The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) is hosting a leadership preconference at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, and RUSA is offering a limited number of discounted seats to RUSA leadership to participate in this preconference.

At “Servant Leadership in Your Library”, you’ll learn how servant leadership can change the dynamics of a library–large or small–by cultivating strong loyalty from both employees and library users. Servant leaders focus outwardly and work in partnership with their staff and communities. Through exercises, group discussion, real-world stories and personal reflection led by professional library trainer Linda Bruno, participants will develop their servant leader persona. Linda has presented workshops for ASCLA before and received rave reviews! Learn more about the preconference here, and visit Linda’s website to learn more about the fantastic work she does.

The content of this event will be valuable not only for your professional role at your library, but for your work with RUSA, too!

With the appropriate coupon code, you’ll pay just $139.50 for this event–ALA member registration is valued at $300!

This opportunity is limited to:

• Current and incoming chairs for RUSA-level committees
• Current and incoming chairs for section committees
• Current and incoming RUSA Board of Directors members
• Current and incoming section executive committee members

In exchange for this discount, RUSA would like those who attend this preconference to work with Gary White (past-president) and Kathleen Kern (vice-president) on formulating RUSA’s future leadership development program, and specifically determining what sort of content and activities should be provided to benefit the association and its members.

Interested in taking advantage of this fantastic opportunity? You must obtain the discount code by May 25, 2013 and register by June 1, 2013. There are a limited number of slots available, so don’t delay!

Contact your appropriate membership leader to receive the coupon code:

RUSA: Kathleen Kern, RUSA vice president/president-elect, katkern@illinois.edu

BRASS: Ann Fiegen, chair, afiegen@csusm.edu

CODES: Mary Parker, chair, m-park1@umn.edu

History: Sara Morris, chair, semorris@ku.edu

MARS: Debbie Bezanson, chair, bezanson@gwu.edu

RSS: Sarah Hammill, chair, hammills@fiu.edu

STARS: David Atkins, chair, datkins@utk.edu

Questions? Contact Susan Hornung, RUSA executive director, at shornung@ala.org.

Jennifer Boettcher, business librarian at Georgetown University, is this year’s recipient of  the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) BRASS Emerald Research Grant Award.

Administered by the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), the grant gives $5,000 to support research in the field of business librarianship. The award is generously funded by Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd. Previous award winners’ research projects include a study of business librarians’ involvement in the evaluation and approval of new academic programs (i.e. courses, tracks, graduate degrees or certificates) in business, and an exploration of collaborations among academic libraries, public libraries and community organizations in jointly serving the business information needs of their local entrepreneurs.

With this financial research support, Boettcher will create a Web-based finding aid that will help both business librarians and patrons who do not regularly track business information sources use core business titles that have been discounted, sold or recreated into new formats, which Boettcher calls the “Zombie List”. The database will track these sources and provide a list of where to find similar information that these seminal works provided. Funds will support the work of a programmer who will construct and adjust the database accordingly. As the Zombie List grows, Boettcher will recruit volunteers to test and manage the website as it develops. If interested please contact Jennifer Boettcher (boettcher -at-georgetown.edu).

As a former chair of the BRASS section of RUSA, co-author of the book, “Industry Research Using the Economic Census” (Greenwood Press), a past winner of RUSA BRASS ’s Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship and former professor of Catholic University of America’s “Information Sources & Services: Business Information” class, Boettcher is well-versed in the field of business reference and is prepared for a project of this scale. In selecting Boettcher’s proposal for this year’s award, the committee highlighted the thorough and detailed methodology, scope, timetable and projected outcomes for the project.

The award will be presented at the RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception, scheduled for 5-6:30pm on Sunday, June 30, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room, as a part of RUSA’s events at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Add the reception to your schedule (ALA Connect login required). For more information, visit RUSA’s website or the Annual Conference website.

With decades of experience, Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd. chooses to facilitate the global production and dissemination of research focusing on issues with social importance.  In total, Emerald manages a portfolio of more than 280 journals, more than 2,000 books and book series volumes, as well as an extensive range of online products and services that provide meaningful impact in business, society, the environment, public policy and education.

Read the new issue of RUSQ here.

A subscription to Reference and User Services Quarterly is a membership benefit of RUSA! Learn more.

============================================

Dear RUSA Members and RUSQ Subscribers,

My goal for the journal is for it to be a useful tool for librarians interested in the intersection of theory and practice of reference librarianship in all its forms and in all types of libraries. This issue features columns everything from mobile technology and organic farming to library labs and information literacy assessment. Feature articles discuss reference competencies, consumer health, finding public policy papers, and gender and reading. I think that this issue of RUSQ reflects the breadth of interests and challenges that face RUSA members, and I hope that all readers will find something valuable here.

As always, I am interested in hearing back from readers, so please contact me with your thoughts on ways to make RUSQ even more valuable.

Barry Trott
Editor, RUSQ
btrott@wrl.org

Read the new issue now.

Need to activate your subscription to RUSQ? Access information is at the RUSA website.

In this issue…

Columns

For Your Enrichment, ed. Barry Trott
          Mobile Academic Libraries: A Snapshot
          Rebecca Jackson, Guest Columnist
From the President of RUSA, Mary Pagliero Popp
          Technology, Lifelong Learning, and I (or We)
Taking Issues, eds. Karen Antell and Molly Strothmann
          Should Libraries Be Run Like Businesses?
          Andrea Berstler and Tracy Nectoux, Guest Columnists
Accidental Technologist, ed. Eric Phetteplace
          Library Labs 
          Mackenzie Brooks and Margaret Heller, Guest Columnists
Readers’ Advisory, ed. Laurel Tarulli
          RA Training: “Getting Started with Readers’ Advisory” 
          Lynne Welch, Guest Columnist
The Alert Collector, ed. Kelly Myer Polacek
          Organic Farming—A Research Guide
          Florian Diekmann, Guest Columnist
Management, ed. Marianne Ryan
          Making the Leap: One Librarian’s Experience
          Michelle Guittar, Guest Columnist
Information Literacy, ed. Lisa O’Connor
          Information Literacy Assessment: Keep It Simple, Keep It Going
          Larry Sheret and John Steele, Guest Columnists

Features

Significantly Different? Reference Services Competencies in Public and Academic Libraries
          Laura Saunders and Mary Jordan
Database Support for Public Policy Paper Location
          Qiana Johnson
Differing Perceptions of Public Librarians and Users in Assessing and Developing Korean Consumer Health Information
          Younghee Noh
Adult Reading Habits and Preferences in Relation to Gender Differences
          Kate Summers

Departments

From the Committees of RUSA
          Best Historical Materials 2012
          RUSA History Section Historical Materials Committee
Sources
          Professional Materials
          Karen Antell, Ed.
          Reference Books
          Tammy J. Eschedor Voelker, Ed.

Be the first to know!

Booklist, in partnership with RUSA, is announcing the finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Finalists live online with Nancy Pearl and ALA President Maureen Sullivan!

Listen in to the live announcement of the 2013 finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. Join Nancy Pearl, selection committee chair, and Maureen Sullivan, ALA President, as they divulge this year’s three best adult books in both fiction and nonfiction.

Don’t miss this exciting 15 minutes of book award history!

Sign up for this free event: https://alapublishing.webex.com/alapublishing/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=660212357

EVENT DETAILS:
Monday, April 22
12:00 PM Eastern // 11:00 AM Central // 10:00 AM Mountain // 9:00 AM Pacific

REGISTER NOW. (It’s free!)

Questions? E-mail webinars@booklistonline.com for assistance.