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Hot Topics Discussion Group

There were thirty-eight people who attended the Hot Topics Discussion Group meeting on Saturday, June 25th. Next year’s Chair, Naomi Chow, from the University of Hawaii, Manoa (nchow@hawaii.edu), was introduced. The group voted in the new Chair-Elect, Troy Christenson, from Florida Atlantic University (tchrist9@fau.edu).

The following topics were covered:

  • Using email only to send and receive ILL requests vs. using Ariel or Odyssey.
  • Getting It System Toolkit (GIST), an easy method for making purchasing/acquisition decisions and orders instead of borrowing on ILL.
  • ILL statistics – what data do you save and how is it used?
  • ILL books on self-help shelves: yes or no?
  • ILL requests for e-content, borrowing and lending, and the effect on resource sharing.
  • ILL lending or borrowing statistics down and why?
  • Using Kindles, iPads, etc. for ILL: Are any doing this and how?
  • Obtaining/purchasing online “pre-published” article requests.
  • Experience using OCLC Knowledge Base?
  • Handling multiple ship-to addresses with a single OCLC symbol

Julia Gustafson, Outgoing Chair
jgustafson@wooster.edu

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Interlibrary Loan Discussion Group

About sixty-five people attended the ILL Discussion Group on Saturday, June 25th. Gerrit van Dyk and Jared Howland from Brigham Young University presented on licensing and lending for e-resources, and the presentation was followed by general discussion on many different topics. Ryan Litsey from Texas Tech University was elected as the incoming Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, and David Atkins has taken over as the ILL Discussion Group Chair for 2011-2012.

Megan Gaffney, Outgoing Chair
gaffneym@udel.edu

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International Interlibrary Loan Committee

During its meeting at ALA Annual, the STARS International Interlibrary Loan Committee discussed plans for analyzing and presenting the data gathered in the survey it was conducting. The survey on international ILL, which closed on June 30th, was open to both U.S. and international libraries. Two Committee members, Heather Weltin and Tina Baich, submitted a paper proposal based on the survey for the Interlending & Document Lendins Serivces (ILDS) Conference to be held in Chicago in September. Plans for preparing the paper were discussed. Karen Janke provided an update on plans for the pre-conference social the Committee is hosting for the ILDS Conference. Marlayna Christensen completed her term as Chair of the Committee. Tina Baich will serve as the Chair for 2011-2012.

Tina Baich, Chair
cbaich@iupui.edu

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Licensing and Legislation Committee

The Committee met at Annual on Saturday, June 25th. Topics discussed were:

ALAConnectPage

  • The latest headlines and updates on licensing and legislation

Standardizing License Language

  • Why reinvent the wheel? Yale has created aLicensingStandardsWebsitewhich should be very useful for anyone looking to keep their license language standardized

Legislation Alert

○     There has already been an official response to theSTMStatementonResourceSharing practices by theAssociationofResearchLibraries (ARL) and theInternationalCoalitionofLibraryConsortia (ICOLC)

○     The group will draft a resolution and submit it to RUSA in support of the ARL response

Committee action items agreed upon include:

  • Continue to seek relevant news on legislation and post to ALA Connect
  • Create more of a presence for the Committee on ALA Connect
  • Stay in contact with the Vendor Relations Committee; talk to the vendors and ask them to attend the meeting to answer questions. Get input from the listserv about concerns and issues, obtain a report from the vendors, discuss within the Committee
  • Meet via teleconference more frequently
  • Keep constant vigilance over breaking news and post to the ALA Connect page

Joseph Sharpe, Chair
af4939@wayne.edu

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Membership Committee

The STARS Membership Committee met at ALA Annual as part of the STARS All Committee Meeting. The STARS welcome letter for new members has been sent to forty-three new members, and no responses have been received. The Committee decided changes were needed to the format and content of the letter. It was decided to shorten the letter, focusing on providing links to information posted on the STARS site. It was also decided to make the letter more personal by adding the names and contact information for all members of the Committee in the signature. The group also decided that a member of the Committee will send a follow-up email two weeks after the letter is sent, offering additional support and a personal contact in STARS.

