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[Fall eCourses] Learn and lead: Essential skills for front line library staff!

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Each ecourse registration is $130 for RUSA members; $175 for ALA members; $210 for non-ALA members; $100 for student members and retired members. 

[LAST CHANCE!] “Introduction to Instructional Design for Librarians”  begins October 3. Participants will learn to use the Instructional Design Process and apply it effectively to library instruction which includes: identifying instructional problems, learner analysis, task analysis, defining instructional objectives, sequencing content, identifying instructional strategies, message design, instructional delivery, and evaluation instruments. This course is taught by Carla James, PhD candidate Instructional Design & Technology-Old Dominion University. More information can be foundhere.

[LAST CHANCE!] “Research Methods Bootcamp,” begins onOctober 3.  This ecourse is taught by Sharon Radcliff, business librarian at CSU East Bay. Radcliff has over twelve years of experience helping students and faculty with their research questions and has taught several business related courses for Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Librarians and/or library staff in public, school, academic and/or special libraries that perform or teach empirical research will benefit from this ecourse. More information can be found here.

[LAST CHANCE!] Beginning on October 3, is RUSA’s reoccurring ecourse “Interlibrary Loan 101.” This ecourse is taught by RUSA ILL experts Megan Gaffney, Tina Baich, Cindy Kristof, Collette Mak, and will be separated into four separate modules that cover the ILL process from both the borrowing and lending perspectives, copyright law and licensing impacts on ILL, and ILL resources and systems. This ecourse will cover both policies and procedures recently adopted in the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States. Those new to the field of ILL working in public or academic libraries will especially benefit from this ecourse. More information can be found here.

[SPACES LEFT!] The new “Write, Speak, Design: Communication Skills for Library Professionals,” ecourse begins on October 10. Taught by RUSA member, Andy Spackman, participants will refine their abilities to create effective professional documents and oral presentations. Assignments and activities are designed to help participants prepare for real-life situations in the library. This ecourse will help all library staff members to develop the essential communication skills they need to be effective in their work and to achieve their career goals. More information can be found here.

A RUSA reoccurring favorite, beginning October 31, “Business Reference 101”, this four week course is taught by business reference expert, Celia Ross, librarian at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. This ecourse is designed for academic, special or public librarians and other researchers and library staff who have a basic understanding of some business resources but who do not work with them often enough to build expertise. The ecourse will provide students with a framework for understanding the business reference process as well as an overview of business reference sources specific to each of the course modules. More information can be found here.

Beginning October 31, “Genealogy 101”, a five week ecourse, will be offered by Matt Rutherford is Curator of Genealogy and Local History at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The course will outline basic sources and strategies, centered on a single case study. Topics covered include the U.S. Census, vital records, immigration research, military research and a variety of other basic genealogy sources. Students will also receive instruction in reference desk strategies and tools for further professional development. The course will cover archival material, print reference tools and online sources. More information can be found here.

Also beginning October 31, “Reference Interview 101,” one of RUSA’s most popular continuing education courses. Taught by reference expert and one of RUSA’s past presidents, David Tyckoson, has 30 years of experience in academic libraries. He is currently the Associate Dean at the Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno. Reference Interview is a comprehensive course focusing on the methods of evaluating reference service, behavioral aspects of reference service, and the different types of questions that can be used to help patrons identify what they need. This ecourse is tailored for support staff, library technicians, newly hired reference librarians, and those librarians who want to brush up on their interview skills. More information can be found here.

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Never read Harry Potter and other confessions from RUSA Director-at-Large

Over the next several weeks we will be highlighting members of RUSA’s Board of Directors. Take a minute and get to know our fantastic leaders!

Meet Celia,  RUSA Director-at-Large.  She’s a fun, business-loving, Michigander librarian with lots to share! Want to connect with Celia? You may reach her at her email address listed at the end of this post.

Celia Ross
Business Reference Librarian
University of Michigan
Ross School of Business

Celia Ross
Celia Ross

What are you currently reading or listening to?
I’m kind of addicted to mysteries and I tend to have at least one each of audio and print book going at a time.  I just started listening to The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (recently revealed to be a pen name of J. K. Rowling [by the way, I live in constant fear that my librarian license will be revoked as I have never read any of the Harry Potter series–oops, did I just admit that in front of all of ALA?!]) and I just finished a great French noir debut called Summertime, All The Cats Are Bored by Philippe Georget as well as Where’d you go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.  Non-mystery audiobooks I have listened to relatively recently include Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed and Rob Lowe’s memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends (glad I went with the audiobook here as Lowe does the narrating himself–so good!).

What is the most interesting “reference” question you’ve ever been asked? (reference in quotes to allow for some flexibility in answering the questions) I once helped a student asking for information on how many schools there were in Chicago.  This was before readily-available data online, so I walked him over to the Education reference area, discussing how we might approach the question and how he would need to define what he meant by schools–did he want to include colleges & universities?  Public schools only?  Private schools?  He smiled and nodded for a while and we were getting some good leads on potential sources of school data when he said, “Actually, I asked ‘How many *squirrels* are in Chicago?”  I think we ended up identifying some animal-related groups in Chicago and discussed how he might need to get some estimates and then extrapolate.

Tell us about your current role at your library, and maybe a little bit about your career path, too.
I am lucky to be able to do what I love to do, which is to help connect people to the information they’re looking for and to sometimes teach them a research trick or two along the way.  I never thought I’d end up as a business reference specialist, but somehow here I am.  I work mostly with MBA students, but also with undergrads and faculty.  The topics tend to be business-focused, but the range of what constitutes “business” varies widely and wildly.  From food trucks to geothermal furnaces to cardiac stents to green consumers to mouth guards to smartphone apps and everything in  between, it’s always something new.

Describe a particularly rewarding experience in your library career.
Being elected Chair of BRASS was an honor.  I have met so many great people through BRASS and it’s a fantastic group to be involved with.  As a Past Chair of BRASS, and Past Past Chair, etc., as the years progress, you get appointed automatically to chair other BRASS committees (Nominating, Vendor Relations, some other ones that I’m forgetting), so we joke that we should get BRASS 4LIFE tattooed on our knuckles as part of our Chair initiation.

Give one fun fact about yourself—can be personal or professional.
I used to work at an all-boys summer camp in New Hampshire.  I started out in the kitchen but one summer they needed someone to take over the leatherworking shack–a former camper showed me how to bevel and stamp and for a brief while I was known as “the Leather Lady.”

Any hobbies?
Running, chia-pet collecting, kid-wrangling (I have two daughters, ages 5 and 2.5).

Why did you join RUSA (and/or sections)?
RUSA was initially my gateway to BRASS and I joined to expand my network of colleagues and to find a way to get involved with ALA.

How has RUSA helped you in your career?
It was through RUSA that I found my ALA home in BRASS.  RUSA also gave me the opportunity to turn what I used to run as a two-hour face-to-face workshop into a 4-week online course called Business Reference 101.  This, in turn, inspired and became the foundation for my ALA Editions-published Making Sense of Business Reference book which I *finally* finished last fall.  BizRef 101 is in its seventh or eighth year now (I’ve lost track) and here’s a shameless plug for Making Sense: www.facebook.com/MakingSenseBizRef

What are some of the RUSA activities you’ve participated in?
Lots and lots of BRASS stuff, RUSA Board, RUSA Membership Reception, RUSA Online Professional Development.

If you’re open to having RUSA members connecting with you directly, provide an e-mail address and/or phone number where they can reach you.
Sure–I’m happy to chat about RUSA with anyone.  Email is best: caross@umich.edu