Category: RSS Review

Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee
Our initial plans are to carry on work started last year with the distribution of a survey to gather information to aid in planning programs, discussion forums, and professional development opportunities. Once survey results have been gathered and analyzed, the committee will brainstorm activities to implement over the coming year.

Colleen Seale, Chair 2014-2015

Discovery Services Committee (Formerly Catalog Use Committee)
The RSS Discovery Services Committee welcomed over 120 attendees and 4 great speakers during this year’s ALA Annual Conference RSS Discovery Services Forum, held on Sunday, June 29th, from 3-4 pm.

Forum speakers included Mireille Djenno, Gwen Gregory, and Ling Wang of University of Illinois at Chicago Library presenting “What We Discovered About Discovery: Comparing Two Discovery Systems at One Academic Library,” Emily Keller of University of Washington Libraries presenting “Dumbing down or drilling down? Librarians’ perspectives on discovery tools,” Van Houlson of University of Minnesota presenting “Alma in the Morning: The Impact of a Next Generation Discovery System on Patrons and Staff at a Research Library,” and Rosalind Tedford of Wake Forest University presenting “Future of Discovery: Analytics, Meet Instruction.” The first half of the forum included lightning round style presentations from each of the speakers and the second half allowed participants to discuss important topics that revolved around the forum’s theme of Discussing Discovery Services: What’s working, What’s not, and What’s Next?. Feedback from the evaluation forms rated the forum from ‘very good’ to ‘excellent.’ To review the PPT slide presentations from the forum visit the RSS Discovery Services Committee’s ALA Connect page (http://connect.ala.org/node/63993).

After the forum some attendees suggested possible ideas for future forum topics such as how to use discovery systems within the threshold concept instructional themes, discussing the grey literature, or collaborating with LITA to think about what reference librarians can learn from systems. More brainstorming ideas are sure to will follow over this upcoming year.

In addition to planning this year’s forum, the committee has also been actively maintaining a bibliography of materials concentrating on catalog and other discovery services. To view the bibliography visit: http://connect.ala.org/node/202483.

Anne Larrivee, Chair, 2014-2015

Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee
The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee hosted two popular discussion forums at Annual:

“Extreme Customer Service: Reference at Its Finest!” was facilitated by Jeanne Holba Puacz, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. A scenario was provided to kick off the discussion and it flowed freely from there. Over 60 participants asked questions and discussed ways to create a customer service culture. Training strategies were discussed as were suggestions for dealing with grumpy patrons (and even for dealing with grumpy staffers!). Non-traditional concepts in customer service, such as traffic flow and signage were also considered. Among the tips that were shared were – don’t read at the desk, acknowledge patrons with open faces and attitudes; lead by example; smile while on the phone; and show interest in all questions.

“Readying Reference: Training for Public Service Reference Providers” was facilitated by Geoff Johnson and Joe Dobbs from the University of Texas Libraries, University of Texas at Austin. After sharing information about the training program at their library, Geoff and Joe had the approximately 35 attendees divide into small groups to discuss training at everyone’s libraries. Discussion questions were provided to help guide the discussions. The discussion began with focusing on what training looks like – who is responsible for training, who gets trained and are there refreshers or ongoing training. The discussion then touched on service standards and developing competencies. After the small group discussions the large group reconvened and people shared what they had discussed.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2013-2014

Education and Professional Development for Reference
On Monday, June 30, the committee sponsored a discussion forum at ALA Annual titled “The State of Reference Education: What We Have Learned and What Would You like to Find Out?” The 15 attendees participated in a lively discussion centered around four questions:

• With Google, do we still need reference librarians?
• Do working librarians find that new hires have the requisite reference skills?
• What changes, if any, have you observed in reference work in recent years?
• Based on your own view of the future of reference, what reference education should library schools provide?