The “5 Things a New Resource Sharing Librarian Should Know” were discussed and edited. The Committee is putting the final touches on content for what will soon be turned into a web page for new resource sharing librarians.

The Committee discussed initiating a mentoring program, matching a new STARS member with a mentor or “buddy.” The mentor would help the new member get involved in STARS, give them a contact person for questions, and provide a friendly face at STARS events come conference time.

Additional activities discussed were preliminary planning for a STARS Happy Hour for Anaheim in 2012, starting a recognition program for STARS members who make an extraordinary contribution, and a STARS “member of the month” initiative.

Nora Dethloff, Chair
ndethloff@uh.edu

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Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee

The Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee developed a sixty-plus item checklist for libraries to use as a way to reflect on the resource sharing services they provide. The STAR Checklist was distributed beginning in February of 2011. A number of libraries have completed it and have qualified as Rethinking Resource Sharing STARS, including seventeen libraries belonging to the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries. They are listed on the RethinkingResourceSharingwebsite and have received certificates noting their achievement. In addition, a number of libraries in Australia completed the Checklist this spring and summer, many of which also qualified as Rethinking Resource Sharing STARS.

At ALA Annual, the Committee continued working on the next phase of the STAR Checklist. This involves transforming the Checklist from a simple list of items to a dynamic resource. The idea is to link each Checklist item to a relevant definition, example, or other resource. Linking practitioners to such information will enable greater understanding of any concept, best practice, technology, or other item mentioned in the Checklist that a library may not be engaged in. To this end, the Checklist will become a toolkit. A process for moving forward with this was discussed, and the Committee hopes to have completed the process by the end of summer. In addition, the Committee decided to begin offering STAR recognition for different levels of activity with Checklist items. Where before a library needed to be engaged in 80% or more of the items on the Checklist, the Committee is offering STAR recognition to libraries that are engaged in 60% or more, who will be awarded one star, 70% or more—two stars, 80% or more—three stars, and 90% or more—four stars.

The Committee also discussed its role in helping libraries that do not qualify as STARS or that are interested in learning more about how to engage in services, best practices, and other items noted on the Checklist. Committee members are committed to working with libraries that participate in the Checklist and are willing to offer advice and guidance in order to help libraries improve their resource sharing services.

Evan Simpson, Chair
Evan.Simpson@tufts.edu

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Vendor Relations Committee

The Vendor Relations Committee has worked with Tony Melvyn of OCLC to have them supply lists for collection development: Top Serials and Books Loaned. The committee received these lists in late January and with OCLC’s permission has published them onunder the title OCLC‘sMostRequestedListsfor 2009-2010. We hope to receive periodic updates to these lists as well as a “most-unfilled” list.

Committee members are also reaching out to pertinent vendors such as OCLC, Atlas, Relais, etc. to engage them as participants in our meetings. We hope to have some of them in attendance at the Committee’s Midwinter meeting.

Becky Ringwelski, Chair
e-ring@umn.edu

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BRASS Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

The committee’s main business at ALA Annual in New Orleans will be selecting a topic for the BRASS Forum at the 2012 annual meeting. We’d love to hear from BRASS members who have suggestions for topics they would like to see presented. This is your chance to let us know the kinds of programs which would best fill your professional development needs. Suggestions can be emailed in advance to the committee chair or presented at the meeting in person. We look forward to hearing from you and putting together some great ideas for next year.

Lydia LaFaro, Chair
lafaro@asu.edu

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BRASS Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee

We are pleased to say that our committee has planned a wonderful program for ALA Annual. The Small Business Financing forum will be led by a panel of experts including representatives from the Louisiana Small Business Administration and local financial institutions. They will cover different kinds of financing available to small businesses around the country. The committee will also have two new Public Libraries Briefcase published by the end of the year.

