competencies. Delivery of the competencies may prove to be a multi-year process as surveys from faculty and businesses are gathered. Several members of the task force have suggested further enhancements to the document to expand and refine content.

Charles Allan, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee
A small group of Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee met at Mid-Winter and finalized our Forum topic for Annual. The forum is entitled Business Librarian’s Reference Shelf. Speakers are to be determined.

Elizabeth Malafi, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Program Planning Committee

Brass1

BRASS 2013 Program: Investment Success! Building & Managing Your Retirement Portfolio

Monday, July 1, 2013
8:30-10:00 A.M.
Good personal investment education is important for librarians and library staff. We are an occupational group that is rarely able to access top financial advice. In this program, investment professionals will demystify the process and help us understand essential principles and how to apply them to make better decisions to meet our retirement goals. The presentation will include a discussion of the common mistakes investors make, why we make them, and how to avoid them.

Speaker:

  • CHARLES ROTBLUT, CFA, Vice President, AAII
    Charles Rotblut is a vice president of the American Association of Individual Investors. He is the editor of the AAII Journal. He authors the weekly AAII Investor Update e-newsletter and his commentary is published on both Seeking Alpha and Forbes.com.
  • JEREMY GLASER, Morningstar Markets Editor
    Jeremy Glaser is markets editor for Morningstar.com, responsible for directing all stock market coverage for Morningstar’s website for individual investors. Prior to assuming his current role in 2009, he was a senior equity analyst for Morningstar, covering the leisure, hospitality, and gaming sectors. He joined Morningstar in 2006. Glaser holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago

Peter McKay, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee
The Business Reference Sources Committee (BRSC) held a virtual meeting through Collaborate on January 7, 2013.

One of the main announcements was the RUSQ column on Outstanding Business Reference sources has now been published: “Outstanding Business Reference Sources 2012”. (2012). Reference & User Services Quarterly, 52(2), 154-157. http://rusa.metapress.com/content/x16h7013v7mr6435/fulltext.pdf.

We also discussed the list of nominated titles and business sources. Ed Hahn is in charge of this subcommittee and announced that so far twenty-six items have been nominated. We are still seeking additional nominations; however, as some items are removed from the list as we narrow it down.

Penny Scott is leading the subcommittee for organizing the 2013 Publishers’ forum at ALA. A committee discussion was held to finalize ideas for the forum and to start getting details solidified. Penny has also offered to document the timeline and steps necessary to organize the Publishers’ Forum and post them on the BRSC Wiki as well as on the BRSC RUSA webpage along with possible topics discussed during the virtual meeting. The one that seemed to get the most attention was looking at Discovery Layer services and how this has affected specialized sources of business information such as financial data and market research reports. Penny is working on this.

Susan Hurst, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee
Plans are underway for the BRASS 25th Anniversary Party to be held on Monday, July 1st, at ALA Annual 2013 in Chicago. Keep your calendars open for this fabulous event. Stay tuned for details to come over the coming months.

Louise Feldmann, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Discussion Group Steering Committee
Jason Dewland led a discussion on entrepreneurship support in libraries. BRASS attendees described library programs and offered supporting resources for entrepreneurship. Public libraries offer a number of programs and resources for local entrepreneurs. The Chamber of Commerce meets at the Middle Country Public Library in New York. Some libraries offer entrepreneur centers including maker spaces, the Chicago Public Library received a $250,000 maker space grant from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS). Many libraries offer help with launching and marketing new businesses to those creating new tech products by providing resources, referrals to small business counselors, and hosting networking events.

Academic libraries are evolving as they are being asked to help support universities that are increasingly reaching out into their communities. Universities expanding their efforts to help new business ventures with business incubators and expanding their role with helping faculty get new products patented and brought to market. In academic libraries the importance of distinguishing between student assignments and entrepreneurial projects when using library databases is addressed by educating students about licensing limitations of academic library databases.

Jason Dewland, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Education Committee
Best of the Best Business Websites Winners
Since 2009, every fall the BRASS Education Committee has been selecting the top three Best of the Best Business Websites a business librarian can’t live without. Take a look at the previous winners. This year, the three winners are:

  1. The World Bank Data, which provides freely-available data for over 214 countries and economies, including time series for world development indicators from 1960 to 2011. We want to thank the World Bank for making this information freely available.
  2. Doing Business, a collaboration between the World Bank and The International Finance Corporation (IFC) which provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 185 economies.
  3. Occupational Outlook Handbook, an online portal created and maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which features hundreds of occupational profiles with detailed information on work environment, required education, expected pay, trends and employment projections, along with additional data. This is an indispensable source of career information for students and professionals.

On behalf of the BRASS Education Committee, Mary Martin announced the winners at the RUSA Book and Media Awards on January 27th, 2013, at ALA Midwinter in Seattle.

Since 2009, the three winners have been reviewed in the winter issue of the Reference & User Services Quarterly (RUSQ).

BRASS Webinars
The BRASS Education Committee submitted a proposal to the BRASS Executive Committee to amend the submission and approval process for RUSA webinars in order to elevate BRASS’ profile. First, we would like to highlight BRASS sponsorship for those webinars where presenters are BRASS members or recruited by BRASS. As an additional benefit to BRASS members and to attract new members, we also proposed discounts for such webinars for BRASS members, as well as group, series and recording rates. The BRASS Executive Committee approved our proposal, and now we are awaiting RUSA’s decision.

Interested in doing a webinar, or know someone whose business research expertise will be appreciated by colleagues? Let us know!

Natasha Arguello, 2012-2013 Chair
http://connect.ala.org/node/65121
http://brass.libguides.com/

BRASS Membership Committee
Don’t you LIKE us? Please become a “friend” of BRASS Facebook page. See pictures and events. You can Like Us on Facebook.

Kelly Janousek, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Nominating Committee
The BRASS Nominating Committee submitted the 2013 Ballot nominees this past September. Thanks to Mary Gilles and Elizabeth Stephan for all of their help in getting this great list of nominees together. The BRASS 2013 Ballot will include for Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Todd Hines and Peter Z. McKay; and for Member-at-Large: Chad Boeninger and Elizabeth Malafi. BRASS member Anthony (Tony) Lin will be a candidate on the RUSA-level ballot for Secretary.

Celia Ross, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Vendor Relations Committee
The BRASS Vendor Relations Committee has been continuing to assist the BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee by reaching out to new vendors and working with longtime partners to help secure funding for the celebration event planned for 2013 in Chicago. Confirmed sponsors so far are Gale Cengage, S&P Capital IQ, Morningstar, Annual Reviews, Emerald, SimplyMap, and PrivCo. We are also close to confirming sponsorship by Mintel, Mergent, ReportLinker and possibly EIU. Committee members include Paul Brothers and Lydia LaFaro.

Celia Ross, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Publications and Communications Committee
The BRASS Publications and Communications committee held their midwinter virtual meeting in early January. The committee’s primary objective for the coming semester is to continue improving the quality, accuracy and timeliness of BRASS web pages. Toward this end, the committee will contact many of the other BRASS groups and committees for advice and feedback. The Publications and Communication Committee will also begin plans for a new collection of Guidelines and Style Guide for BRASS Web pages and communications.

John Gottfried, 2012-2013 Chair

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee
The committee for the Morningstar Public Librarianship Award is now reviewing nominations. The award winner will be selected soon and announced in the upcoming month. A public librarian who has performed outstanding business reference service and who requires financial assistance to attend the conference will be selected. The award winner will receive $1,000 in travel funds for ALA’s Annual Conference.

Melissa Jeter, 2011-2013 Chair

BRASS Gale-Cenage learning Student Travel Award Committee
The application deadline for the BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award was January 31st. A winner is expected to be announced soon.

