Posted on

Call for nominations: 2014 Louis Shores Award

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2014 Louis Shores Award.

Library collections depend on the guidance of good reviewers. Reviewers, review editors, and bloggers, help librarians to make wise purchasing decisions and help us to guide our patrons to the best resources. The Louis Shores Award recognizes excellence in reviewing. The Louis Shores Award is awarded annually to an individual reviewer, group, editor, review medium, or organization. To nominate your favorite reviewer or review source for the award, complete the nomination form and follow the submission guidelines.

The winner of the 2014 Louis Shores Award will be honored at the RUSA Awards Reception at ALA Annual in Las Vegas, June 26-July 1.

The deadline for 2014 submissions is December 15th, 2013.

Questions can be directed to committee chair, Emily Hamstra, ehamstra@umich.edu.

Posted on

Join ALA’s virtual town hall on ebook lending

Calling all RUSA members who offer ebooks:

If you work with Ebooks, you may be interested in the American Library Association’s Virtual Town Hall on Ebooks, an interactive online session that will take place from 11 a.m.- noon Central time, Wednesday, October 23, 2013.

ALA leaders will discuss the present state of ebooks and libraries and directions for the future. Click here to register.

For more information on e-books and Libraries, an FAQ is available from ALA’s Transforming Libraries website:
http://www.ala.org/transforminglibraries/frequently-asked-questions-e-books-us-libraries

Alesia McManus
RUSA Representative to the ALA Legislative Assembly

Posted on

Carnegie finalist named MacArthur genius fellow

Karen Russell
Karen Russell

Fiction writer, Karen Russell was named as one of 24 MacArthur “genius” fellows yesterday. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awards this annual grant to “encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations.”

Russell was a finalist for the 2012 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for her first novel, Swamplandia!. You can view her humble, enchanting acceptance speech here:

Karen Russell video

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year. The shortlisted authors and eventual winners reflect the expert judgment and insight of the seven-member selection committee of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. These are the ALA’s first single-book awards for adult trade fiction and nonfiction.

A shortlist of finalists is drawn from the previous year’s Booklist Editors’ Choice and the Reference and User Services Association‘s (RUSA) Collection Development and Evaluation Section‘s (CODES) Notable Books lists.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more about the association at www.ala.org/rusa.

Posted on

Join us for an online discussion: Navigating the RA High-Wire Act: Practicing RA When You Don’t Read Widely

We’ve scheduled another CODES Conversations event! Come participate or listen in on this vigorous online discussion.

Navigating the RA High-Wire Act: Practicing RA When You Don’t Read Widely
Happening online, April 24-25, 2013
Hosted by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA

With untold numbers of books out there, sometimes it seems almost impossible for readers’ advisors to keep up with all the genres and publishing trends. This raises all sorts of interesting questions for consideration: How can a “poorly-read” librarian do readers’ advisory? How do you cope with unknown titles? How much do you read, and how widely?

Join readers’ advisors across the country for a two-day CODES Conversation on the best ways to find read-alikes and do readers’ advisory–even when you feel that you have not read enough–and help address the biggest myth in RA: that librarians have to read everything they suggest.

CODES Conversations are focused electronic conversations on current issues facing collection development and readers’ advisory librarians—or anyone interested in those areas.  The conversations are open to all who wish to participate (or lurk)!

This free, moderated discussion is open to all—just subscribe to the discussion at http://lists.ala.org/sympa/subscribe/codes-convos, then follow and contribute to the conversation over the two days of the discussion.