New issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly is now online!

Dear RUSA Members and RUSQ Subscribers,

Welcome to the first issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly, Volume 52.

As I take over as editor, I would like to once more thank Diane Zabel for six outstanding years at the helm of the journal. Her work, and the work of the RUSQ Board, column editors, and authors has set the bar high, and I look forward to the challenge.

In addition to the feature articles and continuing columns, this issue introduces a new column that I am excited about: “Taking Issues“.  This column focuses on dialog between librarians on important topics in reference librarianship.

I hope to hear from RUSQ readers about how we can make the journal valuable to your work. Please feel free to contact me with ideas and comments at btrott@wrl.org.

Barry Trott

Editor, RUSQ

Read the new issue now.

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Below are some highlights of this quarter’s valuable content.

Columns

From the Editor: A Tough Act to Follow    Barry Trott

From the President of RUSA: Carnegie Awards: A New and Important Addition to the Book Scene    Mary Pagliero Popp

Taking Issues: Welcome to “Taking Issues”    Karen Antell and Molly Strothmann

Accidental Technologist: Librarians and Code Year    Eric Phetteplace with Andromeda Yelton, Guest Columnist

Readers’ Advisory: You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello    Laurel Tarulli with Barry Trott, Guest Columnist

The Alert Collector: Polacek Sacred Books in English Translation    Kelly Myer with Wayne Bivens-Tatum, Guest Columnist

Information Literacy and Instruction: What They Didn’t Tell Me (or what I didn’t hear) in Library School: Perspectives from New Library Instruction Professionals    Lisa O’Connor with Julie Vanhoose, Bridget Farrell and Emily Rae Aldridge, Guest Columnists

Management: One Hundred and Eighty Years of Great Statistical Collections from the U.S. Census Bureau: A Retrospective    Marianne Ryan with Mark Anderson, Guest Columnist

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Features

Self-Service Holds in Libraries: Is Patron Privacy Being Sacrificed for Patron Convenience? Ruth S. Stevens, Patricia Bravender, and Caralee Witteveen-Lane

Professional Preparation for “Text a Librarian”. What Are the Requisite Competencies? Lili Luo

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Departments

From the Committees of RUSA

•             Best Free Reference Websites MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section

•             RUSA Guidelines for Establishing Local History Collections Local History Committee of the History Section

Sources

•             Professional Materials Karen Antell, Editor

•             Reference Books Tammy J. Eschedor Voelker, Editor

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Interested in submitting an article or contributing to RUSQ?  Guidelines and submission instructions can be found here.

Get tech support: Need to activate your subscription to RUSQ?  Access information is at the RUSA website. Contact Metapress directly at support@metapress.com for any technical hiccups or questions about your subscription.

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RUSA is a division of the American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611.

RUSA Approves New Definition of Reference

At the January 14, 2008, meeting of the RUSA Board, a new definition of reference was approved. It was based on solicited input received on the RUSA Blog as of 12/8/07. Thank you to all those who gave input, as well as all those who worked hard to come up with a definition that could be supported by so many.

Lisa R. Horowitz
Chair, Reference Services Section (2007-2008)

Definition of Reference
Approved by RUSA Board, 1-14-08

Submitted
by subgroup of RSS Executive Committee



Reference Transactions are information consultations in which
library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources
to help others to meet particular information needs. Reference transactions do
not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with
locations, schedules, equipment, supplies, or policy statements.

Reference Work includes reference transactions and other
activities that involve the creation, management, and assessment of information
or research resources, tools, and services.

(The following bullets clarify what is meant
by terms within the Reference Work definition.)

·        
Creation and management of information
resources
includes the
development and maintenance of research collections, research guides, catalogs,
databases, web sites, search engines, etc., that patrons can use independently,
in-house or remotely, to satisfy their information needs.

·        
Assessment activities include the measurement and evaluation of reference work,
resources, and services.

Using Evaluation Data to Change & Improve Virtual Reference: Call for Virtual Poster Session Proposals

Using Evaluation Data to Change
& Improve Virtual Reference:

Call for Virtual Poster Session
Proposals

MARS Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Committee

How does your library (or consortium) use the results of evaluation to
change and improve your Virtual Reference service? Have you used data,
statistics, opinions, or other feedback to persuade administrators, librarians
and staff, or your patron body? To plan budgets, hours, or training? To test
anecdotal assumptions? To offer a new service? Are changes driven by evaluation
significantly different from those driven by technological advancement or new
VR products?

Share your successes and challenges via a Virtual Poster Session sponsored
by Management
of Electronic Resources and Services
 (MERS), a Machine-Assisted
Reference Section
(MARS) Committee.

We seek virtual posters which describe how libraries use evaluation to
change and improve their Virtual Reference services.

Virtual Reference can include reference assistance provided via chat, IM,
e-mail, videoconferencing, or other means. Evaluation methods can include
statistical analysis, patron surveys, transcript analysis, use of standards and
guidelines, interface usability testing, or any other method or combination of
methods that the library uses to evaluate its service. 

Virtual posters can be submitted as Web pages, PowerPoint presentations, or
other formats which can be mounted on the Web.

Accepted posters will be mounted on the American
Library Association
(ALA)
web site before the ALA 2008
Annual Conference
 and will be
announced at the conference.  Presenters will be asked to participate in
on-line discussions of their posters through the Reference and User Services
Association
(RUSA) blog.

To apply, please use the form at http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/mars/marssection/marscomm/mersvps2007.htm.
Proposals will be accepted through 5 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, January 3, 2008.
Authors of selected proposals will be contacted by e-mail by January 18, 2008. 

Completed virtual posters must be submitted to the committee by April 1,
2008.  The committee will review the
posters and work with the creators on any suggested edits needed for clarity
and to comply with ALA
and other guidelines.   

Questions?  Please contact the MERS Chair, Kathryn Courtland Millis at millisk@depauw.edu, or (765) 658-4427.

MERS is a committee of the Machine-Assisted
Reference Section (MARS)
in the Reference and User
Services Association (RUSA)
of the American
Library Association (ALA)
.