Division News – Page 5

April 22, 2016

Celia Ross appointed as new vendor relations liaison

RUSA President, Anne Houston, has appointed Celia Ross, Associate Librarian at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan as RUSA’s newest position, Vendor Relations Liaison.

The Vendor Relations Liaison’s role is to facilitate communication between RUSA, including its staff, members, committees, sections and Executive Board, and database providers, publishers and other research resource vendors in order to ensure the continued support of RUSA’s awards, events, learning opportunities and strategic plan. The Liaison will also work to highlight the value and impact produced by this collaboration.

“Celia has had a direct impact on the professional development of many librarians, drawing them into business reference services and research. Celia is the ideal candidate for this position in that she has been one of RUSA’s greatest assets in advocating for our profession, creating and maintaining relationships with industry vendors and securing sponsorships for many of RUSA’s awards and events. Her rapport within and without the library community goes unmatched and we are beyond excited to have her as the face of our vendor relations liaison,” said RUSA President, Anne Houston.

In collaboration with RUSA, vendors gain unique access to a targeted audience of RUSA members, including reference and acquisitions librarians, collection development specialists, and other information professionals, resulting in a mutually beneficial partnership.

April 21, 2016May 3, 2016

Introducing the very first “IAmRUSA” podcast!

A drum roll, please… Introducing the very first “IAmRUSA” podcast with RUSA President, Anne Houston! This podcast was created by Patty Valdovinos, our 2016 RUSA Spectrum Intern. Patty will be creating more podcasts profiling RUSA members as part of her Spectrum project for RUSA, continuing the “IAmRUSA” conversations created by our previous Spectrum Intern, Kirk MacLeod, last year (see the past conversations here). We hope these podcasts will help us all learn more about each other as RUSA members. Thanks to Patty for this great initiative and a special acknowledgment to her for conducting the interview.

April 19, 2016

RUSQ seeks column editors

Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ), the peer-reviewed journal of the Reference and User Services Association, is seeking editors for two columns, “The Alert Collector” and “Information Literacy and Instruction.” RUSQ is an online journal, and issues are available immediately on publication to RUSA members and subscribers at journals.ala.org/RUSQ. The current four issues are limited access and then open access after that.

“The Alert Collector” offers readers titles appropriate for building and maintaining collections in specific subject areas. The columns can focus on fiction or non-fiction areas, and cover print and online resources, with short annotations. Topics covered recently include hip-hop, autism spectrum disorder, art pricing and evaluation, and dance with a focus on flamenco.

“Information Literacy and Instruction” covers any topic in this area in public and academic libraries. Recent columns have explored MOOCs, preparing LIS students for atypical jobs, working with students with autism spectrum disorders, and using specific tools for improving information literacy.

The column editor is responsible for recruiting authors, editing copy, and submitting columns to the editor of RUSQ on schedule. Columns run 2500-3500 words and are published quarterly. RUSQ seeks to provide columns that will be of interest to librarians working in the areas of reference and user services, in academic, public, school, and special libraries.

If you are interested in applying for a column editor position, please send a copy of your resume and a one-page letter outlining your thoughts on how you would shape the column to meet the needs of RUSQ readers to Barry Trott, Editor, RUSQ, btrott@wrl.org, by May 15, 2016.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions that you have about the journal or the positions.

Barry Trott

Editor, RUSQ

March 4, 2016March 7, 2016

2016 RUSA and Section Achievement Award Winners Announced

RUSA has selected the winners of the 2016 achievement awards, which provide research and travel grants in recognition of the nation’s most exceptional librarians, libraries and projects involving reference services today.

RUSA’s Achievement Awards are a chance to give praise to the most notable librarians, libraries and library research in reference services. These awards are of the highest honor and recognize invaluable contributions to the field.

The following recipients were selected:

DIVISION AWARDS:

Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award
Cheryl LaGuardia, research librarian at the Widener Library of Harvard University, has been named the 2016 winner of RUSA’s highest honor for her distinguished and multifaceted contributions to reference librarianship. Sponsored by Credo Reference.

Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services
The San José Public Library is the 2016 winner of the Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services, which honors a library or library system for developing and imaginative and unique resource to patrons’ reference needs. Sponsored by ReferenceUSA.

John Sessions Memorial Award
The Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawai‘i – West O‘ahu was selected as this year’s winner. “The mission of the labor archive at the Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR) is to preserve labor history materials for future generations, protect the artifacts and make them accessible for public use, and defend the importance of working class history.” Sponsored by the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO.