Todd M. Hines, 2012-2013 Chair

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CODES

Barry Trott, Editor

CODES had a very successful ALA Midwinter. The annual RUSA Book and Media Awards highlighted the work of several CODES committees, including Notable Books, the Reading List, the Listening List, Outstanding Reference Sources, the Sophie Brody Medal, the Dartmouth Medal, the Zora Neale Hurston Award, and the Louis Shores Award. The event was well-attended, and offered CODES and RUSA members good food and drink, and the opportunity to recognize outstanding materials, reviewers, and promoters of library resources.

Following in the footsteps of other RUSA sections, the CODES Board is trialing two virtual Midwinter meetings, 2013 and 2014. The Board will assess the effectiveness of virtual Board meetings following Midwinter 2014.

In December, the CODES Readers Advisory (RA) Committee debuted an email forum, entitled CODES Conversations, modeled after the ALCTS email events. The first conversation, centered on issues of genre, gathered close to 250 participants for a free, three-day conversation. Discussions were lively, wide-ranging, and involved librarians from the United States and abroad. The event was very well received and the committee is now planning to offer CODES Conversations three times a year. The committee continues to present the RA Research and Trends Forum at annual. This year’s program will address issues of genre fiction and how the classification system of genre impacts the work of RA librarians.

This year, CODES welcomed University Press Books for School and Public Libraries as its newest committee. Nann Blaine Hilyard was appointed chair together with four RUSA CODES members; four returning members are providing continuity this year as the committee transitions to CODES. This committee is a long-time collaboration with the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and a group of Public Library Reviewers (PLR). The work of the committee culminates in an annual publication and collection development tool titled University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries. Members write reviews for the titles they think are outstanding and the Association compiles, prints, and distributes the publication, which is also available online. 2013 marks the 23rd edition of the publication. At Annual, the committee typically hosts a “Best of the Best” program.

CODES continues to welcome new members and volunteers for various CODES committees. Those interested in serving on a CODES committee should contact CODES vice chair/chair elect Asia Gross (asiagross@gmail.com) who will be making appointments.

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Message from the History Chair

History

Laura Hibbler, Editor

From our discussion groups, committee meetings, and our dinner, the History Section had a great time in Seattle. The Executive Board made two important decisions. Section Committees will no longer meet at Midwinter. Committees will be expected to hold at least one virtual meeting between Annual 2013 and Midwinter 2014. By no longer requiring attendance at two meetings a year, we hope more members are able to participate in committee activities. The other important piece of news is that at Annual in Chicago, the History Section will have an All Committee Meeting, instead of meeting individually. This will create a great opportunity for us to network and get to know one another. Join us!

As you are contemplating how to be involved in ALA and RUSA in the next year, consider volunteering to serve on one of the History Section’s committees. Our Vice-Chair, Michelle Baildon, will be working on appointments throughout the spring. To see a list of our committees and/or volunteer, visit the History Section’s Committees page.

Sara E. Morris
History Section Chair, 2012-2013

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Message from the Chair

MARS: Update from the Emerging Technologies in Reference Section

Cathy Larson, Editor

It was good to see many of you in Seattle. Despite the rainy weather, the turnout was good for the three exciting discussion sessions sponsored by our Virtual Reference Discussion Group, Hot Topics Discussion Group, and new User Experience Design Committee. We also hosted an exciting preconference workshop at the University of Washington on the Friday before the conference. See descriptions of the sessions below.

Over the next few months, we’ll be conducting a section review, a regular activity we perform about every five to seven years to make sure the section remains vital; revising the MARS Handbook; creating some open meetings and webinars to provide professional development opportunities for our members; selecting the 2013 Best Free Reference Websites; and planning for the Annual Meeting in Chicago.

This is also the time when we ask for you to get involved in the activities of this section. If you have time to participate—either in person or virtually—please consider volunteering by going to RUSA Volunteer form (requires login). If you experience difficulties with the volunteer form, please send an email directly to Vice Chair Sam Stormont who will be making appointments. He can be reached at srstormont@widener.edu. We have spaces available in all committees.

Also, if you have suggestions for topics for MARS professional development webinars, please let us know by submitting your suggestions here.

Debbie Bezanson, Chair
Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS) 2012-2013
bezanson@gwu.edu

Join the discussion at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/mars-l

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MARS Committee Reports

Virtual Reference Discussion Forum
The Virtual Reference (VR) Discussion Coordinating Committee hosted an engaging discussion forum at the Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. Nearly fifty attendees gathered to reflect and share knowledge on the topic of transitions between virtual reference platforms. Many libraries transitioned between platforms this year, due to the phasing out of Meebo, so the topic was especially timely. Dr. Pam Dennis and Laureen P. Cantwell of the University of Memphis University Libraries provided kick-off remarks titled, “Life After Meebo: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services for Your Library in the Post-Meebo Virtual Environment.” Following the kick-off remarks, attendees participated in small-group discussions, sharing their experiences evaluating and transitioning between VR platforms. A range of experiences were represented—some attendees came to learn about how they might implement VR services at their libraries, while others reported on their experiences with numerous VR platforms. Finally, attendees reported out on their small group discussions. Attendees shared suggestions for VR staffing models, emerging and alternative platforms, and best practices. Attendees expressed the value they derive from these discussions with their colleagues, particularly the small-group discussions. The Virtual Reference Discussion Coordinating Committee looks forward to hosting another engaging discussion forum at ALA Annual in Chicago.

Julie A. Piacentine, Chair
Virtual Reference Discussion Coordinating Committee, 2012-2013
jpia@uchicago.edu

MARS Professional Development Committee
The MARS Professional Development Committee is interested in developing webinars for any RUSA committee or member. We know how to deliver webinars using Blackboard Collaborate, the vendor chosen by RUSA for online learning. Our committee will help you with the process of getting your webinar approved, train your instructors, and facilitate your presentations. The committee is currently working on a webinar on using reference tracking and data collection tools to improve their services. Got an idea? Please consider submitting it to the MARS Professional Development Webinar Suggestion Form.

Van Houlson, Co-Chair
Professional Development Committee, 2012-2013
houls001@umn.edu

MARS Local Systems and Services Committee
The MARS LSS committee is planning an online program on learning commons. The date has not been finalized but is scheduled to take place in March. It is a follow-up to the 2011 discussion forum the committee held on Learning Commons.

Title:
The Learning Commons and the Academic Library: Using Emerging Technologies and New Partnerships to Build Student Success.

Description:
Has your library partnered with academic support services to offer a “learning commons” in the library, or are you discussing/planning such a partnership? If so, please join us for a follow-up to the discussion forum “The Learning Commons and the Academic Library: Using Emerging Technologies and New Partnerships to Build Student Success” held at Midwinter 2012. Attend the online open meeting and learn how these libraries have developed partnerships and designed spaces to support student learning.

Speakers:

  • Ameet Doshi, Head, User Experience Department, Georgia Tech University
    A short overview of the new GA Tech learning commons (“Clough Commons”) including the group study spaces, academic support services, and technology available. His main focus will be how the student advisory board impacted the design of the Library and learning commons.
  • Michelle Paon, Reference & Instruction Librarian, Dalhousie University
    Marc Comeau, IT Manager, Dalhousie University
    Eleven stakeholders currently share space in Dalhousie University’s Killam Learning Commons, with services ranging from GIS and statistical computing consultations to traditional research assistance and the IT help desk. We’ll identify the service areas located in the facility as well as touch on the innovative technologies that have been deployed in the commons.
  • Lori Mestre, Head Undergraduate Library, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
    Mestre will share UIUC’s process for creating the initial plans for the Learning Commons and how student need for multimodal projects has resulted in the Learning Commons becoming a Media Commons (including floor layout, services, furniture, technology, class support, use patterns, partnerships, loanable technology acquisition). She will discuss how UIUC incorporated technology and designed the layout based on assessment of student needs.

