Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship

Rita W. Moss was recognized at the RUSA Awards ceremony during the ALA Annual conference in Anaheim as the 2012 recipient of the Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship. This award ($3000 and a citation) is for her outstanding contributions to the field of business librarianship. Quoting from the citation: “Rita W. Moss leads by example – as an author, educator, officer, mentor, and expert.”

We thank Gale Cengage Learning for the generous support of this award.

The committee members: Bobray J. Bordelon, Karen J. Chapman, Irwin D. Faye, and Patricia E. Kenly

Patricia Kenly, Chair, 2011-2012

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award Committee

Ilana Barnes is the recipient of the 2012 BRASS Gale Cengage Learning student travel award. We thought it would be good for everyone to read in Ilana’s own words what this award meant to her:

“I am extremely grateful to Gale Cengage Learning and BRASS for providing me with the opportunity to go to the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. The conference was an enlightening and exciting experience. It benefited me greatly professionally.

“Attending the ALA annual conference gave me many opportunities to network with my new colleagues and reconnect with old ones. While at the conference, I met many librarians who gave loads of useful advice for a librarian just starting out. Sometimes just sitting next to someone on a bench can be a great moment for serendipitous interaction. At one point I took a brief break between sessions on a bench and had a 30 minute conversation with a San Francisco public libraries manager who gave me several new ideas for social media and makerspaces projects. I also ran into librarians from my undergraduate and library education as well as recent alumnae from my library school.

“I also had the chance to network with other business librarians just like me. It was especially good to talk to other new business librarians who were going through similar adjustments to their new jobs. Some of the new business librarians I met even connected after the conference and are planning to have monthly “meetings” to build upon the relationships we started at ALA.

“For a recent graduate like me, transitioning from student to practitioner can be very intimidating and awkward. I am often not always sure where to make connections and with whom. The whole BRASS group treated me like a local celebrity throughout the conference and really went out of their way to include me and introduce me to other members. By the end of the conference, I felt very much like part of the group. I haven’t volunteered for any committees, but I did learn much more about the committee structure that I could ever have gleaned from reading ALA Connect pages. With what I learned at the conference, I feel like the whole process is much more approachable and there are many different ways that I could contribute.

“My favorite part of the conference was the BRASS discussion group. This was also my favorite part of last year’s conference as well. The discussion was very informative about free data resources, but I really love seeing the passion that Business Librarians have for their patrons, their sources and their work.

“My advice to other students is to apply for this award. Not only did it offer me the economic ability to attend the ALA Annual Conference, but the networking and social resources made my time in Anaheim the happiest place on Earth for a new business librarian.”

Carol L. Anderson, Chair, 2011-2012

BRASS Outstanding Service to Minority Business Communities

The Award Committee, Vendor Relations, and Executive Committee have given thoughtful consideration to the status of this unfunded award for an extended period of time. The Award Committee recommended and the Executive Committee voted to disband the award. A broader award, perhaps related to some aspect of diversity, may be considered in the future.

Lee Pike, Chair, 2011-2012

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, AAII
    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.
  • Christine Benz, Director of Personal Finance, Morningstar, Inc.
    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, Chair, 2012-2013

Message from the BRASS Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol E. Schuetz, Editor
Hello BRASS members!

2012 promises to be a very good year for BRASS. First, the programs and forums for Annual in Anaheim look very exciting. We are bringing back the Mastering Business Acumen (MBA) in a Day Preconference. Program and forum topics include using social media to promote business librarians and resources, finding private company information, and our Monday program which picks up on the Disneyland theme, “Adventures in Dataland,” features a morning of information about data sources, including the new U.S. Census. Our thanks to Van Houlson and Christy Goodnight for volunteering, again, to capture the program for BRASS members.

Celia Ross (Chair, Vendor Relations) has been actively working on a new BRASS award that we are trying to fast-track through ALA in order to begin this year. Our thanks to Celia. Stay tuned for details about that.

If you haven’t seen the title selections yet, be sure to read the “Outstanding Business Reference Sources,” selected by the BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee and published in RUSQ, winter 2011. Also, at the RUSA Awards celebration at Midwinter, BRASS announced its choices for “Best of the Best Business Websites” which were globalEDGE, Statistical Abstract of the United States and FRED (St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank).

Our BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee has been hard at work on our celebration in Chicago in the summer of 2013. You won’t want to miss this. There will soon be a BRASS Web site so you can follow the events as they are planned. For now see the RUSA Blog. Thank you, Louise!

Please consider volunteering for a committee or renewing your interest in serving on a committee by filing out the RUSA Volunteer Form. Be sure to change the drop down menu to BRASS rather than RUSA, not that we discourage you from serving RUSA, too! If you know any business librarians from public libraries who are not BRASS members, tell them about BRASS, and encourage them to join.

Read more details on all of this below. Hope to see many of you in Anaheim, June 21 – 26, 2012!

Chris LeBeau
BRASS Chair 2011-2012
lebeauc@umkc.edu

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The committee has completed the spring 2011 and fall 2011 issues of the online newsletter, Academic Brass. Now that the conversion of the ALA website to a new web management system has been completed, these issues are being posted on the BRASS website. We are also continuing to collect article submissions for the spring 2012 and fall 2012 issues. Anyone interested in submitting an article should send a proposal to the newsletter editors, Lydia LaFaro (lafaro@asu.edu) and Nathan Rupp (nrupp@umich.edu). Articles should address current issues, practices, or resources in academic business libraries. See the Newsletter Description and Guidelines for additional information.