Bryna Coonin, Rayette Sterling, and Jason Coleman created a summary of the discussion (attached to the comments at http://connect.ala.org/node/223262). As the summary indicates, there was a consensus that the skills and expertise of reference librarians are still needed. While WebScale discovery simplifies some aspects of research, it also creates a significant need for information about what the services lack. Some noted that library schools should continue to provide subject-specific reference knowledge, but should augment that with customer service skills and hands-on experience through internships and practicums.

The committee will use the insights gained from this discussion to inform its decisions about next steps to take in its ongoing investigation into the state of reference education. One likely next step is dissemination of the results from the committee’s preliminary examination of the slate of reference courses library schools are currently offering and what topics those courses are addressing. Another likely next step is discussions with members of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) and further discussion forums with practicing reference librarians.

Jason Coleman, Chair 2014-2014

Evaluation of Reference and User Services
A group made up of members of ERUS and Virtual Reference Services Committee distributed a survey in August/September 2013 with the goal to assess the state of the profession in the provision of virtual reference services. The analysis stage was completed and initial results were reported to ERUS at our ALA Annual meeting. Results will be shared more broadly, and recommendations for regular surveys on this topic will be explored. ERUS also conducted a survey looking at reference service models and evaluation of service. At the close of the survey, we received a very large number of responses. Initial analysis of the results has begun and the goal is to disseminate the findings broadly. The committee will submit a proposal for a discussion forum at Midwinter 2015 on this topic, with the hope that the survey results can be incorporated or used to inform the discussion.

Jason Kruse, Chair, 2013-2014

Health and Medical Reference Committee
The Health and Medical Reference Committee has been hard at work completing the new Health and Medical Reference Guidelines to replace the Guidelines for Medical, Legal, and Business Responses (2001) currently on the RUSA website. Outgoing Chair Karen Vargas met with the Standards and Guidelines Committee on Sunday June 29 during the ALA Annual Meeting. The Health and Medical Reference Guidelines have to be approved by the Standards and Guidelines Committee, then they go out for public review, and finally to the RUSA Board. When the board approves them, they are good for 7 years. During the meeting on June 29, the Standards and Guidelines Committee had positive feedback about this draft of the new guidelines. Since they work entirely online, it is possible the process of adopting these new guidelines will be completed by Midwinter 2015.

The Health and Medical Reference Committee welcomes new member Ann Gluske, BST Librarian from The Seattle Public Library, as well as new Chair Laura Haines, Health Sciences Librarian from the Dana Medical Library at the University of Vermont. Welcome!

The Committee looks forward to completing a few different projects this coming year: the completion of the Guidelines; creating a web site for the committee; and getting medref-L, a listserv focused on health and medical reference topics, up and running.

Laura Louise Haines, Chair, 2014-2015

Job and Career Reference Committee
Most recently, at Annual, The RSS Job & Career Reference Committee held a discussion forum entitled “Community Needs, Reference, & Assessment in Job & Career Reference.” Its description stated “Large and small libraries hold a variety of programs for job seekers – regular classes, one-shot sessions, traditional reference services, reference appointments and others. How do libraries and information providers determine needs of the community and which services & programs to offer? How do they assess outcomes?” The discussion was pretty informal and intimate—it seems that while some libraries have in-house-designed systems for monitoring success rates and outcomes at the job seeker level, many of us are still struggle with assessing how much we help each job seeker and where we fall short. As a result, we are hoping to create a conference program, possibly inviting professionals from Queens Library which seems to succeed at assessment, for a future conference.

Another possible topic we would like to investigate is possible collaboration on a program on assisting and facilitating youth entrepreneurship. As many jobs traditionally held by this age group are being taken by adults, leaving youth to develop service businesses on their own, channeling the knowledge of entrepreneurship librarians with a program designed for teens and using the expertise in this patron group of YALSA or YARS seems worthy of exploration.

Our new chair is Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, though Kate Oberg is still going to be fully involved in the committee.