Look for an email on the MARS listserv with more details. If you are interested in attending, please contact Chanitra Bishop at chbishop@indiana.edu.

The committee is also planning a program for ALA Annual on open source software. Below is the title and the description:

Title: Leveraging Open Source Software to create library web sites

Description: Is your library considering using open source software such as Drupal, WordPress or Omeka to revamp your library’s web site, create a digital archive or a staff intranet? Our speakers will provide an overview of open source software and discuss some of their features and capabilities. They will also discuss implementations of the software at their institution including the development process, challenges, lessons learned and practical advice for developing websites using open source software.

Time: Sunday, June 30, 2013 3-4 PM

Chanitra Bishop, Chair
Local Systems and Services Committee, 2012-2013
chbishop@indiana.edu

MARS Chair’s Program for ALA Annual 2013
The MARS Chair Program Planning Committee has been hard at work planning an exciting program for this year’s conference. Mark your calendars now to join us Sunday, June 30th, from 1:00-2:30 P.M. for an informative discussion with David Bietila, Web Program Director, Digital Library Development Center, University of Chicago Library; Lesley Moyo, Director Research and Instruction, Virginia Tech University; Tracy Gilmore, Technical Services Librarian, Virginia Tech University; and a “mystery” speaker (to be identified soon) about the user experience, interface design and the role of reference. Don’t forget we start the program with the My Favorite Martian Award for 2013!

Title: Usability, the User Experience & Interface Design: The Role of Reference

Description: With the advent of new discovery tools and new technology, the habits of our researchers and users have certainly changed. How are we collecting data and observing behavior to improve these interfaces to better meet our user’s needs? How can we learn from what other researchers are studying and use that data to implement change? What is the new relationship between the virtual space, the physical space, and the user experience?

Panel members will discuss how their institutions have implemented innovative changes to the user interface and address the role of usability testing in their decision process. Audience members will have opportunities to submit questions to the panelists. The learning objectives for attendees are:

  • Increased understanding of changes in users’ research habits;
  • Introduction to methods of information/data collection beyond traditional usability studies;
  • Learn processes for implementing change relevant for their own institutions.

Donna Scanlon
dscanlon@loc.gov
Chair, Conference Program Planning Committee, 2012-2013

User Experience Design Committee
Though it was 4:30 P.M. on a Sunday afternoon in Seattle, more than sixtypeople packed Room 203 of the Washington Convention Center for the “Putting U in UX Design” discussion forum sponsored by RUSA/MARS’ User Experience Design Committee. Heidi Steiner, Head of Digital and Distance Education Services at Norwich University, sparked the discussion by providing a provocative, witty introduction to the principles of user experience design. She emphasized the need for librarians to intentionally take the perspective of users and noted that doing so would help us avoid confusing them with inscrutable jargon and overly detailed blocks of text on websites. It would also inspire us to put help where our users are by embedding widgets and other contact information at the point-of-need.

Steiner further recommended that we solicit quick feedback from non-library users and then make quick changes based on that feedback rather than make changes only after complex, large-scale usability testing. Her slide-deck and Power Point slides can be found in the ALA Scheduler.

Following Steiner’s introduction, attendees participated in a lively discussion centering on what interests them and what concerns them about User Experience Design. This discussion yielded numerous ideas for future sessions and projects for the User Experience Design Committee.

Ideas for sessions included presentations or discussions about:

  • How to design universally to simultaneously help users as well as those who work directly with users.
  • What input to consider and what input to privilege when making decisions about user experience design.
  • What tools can we use to design effectively? The audience shared the following examples:
    • Crazy Egg: visualize where users click on a page
    • Optimizely: Compare two versions of a page
    • Google Ad Words: iscover what vocabulary terms are used by the public for various concepts
    • Post It Notes (digital and physical): Use these to keep track of ideas for small changes and to solicit input from patrons
    • Tools for first-click analysis
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of designing incrementally versus doing full-scale redesigns?
  • How can we help colleagues think from a user standpoint rather than from a librarian standpoint?
  • How to perform usability studies.
  • How to blend design and instruction effectively, e.g., how to create effective online instructional content without using too many words.

Ideas for projects:

  • Provide lists of examples and models of good design. Heidi recommended following several individuals including
    • Aaron Schmidt
    • Amanda Etches-Johnson
    • Brian Mathews
    • Matthew Reidsma
    • Steven Bell
  • Participants recommended the following two books:
    • This is Service Design Thinking by Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider
    • Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Other ideas:

  • Develop a database featuring sites designed for optimum user experience. Consider developing a site of the month recognition award as ACRL’s PRIMO committee has done for instructional resources.
  • Develop a blog or listserv to foster ongoing discussion and sharing. A participant noted that UNC Chapel Hill hosts a listserv titled “lib-ux.” To subscribe visit http://lists.unc.edu/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=lib_ux
  • Consider partnering with LITA’s Search Engine Optimization Interest Group

Melissa Clapp
melshoo@uflib.ufl.edu
Chair, User Experience Design Committee, 2012-2013

Jason Coleman
coleman@k-state.edu
Member, User Experience Design Committee, 2012-2014

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Message from the Chair

RSS Review

RSS_LogoALA Midwinter a Great Success!
It was great seeing many of you at ALA Midwinter in Seattle. I hope you enjoyed the RSS events including the delicious pancake breakfast, lively discussions, and the free workshop, and also found time to enjoy the sights and scenes of Seattle.

Speaking of Pancakes, we broke a record at our 3rd Annual Pancake Breakfast (Shortcake Saturday) with more than twenty-five people in attendance. Thanks to Judy Solberg for scoping out such a hotspot with a fantastic view.

I wasn’t able to attend, but rumor has it the free workshop “New Tech for Reference: from the reference interview to roving reference, challenges, benefits and best practices,” organized by the Education & Professional Development for Reference Committee, was a smashing success. Praise was lauded at the organizers and at the presenters. We hope to continue offering more of these great deals. Be sure to stay tuned to RSS-L to be up-to-date.

We also had a number of great discussions on a wide variety of topics including “Core Standards for Young Adult Reference Services,” “Mother Goose and Promoting Library Services for Spanish Speakers for Spanish Speakers,” “Just Ask,” “Helping Patrons find Employment or Career Information,” and “Coping with Burnout on the Front Lines.” Be sure to read the committee reports for details!

We Appreciate You!
One of the focuses of RSS this year is to recognize the members who pay to volunteer with our section. We are doing this by sharing their publications, so others can learn about current research related to reference.

See the RSS Publications List read the latest submissions and share your publications!

Also sprinkled throughout this issue you will see quotes from RSS Members on what makes RSS their section within RUSA. Take a minute to share your thoughts about RSS using our feedback form.

Starting with this issue the RSS Review we will be interviewing an RSS Member of the Quarter. I am very pleased to announce that Joe Thompson has been selected as our first RSS Member of the Quarter. Find out a little more about Joe below.

If you want to be a part of this lively, fun, and dynamic section, then you are in luck. Ann Brown (RSS Chair Elect) will be appointing volunteers to a myriad of committees and positions. Stay tuned to RSS-L where she will send an email asking for volunteers.

Happy reading and of course if you have any questions, please contact me!

Sarah J. Hammill
RSS Chair

RSSsarah

RSS Member of the Quarter
Joe Thompson, Associate Director, Western Maryland Regional Library

RSS_Joe1. Describe yourself in 3 words.
Happy to help!

2. What do you like to do for fun?
Spending time with my wife and daughter, visiting parks and museums. Taking day hikes and reading as time allows. Volunteering time in support of Citizens for Maryland Libraries, our statewide friends group.

3. Describe RSS in 3 words.
Powerful people connections.

4. What do you value most about RSS and/or RUSA?
I’ve been able to meet and learn from so many incredible people through my RSS and RUSA participation. In addition to the excellent formal learning opportunities offered by the section (i.e. programs and discussions), there are so many great opportunities for informal conversations. Some of the best ideas I’ve picked up for enhancing service at my library have started this way.

