#TreatYourShelf this Holiday Season!

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Making your ‘To Be Read’ list? Checking it twice? #TreatYourShelf (or others) this holiday season with titles from RUSA’s award lists selected and reviewed by our expert librarians.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year. A longlist comprised of no more than 50 titles is released in September. Six finalists (shortlist), three fiction and three nonfiction, are announced in October, pictured above.

Notable Books List selected by the Notable Books Council, is a list of 25 very good, very readable and at times, very important fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for adult readers.

The Reading List  seeks to highlight outstanding genre fiction from each of the current eight different categories including adrenaline, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and women’s fiction.

The Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration, seeks to highlight outstanding audiobook titles that merit special attention and includes twelve titles including fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays.

The Sophie Brody Award is given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. In the context of this award, Jewish literature is defined as fiction, nonfiction or poetry that has as its central purpose the exploration of the Jewish experience.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sneak Peek] RUSA’s New Website!

RUSA’s modern, simplified, new website will be here on December 1, 2016 – sneak peek image below.  The new RUSA Member Map allows members to pin where in the world they are. But you guys, it’s only going to be cool if you all actually go in and add your location! More on that to come.

Subscribe to be notified when it’s live.

image of RUSA's new homepage including images of news items and a map

Stacy Gilbert Selected as RUSA’s 2017 Emerging Leader

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Stacy Gilbert, Business Librarian, Assistant Professor at the West Campus Library at Texas A&M University, has been selected as the 2017 Emerging Leader for the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

The American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leaders program is a leadership development program that enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. The Emerging Leader experience begins with a daylong session during the ALA Midwinter Meeting, followed by six months of project engagement through online learning and networking environments. The program culminates with a poster session presentation to display the results of the project planning work of each group at the ALA Annual Conference.

As the RUSA Emerging Leader, Stacy will partner with other emerging leaders on the project of her choosing. She will also work with RUSA leadership in a variety of other roles throughout the year. Stacy will kick off her tenure as the 2017 RUSA Emerging Leader at the upcoming 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta, GA.

Stacy received her Master of Science in Library Science, with a Archives and Records Management concentration, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014. Stacy also received a Master of Science in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2013 and her Bachelor of Science in Television-Radio, International Communications concentration, at Ithaca College in 2010. She is a member of RUSA and the Business and Reference Services Section (BRASS) of ALA, a member of the Special Libraries Association’s Business and Finance Division as well as a member of the American Marketing Association.

Stacy is a firm believer that effective leadership is to put people in situations where they can make the most of their talents. When working on group projects, Stacy tries to understand everyone’s strengths, weaknesses and interests in order to guide them to a role they might want to play on the projects team.  Another important aspect of leadership is professional and personal growth and a great leader understands where her teammates hope to be in one year, five years or more. Stacy appreciates leaders who assign people projects that maximize and grow their skills and may guide people slightly outside their comfort zones so they can grow to new areas.

About RUSA
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) serves all types of libraries in reference, user services, adult readers advisory, collection development, resource sharing, genealogy and archives, business reference and reference technology. Review RUSA’s website for additional information on membership, awards, upcoming conferences and events, professional resources and so much more!

Message from RUSA VP/President-Elect, Chris LeBeau

Hello RUSA Members,

I invite you to volunteer for one of RUSA’s committees or a section committee.

There are so many ways to get engaged and serve our community of over 3,000 members. Check out the RUSA committee list  or look for committees under RUSA Sections. Volunteers must be RUSA members. We need people with many different talents and interests.

To volunteer:

  • Login to ALA
  • Visit the Committee Volunteer Form page
  • Change drop down menu option to “RUSA”
  • Fill out the form about yourself and your current ALA responsibilities;
  • Again, be sure the drop down at the bottom is set to “RUSA” or to a section.

You’re in!

You may also email me, Chris LeBeau, lebeauc@umkc.edu, and tell me about your experience and what you would like to do. Likewise, feel free to contact section vice-chairs to express your interest:

BRASS: Louise M. Feldmann, Louise.Feldmann@colostate.edu
CODES: Daniel C. Mack, dmack@umd.edu
ETS: Courtney Greene McDonald, crgreene@indiana.edu
HISTORY: Christina Thompson Shutt, christina.shutt@arkansasheritage.org
STARS: Heidi Nance, hnance@u.washington.edu
RSS: Amy Elizabeth Rustic, aer123@psu.edu

For book lover volunteers
Many members are interested in serving on the Notable Books Council. The number of volunteers far outnumbers the slots for this committee. As an alternative consider our Listen List, the Reading List, the Sophie Brody award, and all the other awards on our RUSA Awards page. All provide excellent experience in book reviewing.

Thank you again to all our current, past and future volunteers – you are truly what makes RUSA such a wonderful place to belong! We couldn’t do it without you.

Thank you in advance,

Chris LeBeau
RUSA VP/President-Elect