Nicolette Warisse Sosulski, Chair 2014-2015

Library Service to an Aging Population
Library Services to an Aging Population Committee held two meetings at ALA-Annual in Las Vegas and worked through the current draft of the Guidelines for Library Services with Midlife and Older Adults: Best Practices with the goal of finishing the draft by the end of 2014. The committee also decided to discontinue the recommended websites that was created years ago, and to fold particularly excellent websites into the OLOS Keys to Engaging Older Adults @ Your Library.

Committee members organized and presented the program “Creative Aging @ Your Library,” highlighting successful arts programs at public libraries. Approximately 150 people attended, and several signed up to learn more about the committee and its projects.

Abigail Elder, Chair 2013-2014
Angela Fortin, Chair 2014-2015

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services
The Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Services Committee coordinated a discussion forum entitled, “The Soft Sell: Sales Skills for Librarian.” Nathaniel King, Director of Library Services, Nevada State College and Jacqueline Solis, Coordinator of Liaison Services for Subject Librarians, University of North Carolina presented on the SALES technique as it applies to library services. After the presentation, the 44 attendees were walked through a case study utilizing the technique, and broke into small groups to workshop additional examples.

Elizabeth DeCoster, Chair 2014-2015

Research and Statistics Committee
This year, the Research & Statistics Committee hosted the 20th Annual Reference Research Forum on Sunday, June 29th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. After a double-blind review process, the committee selected 3 research teams to present their results. Ixchel Faniel, Lynn Connaway, and Kendra Parson from OCLC presented “Building Relationships for the Effective Development and Delivery of Research Data Services,” which related the results of in-depth interviews conducted with librarians on the topic of data management. Curt Friehs presented the survey results on the use of technology by college students gathered by himself and his research partner, Jason Kaloudis, in “College Student Tech Usage: A Recent Survey of Trends.” And finally, Jenny Bossaller and Guinevere Lawson presented their survey results of libraries and their involvement with the Affordable Care Act, revealing interesting trends in “Libraries and the Affordable Care Act”. Each presentation garnered a number of interesting questions. The committee also reviewed and posted an annotated bibliography of articles relating to reference research for the Reference Research Review: 2013.

Ava M. Iuliano Brillat, Chair 2013-2014

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The VR Tutorial Subcommittee has almost completed work on the Virtual Reference Companion (VRC). Content has been created for the eighth and final module, Staffing/Partners, but the subcommittee still needs to finalize a few details before it can be made available. The committee will meet in August 2014 to complete the VRC.

Although we did not meet our goal of completion by ALA Annual 2014, some members of the subcommittee presented the VRC at the MARS VR Discussion Group meeting on Sunday, June 30, in Las Vegas, NV. The presentation included information about the history of the subcommittee, the process of creating the VRC, and the content and organization of the VRC. Meeting participants offered input and feedback to help populate the Tips & Best Practices section of the VRC, which is now available. We encourage RSS members to submit suggestions for additional content by leaving a comment on ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/node/225501 ) or by sending an email to Christine Tobias ( tobiasc@msu.edu ) or Laura Friesen ( flynnl@umflint.edu ).

In addition to being accessible from http://www.ala.org/rusa/vrc , the Hot Links section of the RSS Virtual Reference Committee page, and the Professional Tools section of the RUSA Resources page, the VRC is now linked in the Web Resources section of the ALA Library Fact Sheet 19: Virtual Reference: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet19).

Laura Friesen, Chair 2014-2015
Christine Tobias, Chair 2014-2015

Young Adult Reference Services Committee
YARS hosted the ALA Annual discussion forum, “Of *Course* It’s Due Tomorrow: What is the Appropriate Level of Homework Assistance in Libraries?” held on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at 10:30am. Among the topics discussed were the following:

• What are the obstacles to offering HW in libraries?
• How do we offer in-house HW without the use of library resources (funding, staffing)?
• How should we evaluate alternative tutoring services?
• What would be the most help to you to provide HW help in your library?
• Should ALA officially encourage libraries to provide in-house HW?