In addition, the committee is finalizing panelists for the BRASS Forum—” Using Social Media to Promote Business Librarians and Resources”—at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim on June 23rd at 1:30 PM. Check the next issue of BRASS Notes for the final details on this event.

Lydia LaFaro, 2009-2012 Chair

BRASS Program Planning Committee

The 2012 BRASS Program Planning Committee decided to add a little spice to our program title with the hopes of attracting more attendees to our event. The program title has been changed to “Adventures in Dataland: Business Data Sources.” We are also pleased to report that Christy Goodnight from Utah Valley University and Van Houlson from the University of Minnesota Libraries have both kindly volunteered to record our program and capture the PowerPoint screenshots.

We are pleased to invite the following speakers:

●     Bobray Bordelon – Princeton University, Librarian

●     Jerry Wong – US Census, Information Specialist

●     Angela Lee – ESRI, Education Programs

●     Joe Nation – RAND Corporation State Statistics, Director

Over the next few months, our committee will be working on marketing ideas, coordinating our RUSQ article, and working on logistics on the day of our program. Please stay tuned for more updates.

Program planning members: Anthony Lin (BRASS Program Planning Committee Chair), Chris LeBeau (BRASS Chair), Paul Brothers, Laura B. Carscaddon, Jason Dewland, Allison Leaming, Julia Martin, Peter McKay, Michael Oppenheim, and Mark Siciliano

Anthony Lin, 2011-2012 Chair

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee

The Business Reference Sources Committee (BRSC) is continuing to nominate titles for its best business reference sources of the year column which appears in RUSQ – and beginning to winnow down the initial list that we’ve put together so far this year. We’ve also begun to plan for the BRSC Publisher’s Forum for ALA Annual, the title of which will be “How Private is Private: Is it Really Possible to Find Information on Private Companies?”

Nathan Rupp, 2011-2012 Chair

BRASS Education Committee

The RUSA BRASS Education Committee is excited to present a new full-day preconference for the ALA 2012 Annual Conference in Anaheim: “Mastering Business Acumen (MBA) in a Day: Business Concepts for Library Reference.” The last time we were in Anaheim, sixty librarians attended the Business Reference 101 preconference that focuses on business reference, business resources, and collection development. This new preconference will complement the Business 101 preconference and will provide librarians with a broad conceptual understanding of business support and business reference.

Please help us advertise our program by forwarding this information to your friends and colleagues.

Program: Mastering Business Acumen (MBA) in a Day: Business Concepts for Library Reference

Date: Friday, June 22, 2012

Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm

Where: ALA Annual Conference, Anaheim (workshop location to be determined)

Presenters:

Accounting – Todd M. Hines (MSLS, MBA, MAcc, CPA), Princeton University Library;

Finance – Chris LeBeau (MLS, MBA), University of Missouri Kansas City;

Management – Elisabeth Leonard (MLS, MBA), Sage, Market Research Analyst;

Marketing – Andy Spackman (MBA, MLS), Brigham Young University;

For more information, and links to ALA Registration pages, go to http://alaannual.org/content/preconferences, Event Code: RUS1

Ticket Prices

  Early Bird Advance Onsite
ALA Member $199 $239 $239
Division Member $179 $219 $219
Round Table Member N/A N/A N/A
Retired Member $149 $189 $189
Student Member $149 $189 $189
Non-Member $219 $259 $259

 

Leticia Camacho, 2011-2012 Chair

http://connect.ala.org/node/65121

http://brass.libguides.com/index.php

BRASS Vendor Relations Committee

The BRASS Vendor Relations Committee has been working on getting a new sponsored award up and running. Currently, we are awaiting final approval from ALA and we look forward to hopefully announcing this new award (and to soliciting nominees) soon! In other news, we have been assisting 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.

Celia Ross, 2011-2012 Chair

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award committee has made a selection for this year. In order to be eligible for the award, nominees must be a current member of the American Library Association, have a career interest in business reference librarianship, and be willing to participate in BRASS.

We have chosen a recipient and are looking forward to the official presentation and announcement this June at the ALA Annual.

Melissa Jeter, 2011-2012 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 next year.

Louise Feldmann, 2011-2012 Chair

Message from the BRASS Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol E. Schuetz, Editor

Hello BRASS members!

Only another month and half before Annual in Anaheim! Committees have been working diligently on creating lots of good programming for you. First, I want to congratulate our BRASS awardees and the award committees for their good work in selecting worthy winners.

  1. BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence In Business Librarianship: Rita Moss
  2. BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award: Ilana Barnes
  3. BRASS Business Expert Press Award: Joel Glogowski
  4. Emerald Research Award (2): Qi Wu & Heidi Senior; Louise Feldman
  5. Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award: Anne MacDonald

 
We owe a big thank you to Celia Ross (Vendor Relations Committee) for working with Business Expert Press to fund a new three year award! And a special thanks to Adam Chesler, Library Relations Director, Business Expert Press.
The Education Committee and the Business Reference Services Discussion Group invite your suggestions for future webinars and online discussions. To add your idea, visit the http://brass.libguides.com/suggestionwall. Help us with ideas as we begin to offer more online learning opportunities.