5. Where do you see reference services going in the next 3-5 years?
I’ve always seen what we call reference as being entirely about helping people. It’s about connecting people to information; helping them find books, music, and movies to enjoy; and empowering individuals to grow. Over the past several years libraries have been doing a terrific job at removing service barriers and making access to resources an easy and transparent process. We need to make sure this focus continues as it relates to our ILS, ebook, and other online subscription services that libraries don’t necessarily control directly. While our services become ever faster, easier, and frictionless, we need to also make sure that the value of these library services is evident to the people who use them. I’m really excited about RUSA’s developing ASK campaign, which will offer a lot of opportunities for publicity and library advocacy.

6. In your own words…
None of our accomplishments in RSS would have been possible without the fantastic teamwork of people across the section. We are very lucky to have so many smart and dedicated people volunteering their time in support of improving library service. Something that’s really important to me is helping those people new to the profession make connections with those who have years of experience to share. These often prove to be valuable relationships for everyone. Please take every opportunity you have to make these kind of introductions between people. Be a connector.

What makes RSS Great?
“I love RUSA RSS because it keeps me engaged and excited about all the new developments in reference. ALA is huge but RUSA RSS is all about everything I love about my job: Reference! I know whenever I see a RUSA RSS program that it will be right on target with my job and my passion.”

Ava M. Iuliano, International Relations Librarian, Florida International University

Have a story to share? Let us know what makes RSS Great!
tinyurl.com/rssgreat

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RSS Committee Reports

Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee
The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee sponsored two excellent Forums at Midwinter. “Just Ask: Defining and Advocating for the Reference Librarian,” facilitated by Elizabeth Stephan from Western Washington University, had a total of forty-five attendees from public, academic, and other types of libraries. Lively small group discussions focused on the new or changing role of reference librarians, how it may differ by type of library, and the kind of support needed to make the public aware of the changing role.

Our second Forum, “Unhappy Campers: Coping with Job Dissatisfaction and Burnout on the Front Lines,” facilitated by Virginia Cairns from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, had 48 attendees from many different types of libraries. Discussions took place in small groups, with many great ideas and suggestions reported back to the entire group. Topics included how to approach management for help with burnout, strategies for preventing and alleviating burnout in your peers or subordinates, and ideas for how we as individuals can cope with burnout in our own lives and careers.

The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee did not meet at ALA Midwinter 2013. The committee’s meeting for Midwinter was conducted via email in October when the winning forum proposals for the meeting were chosen.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2012-2013

Education and Professional Development for Reference
The RSS Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee (EDPRC), in collaboration with the MARS Professional Development Committee, hosted a free workshop “New Tech for Reference: From the Reference Interview to Roving Reference, Challenges, Benefits and Best Practice” at ALA Midwinter 2013. The workshop was a resounding success with over seventy-five people in attendance. Ninety-five percent of attendees thought they would implement some of the ideas presented at their library. The workshop consisted of three sessions which highlighted using social media to answer reference questions, an iPad roving reference program, and how LibAnswers were implemented as a knowledge base. All presentation materials are available on the ALA Connect. The planning group looks forward to offering a free workshop opportunity at an upcoming ALA conference, and is busy documenting lessons learned so we can improve for the next workshop.

In addition, EDPRC is in discussion with RUSA CODES, who coordinated the Reference Publishing Discussion Forum, “Are Users Finding Our Online Reference Resources,” at Midwinter to see if we could do a follow-up via webinar. Lastly, the group is still developing a process to review library school syllabi for reference themes; this is our spring project.

Kristen Mastel & Joseph Yue, Co-Chairs 2012-2013

Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee
The Evaluation of Reference and User Services met virtually on January 30 and discussed two upcoming goals. The first is to determine, by survey, what reference models are currently in place (triage, combined desk, roving, etc.) in libraries and how libraries arrived at those models and also how libraries are assessing those models. The second is the formation of an ad hoc committee with the Virtual Reference Services committee to take a snapshot of the current state of virtual reference, get a baseline of services being offered, and ideas for those who haven’t implemented it yet. Much work to do between now and Annual!

Ellen Keith, Chair, 2011-2013

Health and Medical Reference Committee
The Health and Medical Reference Committee (HMRC) has chosen four speakers for the 2013 ALA Annual program, Different Strokes: Serving the Health Information Needs of a Diverse Community. In addition, the HMRC has had a webinar proposal approved by RUSA on the topic of best medical resources. However, as the committee would really like to have a series of free programs on this topic, the HMRC is considering the possibility of doing a quarterly online discussion series which could be free to anyone. The HMRC has also met monthly to work on new guidelines for health and medical reference.

Karen Vargas, Chair 2012-2014

Job and Career Reference Committee
The Job & Career Reference Committee had a lively gathering of ALA members discussing job & career reference at our respective institutions (public, academic, & career colleges) in Seattle. For more information or to get involved with our online wiki efforts, contact the committee chair Kate Oberg: Kathryn.Oberg@gmail.com.

Kate Oberg, Chair 2012-2013

Library Service to an Aging Population
RUSA RSS Library Services to an Aging Population met on Thursday, January 31st. The committee is considering a change to its charge, with a focus on positive language and broadening the scope to recognize that “Aging Population” encompasses a diverse group with a wide variety of interests and needs.

The committee will be making minor changes to the Guidelines for Library and Information Services to Older Adults, last revised in 2008, and suggesting additional resources for Keys to Engaging Older Adults @ Your Library. The committee hopes to provide input on the Access to Information Wiki under construction by the RUSA Access to Information Committee.

The committee recently lost two members, so is currently seeking new members to join. Please contact Abigail Elder (aelder@ci.tualatin.or.us) if you would like to join us!

Abigail Elder, Chair 2012-2013

Library Services to the Spanish Speaking
Lucia Castillo, of the Vancouver Public Library, provided a very informative and interactive lively session on the program used in Canada to assist young families with social skills and engaging with the Spanish speaking community. Vancouver is thriving with a variety of culture and languages. Less than three percent are Spanish speaking and they all attend the Mother Goose program despite the distance they may need to travel.

A collection of YouTube videos from the session are linked below:

The Services to Spanish Speaking had some discussion in advance of the presentation on Mother Goose about the next step toward revising the Guidelines for Services to the Spanish Speaking. The committee is seeking volunteers for next year.

Stephen Marvin, Chair 2012-2013

Management of Reference Committee
The Committee met virtually on January 30th and discussed a request by an original member of the RUSA Task Force that wrote the Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians (http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/professional) to ask that they be reinstated. Discussion revealed that perhaps the Committee previously had acted in haste and the matter will be brought before the RSS Board at its February 7 meeting.

This Committee is also working with the Services to an Aging Population Committee in sponsoring a discussion session at the Annual Conference in Chicago. The session is about “The Little r in Reference .”

Session summary: There is plenty of talk about the new work of “little r” reference, but little detail on how that translates into the daily work of public library reference staff. This program delves into the who/what/where/how of contemporary reference work.

Speakers

  • Todd Dunkelberg, Director, Deschutes Public Library (Bend, Oregon)
  • Stephanie Chase, Director of Library Programs and Services, The Seattle Public Library
  • Sue Banks, Deputy Director, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

We discussed a request by Sarah Hammill on whether our Committee wanted to work on updating the Competencies for Cooperative Services. With our work on re-evaluating the fate of the Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians, we have enough on our plate.

Sally Dockter, Chair 2012-2013

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference
RSS Marketing and PR committee met in person at ALA Midwinter on January 26. (Meeting notes are posted on ALA Connect).

