BREAKING NEWS: Dr. Grace Jackson-Brown wins RUSA’s Zora Neale Hurston Award for leadership in promoting African-American literature

PHILADELPHIA—The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) has announced its selections for the 2014 Zora Neale Hurston Award. 

The Zora Neale Hurston Award, a CODES achievement award founded in 2008, is given to an individual ALA member who has demonstrated leadership in promoting African American literature.  To further the professional development of the winner so that he or she can continue to build multicultural collections and serve diverse populations, the winner receives funds to attend the ALA Annual Conference, tickets to the FOLUSA Author tea, and a set of the Zora Neale Hurston books published by Harper Perennial at the time the award is made.

Dr. Grace Jackson-Brown, Assistant Professor of Library Science at Missouri State University was selected for the Springfield African American Read-In program which celebrates African American authors and literacy and the Dream Big program which showcases African American authors, promotes reading by youths and adults, and encourages all to dream big!  Dr. Jackson-Brown also co-authored the article “The African-American Read-in: Building Campus and Community Partnerships,” College and Research Libraries News, 74(7) 2013, pp. 364-367.

The winner was selected by the 2014 Zora Neale Hurston Award Committee, whose members include Jannie R. Cobb, Chair, National Labor College; Cynthia Crosser, University of Maine and Diane Mohr, District of Columbia Public Library.

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.  Not a member, but interested in discounted registration rates on conference, preconferences and other events? Join, renew or add RUSA to your ALA membership at www.ala.org/membership. Learn more about the association atwww.ala.org/rusa.

What’s Happening in Philly!

Dear RUSA Members,

The Midwinter conference will be in Philadelphia this year and I hope those of you who will be there will take time to visit with us at the RUSA Membership Social. It will be held Saturday, January 25, from 5:30pm – 7pm at the Sheraton, Liberty Ballroom B. Join us to mingle, meet the RUSA board members, committee chairs, and volunteer leaders, and have a little bit of fun. We’ll have a raffle and, new this year, a trivia contest! Great prizes and refreshments will be available so be sure to come and bring your friends and colleagues – all members and visitors are welcome!

One other event that is always of interest to all RUSA members and book lovers is the Book & Media reception taking place Sunday, January 26, 2014 at the Sheraton, Liberty Ballroom A, from 5:00pm to 6:30pm. We’ll unveil the winners of The Reading List, Notable Books (which help form the long list for the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Excellence for Fiction and Nonfiction) and Listen List selections, as well as the winners of the Dartmouth Medal for reference, the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish literature, the Zora Neale Hurston Award for achievement in promoting African-American literature, the Louis Shores Award for book reviewing and many more. All ALA Midwinter Meeting participants are invited to this celebration on-site in Philadelphia. Thanks go to our event sponsor NoveList and the publishers for  donating their books to our committees. If you can’t attend, you will be able to track the announcements on Twitter with the hashtag #literarytastes. Don’t miss this wonderful event. We hope to see you there!

This year, RUSA is co-sponsoring a Midwinter Institute with ASCLA (the Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies) on creating and designing online courses – advance registration ends January 15, 2014 so now is the time to register:

Designing Online Courses for Significant Learning Experiences
January 24, 8:00am-4:00pm

If you’re a trainer, instructor or teacher don’t miss attending this valuable workshop co-sponsored by ASCLA and RUSA, and presented by international consultant Dr. Stewart Ross on the most effective practices designing and teaching online courses. More information is here. REGISTRATION RATES: ASCLA and RUSA members, $279; ALA members, $299; non-ALA members, $349; Student/Retired members of ALA, $229. Event Code: ASC3. Register now!

In addition, the RUSA board will meet twice in Philadelphia; please feel free to join us as our honored guests. The meetings will be held:

Board of Directors I (RUSA)

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Board of Directors I (RUSA) 1:30-3:30

Pennsylvania Convention Center – 118 A

Board of Directors II (RUSA)

Monday, January 27, 2014

2:00pm to 4:00pm

Pennsylvania Convention Center – 115 B

RUSA Town Hall: All RUSA members are invited to share comments, suggestions and concerns with the RUSA Board at the beginning of RUSA Board Meeting I, Saturday, January 25, 2014 – 1:30pm – 3:30pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center – 118 A. For those who want to participate virtually, the following chat rooms are available and will be monitored by board members (these chat rooms will be public; anyone may read the posts, but you will have to login to Connect to post messages):

Chat Room 1: http://connect.ala.org/node/215389
Chat Room 2: http://connect.ala.org/node/215390
Chat Room 3: http://connect.ala.org/node/215391
Chat Room 4: http://connect.ala.org/node/215392
Landing page for all chat rooms: http://connect.ala.org/rusa?gh=31208   

Specific Questions for Discussion:

  • What issues in reference and user services are you facing? 
  • How can RUSA as an organization help you address these issues? 
  • How can RUSA be changed to better meet these needs

Please join us – we want to hear from you!

It has been wonderful to work with all the RUSA members this past year. We have so many wonderful things to offer to members such as service on our book award committees, our beloved Literary Tastes and Book & Media Awards events, guidelines for reference and user services and our online educational sessions among others. We couldn’t have done any of this without the invaluable advice and assistance of our member leaders and volunteers. I want to thank every RUSA member for all their dedicated work and loyalty in helping to make our division successful; it’s a pleasure and a privilege to serve you! Best Wishes for a happy new year!

Susan Hornung

 Executive Director, ASCLA/RUSA

SAVE THE DATE! Join us for RUSA’s Midwinter membership social in Philly!

Kick off the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting in style with RUSA’s Membership Social—an opportunity to eat, drink, network, win prizes and learn more about RUSA.

The event will be held Saturday, January 25, 5:30pm to 7:00pm at the Sheraton hotel.

The social open to all current RUSA members, friends of RUSA and those meeting attendees interested in learning more about the association and networking with peers. All attendees are invited to play trivia for a chance to win fantastic door prizes!

Hope to see you there!

SAVE THE DATE! Midwinter Meeting attendees invited to celebrate RUSA’s book and media awards

All ALA Midwinter Meeting attendees are invited to celebrate the winners of our many adult reading awards — including the Notable Books, from which selections are chosen for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Non-Fiction; the Reading List, announcing the best in genre fiction; and the Listen List, announcing the best in audiobook narration — at RUSA’s Book and Media Awards ceremony and reception.

In addition to the Reading List and Notable Books selections — lists that are used by librarians and readers’ advisors nationwide — winners will also be announced for the Dartmouth Medal, Sophie Brody Medal, the Zora Neale Hurston award and other professional resource lists, including Outstanding Business Reference Sources, Best Reference Sources, Best Free Websites, Best Business Websites and Best Historic Materials.

The reception will be held from 5 – 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, in the Liberty Ballroom A at the Sheraton Philadelphia, 201 N. 17th St., and will offer food and a cash bar. Meeting attendees will find this event listed in the meeting program as the RUSA Book & Media Awards Ceremony and Reception. This event is made possible by the generous support of Novelist.

The literary winners announced at this event will shape the author line-up for the Literary Tastes author panel at ALA’s 2014 Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Attendees at this event will have the opportunity to listen to our favorite authors speak about their works and writing process. Authors will be available for book signings immediately following the event.

More information about the awards winners and the Literary Tastes event are available on the RUSA website and RUSA blog following the January event.

We hope to see you there!

novelist_logo