As a result of the ideas that emerged from the discussion, YARS will compile a resource of best practices, contacts, and templates for libraries that wish to offer in-house homework help or tutoring services to their student community. Details on the location of that resource will be decided shortly. The committee met at the All-RSS meeting at the Conference where we discussed ideas for next year’s conference program. A subgroup will work to plan that program, which will focus on issues surrounding library participation in Common Core standards, and will continue its search for panel speakers.

Allyson Evans Malik, Chair 2013-2015

Catalog Use Committee
A new committee name and updated charge will be proposed at the next RSS Board meeting. The Catalog Use Committee will continue to update a bibliography of materials on the current and future state of the library catalog available at http://connect.ala.org/node/202483

Colleen Seale, Chair 2013-2014 

Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee
The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee sponsored two exciting Forums at Annual. “Keeping it Real in a Virtual World: Managing and Promoting Your Online Reference Collection,” was facilitated by Sara Memmott from Eastern Michigan University, and April Levy from Columbia College Chicago. The eleven attendees were from a variety of types of libraries, including academic, community college, and public libraries, plus there was one non-librarian in attendance. Discussions took place in small groups, with ideas reported back to the entire group. Suggestions included: correlating recommended reference sources with events in the news, for more information, via Twitter and Facebook; featuring a “highlighted” reference resource or tool on the library’s home page; QR codes in the stacks to connect users with online resources that relate to those in print (or those recently removed and sent to storage); building on the QR codes idea, having librarians assisting users model the behavior we want to encourage by taking a smartphone or iPad/similar device to the stacks and using it to connect to and demonstrate an online resource; and using infographics to share/summarize information for users (resources available, cost of subscriptions, etc.).

Our second Forum, “Technology Competencies for Reference Librarians,” facilitated by Tina Chan from the State University of New York at Oswego, had a total of twenty-one attendees from academic, public, school, and other libraries. The very lively discussion touched on topics including what to look for in interviewees, how changing technology affects staff, what should go into a staff manual, and whether resistance to change is age-related.

The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee did not meet at ALA Annual 2013. The committee’s meeting for Annual was conducted via email in May when the winning forum proposals for the conference were chosen.

Crystal Lentz, Chair 2013-2014

Education and Professional Development for Reference
The RSS Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee is co-sponsoring a webinar on promoting reference products. The webinar is organized by the Reference Publishing Advisory Committee of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section in RUSA. The webinar will be held before the end of the year; look out for further announcement on this online event and other professional development opportunities related to reference service. The committee will commence our data gathering phase on assessing the state of reference education in the next few months. We are in the process of finalizing the various facets of this topic we want to explore in this initial phase of the project.

Joseph Yue, Chair 2013-2014 

Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee
Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee (ERUS) has partnered with Virtual Reference Services Committee to form an ad hoc team to survey the current state of virtual reference. The questions have been drafted and the goal is to have the survey out by the end of this summer. ERUS is currently working on a survey looking at reference service models and evaluation of service. The committee is reviewing a first draft of questions that came out of discussions from Midwinter and Annual 2013. The goal is to have this survey ready to send out to listservs by the end of this year.

Jason Kruse, Chair, 2013-2014

Health and Medical Reference Committee
Approximately sixty people attended the ALA Annual Conference program, “Different Strokes: Serving the Health Information Needs of a Diverse Community” held on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 1:00 PM. The committee met at the All-RSS meeting at the Conference. Ideas for a discussion forum at next year’s conference were discussed. The committee is planning a free RSS webinar, “Tried and True and Even Something New: Best Old and New Medical and Health Information Resources.” Details will be announced shortly. A subgroup to rewrite guidelines for medical reference continues to meet to discuss guidelines planning. The committee has established a listserv where librarians can discuss issues regarding medical reference. The email address is medref@ala.org. The link to subscribe is http://lists.ala.org/sympa/subscribe/medref. Plans are being made to promote this listserv.