The Publications and Communications Committee will be posting a detailed conference schedule, but in the meantime, here are the BRASS conference highlights in brief. Be sure to also watch BRASS-L and the RUSA Blog for information about our activities. Preliminary Program

  1. Friday June 22: 8:30 AM-4:00 PM Preconference: Mastering Business Acumen: (MBA) in a Day: Business Concepts for Library Reference (Education Committee)
  2. Friday Evening June 22: BRASS Members Reception, Place TBA, sponsor: InfoGroup (Membership Committee)
  3. Saturday June 23: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM: Smart investing@your library: Program Models That Work
  4. Saturday June 23: 1:30-3:30 PM Forum: Using Social Media to Promote Business Librarians and Resources (Business Reference in Academic Libraries)
  5. Sunday June 24: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM Discussion: How Free Web Resources Can Complement Fee Based Online Resources. (Business Reference Services Discussion Group)
  6. Sunday June 24: 1:30-3:30 PM Publishers’ Open Forum: PrivCo, Mergent, Bureau Van Dijk (Business Reference Sources Committee)
  7. Monday June 25: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM BRASS Breakfast, sponsor: S&P Capital IQ Program: Adventures in Dataland: Business Data Sources (Program Planning Committee)
  8. Monday June 25: 6:00 pm BRASS Dinner: La Casa Garcia Restaurant, 531 W. Chapman Ave. Anaheim Restaurant Location: http://g.co/maps/tyctk

 

Chris LeBeau
BRASS Chair 2011-2012
lebeauc@umkc.edu

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The committee is presenting the BRASS Forum at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, on Saturday, June 23, at 1:30 PM in the Palm West Room of the Sheraton Park Hotel. The forum will address Using Social Media to Promote Business Librarians and Resources. Learn how to increase your contact with patrons by using social media to harvest the “Long Tail” of questions—those detailed or niche questions that together total more than general instruction. Businesses have used the theory of the long tail to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction by catering to specific preferences. Social media allows you to address these needs through its flexibility and accessibility. Make sure you are using social media with the long tail in mind.

The panelists for the forum are:

  1. April Kessler, Business Librarian, University of Texas
  2. Chad F. Boeninger, Head of Reference and Business Librarian, Ohio University
  3. John Gottfried, Coordinator of Reference Services and Business Librarian, Western Kentucky University

Come join us for an interesting look at leveraging social media to enhance your business reference service.

Lydia LaFaro, 2009-2012 Chair

BRASS Program Planning Committee

Save the date for the BRASS Program at ALA Anaheim 2012, “Adventures in Dataland: Business Data Sources!” on Monday, June 25, from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM at the Anaheim Convention Center, Room 204C.

We are pleased to present the following fantastic speakers:

  1. Bobray Bordelon: Princeton University, Economics, Finance and Data Librarian
  2. Jerry Wong: US Census, Information Specialist
  3. Angela Lee: ESRI, Education Programs
  4. Joe Nation: RAND Corporation State Statistics, Director

 
A continental breakfast will be provided by our sponsor S&P Capital IQ.

Anthony Lin, 2011-2012 Chair

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee

The 2012 Publishers’ Open Forum scheduled for ALA Annual, “How Private Is Private: Is It Really Possible to Find Information on Private Companies?,” will be on Sunday June 24, 1:30-3:30 PM in Room 207B in the Anaheim Convention Center. We will have speakers from three vendors at this event: PrivCo, Mergent, and Bureau Van Dijk.

The BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee has finished nominating titles for the 2012 best business reference sources column and is in the process of narrowing down the nominated titles to a final list for consideration at ALA Annual.

Nathan Rupp, 2011-2012 Chair

BRASS Education Committee

Business Reference: Does it intimidate you? Does the mere suggestion of a question about finance make you break out into a cold sweat? Are marketing and management complete mysteries? When faced with an accounting question, do you flee from the reference desk?
Fear No More!

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) has an upcoming preconference, “Mastering Business Acumen (MBA) in a Day: Business Concepts for Library Reference”, that will arm you with basic knowledge of business topics, and will prepare you to answer business reference questions with clarity and confidence!

This workshop, which will be held from 8:30 AM-4:00 PM, Friday, June 22 in conjunction with the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., is presented by the Education Committee of RUSA’s Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS). The preconference will be in held Room 206A in the Anaheim Convention Center.

Who Should Attend: New business librarians; generalists with new business librarianship responsibilities; and anybody interested in business reference and instruction from public, academic and special libraries.

Register now at www.alaannual.org (event code RUS1).

We have some excellent speakers on hand for this event who happen to be not only librarians, but subject matter experts:

  1. Accounting – Todd M. Hines (MSLS, MBA, CPA), Princeton University Library
  2. Finance – Chris LeBeau (MLS, MBA), University of Missouri Kansas City
  3. Management – Elisabeth Leonard (MLS, MBA), Sage Publications
  4. Marketing – Andy Spackman (MBA, MLS), Brigham Young University

 
Conference registration information is available here at the ALA Annual Conference website, www.alaannual.org. Conference registration is not required in order to register for this preconference. RUSA will also offer a multitude of programs, discussion groups, and the RUSA Achievement Awards Reception in Anaheim—learn more at the RUSA website.

