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Call for 2016 MW Institute, AC Program & Preconference Proposals

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) is now accepting institute, preconference and program proposals for the 2016 Midwinter Meeting in Boston and the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando.

Proposals will be accepted online through 11:59 p.m. Central on May 11, 2015. Faxed, e-mailed or mailed proposals will not be accepted.

Proposals must be submitted to the appropriate section for approval before being entered in the proposal system online (see instructions below for entering approved section proposals). For more information about how to submit a proposal to a RUSA section, please contact the section chair. Section chair contact information can be found in the Section Executive Committee rosters here.

Session topics should showcase emerging trends and examples of driving change in the areas of reference services including but not limited to: marketing library services, advocacy, special populations, collection development, evaluation, readers’ advisory, instruction, business reference, emerging technologies, interlibrary loan and resource sharing, genealogy and historical research and more!

The RUSA Conference Program Coordinating Committee will review, organize and recommend for final approval to the RUSA Board all submitted section-approved proposals and select sessions based on their relevance to the profession and general interest to conference attendees who work in reference services at the 2015 annual conference.

Instructions for approved section proposal submission: Once your proposal is approved by the section, it should be entered here. Once you’ve logged in, click on “Click here to begin a new Proposal.”  Note that there is an option to propose a tour; all tours must be proposed in this system.

Since this is our first year using it, we’d appreciate any constructive feedback from users about the new program proposal system set up by ALA.

For more information, contact the RUSA office at rusa@ala.org or (800) 545-2433, ext. 4395.

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RUSA’s STARS section names winners of 2015 achievement awards for ILL practitionersRUSA’s STARS section names winners of 2015 achievement awards for ILL practitioners

The Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS) has selected the winners of its two achievement awards honoring librarians providing exceptional service in the fields of interlibrary loan (ILL), resource sharing and document delivery.

The Virginia Boucher-OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award, sponsored by OCLC, offers $2,000 and a citation to a librarian showing outstanding professional achievement, leadership and contributions to interlibrary loan and document delivery. Lars Leon, resource sharing librarian and head of organizational development, University of Kansas Libraries, was named as this year’s winner for his impressive breadth and depth of knowledge about interlibrary loan, his enthusiasm about mentoring new practitioners and advocating with upper-level library administrators to recognize the importance of resource sharing in their organizations.

The Atlas Systems Mentoring Award, sponsored by Atlas Systems, Inc., offers $1,250 to a library practitioner new to the field of ILL and resource sharing to fund travel expenses to ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. Karen Thomas, access services librarian at Krauskopf Library, Delaware Valley College, was named as this year’s recipient as she has demonstrated a passion and need for professional development, networking, education and service to her local community.

“The STARS awards provide our section the opportunity to recognize current and future leaders in the field of resource sharing. The Virginia Boucher/OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award is the crowning achievement in the career of an ILL Librarian and recognizes outstanding professional achievement, leadership and contributions to ILL and document delivery, while the STARS/Atlas Systems Mentoring Award allows someone new to the field to attend the ALA Annual Conference and gain valuable experience and mentoring through their connection to STARS,” said Tina Baich, section chair of STARS. “I offer my heartfelt congratulations to this year’s winners, Lars Leon and Karen Thomas, and look forward to celebrating with them at the RUSA Achievement Awards Reception to be held at the ALA Annual Conference. I would also like to thank the STARS Awards Committees for their service and thoughtful deliberation as well as our generous sponsors, OCLC and Atlas Systems, for their continued support of these awards.”