Karen Vargas, Chair 2012-2014

Job and Career Reference Committee
The Job and Career Reference Committee met at ALA Annual. The Job and Career Reference Committee is moving forward with a wiki open to interested librarians and a listserv for librarians interested in Job & Career reference. Contact Kate Oberg (kathryn.oberg@gmail.com) if you have further questions.

Kate Oberg, Chair 2013-2014

Library Service to an Aging Population
Library Services to an Aging Population hosted “Boomers to Seniors: Library Models for Serving and Engaging Older Adults” that highlighted programs in California and Georgia, along with current research studies. Committee member Alan Kleiman moderated the panel. The presentation was enthusiastically received by the attendees; there was a strong sense among the group that this area of librarianship is being reinvented and many different models need to be tried.

In that same vein, the committee had an excellent meeting in which members decided that the current Guidelines for Library and Information Services to Older Adults no longer reflect current best practices. Committee members agreed that overhauling the Guidelines is the top priority this year. If you would like to be involved in this process, please follow us on ALA Connect or contact Abigail Elder (aelder@beavertonoregon.gov).

Abigail Elder, Chair 2013-2014

Library Services to the Spanish Speaking
The Services to the Spanish Speaking Committee met Saturday morning with only a few interested parties. The discussion group on Arizona libraries had twenty-five in attendance and seemed to be well received. Many of the speakers were also members of REFORMA who helped promote and support this program. ASCLA also has programs and webinars of interest to services to the Spanish Speaking. A few of the current and potential members suggested a change in the direction of this committee, perhaps in more dedication to services to immigrants. Rather than one specific group, this would include a broader spectrum of services libraries provide and potential expansion to include more libraries and government agencies interested in supporting these groups. Over the past few years, the Services to the Spanish Speaking had discussion groups for a limited audience. Consideration of changing the direction would enable more growth. I was not able to obtain a chair for the future. A few expressed potential interest and I am in contact with them to make their wishes known for your consideration. We were indeed fortunate to have the presentations on Sunday afternoon, but, as always, the programs often conflict with other broader interest programs such as this case with the Digital Public Library presentation.

The Committee hosted a discussion group on Sunday, June 30, 2013 3:00-4:00 PM, “Arizona Libraries: Spanish Services and Community Outreach.” As a border state, Arizona has historically always had a large Spanish Speaking/Latino community. Paulina Aguirre-Clinch, Marissa Alcorta, Paula Maez, Emily Scherrer, and Cecilia Tovar shared examples of successful programming and provide strategies for making connections to your own Spanish Speaking communities.

With the contemporary increase in recent immigration from Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries, library services and outreach to these communities is needed now more than ever. Two library systems in Southern Arizona, Yuma County Library District, and Pima County Public library, have used their resources, staff skills, and community building to provide relevant services and programming to these ever growing communities.

Finally, the Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users may be due for an update.

Stephen Marvin, Chair 2012-2013

Marketing and Public Relations for Reference
The Marketing & Public Relations Committee hosted a free webinar on the Slam the Boards concept in May. Attendees learned about the idea from Bill Pardue, who shared tips for finding questions on social question and answer sites, and tips for those who are new to the practice.

We also hosted a workshop at Annual in Chicago where Slam the Board participants shared their experiences. Thanks to Bill sharing his knowledge with us and to those who attended. If you’d like to continue participating in the Slam the Boards project, you can join a Facebook group to connect with others who’ve been caught by the Q&A bug.

We’re currently exploring ways to collaborate on event planning with other ALA groups interested in marketing and public relations. At our Annual committee meeting, we also discussed what we might learn from non-library marketers and public relations specialists, such as Jonah Sachs, author of Winning the Story Wars and social media experts who can help us learn tools and strategies for better telling our library stories.