Advance registration rates (May 14-June 14) are: RUSA member, $219; ALA member, $239; ALA Retired and Student Members, $189; Non-members, $259.

Leticia Camacho, 2011-2012 Chair
http://connect.ala.org/node/65121
http://brass.libguides.com/index.php

BRASS Discussion Group

The BRASS Discussion group will meet Sunday, June 24 from 10:30 AM-12:00 PM in Room 303C in the Anaheim Convention Center. The title of the forum is “How free web resources can complement fee based online resources.” In our day-to-day jobs, we often rely on using subscription based online resources to help our patrons. However, what about other resources which are free to use? Join us as we discuss the value of well known and not so well known free reference sources.

Edward Hahn, 2011-2012 chair

BRASS Publications and Communications Committee

The BRASS Publications and Communications Committee is currently conducting its quarterly review and update of BRASS web pages. We want them to be spiffy and timely for the upcoming ALA conference! If you identify any web information that requires update or correction, please let us know.

The BRASS Master Schedule that our committee put together for last year’s Annual Conference proved extremely popular, so we’re developing one again for Anaheim. Watch for it in advance of conference via the BRASS-L listserv. We’ll also post it on the main BRASS webpage. It’s your ultimate guide to all things BRASSY at ALA Annual.

Carol Smith, 2010-2012 chair

BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee

Plans continue for BRASS’ Silver Anniversary Party to be held at ALA Annual in Chicago 2013 on the evening of Monday, July 1st. Keep your calendars open for this fabulous event. Please check our event website at http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass/brass-25th-anniversary for updates and details. Many thanks to our Grand Sponsor, Gale Cengage Learning and their new Business Insights: Global product (http://www.gale.cengage.com/bigpreview/).

Stay tuned for more details to come over the next few months.

Louise Feldmann, 2011-2012 Chair

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award

Congratulations to Ilana Barnes, this year’s recipient of BRASS Gale Cengage Student Travel Award. Barnes is enrolled in the Master’s program at the University of Michigan School of Information, and is pursuing a specialization in both library and information services and preservation of information. She is currently serving as president of the University of Michigan’s ALA student chapter. Barnes earned a B.A. in history, with honors, from the University of Washington. In addition to her current coursework and position at the Kresge Business Administration Library, she is also a reference assistant-spatial and numeric data services at the University’s Clark Library.
 
Ilana Barnes’ enthusiasm and dedication to business librarianship is shown through her personal statement submitted to the awards jury: “Business reference is my greatest passion as a librarian. I love navigating the ins and outs of 10-k filings, the thrill of finding a student the exact market research report, and hearing about all the incredibly creative and innovative work students do. The best thing about business libraries (and why I am interested in them as a career) is that they are strongly application-based. The people studying in business school are not typical academics. They are interested in applying what they are learning in class to the greater business community at large. Things that are taught in business schools have real applications on our economic lives. If business school curricula have the ability to change the way that the business community is led and managed, then business libraries have the ability to change how the business community finds, analyzes and uses information. I feel like Business Librarians have an impact on the lives of real people every day.” Ms. Barnes is president of the University of Michigan’s ALA student chapter and is the BRASS representative to the ALA RUSA “Just Ask!” marketing initiative. Her extensive business librarian skills are praised in her letters of support.

Barnes will be honored at the RUSA Awards Reception, scheduled for 5 – 6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 24 as a part of RUSA’s events at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. The exact location of this event will be announced in late spring. For more information, visit RUSA’s website or the Annual Conference website.

Carol Anderson, 2011-2012 chair

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship

Rita W. Moss is the 2012 recipient of the Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship. Moss is the Business/Economics Librarian and Head, Social Sciences Team, at the University of North Carolina. She is the author of the second edition of Strauss’s Handbook of Business Information. A third edition was published in February 2012. She is active in professional associations, and she also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science. One of her colleagues summed it up best—“she leads by example”.

Congratulations, Rita!

Patricia Kenly, 2011-2012 chair

BRASS Notes

Carol E. Schuetz, Editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Message from the BRASS Chair

Hello BRASS members!

Greetings from your 2011-2012 Chair. Since Annual I’ve been working on several projects and getting to know the ALA and RUSA staff very well! You have a great Executive Board and an energetic set of committee chairs. The Program Committee has been working hard on the program for the 2010 Annual in Anaheim (June 21-26). I hope many of you will be able to join us.

As fall quickly turns to winter, we need to think about ALA Midwinter in sunny Dallas. (I hear they have finally broken out of the 100s!) Please save the dates: January 20-24, 2012. BRASS will continue with its virtual meetings during Midwinter, but there will be a real, on-ground All Members Meeting on Sunday, January 22 from 10:30 am-12:00 pm. More details to follow on BRASS-L. Committees that choose to get together at Midwinter will make informal arrangements among themselves.

Carol Smith, Chair of the Publications and Communications Committee, has rearranged some roles. Carol Schuetz is now BRASS Notes editor. Kathryn Corrigan is the new BRASS Member Publications List Manager, and Robert Perret is the BRASS-L manager. Other BRASS member notes include two appointments to the new RUSA Just Ask Campaign. The BRASS reps are Ilana Barnes and Elizabeth Stephan.