Elizabeth Malafi, Chair

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BRASS Business Reference Sources Committee

The committee is pleased to offer Start Me Up: Information Mining for Entrepreneurs, a publisher’s forum to be held Sunday, June 26 at ALA Annual Conference. Representatives from BizMiner, Business Decision Academic, ReferenceUSA, and SimplyMap will discuss how their products can be used by entrepreneurs to mine information to use in starting their businesses.

Nathan Rupp, Chair

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BRASS Conference Program Planning Committee

One of the most highly anticipated programs at Annual is the BRASS program which will take place Monday, June 27 from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. This year Mark Andersen, BRASS chair, leads the BRASS program: The Business of Social Media: How to Plunder the Treasure Trove!

Presenters include Scott Brown, the owner of the Social Information Group and popular workshop leader for SLA’s recent webinars on using social media; Laurie Bridges, librarian at Oregon State University who has spoken and written extensively on the use of social media; and Stephen Abram, a leading technology commentator. Presenters will demonstrate 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.

What better way to advertise this program and share information about this program on Facebook? Visit the BRASS NOLA Business of Social Media Facebook page and join the conversation. And if this program interests you, please "like" it. Tell your friends and colleagues, too.

Breakfast, which is graciously provided by Standard & Poor’s, will begin at 8:00 am with actual program starting with introductions beginning at 8:30 am.

The hard working members of the 2011 Program Planning Committee are:

Mark Andersen, BRASS Chair
Anthony B. Lin
Betsy Clementson
Ed Hahn
Jason Dewland
Julia Martin
Laura B. Carscaddon
Mary K VanUllen
Paul Brothers
Ann Fiegen, BRASS program chair

 
Ann Fiegen, 2010-2011 Chair

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BRASS Discussion Group Committee

Does your library use Facebook, instant messaging, or Twitter? These are just some of the types of new communication channels that libraries are using to reach and serve their patrons. Please join the Business Reference Discussion Group at ALA Annual for New Media at the Reference Desk, a discussion on new media and how it is affecting the reference desk. The discussion will take place on Sunday, June 26, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm. A brief membership meeting will precede the discussion.

Edward Hahn, 2010-2011 Chair

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BRASS Education Committee

The RUSA-BRASS Education Committee cordially invites you to attend the pre-conference Business Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship. The pre-conference will be held on Friday, June 24, 2011, from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm at the Morian Convention Center, Room 343, during the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.

Business Reference 101 provides an overview of business resources and collection development techniques in business and related topics. The pre-conference is designed for beginning business librarians, generalists who have assumed responsibility as business librarians, or any academic, public, or special librarian interested in the field of business reference.

Presenters are Rhonda Kleiman, Economic Development Manager at the Library System of Lancaster,and Bobray Bordelon, Economics & Finance Librarian/Data Services Librarian at Princeton University.

Advance registration for this preconference runs until May 13, 2011. Get some of your colleagues together and take advantage of group pricing. For more information including registration and pricing, please visit the RUSA registration page.

The BRASS Education Committee mission is to study and review the educational needs of business reference librarians and other librarians involved in providing business reference services; to explore and encourage the development of curriculum and continuing education programs in the area; to sponsor educational activities in the area; and to promote communication between the profession and library educators. In order to fulfill our mission, our committee offers preconferences (Business 101, MBA in a Day), Business Research LibGuides (Best of the Best Business Web Sites and Selected Core Competencies for Business Reference), and other activities. For more information about our committee, please visit our ALA Connect page.

Leticia Camacho, Chair

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BRASS Emerald Research Award Committee

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, 2010-2011 Chair

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BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship Committee

Congratulations to Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, business librarian at the Portage District Library in Portage, Michigan, who has been chosen as this year’s winner of the Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship.