During this meeting, we brainstormed the details of the upcoming webinar/discussion event for ALA Annual, “Slam the Boards.” The webinar will be during the week of May 20-24 and presenter Bill Pardue will introduce us to the volunteer program “Slam the Boards,” how it came to be, its mission, how it works, and measuring success. He will also set us up to participate on June 10 so that by ALA Annual, we’ll be ready to take this discussion to a deeper level.

Our discussion of “Slam the Boards” is on June 26. Bill will recap the webinar and our experiences. We’ll then move into how to develop ways like “Slam the Boards,” helping customers where they are with professionalism and friendliness. Our hope is that participants will walk away with specific ideas and plans about extending current or creating new online question-answering, social media, and virtual reference services that they can bring back to their libraries for immediate consideration.

Marketing and PR for libraries is also a major consideration for every aspect of library work. We discussed the newly-reformed “Ask” campaign and other ways libraries can advocate their relevance to their communities.

Current programs such as Ask, Turning the Page, the Geek Campaign and more offer libraries opportunities for marketing and promotion. The RSS Marketing and PR committee is considering the development of a workshop for ALA Annual 2014 to showcase what is available.

Cathay Crosby, Chair 2011-2013

Organization and Planning Committee
The committee met online in January 2013. We reviewed RSS Bylaws and Handbook and thought we might be able to move forward updating both documents. However, upon further review, we discovered some issues/inconsistencies between the documents that require further discussion. We will be holding a joint O&P/Executive meeting in February or March to work out these issues once and for all. Then we will move forward with updating. Our goal is to have a very easy-to-use Chair Orientation Handbook; updated, clear bylaws; and a Handbook for Officers, if needed, which explains duties of each position and other details.

Liane Taylor, Chair 2012-2013

Recognition Committee
Are you eligible for the 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 Susan Ware at saw4@psu.edu or Virginia Cole vac11@cornell.edu

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

If you want to find out which honored colleagues you will be joining, see the list of RSS Honor Roll Members.

Virginia Cole, Chair 2012-2013

Research and Statistics Committee
In January, the RSS Research and Statistics Committee selected three presenters for the 19th Annual Reference Research Forum; the program will include the following:

  • Research Guides Usability Study, by Angela Pashia, Instructional Services Outreach Librarian, University of West Georgia and Andrew Walsh, Information Literacy Fellow, University of West Georgia
  • Two Birds, One Stone: Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Measure Service Process and Identify Usability Pain Points in Virtual Reference, by Christine Tobias, User Experience and Reference Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries
  • Query Clarification in Chat Reference: A Visual Transcript Analysis, by Alexa Pearce, Librarian for Journalism, Media, Culture & Communication, New York University Libraries

Lynda Duke, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Services (MARS/RSS)
The RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Services Committee has a new MARS Co-chair, Alisa Gonzalez, Social Sciences Librarian and Reference Coordinator at New Mexico State University Library.

The committee will be partnering with the RSS Marketing and Public Relations Committee on a webinar in late-May and related discussion forum for ALA Annual. The topic will be active advocacy and promotion of virtual reference services, and the speaker will be Bill Pardue (of “Slam the Boards!” fame).

Investigation of hosting a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at ALA Annual is also in the works. After an informal meeting in the Networking Uncommons at Midwinter, the event has taken on some new and exciting possibilities. These will be being discussed within the committee and with attendees at the Midwinter get-together.

The committee is also in the beginning stages of partnering with the RSS Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee (ERUS) on a survey to ascertain the current state of virtual reference. Don Boozer (RSS Co-chair) attended a meeting of ERUS in January, and plans are moving ahead on forming an ad hoc team to construct and administer the survey.

More details on each of these initiatives will be forthcoming, so stay tuned to the committee’s ALA Connect space.

Don Boozer, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The subcommittee continues to meet monthly and works in subgroups between meetings. Our virtual Midwinter meeting took place on February 5. We are finishing up the Training, Interview Skills, and Core Competencies modules and will work on additional modules as we look forward to ALA Annual.

Jared Hoppenfeld, Chair 2012-2013
Jennifer Lau-Bond, Chair 2011-2013

Young Adult Reference Services

We hope to schedule our midyear committee meeting imminently, to discuss the guideline mandate of the committee and directions we are going including perhaps issues such as:

  1. Optimal handling of the “class bomb” and other youth-related quirks in VR
  2. Balancing cooperating with existing media specialist staff/compensating for losses in Media Center staffing and collection budgets while still reinforcing the necessity of each
  3. Publics’ Balancing Act: working with faculty while not impinging on the role of the Media Specialist
  4. Outreach cooperation with Just Ask
  5. Possible cooperation with BRASS/RSS Jobseeker Committee on teen financial fitness/jobs/entrepreneurship

We are also progressing through RSS leadership on the move to becoming a joint YALSA committee.

The committee sponsored a discussion forum at Midwinter entitled “Reference Services to Young Adults: Why Common Core Standards Matter.” Adopted by forty-five of the fifty states and several territories, the Common Core State Standards are impacting the way that students are being taught and information literacy is being judged. The ripple effect from that hits libraries and library services immediately in ways we are trying to evaluate.

The discussion forum, led by Amanda Ellington, Rose Luna, and Margaux DelGuidice, drew an interested crowd of 78 librarians from all types of libraries, from school to public to academic to state libraries. The session received coverage in Publishers Weekly. Meanwhile, the session has a useful wiki.

We hope to see what topics might be useful to those serving young adults for a discussion forum at Annual.

Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, Chair 2012-2013

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.

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Message from the Chair

STARS

Kerry Keegan, Editor

STARS enjoyed a productive time in Seattle. Our section produced a free interlibrary loan workshop, hosted by the University of Washington, conducted a variety of business meetings, and organized informative and lively interlibrary and hot topics discussions. Seattle gives STARS momentum along several fronts.

Programming: Coming down the pike, be on the look-out for free RUSA professional development webinars. Every section, including STARS, is participating in a pilot program to develop and produce professional webinars. These webinars will be offered at no additional cost to RUSA members. Several STARS committees are developing program ideas and competing for our one slot.

And don’t forget ALA Annual. Along with our ILL and Hot Topic Discussion Groups, STARS will have two terrific programs: “Does Your Data Deliver for Decision Making? New Directions for Resource Sharing Assessment” and “Enhancing Services through Integration of Interlibrary Loan and Acquisitions.”

Assessment: STARS is completing a section review, a critical look back on our organization that informs both our members and RUSA just exactly how are we doing. Our Section Review Committee will soon have a draft report available for all members upon which to review and reflect. Also, STARS’ Program Assessment Working Group is spearheading program evaluation. Its outcome will help to better capture member feedback and lead to more informed decisions for program choices.

In Seattle, the Working Group coordinated the assessment of three section programs: “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about ILL” workshop, the STARS ILL Discussion Group, and the STARS Hot Topics Discussion Group. The group will now compile the results and share with the rest of STARS. Lessons learned during Midwinter will help the group form evaluations for future program sessions.

Recruiting: STARS is always recruiting. We have committee service opportunities across the board. It’s our committees that do the work and have the fun. Don’t be left out. Check out opportunities at STARS Committee page and contact your chair-elect Nora Dethloff (ndethloff@uh.edu) for more details.

Sincerely,

David P. Atkins
STARS Chair

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STARS Committee Reports

STARS Membership Committee
The RUSA STARS Membership Committee has been hard at work! Over the past few months, we’ve implemented the “5 Things Every New Resource Sharing Librarian Should Know!” as well as “STARGazing.” The “5 Things…” document provides key resources a new person in the field of Resource Sharing will find most helpful in orienting themselves within the profession. “STARGazing” is an initiative to spotlight STARS members in an effort to grow a sense of community and assist new STARS members in getting to know the names and faces of their colleagues. Hopefully, when attending ALA conferences, the “STARGazer” will provide a few friendly faces in the crowd.