Between now and Midwinter think about volunteering to serve on a BRASS committee. Our Vice Chair Ann Fiegen will be forming committees in the near future. Look for a call on BRASS-L. So join the BRASS-L listserv if you haven’t and watch for the notice. Members are not required to attend conferences in order to participate on committees.

Again a reminder that ALA is migrating the website to a different platform, therefore we have done minimal updating of our BRASS web pages. Our reports and documents are in ALA Connect. You can also find our more than 900 members in Connect!

Contact me if you have ideas, questions or concerns.

Hope to see many of you in Dallas!

Chris LeBeau
BRASS Chair 2011-2012
lebeauc@umkc.edu

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee will be sponsoring the BRASS Forum at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim and is currently working on selecting panelists for the discussion. The topic chosen for the forum is “Using Social Media to Promote Business Librarians and Resources.”

The forum will focus on how we can increase contact with patrons by using social media to harvest the “long tail” of questions—those detailed or niche questions that together total more than general instruction. Businesses have used the theory of the long tail to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction by catering to specific preferences. Social media is uniquely able to address these needs through its flexibility and accessibility.

The forum will be held on Saturday, June 23 starting at 1:30 pm. We hope you can join us.
Lydia LaFaro, 2009-2012 Chair

BRASS Program Planning Committee

The 2012 BRASS Program Planning Committee is preparing the program “Business Data Sources: Librarians and Content Creators.” Many of us were curious about the librarian point of view about business data sources, and also how business data sources are created by such providers as the US Census, ESRI, and the RAND Corporation.

The speakers we currently have in our program are the following:

●     Bobray Bordelon, Princeton University

●     Jerry Wong, US Census

●     Angela Lee, ESRI

●     Joe Nation, RAND Corporation

In the coming months, the program planning committee will work to finalize the speaker presentations and also pin down conference logistics in order to have a great program for Anaheim in 2012.

Program planning members: Chris LeBeau (BRASS Chair), Anthony Lin (committee chair), Paul Brothers, Laura B. Carscaddon, Jason Dewland, Allison Leaming, Julia Martin, Peter McKay, Michael Oppenheim, and Mark Siciliano

 

Anthony Lin, Chair, 2011-2012

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee

The Business Reference Sources Committee has begun its work selecting new titles for its “Outstanding Business Reference Sources” column, which appears in the winter issue of RUSQ, and welcomes its new members this year: John Burns of the Watertown Public Library, Valerie Freeman of Johnson & Wales University, Penny Scott of the University of San Francisco, and Becky Smith of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Nathan Rupp, Chair 2011-2012

BRASS Education Committee

Please plan to attend the upcoming pre-conference at Anaheim 2012: “Mastering Business Acumen (MBA) in a Day: Business Concepts for Library Reference.”
 

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 including academic, public, and special libraries. This workshop will provide librarians with a broad conceptual understanding of business topics in four major business disciplines: accounting, finance, marketing, and management. This preconference will complement Business 101, which focuses on business reference, business resources, and collection development.

Confirmed presenters include:

  1. Accounting: Todd M. Hines (MLS, MBA, MAcc, CPA), Princeton University Library
  2. Finance: Chris LeBeau (MLS, MBA), University of Missouri-Kansas City
  3. Management: Elizabeth Leonard (MLS, MBA), Western Carolina University
  4. Marketing: Andy Spackman (MBA, MLS), Brigham Young University

Leticia Camacho, Chair, 2011-2012

BRASS Education Committe eConnect page

BRASS Best Business Sites

BRASS Vendor Relations Committee

The BRASS Vendor Relations Committee has been working closely with the BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee in order to secure sponsorship for our 25th anniversary celebration to be held in 2013 in Chicago. The Vendor Relations Committee is also hoping to be able to announce a new award starting up in 2012…Stay tuned!

Celia Ross, Chair 2011-2012

BRASS Gale Cengage Student Travel Award Committee

Do you know a student eligible for the BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award?

Established in 1992 and sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, this $1,000 monetary prize is awarded to a student enrolled in an ALA accredited master’s degree program to fund travel to and attendance at the ALA Annual Conference and a one-year membership in RUSA’s BRASS. Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in a career as a business reference librarian, and the potential to be a leader in the profession as demonstrated by activities that may include (but are not limited to) coursework, internships, jobs, special projects, and publications.

The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2011. Information about the award, including a PDF of the nomination form, can be found on the RUSA website.

As explained in the nomination form, letters of reference, and a library school transcript must be submitted with the application.

Carol L. Anderson, Chair 2011-2012

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee

Brass Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award committee is now ready to accept nominations.

In order to be eligible for the award, nominees must be a current member of the American Library Association, have a career interest in business reference librarianship, and be willing to participate in BRASS.

The award is a cash award of $1,000 for travel expenses at the ALA Annual Conference.
Please send all nomination to the following:

Mail to:
Melissa Jeter, Adult Services
Toledo Lucas County Public Library
Heatherdown Branch
3265 Glanzman Rd.
Toledo, OH 43610

-OR-

E-mail to: melissacjeter@gmail.com
Subject: Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award

The due date for this award is December 15, 2011.

Information about the award, including a PDF of the nomination form, can be found on the RUSA website.