Sosulski was chosen by our committee because of her demonstrated commitment to excellence in business librarianship. She has done everything from create programs on finance and job hunting for patrons, to instructing library science students on business research, to serving as the chair of the Michigan Library Association’s Economic Development Community of Practice, and more. She serves a diverse group of people at her library, and has worked hard to meet a vast array of patron needs, including job hunters in a horrendous economy, small business concerns, youth financial education, and fellow business librarian training.

Time and again her warmth, energy, enthusiasm, and dedication were noted by her nominators. She has been described as being “at the heart of the business librarian community in Michigan,” Sosulski is a stellar example of what a business librarian can be. To read more about Sosulski, please see the full press release on the RUSA blog.

Penny Scott, 2010-2011 Chair

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BRASS Gale Cengage Student Travel Award Committee

The BRASS Gale Cengage Student Travel Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, is a $1,000 cash award and a one-year membership in the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA. The award is given to a student enrolled in an ALA accredited master’s degree program to attend the ALA Annual Conference. The applicant should have demonstrated interest in a career as a business reference librarian.

The committee is pleased to announce the 2011 award recipient: Danielle Salomon, a GSLIS student at UCLA. Congratulations, Danielle!

Doreen Harwood, 2010-2011 Chair

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BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award Committee

Suzanne Kaller is the 2011 recipient of the BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award. The award, sponsored by Morningstar, offers $1,000 in travel funds to ALA’s Annual Conference. Ms. Kaller is a Business Librarian for the Arapahoe Library District in Centennial, Colorado. She has an MBA and MLIS from the University of Denver, and a BA in Economics from Queens College City University of New York. She was instrumental in the formation of the Business Services Interest Group of the Colorado Association of Libraries, and is actively involved in four local Chamber of Commerce organizations. One of her colleagues said it best: “Suzanne is an outstanding example of how a business librarian can help local businesses (and our economy) to grow during these tough economic times”.

Congratulations, Suzanne!

Patricia Kenly, 2010-2011 Chair

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BRASS Publications and Communications Committee

The BRASS Publications Committee is pleased to have developed a handy Master Schedule of BRASS events for the upcoming annual conference. Download or print your copy now at the main ALA RUSA BRASS page. We hope it helps you to enjoy a more “BRASStastic” conference!

In other news, we continue to work on keeping BRASS Web pages fresh and up to date. Hyun-duck Chung, our trusty BRASS webmistress, has incorporated dynamic content into the BRASS Events & News page to keep members up to date on BRASS and RUSA goings-on.

The Publications and Communications Committee will hold their annual meeting at conference on Saturday, June 25, 2011, from 4:00 – 5:30 pm in the Regal Suite of the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Interested in our committee? Come join us!

We look forward to seeing everyone at conference!

Carol Smith, 2010-2011 chair

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Catalog Use

Discussion Forum: Diving into the Deep End
Saturday, June 25, 4:00 – 5:30 pm; Loews New Orleans, LaFourche room

The Catalog Use Committee is hosting a discussion forum at ALA Annual 2011: Diving into the Deep End. What are the consequences for users of the new discovery tools and their reliance upon relevancy-ranked results coming from large results sets? We are soliciting "reports from the field" from a number of types of practitioners: Someone doing library instruction; a frontline reference librarian; a user experience expert who can tell us how well users are catching on to these new tools. Essentially, we are looking at the question: "How do you teach these tools to new users and older users? What challenges have you found?"

Steve Ostrem, Chair
steve-ostrem@uiowa.edu

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Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee

Mark your calendar for two discussions you don’t want to miss!

Data Reference: Tell Us How You Really Feel
Sunday, June 26, from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm; Morial Convention Center, Room 242

While reference transactions involving numeric data and statistics are not entirely new to libraries, they are increasingly frequent as many disciplines become more data-driven. Libraries are hearing from patrons at all levels who articulate a need to find, access, and use data in their research. While some libraries have begun to provide specialized services in response to this "data deluge," the role of the general reference librarian or subject specialist remains to be clarified in many cases. Accordingly, data reference will be the main focus of this discussion, designed to bring generalists and specialists together to talk about strategies for better serving our data-seeking patrons. All reference librarians with an interest in data are welcome to contribute. The goal is not to reach a consensus on best practices but to facilitate an open forum for discussing this important and often anxiety-inducing topic.