Our first STARGazer was Nora Dethloff and our next STARGazer, Heather Weltin, was interviewed at ALA Midwinter! You can find both “5 Things…” and “STARGazing” on the RUSA STARS website. STARS Membership Committee meets once a month (virtually) and is beginning organized outreach to new members and all members alike.

Micquel Little, Chair

STARS Cooperative Collection Development Committee
The RUSA CODES/STARS Cooperative Collection Development Committee met at Midwinter to discuss planning for our program at Annual 2013, which will take place on Saturday, June 29th from 1:00-2:30 P.M.

The title of our program is: “Enhancing Services through Integration of Interlibrary Loan and Acquisitions”

Description:
“This panel will explore the opportunities and challenges that arise from merging interlibrary
loan and acquisitions departments, as well as the administrative aspects of such a partnership.
Through examining the reasons why ILL/Acquisitions mergers may be beneficial, and hearing
from peers engaged in the process, attendees will gain an understanding of how to weigh the
merits of such an arrangement and determine if it is appropriate for their institution, as well as
hear insights on how to move forward. This session is appropriate for all library types.”

Our committee hopes to organize a discussion group for Annual 2014, and submit a program proposal again for Annual 2015.

Sydney Thompson, Co-chair

STARS Education and Training Committee
Sixty people attended the sixth annual “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About ILL” workshop at the University of Washington on January 25. Education and Training continues to coordinate efforts to update shareill.org and will work with ShareILL owners and STARS Executive to transition the wiki to a new platform.

Jennifer Jacobs, Chair

STARS Hot Topics Discussion Group
A successful discussion was held in Seattle at ALA Midwinter 2013, encompassing a variety of relevant topics in the Resource Sharing world. These included CCC’s Get it Now! proposed “time-bomb,” which would restrict access to articles within a specific time frame; universal patron pick-up cards; electronic billing’s effect on paper check processing, along with IFM protocols and the ability to credit, as well as charge; and the recording of services performed by ILL operations and statistical relevance. The Working Group’s survey was distributed and results will be published to STARS members after collection and dissemination.

Troy Christenson, Chair

RUSA STARS / LLAMA SASS: Cooperative and Remote Circulation Committee
This fall we held a virtual meeting, part of which was devoted to a request from the STARS Education and Training Committee to assist them in updating the ShareILL wiki.

The group broke down the responsibilities and used Google docs to collaborate on the update. We were able to fix broken links, remove outdated entries, and add links for consortia and networks that have been established since the last update.

The group has a virtual meeting schedule for February 11 to discuss our plans for ALA Annual and the possibility of submitting a program proposal for 2014.

Peter Collins, Chair

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Letter from the President

From the President –

It has been a busy fall for RUSA and it is about to get even busier! It is hard to believe that Midwinter is nearly upon us. Check out the information below to find the places where you can contribute.

Framing the Future

ALA and RUSA are working hard to better serve our members. This includes spending time planning for the future. At the Joint Boards meeting at the end of October, ALA Division leaders and the ALA Executive Committee joined with ALA staff to begin to reimagine ALA as a more collaborative, nimble and flexible organization. The results of the discussions are being put together now. Stay tuned for more information and ideas from President Maureen Sullivan as we move toward Midwinter.

The RUSA Executive Committee met for a day and a half at the Chicago meeting as well. Four big plans have come out of those discussions:

Pilot Test for Free Webinars during 2012-2013

The RUSA Board has agreed to try a pilot test to use our new Blackboard Collaborate software to host several free webinars in 2013. RUSA will support and pay all costs for one free webinar for each section. Watch RUSA-L and ALA Connect to find out which webinars you will want to attend!

Not signed up for RUSA-L yet? Here’s the information you need to get started:http://www.ala.org/rusa/communications/lists

Strategic Planning

RUSA’s 2012-2015 Strategic Plan is under discussion to put actions in place to achieve the objectives identified by the plan. I urge you to review the plan and think about what you need form RUSA. You can find the strategic plan on the RUSA Web site at: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sites/ala.org.rusa/files/content/about/rusa-strategic-plan.pdf

Before Midwinter, we will invite all of you to comment on the plan and its objectives and suggest activities for RUSA. Watch ALA Connect and RUSA-L for more details!

Learning Outcomes and Knowledge Coordination Task Force

The RUSA membership survey a little over a year ago and RUSA Structures Task Force report last year noted that the highest priority for our members is professional development opportunity. In order to do this right, though, we need to have a coherent plan to tie together professional development, programming, the hybrid programming that is partly professional development and partly programming, and the resources of the web site. A new task force is beginning the conversation. The group has been asked to:

  • Consult widely within RUSA and create a vision for a coordinated approach to professional development, programs, and publications.
  • Develop a sustainable plan for virtual programs
  • Develop a measurable plan for provide professional education through a variety of formats.
  • Develop a sustainable plan for the RUSA website so that our web site is useful to members and includes information that members can use in their daily work.

RUSA Review Task Force

There is a great deal of work going on at ALA to re-imagine the whole organization as a more collaborative and nimble group. As I mentioned earlier, the discussions at the Joint Boards meeting in Chicago in late October were focused on a return to major priorities. As part of that return, there will be a concerted look at the organization, with a focus on reducing duplication and fostering collaboration to make ALA more attractive to members who can no longer afford to spend as much time or money as in days past.

Thanks to the hard work of many individuals and groups, we have good information about RUSA’s sections and standing committees. There is, however, a piece missing that we need to have in place if we are to respond to the opportunities any changes in ALA will bring to us in the near future. We know that our sections are a great strength. The Executive Committee and I believe that it is time to look at RUSA as a whole in the way that we have been so successful in reviewing sections. It is important for us to think about the role of RUSA in this new ALA. Our primary outcome is a re-invigorated RUSA in which members are enthusiastic about what they can do and what RUSA can give them. We want to be confident that RUSA as an organization can continue to meet changing member needs.

A new task force is being formed to lead this review. It will complete its work in September 2013. Please watch for your chance to provide input to this important process.

Special Committee Initiatives

The Resource Development Committee is hard at work to identify ways that RUSA can develop programs and services that provide more income for RUSA activities. Have ideas? Contact Gary White at gww2@umd.edu.

The Just Ask Team was formed to develop a vision of both reference librarians and reference services to help RUSA advocate for the support and development of quality reference services. The committee will work to design promotional materials that convey the value of reference librarians and services in all types of libraries to both the profession and the general public It now has two co-chairs, Diana Shonrock and Elizabeth Stephan. Under their leadership, the team is planning a Discussion Forum in Seattle on Sunday, January 27 from 8:30 to 10:00 AM at the Midwinter meeting in Seattle to identify the roles and duties of reference librarians in different types of libraries, to begin to revise the RUSA definition of reference services, to identify needed advocacy tools, and to plan for a needs assessment study of reference librarians. We hope you will join the conversation at the Red Lion Hotel Fifth Avenue, Emerald II.

Annual RUSA Town Hall Meeting

RUSA meetings are listed in the ALA Midwinter Conference Scheduler. Those who are attending the conference can find out what RUSA is doing by visiting:http://alamw13.ala.org/scheduler.

Not able to attend Midwinter? You can still participate in RUSA planning. At the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, join the RUSA Board either in person or online to participate in the annual Town Hall meeting on Saturday, January 26 at 1:30 PM in the Washington Convention Center, Room TCC 205.

Here are some questions to think about:

  • What keeps you involved in RUSA?
  • What encourages you to attend RUSA meetings?
  • What additional topics would you like to see in RUSA professional development activities?
  • What affinity areas would you like to see in RUSA (such as interest groups on particular topics that cross section levels)?

Don’t forget other fun activities at Midwinter, including:

RUSA Social

Saturday, January 26, 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Grand Hyatt Seattle, Leonesa I

A fun event where you can meet old friends and new, enjoying appetizers and a cash bar.