Melissa Jeter, Chair 2011-2012

BRASS Publications and Communications Committee

Since ALA Annual Conference, The BRASS Publications Committee has focused on redistributing committee responsibilities. Effective with this issue, Carol Schuetz will serve as Editor of BRASS Notes. Kathryn Corrigan recently assumed responsibilities for maintaining the BRASS Member Publications List, and you will periodically see her calling for submissions via the BRASS-L listserv. Robert Perret is now serving as the BRASS-L manager, and Kaiping Zhang will be managing the development of a BRASS Master Schedule for the 2013 ALA Annual Conference. Whew!
 
But that’s not all. The BRASS Executive Committee has appointed a new BRASS webmaster. John Gottfried, Business Librarian at Western Kentucky University, will begin managing BRASS pages once they have been migrated from ALA’s current Collage content management system to a new Drupal-based platform. The migration of ALA pages to Drupal began in October 2011, and will proceed in a rolling fashion for all ALA pages through 2012 and well into 2013. We do not yet have an estimated date for when our BRASS pages will be transitioned. Stay tuned!

Like many other BRASS Committees, we will be meeting virtually instead of in person at the ALA Midwinter Conference. We plan to meet via Adobe Connect in mid-January.

The committee is also working with the BRASS 25th Anniversary ad hoc committee to develop web pages dedicated to next year’s festivities.

As always, the committee requests that all BRASS committee chairs conduct a regular review of their committee web pages, and advise us if any updates or changes need to be made as we move into a new year of great BRASS accomplishments. The Collage web platform is showing its age and making updates is a time-consuming process, so we also ask for your patience as we work through page updates.

Carol Smith, Chair 2010-2012

BRASS 25th Anniversary Planning Committee

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

Louise Feldmann, Chair 2011-2012

Message from the BRASS Chair

BRASS Notes

Carol E. Smith, Editor

Message from the BRASS Chair

Dear BRASS Members,
BRASS continued our virtual Mid-Winter meeting this year in sunny San Diego. While most of our BRASS Committees have been working virtually, we did have one ALL BRASS Committee meeting for those of us who attended the San Diego Conference. We had a lively discussion about issues facing business librarians as well as a discussion of some business resources. Old and new members of BRASS were able to meet and share experiences.

BRASS will be in full force at the Annual ALA Meeting in New Orleans this Summer, June 23 – June 28. We have many great programs, forums and discussion groups planned for this conference. So keep reading to learn more. See you in NOLA!

Mark E. Andersen
BRASS Chair, 2010-2011

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The committee has been working on new issues of the online newsletter, Academic Brass. The Fall 2010 issue has been posted on the BRASS website and articles are being collected for the Spring 2011 issues. Anyone interested in submitting an article should send a proposal to the newsletter editors, Lydia LaFaro (lafaro@asu.edu) and Nathan Rupp (nrupp@umich.edu). Articles should address current issues, practices, or resources in academic business libraries. See the Newsletter Description and Guidelines for additional information.

In addition, we are reviewing the committee web site for areas to update and making plans for a research project on business databases licensed by the business school rather than the campus library.

Lydia LaFaro, 2009-2011 Chair

BRASS Education Committee

The RUSA-BRASS Education Committee is hosting a preconference during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans on Friday, June 24, 2011 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Business Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship is a full-day interactive workshop designed for new business librarians, generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship, and librarians who handle business reference inquiries in all types of libraries including academic, public, and special libraries.

The ‘Best of the BestBusiness Websites (Free Resources) and the Selected Core Resource for Business Reference are now available in LibGuide format and can be accessed at http://brass.libguides.com.

Our committee participated in the RUSA Book and Media Awards Ceremony during ALA Midwinter in San Diego and presented this year’s winners of the Best of the Best Business Websites. Our committee decided to recognized websites that provide important and critical information on employment and housing. The winners are:

U.S. Census Bureau Local Employment Dynamics

The Data tools section provides access to new NAICS-based Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) Online by state, county and sub-county; industry, year and quarter; sex, age group and ownership; net job gains and losses from the fourth quarter of 2007 to present. It also includes mapping applications. Industry Focus determines top industries by state, county, MSA, and characteristics of employees in those industries.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal statistical agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision–making. Includes Occupational Outlook Handbook and O*NET.

National Home Builders Association

This site provides a wealth of information on building buying and owning a home as well as remodeling, green building, and land development. It also provides links to data and statistics on construction, home sales, housing opportunities, housing’s economic impact, etc.

Please visit our ALAConnect page for more information about the BRASS Education committee.

Leticia Camacho, 2010-2011 Chair

BRASS Nominating Committee

The committee is pleased to announce BRASS Candidates for the March 2011 elections:

For Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect (2011/2012 as Vice-Chair, 2012/2013 as Chair)

●      Greg Fleming
●      Ann Fiegen

For Member at Large (2011/2014 term)

●      Louise Feldman
●      Diane Campbell

Thanks to all of our outstanding candidates for being willing to serve!

Judith Faust, 2010-2011 Chair

BRASS Conference Program Planning Committee

Social media is changing how the world communicates. This year’s BRASS conference program will focus on how business can successfully target social networking applications and how librarians can better position their reference services and collections to assist business users with this exciting new medium. Please mark Monday morning, June 27 on your calendars for the BRASS Program in New Orleans where you will hear from leading technology commentator Stephen Abram and Laurie Bridges of Oregon State University describe the principles and applications of the business of social media. Other leaders in social media businesses will add their perspective.