Discussion Conveners: Alexa Pearce & Samantha Guss, New York University

Come Together, Right Now: The Merging of Public Cervices and Changing Service Models in Academic Libraries
Monday, June 27, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm; Morial Convention Center, Room 241

The on-going trend of merging service points into ‘one-stop’ reference or public service points has been a common answer to the pressures of shrinking budgets. As a result, many specialized services, such as government documents assistance, writing services, and tutoring, have been merged to a single location. The purpose of this discussion topic is to explore the merging of public services in practice and theory as well as to provide a forum for the evaluation and critique of a unified and effective service point. The Information Commons set-up is the current and popular iteration of service point models for providing reference and research services. As the ‘one-stop shopping’ approach requires us to blend previously separate or specialized services, it is both relevant and revealing to discuss issues and challenges of blending services for our patrons. Issues such as quality and training as well as staffing are in the spotlight for discussion.

Discussion Conveners: Ava Iuliano and Lori Driver, Florida International University

Sarah Hammill, Chair
hammills@fiu.edu

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Evaluation of Reference and User Services

Using Today’s Numbers to Plan Tomorrow’s Services: Effective User Services AssessmentSunday June 26, at 4:00 – 5:30 pm; Morial Convention Center, Room 334

The Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee of the Reference Services Section of RUSA will offer the program: Using Today’s Numbers to Plan Tomorrow’s Services: Effective User Services Assessment.

Assessment is one of the hottest topics in libraries nowadays as library managers look to “do more” with fewer resources. This program will focus on effective assessment methods and tools for user services. Presentations will explore how library managers determine what data are important to collect, and how results are interpreted and used for meaningful decision-making. The presenters are:

  1. James Fish, Director of the Baltimore County Public Library: Value of Empirical Information
  2. Jennifer Rutner, Assessment and Planning Librarian at the Columbia University Libraries: Informing Info Commons at Columbia
  3. Zsuzsa Koltay, Director of Assessment and Communication at Cornell University Library: Re-envisioning and Fine-tuning a Library System

 
Kornelia Vassileva Tancheva, Chair
kt18@cornell.edu

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Library Services to the Spanish Speaking

The Services to Spanish Speaking Populations committee will release a survey on May 5, 2011 to gather information from library staff serving Spanish speakers. The link to this survey will be distributed via professional listservs and on the committee’s website. Responses from this survey will guide the work of the committee in the coming year. The committee is also in the process of revising “Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Multilingual Collections and Services” (2007) and “Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users” (2007).

Marjorie Schreiber Lear, Chair
marjoriel@multcolib.org

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Management of Reference

The Management of Reference Committee is continuing its work revising the “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers.” Currently, the committee is reviewing a final draft; we hope to send the draft to the section chair, the RUSA Exec Director, and the chair of Standards and Guidelines by the end of the month. I hope to arrange that this be on the agenda for the RUSA Standards and Guidelines Committee at Annual. Following Annual, we will, if recommended to do so by the Standards and Guidelines Committee, make the draft available for feedback from the membership.

William Weare, Chair
wweare@iupui.edu

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Marketing & Public Relations Committee – Marketing Reference on a Dime

Saturday June 25th from 1:30 – 3:30 pm; Morial Convention Center, Rooms 383-385

The Marketing & Public Relations Committee will be hosting an exciting program at ALA Annual in New Orleans: Marketing Reference on a Dime. We are honored that the program has also been picked as this year’s RUSA President’s Program.

