Bill McHugh explains opportunities to get involved with RUSA CODES at RUSA 101 in Anaheim.

When you arrive in Chicago next Friday for the ALA Annual Conference, your first stop should be RUSA 101.

Details: Friday, June 28, 3:00-4:00p.m., Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Jackson Park 10ABC.

Add it to your schedule.

This networking and orientation event is for librarians working in adult services, reference, readers advisory, collection development, genealogy, resource sharing and technology. New members of RUSA looking for their “home” within the division, non-members interested in learning more about the division, and current members with experience to share are all encouraged to attend this event!

Each special interest section will be represented at this event. Make your way to the table to meet others with your shared interests:

• BRASS: Business Reference and Services Section
• CODES: Collection Development and Evaluation Section (adult readers advisory, collection development)
• HS: History Section (genealogy, archives)
• MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (everything tech and reference)
• RSS: Reference Services Section (frontline reference, evaluation and assessment of reference, management of reference)
• STARS: Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (ILL/interlibrary loan, resource-sharing)

RUSA Past President Barry Trott chats with members at RUSA 101 in Anaheim.

This event will also include:

• A chance to pick up the newest and coolest RUSA badge ribbons before everybody else does with fun sayings like “Family Tree Hugger”, “Resource Sharing SuperSTARS” and “RUSA MARS Curiosity Rover”.
• A raffle with awesome items up for grabs like award-winning books, Frango Mints, fun technology, beautiful artwork to hang in your office and lots more that we aren’t going to tell you about until you show up! Must be present to win.
• A brief and informative presentation from Membership Chair Alicia Ahlvers orienting you to RUSA and how you can get involved.

Bring your business cards, your curiosity and your passion for adult library services, and we’ll see you there!

DETAILS: RUSA 101, Friday, June 28, 3:00-4:00p.m., Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Jackson Park 10ABC.

Add the event to your conference schedule.

Deep in discussion about conference logistics and RUSA opportunities.

The newest issue of RUSA Update, our division member newsletter, is live now!

Read it here.

In this issue:

A letter from RUSA President Mary Popp
News from RUSA headquarters
Updates from RUSA Committees
A report from RUSA Emerging Leader Alicia Finley
From RUSA Sections:

• Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) section update and committee reports
• Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) section update
• History Section (HS) section update
• MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section update and committee reports
• Reference Services Section (RSS) section update and committee reports
• Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources (STARS) section update and committee reports

CHICAGO — The announcement and presentation of the second ever Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, ALA’s new single-book awards for adult trade fiction and nonfiction, will take place during the ALA Annual Conference from 8 – 10 p.m. on Sunday, June 30. The event — standing-room only in 2012 — takes place at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Atlantic Ballroom. Attendees will be among the first to hear which two books were chosen as winners (each receiving a medal and $5,000) from the shortlist of six announced in May and will hear from finalists Richard Ford, David Quammen, Timothy Egan and other authors to be announced, as well as from selection committee chair Nancy Pearl and ALA leaders. The program is immediately followed by a chance to meet, mingle and celebrate over dessert and drinks with book-loving colleagues.

All event attendees will be entered for a drawing, and five lucky winners (who must be present) will receive signed copies of all six 2013 finalist titles. Following the reception, all attendees will receive a giveaway bag with a mix of titles generously donated by the finalists’ publishers.

The shortlisted titles for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction are: “The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death,” by Jill Lepore (Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc); “Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis,” by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); and “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic,” by David Quammen (W. W. Norton & Company). The shortlisted titles in fiction are: “Canada,” by Richard Ford (Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers); “The Round House,” by Louise Erdrich (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers); and “This Is How You Lose Her,” by Junot Díaz (Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.). Annotations and more information on the finalists can be found athttp://www.ala.org/carnegieadult.

Tickets will be available in the McCormick Place Convention Center registration area (at the “Ticketed Events Counter”), or online ahead of time — log into your conference registration and add the ticket(s), (event code RUS2).  Tickets are $30 ($25 for RUSA members). You can get more information about the event on the Annual Conference website.

The awards, established in 2012, recognize the best of the best in fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year and serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by ALA and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. The awards are made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world and are co-sponsored by Booklist Publications and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). More information about the awards is athttp://www.ala.org/carnegieadult.

Register and book housing now for 2013 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition. Ways to get updates and join the conversations include alaannual.org; Twitter: #ala2013; the Conference Scheduler; the Facebook Event; the Pinterest page; and theconference Tumblr.

Dear RUSA Members:

I am looking forward to seeing many of you in Chicago at the annual conference. Our programs promise to be fun, interesting and informative, starting with our fabulous RUSA President’s Program: “The Myth and the Reality of the Evolving Patron,” Saturday, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project will share the latest data about how library users are interacting with information technology. Then, join Mr. Rainie and library leaders on Sunday, 10:30-11:30 am, to discuss how the data may influence your library’s future.

Also – don’t miss our beloved Literary Tastes author event (free-of-charge) where we celebrate the best reading of the year with authors whodiscuss their works and the craft of writing, at 8:00-10:00a.m., Sunday, June 30. This year’s authors are:

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

We have some other terrific section-sponsored programs covering hot topics ranging from “Beyond Genre: Exploring the Perception, Uses, and Misuses of Genre by Readers, Writers, and Librarians” to “Usability, the User Experience & Interface Design: The Role of Reference.” For the complete line-up see our website.

If you only plan to be at the conference for one or two days, you may want to check out our preconference from the BRASS section: “Business Reference 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship.” This full-day interactive workshop is designed for new business librarians; generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship; or librarians who handle business reference-related inquiries in all types of libraries including academic, public, and special libraries. For more information see the full description here or register now.

Also – don’t miss our Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception, Sunday, June 30, 2013 – 5:00pm to 6:30pm, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room, and help us honor RUSA’s 2013 achievement award winners.

Last but not least, please join us for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Awards Ceremony, Sunday, June 30, 2013 – 8:00pm to 10:00pm, Radisson Blu, Atlantic A. This reception, co-sponsored by RUSA and Booklist celebrates the second year for these awards – don’t miss it! Past members of the CODES’ Notable Books Council served on this committee, and after a whirlwind of reading on a tight deadline, made some great selections. Take a look at the shortlist finalists here and add them to your summer reading list if you haven’t yet read them. Tickets are $25 for RUSA members, and $30 for all others. You can register here.

(For room locations for all the above, please check the ALA conference scheduler; rooms sometimes change and the scheduler is the most up-to-date place to find them)

If you’ll be in Chicago, I hope you’ll find time to enjoy some of the Chicago sights, shopping, and most of all the restaurants!

Please stop by the RUSA office in the convention center and say hi to the staff or pick up a division or section ribbon – we love meeting our members!

Best Wishes,

Susan