Jessica Hagman, Chair 2013-2014

Recognition Committee
The RSS Recognition Committee chose Larayne Dallas as the RSS Service Achievement Award recipient for 2013. Larayne has had a long career in the Reference Services Section and is widely regarded as one of the most hard-working RSS members, having served on/chaired numerous committees and mentoring new and incoming chairs. Her involvement in RSS includes:

• Served four years (2005-2009) as a member of the RSS Organization Committee.
• Chair (2006-2007) of the RSS Management of Reference Committee, while continuing as a member (2003 -2007)
• 2002-2004 first chair of the ALA/RUSA Hot Topics in Front Line Reference Discussion Group
• Chair and RSS member of the RUSA RSS 2010 Nominating Committee
• 2003-2004 member of the MOUSS Nominating Committee
• RSS Honor Roll (2009)

Emilie Smart, Chair 2013-2014

Research and Statistics Committee
Over the 2012-2013 year, the Research and Statistics Committee solicited and selected proposals for the 19th Annual Reference Research Forum. This year’s forum included “Research Guides Usability Study,” by Angela Pashia, Instructional Services Outreach Librarian, University of West Georgia; “Two Birds, One Stone: Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Measure Service Process and Identify Usability Pain Points in Virtual Reference,” by Christine Tobias, User Experience and Reference Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries; “Query Clarification in Chat Reference: A Visual Transcript Analysis,” by Alexa Pearce, Librarian for Journalism, Media, Culture & Communication, New York University Libraries.

The Forum was held Saturday, June 29 from 1:00-2:30 PM at McCormick Place in Chicago. Approximately 180 people attended the event.

The committee also went through the literature from the past year to select exceptional articles detailing research in reference. The full Reference Research Review is available here.

Lynda Duke, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Services (MARS/RSS)
The partnership with the RSS Marketing and Public Relations Committee for the Slam the Board series (webinar: May 2013; “Slamming”: June 10; in-person discussion forum: June 2013 @ Annual) was a success. The participants were treated to both background on the Slam the Boards initiative itself and also practical ideas on marketing reference services for their own institutions.

The partnership with the RSS Evaluation of Reference and User Services (ERUS) Committee is on-going. The ad hoc virtual reference survey team presented a preliminary draft at our committee’s meeting at Annual. They are planning to continue to revise it (and the draft was also shared with incoming MARS chair, Sam Stormont).

The informal drop-in Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was held in the Networking Uncommons area of the McCormick Place from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM on Sunday at Annual. Although only fourteen people stopped by, there was a lively discussion on Wikipedia’s potential uses by libraries as a tool to provide access to resources and to promote libraries’ collections.

One participant shared the article (Honan-Allston Branch of Boston Public Library) she created from scratch as a library school student (including photos she took). One participant who had never edited Wikipedia articles before signed up for an account and edited her first article during the Edit-a-thon. Additionally, during the Joint RSS/MARS Executive Committee Meeting, attendees were intrigued by the idea of the Edit-a-thon and discussed ways something similar could be incorporated into section activities in the future.

Also at Annual, outgoing RSS Co-Chair, Don Boozer, introduced incoming RSS Co-Chair, Cathay Crosby, who most recently was Chair of the RSS Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Committee. Cathay and Alisa Gonzalez (MARS Co-chair) will chair the committee beginning directly after ALA Annual 2013.

Don Boozer, Chair 2012-2013

Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee
The Subcommittee is excited to continue working on the Virtual Reference Companion (VRC) with the goal of completion by ALA Annual 2014. The group continues to meet monthly and works in subgroups between meetings. A fifth module will be complete by the end of summer, leaving four more to go.

One section of the VRC has Tips & Best Practices and we are looking for ideas from RSS members that may help those new to the world of virtual reference. Our modules include Planning, Skills, Information Literacy, Technologies, Staffing/Partners, Marketing, Assessment, and Professional Development. If anyone has words of wisdom to share on any of these or other topics related to virtual reference, please send them to Jared Hoppenfeld at jhoppenf@tamu.edu or Christine Tobias at tobiasc@mail.lib.msu.edu.