RUSA Book & Media Awards

Sunday, January 27, 5:00 – 6:30 pm, Renaissance Seattle Hotel, Municipal Room

A wonderful way to hear about the best of the best. This is where the top titles selected by RUSA CODES committees are announced.

Volunteer!

We want to include you in our work next year. The incoming RUSA President, Kathleen Kern, will be appointing RUSA level committees after Midwinter. Section vice-chairs will be appointing section committees as well.

We want to include you! Be sure to fill out the online form at the RUSA site. Go to: http://www.ala.org/rusa/about/divisioncommittees and click on the link to the RUSA Online Volunteer Form.

Click on Committee Rosters to see the charge for each group.

Tell us what you know and what you like to do. We will be listening!

In addition, we have lost a few committee members due to illness and changes in work responsibilities that do not allow them to be active this year. I will be filling several of these slots over the next few weeks.

The Last Word….

Let me take a moment to say a big THANK YOU to Susan Hornung and all of the RUSA staff, the members of the RUSA Executive Committee, RUSA Board, standing committees, and section leaders for their incredibly smart and hard work this past summer and fall. I look forward to even more fun this spring.

And as always, I want to hear from you about any ideas and suggestions you might have. Please write to me at popp@indiana.edu.

Mary Pagliero Popp
RUSA President 2012-2013

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Division News: Awards, Events and Information You Can Use

RUSA Award Nomination Period Ends December 15

There’s still time to submit your nominations for RUSA’s 2013 awards! We have a multitude of travel grants, research grants and achievement awards available to you. Many offer cash prizes! Especially noteworthy are two new awards this year:the Gale Cengage History Research and Innovation Award encourages submissions from MLS degreed librarians looking to further research relating to history and history librarianship, and the BRASS Business Expert Press Award for Academic Business Librarians, which recognizes a librarian new to the field of academic business librarianship to attend the ALA Annual Conference. Review the entire list.

Holiday Shopping: We’ve got a book for you!

Looking for gifts for your fellow book lovers? Look no further than the award-winning titles selected by your RUSA colleagues! Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, genre fiction, audiobooks…there truly is something for everyone among our many literary awards. We’ve compiled all of the details and links into a single blog post to make your life easier–find it here. Happy gifting!

RUSA’s Midwinter Book and Media Awards Reception: Sunday, January 27 in Seattle

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Your expert readers advisory and collection development colleagues have been hard at work for the past twelve months, devouring newly-published books and scrutinizing new reference publications to determine who will take home the honors at Midwinter. Come be a part of the excitement and celebrate with us at the Book and Media Awards Reception.Get the event details, and make sure to add the event to your Midwinter schedule so we know you’re coming. If you can’t make it, follow our updates on our Facebook page or on Twitter, @ala_rusa, with the hashtag #literarytastes.

RUSA Membership Social: Time for Friends, New and Old

The Membership Social returns for another year of outstanding Saturday night fun at Midwinter! We encourage you to bring a friend, even if they’re not a RUSA member. The Membership Social will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 PM in the Leonesa Room in the Grand Hyatt Seattle.

Great prizes will be raffled off, too. Get the event details, and add it to your Midwinter schedule. This event is generously sponsored by Thomson Reuters. See you there!

Midwinter Meeting: Schedule Posted, Registration Still Available

Everything you could possibly want to know about the upcoming ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle is available at www.alamidwinter.org. Early Bird ends December 2, and Advance ends January 18. Come join us for intriguing conversations and fun events hosted by RUSA and ALA! Browse the Midwinter schedule.

Online Learning: Spring 2013 Courses Now Open for Registration

Whether you’re itching to learn new skills or need to brush up on the basics, RUSA’s online courses have got you covered! Topics include the reference interview, genealogy, ILL, business reference, readers advisory, health information and spatial literacy/online mapping. Individual and group registrations are available. Our health information course even offers CEUs! Review a full schedule.

Webinar Proposals Sought

Are you a subject matter expert or an experienced librarian with information to share? Consider submitting a webinar proposal! Presenters for approved webinars receive compensation and training on Blackboard Collaborate, our webinar presentation tool. Access a full list of topics we’re interested in and a link to the proposal form at the RUSA Blog.

Looking for a job? It’s a daunting task to sift through the excess of information about:

  • Finding a job
  • Preparing a resume and cover letter
  • Interviewing for a job
  • Discovering salary information
  • Negotiating a salary
  • Researching the job outlook for librarians
  • Identifying professional competencies for reference and user services librarians

RUSA can help! Our new Career Resources page on the RUSA website was developed specifically with reference and user services librarians in mind. Whether you’re looking for library positions in schools, academic libraries, public libraries, or special libraries, we’ve got something for everyone.

Visit the Career Resources page today and instantly make your job search easier and more productive!

[This web page is a work-in-progress and is updated frequently. If you have successful job hunting tip that you’d like to share, please contact lwood@ala.org]

Let’s be in touch! Here’s how you can stay connected to RUSA between issues of RUSA Update:

  • Bookmark the RUSA blog
  • Like RUSA on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Subscribe to RUSA-L, our division listserv, or one of our section listservs
  • Keep your membership information current so that you continue to receive communications–make updates by logging in at ala.org or by contacting the membership team at membership@ala.org or (800) 545-2433, option 5.
  • Have an e-mail address on file with ALA. All of our member communications are done electronically, so no e-mail address means you’re missing out on important news and benefits.
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Committee on Professional Ethics

Chair from Committee on Professional Ethics Wants to Hear from YOU.

Based on recent requests to the committee for assistance in two areas, we’re working on developing two new explanatory statements for the ALA Code of Ethics. These areas are: Ethics and Social Media Conflicts of Interest. These explanatory statements will take the form of a question & answer document. We currently have two in this format on workplace speech (also being updated) and on enforcement of the Code of Ethics. To see these examples, please see the Resources section on our committee’s website. As we are a committee of Council, we are seeking your input on the topics that we should cover in these documents. Examples of the types of questions we could answer are:

  • Under Social Media: What policies should we have in place for our library’s Facebook page? What happens when an employee mentions the library on a personal Twitter account?
  • Under Conflicts of Interest: If I’m on an award committee and know a nominee, should I disclose that information and/or recuse myself? Is it OK to accept a meal from a library vendor?

If you have suggestions for topics that we should cover, please send them to the Committee chair at mgarnar@regis.edu. Our goal is to have both documents ready for public consumption by Annual 2013. Contact the chair if you have any questions, and thanks in advance for your assistance.

Please send your comments to:

Martin Garnar Chair, ALA Committee on Professional Ethics
Reference Services Librarian and Professor of Library Science
Dayton Memorial Library, Regis University
3333 Regis Blvd., Mail Stop D-20
Denver, CO 80221
303.964.5459 (voice)
303.964.5497 (fax)
mgarnar@regis.edu

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RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee

In light of the changes described in ALA’s June 2012 Conference Changes Roadmap the RUSA CPCC is working with the RUSA Board to modify our division’s processes for program selection and allocation. The immediate impact of the Roadmap on future conferences is that programs will all take place in the convention center or headquarters hotel, time slots are shortened to 60 and 90 minutes, and the divisions will have fewer programs. The RUSA sections (specifically STARS, RSS, MARS, and BRASS) were extremely helpful this past summer in making quick changes so that we could accommodate the reduced number of program time slots for Annual 2013 in Chicago. We are now working on a new program allocation model for Annual 2014 in Las Vegas, though at this moment we do not yet know how many programs RUSA will have the opportunity to present there.

The committee has been communicating by email and met online on Oct. 26 via RUSA’s Blackboard Collaborate room. We will meet online again on Wednesday, December 5, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM EST. Our meeting at ALA Midwinter 2013 in Seattle is scheduled for Monday, January 28 from 8:30-10:00 AM.