The program Marketing Reference on a Dime will consist of several short presentations on successful, low-cost and free reference marketing initiatives. We have assembled a stellar panel including: Manya Shorr (Sacramento Public Library, Library Journal Mover & Shaker 2010), Amy Mather (Omaha Public Library, Library Journal Mover & Shaker 2010), Kathy Dempsey (Libraries are Essential Consultants, M Word Blog), Nancy Dowd (New Jersey State Library, M Word Blog) & Selene Colburn (University of Vermont).

We hope everyone who attends will leave with at least one marketing idea they can implement at their library!

Ed Garcia, Chair
edprism@gmail.com

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Research and Statistics

The Research and Statistics committee is sponsoring the 17th Annual Reference Research Forum. Through a blind peer-review process, the committee selected three research projects—Ana Dubnjakovic’s “Recent Reference Transactions Statistics in Academic Libraries in the United States: Are Electronic Resources Responsible for the Decline?”; Amanda Clay Powers’s “Mining Virtual Reference Data for an Iterative Assessment Cycle”; and Amy VanScoy’s “Practitioner Beliefs of Reference Librarians in Academic Research Libraries.” The Forum will be held Sunday, June 26 from 1:30-3:30 pm at the Morial Convention Center in room 277. Join us to hear about exciting research in the area of reference and user services.

Qiana Johnson, Chair
q-johnson@pobox.com

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RSS Service Achievement Award

Susan A. Ware, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Penn State University, has been chosen as the recipient of the first RSS Service Achievement Award which will be presented to her at the annual ALA conference this June in New Orleans.

Ware was nominated for a single, significant contribution that has resulted in a positive impact upon the work of the section and toward attaining the goals of RSS. After several years of work with the Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee on the RUSA assigned project of developing guidelines for assessment of reference services and writing a new definition of reference, Ware volunteered to take charge of the project. She regularly attended committee and board meetings, contributing information and thoughts based upon the research she had done for the project. Ware followed this seven year project through new RSS chairs, new committee chairs and members, as well as through the change from MOUSS to RSS. Her dedication to the project resulted in the Measuring and Assessing Reference Services and Resources: A Guide and led to the final unveiling of the “New Definition of Reference” at a RUSA Board meeting in January 2008. For her tremendous and outstanding work with this project, the award committee unanimously agreed that Susan is the perfect choice for the first RSS Service Achievement Award.

Lori Thornton, Chair
lori.thornton@sos.wa.gov

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Virtual Reference Services Committee Update (RSS/MARS) – Behind the Text: Pulling Back the Curtain on Virtual Reference

Monday, June 27, from 8:00 – 10:00 am; Morial Convention Center, Room 285

The RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Services Committee will be hosting an exciting program at ALA Annual in New Orleans: Behind the Text: Pulling Back the Curtain on Virtual Reference. Although hardware and software play a pivotal role in virtual reference (VR) services, it is the human interaction, as with all reference transactions, that is most important. This panel, moderated by Peter Bromberg will put to rest some of the misconceptions about VR, present ideas on teaching with VR, and examine elements that contribute to positive experiences for librarians and patrons. The panelists are Lisa A. Ellis (Associate Professor and Information Services Librarian, Baruch College, New York), Kris Johnson (AskColorado/AskAcademic Coordinator, Colorado State Library), and Jennifer Robinson (Librarian, Virtual & Instruction Services, The Seattle Public Library). Audience participation is encouraged, and there will be time for your questions during the program. Prepare to have your ideas about what VR is and what it can do expanded.

Also of note is that the official meeting of the RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Services Committee will take place during the RSS All-Committee Meeting and Open House on Saturday, June 25, from 8:00 – 10:00 am, in the New Orleans Marriott (Balconies L – N). If you are interested in the work of the committee, you welcome to stop by our table.