Ann Fiegen, 2010-2011 Chair

BRASS Publications Committee

In order to meet its new charge of keeping the BRASS web presence up-to-date and accurate, the committee has organized into teams of two members, with each team responsible for overseeing a particular section of the BRASS pages:

●     BRASS Awards– Louise Feldmann; Shana Gass

●     BRASSOur Section – Naomi Hafter; Kate Joranson

●     BRASS Events – Charles Lyons; Jill Markgraf

●     BRASS Professional  Tools – Monica Hagan; Robert Perrett

●     BRASSPublications – Kaiping Zhang; Carol Smith

●     BRASS main page – Hyun-duck Chung (BRASS Webmaster)

Please know that you may be hearing from the above committee members, as they will be reaching out to other BRASS committees with questions and suggestions about web content. Consider them your BRASS “webpage liaisons.”

If you have any web page updates to submit, please submit them via email to both BRASS Webmaster Hyun-Duck Chung (hyun_duck_chung@ncsu.edu) and myself (csmith@libserv.ucmo.edu). You can also submit your updates and suggestions to the above liaisons as appropriate.

The Committee kicked off 2011 with a comprehensive review of all BRASS pages. They met virtually on Wednesday, January 19 via Adobe Connect to share and discuss their findings. We have many page updates and corrections to make, but we ask that BRASS members be patient. The current Collage content management system for the ALA web site is a legacy system that is inefficient, slow (!), and increasingly incompatible with current operating systems. ALA is moving as quickly as possible to transition the association to Drupal, a superior and more user-friendly content management system. We hope to see this transition completed before the end of the year.

As always, the committee encourages you to submit your publications to the BRASS Member Publication List. This list is maintained on ALA Connect as a way to showcase our members’ publication activities and serve as a valuable resource for all BRASS members.

Carol Smith, 2010-2011 chair

BRASS Gale Cengage Student Travel Award Committee

Several nominations have been received for the BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award. The Committee will be reviewing the nominations in February to determine a winner. The award will provide funding for travel to and attend of the ALA Annual Conference and a one-year membership in the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA.

Doreen Harwood, 2010-2011 Chair

Message from the BRASS Chair: Hot Time in the City!

BRASS Notes
Carol E. Smith, Editor


Yes, I am talking about the ALA Conference in New Orleans June 24-28, 2011. Not only were the temperatures in the hot and humid range but the BRASS programs were sizzling as well!

Our “Business Reference 101” BRASS Pre-conference was well acclaimed by all who attended. And our other BRASS offerings were also top-notch and appreciated by all the attendees. We covered Small Business Financing, New Media at the Reference Desk, and Mining for Small Business Information, and ended the conference with our grand program covering the Business for Social Media. I am sure everyone left New Orleans with plenty of new information and some great new ideas to take back home.

In the next few weeks BRASS will be loading the BRASS program on social media and the publishers’ forum on Mining for Small Business Information onto the ALA website. Watch the BRASS website for more info and subscribe to BRASS-L for all the breaking BRASS news! Not a member? Not receiving BRASS-L messages yet? Click here to join BRASS or subscribe to BRASS-L.

Just as the conference attendees departed the Big Easy, so too, ends my time as BRASS Chair. It has been my distinct honor and pleasure to have served BRASS. It is an organization which offers us great opportunities to network, to collaborate with other business librarians and to learn even more about our field.

BRASS Chairs Past, Present and Future, From left to right: Mark Andersen (2010-2011), Chris LeBeau (2011-2012) and Ann Fiegen (2012-2013).

 

 

 

Chris LeBeau is the incoming 2011-2012 BRASS Chair and I know there are great things ahead for BRASS and all of the members.

Thanks for making BRASS such a great organization!

Have a great summer!

Best regards,

Mark E. Andersen
BRASS Chair, 2010-2011
andersen@chipublib.org

BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The committee had a very productive business meeting at ALA Annual in New Orleans and made plans to work on four projects in the coming year:

  1. Updating the AACSB Resource Guide on the BRASS website with new article citations and self-evaluation examples.
  2. Producing two new issues of the committee’s newsletter Academic BRASS.
  3. Planning the program for the BRASS Forum at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference.
  4. Designing a survey to identify business databases licensed by business schools rather than their campus library.

Input from BRASS members will be solicited on BRASS-L to help with collecting new AACSB self-evaluation examples, newsletter article submissions, and topic proposals for the BRASS Forum. If you are not participating in the BRASS-L discussion list, you can send your input on any of these issues directly to the committee chair, Lydia LaFaro, at lafaro@asu.edu.

Lydia LaFaro, Chair 2009-2012

BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee

We are pleased to say that our committee planned and executive a wonderful program for the 2011 ALA Annual Conference. The Small Business Financing Forum was led by a panel of experts that included representatives from the Louisiana Small Business Administration and local financial institutions. They covered different kinds of financing available to small businesses around the country.

In other news, the committee plans to publish two new Public Libraries Briefcase issues by the end of the year.

Elizabeth Malafi, Chair 2010-2011

BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee

The Business Reference Sources Committee met at ALA Annual in New Orleans and selected three titles as outstanding, five titles as notable, and two titles as significant new editions. The Committee’s column with the list of titles and reviews will be published in the Winter 2012 edition of Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ).