It’s not too soon to start making your plans for next summer! The RUSA sections and committees will be presenting fifteen fantastic programs at Annual Conference 2013 in Chicago and BRASS will be presenting the Business Reference 101 preconference on Friday, June 28. The programs are offered over three days, from Saturday, June 29 through Monday, July 1.

Joe Thompson, chair

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RUSA President’s Program Planning Committee

Progress continues on putting together an excellent program for Annual 2013 in Chicago, to be held on Saturday, June 29 from 4:00-5:30 PM. This year’s highly anticipated RUSA President’s Program will provide new perspectives and creative thinking from a prominent non-librarian. The committee has been considering a multitude of possible topics and speakers from a variety of sources including TED talks, PopTech, SXSW Interactive, and the World Future Society. You will not want to miss this major event of the conference. Stay tuned for the announcement of this year’s speaker!

The committee members were able to meet in person while in Anaheim and have been communicating regularly since then via email, phone and RUSA’s Blackboard Collaborate room. Our meeting at ALA Midwinter 2013 in Seattle is scheduled for Sunday, January 27 from 8:30-10:00 AM.

Mary Mintz and Joe Thompson, co-chairs

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Message from the Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol Schuetz, Editor

Has every BRASS member explored ALA Connect recently? Former Chair Chris LeBeau has loaded all the BRASS program material from Adventures in Data Land and the publisher’s forum. You will see video presentations, powerpoints and related materials. There are links from the BRASS web page as well.

Seattle midwinter planning is underway. Expect an all BRASS members meeting and discussion topic for those planning on venturing to the beautiful northwest on Sunday January 27 from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. BRASS discussions and committee work will continue virtually as well during the midwinter period. There is lots of planning and initiatives under way among our incredible band of BRASS. Read on for how you can learn from and be part of BRASS.

Ann Fiegen

2012-2013 BRASS Chair

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BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The Business Reference in Academic Libraries committee is collaborating with SLA’s CUBL (College and University Business Libraries) to form the Core Competencies Task Force. We are working to create the first set of business research competencies. Our goal is to create clearly written guidelines that can be used by undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and business librarians in the private sector. Research competencies structure the academic experience and give students and others a benchmark for knowing their own information competency in the field and what their goals should be.

The committee is busy reviewing existing research competencies in other fields, existing information literacy standards in business disciplines, and conducting interviews with non-academic organizations about their experiences in business research. The committee expects to present rough drafts of these processes at ALA Midwinter.

Co-chair Carissa Phillips is identifying private businesses and other organizations to get feedback about how they use information and their experiences with recent business majors’ ability in information literacy.

Members of the committee are collaborating on Google Docs, group sourcing the literature review, providing links to research competencies and brainstorming on the content of the competencies.

Charles Allan, 2012-2013 Chair

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BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee (BRSC)

The sub-committee focusing on nominations for Best Business Reference source is being headed up by Ed Hahn from Weber University. Hahn has started the nominations process and is encouraging all committee members to submit their nominations throughout the fall. This year we are also trying to broaden the pool by including new databases or other online resources. If anyone has any new business reference sources they would like us to consider, either print or online, please have them contact Hahn at edwardhahn@weber.edu or the BRSC committee chair at hurstsj@miamioh.edu.

The other BRSC sub-committee is focusing on planning for next year’s Publisher’s Forum program to be held at ALA Annual in Chicago. This subcommittee is being headed up by Penny Scott from the University of San Francisco. She and the other committee members are currently considering possible themes for the program. Anyone with suggestions for publishers or types of products you would like to see presented, please contact Scott at plscott@usfca.edu or the BRSC Chair at hurstsj@miamioh.edu.

Susan Hurst, 2012-2013 Chair

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BRASS Conference Program Planning Committee: BRASS 2013 Program

Investment Success!
Building & Managing Your Retirement Portfolio

 


Monday, July 1, 2013

8:30-10:00 AM

Good personal investment education is important for librarians and library staff. We are an occupational group that is rarely able to access top financial advice. In this program, investment professionals will demystify the process and help us understand essential principles and how to apply them to make better decisions to meet our retirement goals. The presentation will include a discussion of the common mistakes investors make, why we make them, and how to avoid them.

Speakers:

Charles Rotblut, CFA, Vice President, American Association of Individual Investors (AAII)

Charles Rotblut is a vice president of the American Association of Individual Investors and is the editor of the AAII Journal. He authors the weekly AAII Investor Update e-newsletter and his commentary is published on both Seeking Alpha and Forbes.com.

Christine Benz, Director of Personal Finance, Morningstar, Inc.

Christine Benz is director of personal finance for Morningstar and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances, published by John Wiley and Sons in January 2009. She is also editor of Morningstar Personal Finance, a monthly personal finance newsletter and writes a column on Morningstar.com.

Peter McKay, 2012-2013 Chair

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BRASS Discussion Group Committee

The BRASS Discussion group will host an open forum at ALA’s Midwinter conference. All who are attending the conference are invited to join us Sunday, January 27 from 8:30-10:30 AM. The BRASS Discussion group is currently seeking input on what topic(s) that participants would like to discuss. Past discussions have focused on free business-related web resources, publishing, and other topics related to business librarianship. Please post suggestions for topics on the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) Suggestion Wall. We look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Jason Dewland, 2012-2013 Chair

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BRASS Education Committee

The BRASS Education Committee has submitted a proposal for the 2013 preconference “Business Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship.” This full-day interactive workshop is designed for new business librarians; generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship; or librarians who handle business reference-related inquiries in all types of libraries. It will focus on core resources for business reference, business collection development, and licensing electronic business products. Lety Camacho (Brigham Young University), immediate Past-Chair of the BRASS Education Committee, is spearheading this effort. Mary Martin (Claremont Colleges) serves as the preconference coordinator.

The webinar working group is developing a series of webinars of interest to business librarians which will be offered as part of the RUSA online learning initiative. Chad Boeninger from Ohio University, Dan Hickey from Penn State, and Natasha Arguello from University of Texas at San Antonio welcome your suggestions for webinar topics which may be submitted via BRASS Suggestion Wall:http://brass.libguides.com/suggestionwall. Webinar presenters will be paid $150 for each 60-90-minute webinar. If you know any colleagues, or would like to share your own business reference expertise, please contact Natasha.Arguello@utsa.edu.

Natasha Arguello, 2012-2013 Chair
http://connect.ala.org/node/65121

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BRASS Nominating Committee

The BRASS Nominating Committee was pleased to submit our slate of candidates for the 2013 ballot. Thanks to committee members Mary Gilles and Elizabeth Stephan for all of their help in getting this great list of nominees together. Special thanks, too, to Larayne Dallas, chair of the RUSA Nominating Committee, and to Susan Hornung for their excellent communication and support throughout this process. And, of course, thanks to our candidates who are willing to serve BRASS by being on the ballot! They are, for Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Todd Hines and Peter Z. McKay; and for Member-at-Large: Chad Boeninger and Elizabeth Malafi.

Celia Ross, 2012-2013 Chair

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BRASS Vendor Relations Committee

The BRASS Vendor Relations Committee has been continuing to assist the BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee by reaching out to new vendors and working with longtime partners to help secure funding for the celebration event planned for 2013 in Chicago. Other ideas for connecting to and collaborating with BRASS vendors in order to provide additional value to BRASS members are still in the works and include plans to build a “Virtual Expo” site where vendors could showcase their business reference products as well as any librarian support materials they publish so that BRASS members could see them all in one place.

Celia Ross, 2012-2013 Chair

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BRASS Publications and Communications Committee

The Publications and Communications Committee is still reviewing Web pages. Please feel free to pass along any problems with BRASS Web pages to the committee chair, John Gottfried (jcgottfried@gmail.com). The committee will also be attempting to recruit a new Webmaster; interested parties should contact the chair.

John Gottfried, 2012-2013 Chair