Although the VRC has been accessible to anyone with the URL, it will be going live by the end of summer as we will request that http://www.ala.org/rusa/vrc takes the place of the previous resource, as it is linked from its current RSS location(s).

Jared Hoppenfeld, Chair 2012-2014
Christine Tobias, Chair 2013-2014

 

RSS Review is the newsletter of the Reference Services Section of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association. Please send suggestions for future issues to Amy Rustic (aer123@psu.edu), editor.

The Catalog Use Committee hosted a Roundtable Discussion at ALA Annual in Anaheim. The group had planned out five distinct discussion topics for the meeting, with a moderator for each topic.

• Finding e-Resources: an idea sparked by this article in the September issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship, “Usability Testing for E-Resource Discovery: How Students Find and Choose E-Resources Using Websites.” (p. 386 Fry, Amy).
• Catalog Accessibility: Access issues confronted by marginalized user groups such as the elderly, the disabled and children.
• Open Source Systems: Are they the future or a distraction?
• New Technology and the Mobile Landscape: How to make sense of new technology, platforms and devices.
• New Cataloging Standards and Resource Discovery: How will the new Sears subject headings and the RDA (Resource Description and Access) standards impact librarians and library users?

The Roundtable was scheduled for 4:00 PM on Saturday evening, and this may have impacted attendance. In the end, we had a dozen attendees and decided to meet together as one group. The smaller size of the group really helped draw in all of the participants. We had a very lively discussion, touching on each of the topic areas. We were able to devote more time to areas of particular interest to the group. The evaluations from the session were quite positive, with three-quarters rating the “overall experience” as “Very Good” and one quarter rating it as “Excellent.”

A focus for the Catalog Use Committee this coming year will be to look at the impact of Ebooks on the Library Catalog and best practices for displaying information about accessing and downloading on various devices, number of users, check out periods, along with other themes.

Peter Collins, Chair, 2011-2012
Colleen Seale, Chair, 2012-2013

The Communication & Teaching at the Point of Need Committee is just getting started so there is not much to report at this point. Our charge is “to offer programming, forums for discussions, and professional development opportunities focused on effective communication and teaching strategies, skills and technologies used during virtual or face-to-face reference interactions as well as other patron points-of-need. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the reference interview, ‘teachable moments’ during the reference interaction, and point-of-need videos or tutorials.”

As chair, I am looking forward to a fantastic year of leading the charge for this committee. Great reference skills are a true asset in any job but crucial for librarians.

Christine Sharbrough, Chair, 2012-2013

The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee sponsored two really exciting Forums at Annual. “Rethinking Your Reference Collection,” moderated by Christy Caldwell, had twenty-three attendees and a very lively discussion about the use and fate of print reference collections. Participants were both academic and public librarians and discussion covered topics from decision-making to dealing with staff resistance.

Our second Forum, “E-Access and Patron Bleed,” moderated by Nicolette Sosulski, covered a common feature of virtual reference services—assisting patrons from anywhere in the world with topics your local collection may not support. Eight public and academic librarians found a lot of common ground in this forum, discussing how their services deal with the expectations of patrons far outside a geographical or topical area.

The Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee did not meet at ALA Annual 2012. The committee’s meeting for the annual conference was conducted via email in May when the winning forum proposals for the conference were chosen.

Crystal Lentz, Chair, 2012-2013

Work is progressing on coordinating a joint in-person workshop at ALA Midwinter 2013 with the Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee (EPDRC) and MARS Professional Development Committee. The workshop, “New Tech for Reference: From the Reference Interview to Roving Reference, Challenges, Benefits and Best Practices,” will be held Friday, January 25, 2013 from 1:00-5:00 PM at the University of Washington Odegaard Library, room 220. Topics include: Twitter, Facebook, and social media for reference, iPad/roving reference and using a Knowledge base, like LibAnswers, in reference.