Daniel Boozer, Co-Chair
Donald.boozer@cpl.org

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Cooperative Collection Development/STARS and RUSA CODES

What Does Cooperation in Libraries Mean?  Tools and Pitfalls in Creating Successful Resource Sharing and Collections Agreements
Sunday, June 26th, from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm; Morial Convention Center, Room 333

What Does Cooperation in Libraries Mean?  Tools and Pitfalls in Creating Successful Resource Sharing and Collections Agreements, a program sponsored by the STARS/CODES Cooperative Collection Development Committee.

Most libraries are involved in cooperative projects on a daily basis.  These vary from resource sharing agreements to shared purchases and innovative collections projects.  Some are informal or proof of concept pilots.  Others have long term goals requiring formal documents, policies, oversight, and staff.  Panelists will offer best practices and case studies to explore successful strategies and highlight potential pitfalls.  Questions such as cost sharing, necessity of legal agreements, staffing, and keeping the cooperation alive will be discussed.

Speakers

  1. Lars Leon, Head of Resource Sharing and Delivery Services, University of Kansas, and Carol Kochan, Head of Interlibrary Services, Utah State, will be speaking about successful cooperative ILL agreements in GWLA (Greater Western Library Alliance).
  2. Leslie Button, Associate Director for Library Services, University of Massachusetts Amherst, will speak about her Five Colleges and  Boston Library Consortium experience with cooperative collection projects, reducing monographic duplication, and patron driven acquisition of e-books.
  3. Kristine Hammerstrand, Director, CARLI User Services, will focus on the CARLI consortium and talk about managing cooperation in a changing organization.  She will focus on how her consortium has successfully integrated new members.

 
Kathryn Leigh, Chair
kathrynr@library.umass.edu

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Interlibrary Loan

Working Smart: Managing the Increase in Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing
Saturday, June 25, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm; Morial Convention Center, Room 344

The ILL Committee will present Working Smart: Managing the Increase in Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing.  Speakers will address classification, staff workflow, alternative methods of compensation, and cost effectiveness.  The program will include sample models of academic, public, and special libraries.  We will compare previous organizational charts and review procedures required to implement organizational changes.  Speakers will focus on current challenges as well as measureable output.

Confirmed speakers include Robyn Huff-Eibl, Head of Access Services, and Jeanne Voyles, Team Leader, Document Delivery, from The University of Arizona Libraries; and Jan Ezkovich Barnes, Interlibrary Loan Librarian from the New Orleans Public Library.

Candice Townsend, Co-Chair
ctow@loc.gov

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RUSA-STARS/LLAMA-SASS Cooperative Remote Circulation

Panel Discussion
Sunday, June 26, 10:30 am –12:00 pm, Marriott at Convention Center, New Levee room

Join the RUSA-STARS/LLAMA-SASS Cooperative Remote Circulation Committee for an informative panel discussion about challenges and opportunities in consortial borrowing. Our panelists will kick off the session by introducing their broad perspectives, and then they will engage in a discussion with the audience to allow further sharing of ideas and solutions. Please bring your questions, and your expertise!

Randy Dykhuis, Executive Director, Midwest Collaborative for Library Services
MeLCat is a project of the Library of Michigan, which contracts with Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) to provide implementation, support, and training for participating Michigan libraries.  Dykhuis has been involved with MeLCat since it was first proposed, and he will discuss MeLCat’s organization, management of the central MeLCat database, and training and support for MeLCat participants. MeLCat uses an INN-Reach group catalog that works with all sorts of ILS systems.  Bibliographic data is loaded, records are added, items are withdrawn, and the Direct Consortial Borrowing (DCB) client data is updated daily.  Non-INN-Reach libraries use the DCB client to check books out in the group catalog as well as in their own local ILS.  Dykhuis will share his experience with NCIP and other communication protocols and also with encouraging communication between vendors.  Other possible topics are issues in physical delivery such as selecting a delivery mechanism, turnaround time expectations, and challenges.