The Committee thanks the members who finished their terms this year for all their contributions: Diane Campbell, Carol Fang, Ann Fiegen, Pauly Iheanacho, and Terry Zarsky.

Nathan Rupp, Chair 2010-2011

BRASS Conference Program Planning Committee

The BRASS Program for the 2011 ALA Annual Conference was “Business of Social Media: How to Plunder the Treasure Trove.” Scott Brown, Laurie Bridges, and Stephen Abram spoke about how businesses can successfully use social networking applications and how librarians can better position their services and collections to assist business users with leveraging their social capital. The committee extends their appreciation to Standard & Poor’s for their generous sponsorship of the breakfast.

One-hundred thirty-seven attendees participated for the first part of the program and eighty-seven attended the second portion of the program. Laurie Bridges demonstrated interactive social networking applications using Twitter as part of the program and, thanks to Betsy Clementson, program evaluations went virtual with a QR code that linked from smart phones to electronic survey forms. Christy Goodnight and Van Houlson handled recording of the full program. The video has been posted to the BRASS Section of ALA Connect for viewing by BRASS members. After six months, these files will be made available to the broader public.

Marketing for the program was well received and fifty-eight people “friended” the BRASS NOLA Business of Social Media Facebook page started by Jason Dewland. Members of the committee are writing an article to supplement the program that will be available in the winter issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ).

Program committee members: Paul Brothers, Laura Carscaddon, Betsy Clementson, Julia Martin, Ed Hahn, Tony Lin, Mary Van Ullen, Jason Dewland, Ann Fiegen (Committee Chair), and Mark Andersen (BRASS Chair).

Ann Fiegen, Chair 2010-2011

BRASS Discussion Group Committee

The focus of this year’s BRASS Discussion Group was “New Media at the Reference Desk.” The meeting took place on June 26, 2011, at the Marriott New Orleans. The meeting was well attended and began with the BRASS business meeting, including announcements of the publisher’s forum, the BRASS program, the BRASS dinner, and a couple of business librarianship position openings. The meeting then continued on to a discussion of the impact that new media is having for business reference librarians. Discussion topics included how new media is complementing reference services, how it may be replacing other reference services, how it may be used to promote resources, some of the successes, and some of the challenges of using new media. The discussion shifted later in the meeting to include issues associated with online database resources. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to a successful discussion.

Edward Hahn, Chair 2010-2012

BRASS Education Committee

The BRASS Education Committee is planning a new preconference for the ALA 2012 Annual Conference in Anaheim: “Mastering Business Acumen (MBA) in a Day: Business Concepts for Library Reference.” The last time we were in Anaheim, sixty librarians attended the Business Reference 101 preconference that focuses on business reference, business resources, and collection development. This new preconference will complement the Business 101 preconference and will provide librarians with a broad conceptual understanding of business support and business reference. We are expecting many participants.

We continue to update and improve theBest of the Best Business Websites (Free Resources) and the Selected Core Resources for Business Reference. Both resources can be accessed at http://brass.libguides.com.

Committee members are currently writing reviews for this year’s winners of the Best of the Best Business Websites:

Chosen from our running list of over 120 websites in various disciplines, the committee is recognizing these three websites for the important and critical information they provide on employment and housing. Committee members’ reviews are scheduled to appear in the Winter 2011 issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly (RUSQ).

Please visit our ALA Connect page for more information about the BRASS Education committee.

Leticia Camacho, Chair 2010-2012

BRASS Emerald Research Award Committee

2011 BRASS Emerald Research Award Winners. Pictured from left to right: Ruth Heppenstall, Emerald Sponsor (attending in place of Emerald BRASS representative Eileen Breen); Todd Hines, 2010-2011 Committee Chair; award winner Diane K. Campbell; award winner Peter Jasco. Not included in the photo is Diane Campbell’s co-winner Ronald G. Cook.

 

The BRASS Emerald Research Awards are two $5,000 cash awards, sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing for ALA members seeking support in conducting research in business librarianship. The 2011 recipients of the award are:

1.  Peter Jasco, University of Hawaii
2.  Diane K. Campbell, Rider University Library, and Ronald G. Cook, Rider University

Todd Hines, Chair 2010-2011

BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship Committee

Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, this year’s winner of the Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship, is flanked by two of her proud nominators: Tera Moon (left) and Deb Thomas (right).

 


Our committee performed its work virtually, and selected a 2011 winner for the BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship: Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, business librarian at the Portage District Library in Portage, Michigan. Now we just had the final thrilling task of meeting her and applauding as she received her award at the RUSA award ceremony at ALA Annual in New Orleans.

Left to right: Gale Cenage representative David Forman and BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship: Nicolette Warisse Sosulski. 

 

 

 

Fellow committee member Bobray Bordelon and I were fortunate enough to attend the RUSA awards ceremony in the lovely and elegant Hotel Monteleone, and it was an inspiring and delightful experience to see all of those talented librarians be recognized! What a satisfying culmination of our committee’s hard work. It was also great to meet some of Sosulski’s supporters, nominators, and well-wishers. It was a wonderful evening.

If you would like to hear from our winner speak about her work and her experiences at ALA, here is a link to an interview done with her in New Orleans, appropriately filmed at Café du Monde: http://bit.ly/r5Hrbk

Penny Scott, Chair 2010-2011