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Deep Dive & History Genealogy Workshops – 2016 Midwinter Meeting

History Genealogy Institute – Free, But Registration is Required 
Friday, January 8, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, room 151 B
This free workshop will help librarians of all types learn techniques. This can include better understanding of genealogy research methods and sources. It can also include how libraries can leverage their unique holdings to become more relevant to genealogists, who tend to be passionate in their support of libraries that have useful materials. Lunch provided and sponsored by ProQuest. Must register here:https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QWZP6WG.

Deep Dive Session – *BRAND NEW!
We are all user experience librarians: Creating change from the trenches
Saturday, January 9, 1:00 p.m.- 4:15 p.m., Location: TBA
This Deep Dive workshop will focus on user testing and understanding your users’ experience through a mix of discussion, presentations, and interactive experiences. Our five presenters will offer design strategies and tools from throughout the life cycle of a user experience design project, and they will also join together as a panel to provide a spirited, entertaining look at pitfalls to avoid and lessons learned. Unlike other sessions about user experience design, the proposed workshop will focus on providing attendees with concrete skills and techniques they can apply at their home institutions with relatively little expense or pre-planning. *Registration to open soon. More information here.

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Book & Media Awards Ceremony and Reception – 2016 Midwinter Meeting

Book & Media Awards Ceremony and Reception
Sunday, January 10, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., Boston Park Plaza, Grand Ballroom A

For the first time, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced during this Midwinter Meeting event by the selection committee’s inaugural chair, Nancy Pearl, reflecting the new calendar for these awards. As always, RUSA will unveil this year’s Notable Books List, Reading List, Listen List and Outstanding Reference Sources selections, the Dartmouth Medal for excellence in reference, the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish literature, the Zora Neale Hurston Award for achievement in promoting African-American literature and the Louis Shores Award for book reviewing. Join us for this celebratory evening as we announce the best books and resources of the year and a chance to win some of this year’s best books! All MW attendees are welcome, no tickets required. The event is from 5-7pm, Boston Park Plaza, Grand Ballroom A. The event is sponsored in part by NoveList. More information about these awards can be found at www.ala.org/rusa/awards.

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Board & Committee Meetings at the 2016 Midwinter Meeting

Executive Committee Meeting
Friday, January 8, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.,  Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, room 203
Meeting of the Executive Committee where discussions will consist of current and planned activities of the RUSA Division. This is an open meeting and all registered attendees are welcome. Come meet some of RUSA’s key players; President; Anne Houston, President-Elect/Vice-President; Alesia M. McManus, Past President; Joseph A. Thompson, Secretary; Kathryn J. Oberg, Councilor; Sarah Hammill and RUSA Executive Director; Susan Hornung.

Board of Directors Meeting I and II:

  • Board I – Saturday, January 9, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, room 205 B
  • Board II – Monday, January 11, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, room 153 C

RUSA Board of Director meetings are open and any individual registered for the Midwinter Meeting may sit in on the meetings. The meeting’s topics are set aside for visitors and board members to use as an ‘open forum’ where anyone can share information, ask questions, etc. The agenda and documents are completed prior to the conference. Anyone interested in viewing the agenda for the meeting, as well as the documents that accompany the agenda items, may view or download them from ALA Connect. If you or your constituency develops a document for board consideration, please give it to the RUSA staff at least two hours before a board meeting. RUSA Board of Directors’ Meetings are open and all registered attendees are welcome!

Budget and Finance Meeting
Sunday, January 10, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Westin Boston Waterfront, Faneuil
Meeting to review, recommend and plan goals, objectives, and priorities for the division as they relate to the RUSA’s budgetary matters.

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RUSA Discussion Groups at the 2016 Midwinter Meeting.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

  • ILL Discussion Group (RUSA STARS)
    10:30 AM – 11:30 AM Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 205A

    A thoughtful discussion of the emerging trends of resource sharing and interlibrary loan. Read more here.

  • Management of Electronic Resources & Services Discussion (RUSA ETS)
    1:00 PM – 2:30 PM, Westin Waterfront, Room Bulfinch  Read more here.
  • Optimizing the web for reference: Best practices for usability, accessibility, and responsiveness (RUSA ETS)
    1:00 PM – 2:30 PM Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 258B

    We will feature panelists from institutions which have innovated their approach to web reference (email, chat, FAQs, etc.) and/or conducted usability studies on how their users get answers through their library’s web portal. Read more here.

  • Genealogy and Local History Discussion Group (RUSA HS)
    4:30 PM – 5:30 PM, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 205C

    Learn how can we ensure our communities know about our genealogical and historical resources. Read more here.

  • Reference Publishing Advisory Discussion Forum (RUSA CODES)
    4:30 PM – 5:30 PM, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 205B

    A thoughtful discussion about the emerging trends in reference publishing by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA. Read more here.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

  • Discussion and All Committees Meeting (RUSA BRASS)
    8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Westin Waterfront, Room Douglass

    All-Committees meeting and discussion opportunity for those interested in business reference in all types of libraries. Read more here.

  • History Librarians Discussion Group (RUSA HS)
    1:00 PM – 2:30 PM, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 205B

    A thoughtful discussion on emerging trends of historical librarianship. Read more here.