Panelists
Melissa Trevvett, Executive Director Boston Library Consortium (BLC)
As the recently appointed executive director of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC), Trevvett has facilitated the implementation of WorldCat Navigator for unmediated borrowing. She will talk about factors that played into the BLC’s decision to use WorldCat Navigator for their consortial borrowing system, including the WorldCat Local discovery layer, interoperability with ILS systems, and the need to maintain a two-day turnaround time, which is a big priority for the BLC. The BLC brings together public and private academic institutions of all sizes, which has presented the group with challenges in implementation. Their next steps will be in working together to continue the process of making policy decisions about circulating collections among such diverse collections.

Peter Collins, Assistant Project Manager BorrowDirect
Collins has been leading the implementation of a new unmediated borrowing platform that has had a huge impact on the University of Pennsylvania and their Borrow Direct partners.  He will talk about workflow efficiencies that have been achieved by allowing work to be more fluidly distributed across departments.  He will also explain how the Borrow Direct system, through compliance with NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) and other circulation standards, has created seamless borrowing for both the partner libraries and their patrons. The partner libraries use different Integrated Library Systems (ILS) systems, making the ILS vendors’ support of remote circulation standards such as NCIP fundamental to their success.

Kristina Eden, STARS Co-Chair, keden@umich.edu
Chelle Batchelor, SASS Co-Chair

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Hot Topics Discussion Group

Saturday, June 25, 4:00 – 5:30 pm; Loews New Orleans, Louisiana II

Come join your resource sharing colleagues on, for an informal, lively, and informative discussion about the “ILL hot topics” of the day.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Planned Discussion Topics

  1. Using email only to send and receive ILL requests vs. using Ariel
    or Odyssey
  2. Getting It System Toolkit (GIST): sharing, Q & A, of current
  3. users/adopters
  4. ILL statistics: what data do you save and how is it used?
  5. ILL books on self-help shelves: yes or no?
  6. ILL requests for e-content:borrowing and lending – effect on
  7. resource sharing
  8. ILL borrowing and/or lending down and why?
  9. Using Kindles, iPads, etc. for ILL: are any doing this and
  10. how?
  11. Obtaining/purchasing online "prepublished" article requests
  12. Experience using OCLC Knowledge Base?
  13. Handling multiple ship-to addresses with a single OCLC symbol
  14. Other?  Feel free to raise your own “hot topic” of the
  15. moment.

 
Julia Gustafson, Chair
jgustafson@wooster.edu

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Interlibrary Loan Discussion Group

Saturday, June 25, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm; Loews New Orleans, Louisiana II room

Join us for an exciting presentation and discussion with Gerrit van Dyk, Interlibrary Loan Manager, and Jared Howland, Electronic Resources Librarian, at Brigham Young University.  Confused about what to do when your only holdings are electronic?  Don’t know if you can lend them?  Come learn more about lending ejournal and ebook pdfs—you might be surprised that you could have been lending all along!

Open discussion will follow the e-resources presentation.  If you have more topics to suggest for the ILL Discussion Group, please contact Megan Gaffney (gaffneym@udel.edu).  See you in New Orleans!

Megan Gaffney, Chair
gaffneym@udel.edu

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Committee Reports

RUSA Professional Development Committee
At the Midwinter Meeting the RUSA Professional Development Committee discussed the existing Webinar and Continuing Education (CE) course proposal forms and guidelines. Earlier discussion among the committee on ALA Connect concluded that these need significant revision. The following are needed:

  1. A document explaining the proposal process and required information
  2. A document stating the criteria the committee uses to evaluate proposals for Webinars
  3. A document stating the criteria the committee uses for multi-session online courses

Jeannette Pierce, Beth Wood, and Diana Shonrock agreed to draft these documents by mid-March. Jeannette volunteered to lead the effort.

Once these draft documents are distributed for committee comment, the next task will be to develop a document that provides guidance on developing a good proposal. Another on effective presentation techniques for online education is also highly desirable.

The committee also reviewed pending webinar and course proposals and directed the committee chair to communicate the committee’s sense to those who submitted the proposals. Those communications have been sent.