NoveList’s Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award
Dr. Mary K. Chelton, retired professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Queen’s College, CUNY, was selected as this year’s winner. The award honors a librarian who has made significant contributions to library adult services. Sponsored by NoveList.

Reference Service Press Award
Denice Adkins, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Information Science and Learning Technologies and C. Sean Burns, assistant professor, University of Kentucky School of Information Science, authored the winning article, “Arizona Public Libraries Serving the Spanish-Speaking Context for Changes.” The article was first published in Fall of 2013, (Vol. 53, No. 1) of Reference and User Services Quarterly. This award is sponsored by Reference Service Press.

SECTION AWARDS:

Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS)

BRASS Mergent Excellence in Business Librarianship Award
winner is Jared Hoppenfeld, business librarian at Texas A&M University, for his lasting service on many BRASS committees, his outstanding published works on topics relevant to academic and public business librarians, including “Information-Seeking Behaviors of Business Faculty,” the most-downloaded article of 2014 in the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, and his continued support of business students, entrepreneurs and veterans. This award is sponsored by Mergent, Inc.

Global Financial Data Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award
winner is Ruth D. Terry, business and government information librarian, assistant professor at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, for her promising work in the area of academic business librarianship. This award is sponsored by Global Financial Data.

BRASS Emerald Research Grant Award
winner is Lisa O’Connor, associate professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Kentucky, for her study, “Why Aren’t Millennials Taking Stock?: Assessing the Role of Information Literacy in Market Avoidance.” This award is sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing.

BRASS SimplyMap Student Travel Award
winner is Katherine Glasoe, student at the School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College for her potential to be very influential in the field of business librarianship and her impressive work and academic experience. Sponsored by SimplyMap.

BRASS Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award
winner is Susan Wolf Neilson, librarian, Wake County Public Libraries (N.C.). Neilson was selected for her support of the business community through public library programming, librarian training and working with community business organizations to make her library a great resource for business owners and entrepreneurs. This award is sponsored by Morningstar.

Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES)

Louis Shores Award
Multimedia & Technology Reviews, a publication of the Art Libraries Society of North America, was named the 2016 winner for its incisive, objectively written, critical reviews for a variety of free multimedia resources.

Zora Neale Hurston Award
Dr. Florita Bell Griffin, creative director of ARC Communications, LLC, a Texas-based Visual Art Communications and Publishing Company, was announced as the 2016 winner for her outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in promoting literacy and African American literature through the creation of the Little Flower literacy project. The Little Flower® project works to improve youth literacy, self-esteem, and imagination through the use of art, artistic media, and African American literature (storytelling). Sponsored by HarperCollins.

Emerging Technologies Section (ETS)

ETS Achievement Recognition Award
Beth Boatright, information services and instruction librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, was selected as the winner for her dedication and enthusiasm to ETS.

HISTORY Section (HS)

Gale Cengage History Research and Innovation Award
winner is Thomas G. Padilla, digital scholarship librarian, Michigan State University Libraries was selected as this year’s winner. Through oral histories, Padilla will create a better understanding of the past, present and future roles of librarians in the Digital Humanities. Sponsored by Gale Cengage.

Genealogy / History Achievement Award
Michele C. McNabb, library manager, Genealogy Center, Museum of Danish America was selected for her exemplary service, support, leadership and contributions to the field of genealogical and local history librarianship. Sponsored by ProQuest.

Reference Services Section (RSS)

RSS Service Achievement Award
Sarah J. Hammill, business and online learning librarian at Florida International University, was selected as the 2016 winner of the RSS Service Achievement Award. The award recognizes a member that has made exceptional contributions to RUSA’s Reference Services Section.

Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS)

Virginia Boucher-OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award
Tina Baich, associate librarian and head of resource sharing and delivery services, bibliographic and metadata services, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Baich is honored for her outstanding and sustained contributions to the resource sharing community both nationally and internationally. Sponsored by OCLC.

STARS-Atlas Systems Mentoring Award
Kimberly Steiner, interlibrary loan technician at Messiah College (Pa.). Steiner was chosen because as the sole person in interlibrary loan at her library, attendance at the ALA Annual Conference would allow her to learn skills necessary to support users from Messiah College, an institution that is continually expanding their graduate programs; better understand the profession; and also network and learn from colleagues. Sponsored by Atlas Systems, Inc.

The RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 26 at the ALA Annual Conference in Orlando. All conference attendees are invited to the event. Additional event details will be available on the conference website in April.