Over the next year the EDPRC will be reviewing syllabi from ALA-accredited LIS programs to review what content is covered in reference courses. This will aid in future directions for the committee.

Kristen Mastel & Joseph Yue, Co-Chairs, 2012-2013

The committee hosted a lively discussion forum at 2012 Annual, “The How, What, and Why of Reference Evaluation and Assessment,” moderated by committee members Ellen Keith and Jason Kruse on Saturday, June 23. We had seating for fifty and at one point, all fifty seats were filled! In our discussion of who was doing assessment and what tools were being used, interesting paths were shared. Assessment in some libraries is formalized to the point of having an assessment librarian or director. Besides tools like READ and LibQual, some libraries are using the Secret Shopper approach; some have created a rubric to assess undergraduate papers where the undergraduate has visited a librarian. Decisions being made with assessment data inform staffing, services, and best use of time. It was a fascinating discussion and we thank all who attended!

Ellen Keith, Chair, 2011-2013

The first meeting of the Health and Medical Reference Committee was held at the all RSS meeting at ALA annual. The committee discussed new health and medical reference guidelines, the program that the committee will hold at ALA annual in Chicago in 2013, possible webinars that could be sponsored, and ways to communicate health reference issues with the broader librarian community. Karen Vargas brought several documents that would be helpful in the creation of the guidelines and an online page will be set up where people can post additional resources as a first step for the guidelines. Panelists were proposed for the 2013 program on serving the health information needs of a diverse community. The committee agreed that they would like to work on a quarterly series of RUSA webinars, beginning with one on basic resources for medical reference.

Karen Vargas, Chair 2012-2014

The inaugural meeting of the Job and Career Reference Committee was held July 2012 and the following members attended: Kate Oberg (co-chair), Jennifer Hootman, Gergana Kostova, Samantha Soucy, and Arlene Weismantel. The charge of the committee is: to offer programming, forums for discussions, and professional development opportunities focused on providing services and outreach related to patrons’ jobs and career needs, including library resources and reference assistance; guides, tutorials, and web content; programming, promotion, and instruction; and effective community partnerships.

Kate Oberg, Chair 2012-2013

he RSS Library Services to an Aging Population Committee sponsored a program at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim: “How Libraries Are Meeting the Evolving Needs of Baby Boomers and Older Adults.” Over 100 people attended the program, which included presentations by Susan Hildreth (IMLS), Jane Salisbury (Multnomah County Public Library), Tony Sarmiento (Senior Services America), and Suzanne Flint (California State Library). The program included a lively question and answer period, in which various viewpoints on serving these populations were expressed. If you would like slideshows from the program, you can view them online at TransformingLifeAfter5.org.

Jeff Kempe, Chair, 2011-2013

The Library Services to the Spanish Speaking Committee is planning a discussion during ALA 2013 Midwinter with a speaker from a public library to present their children’s program. The session would include a demonstration of their story hour, in addition to a discussion of the marketing of similar programs and why community health organizations seemed to be more popular to promote services such as story hours to the Spanish community. The presentation will be in English and Spanish.

Other activities for this year may include a review of the Guide to Services to the Spanish and another review article potential on case studies of Spanish speaking library use.

Stephen Marvin, Chair 2012-2013

The Management of Reference Committee met twice in Anaheim at ALA Annual. At the first meeting William Weare, Chair, reported that the Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers revisions now needed approval from the Standards and Guidelines Committee and then final approval from the RSS Board. We discussed the Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians. At the most recent Midwinter meeting, the discussion session did find value in the Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians, but the Committee isn’t sure whether they were referring to the Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers. Because of other problems the Committee sees with them we agreed that the original document should be sunsetted and this Committee should focus on updating the professional competencies for managing reference services and departments. William brought this plan to the RSS Board who approved it.

Sally Dockter, Chair 2012-2013

Our committee sponsored a workshop at ALA Annual, “Let’s Work Together: Integrating Social Media, Online Marketing and Outreach” with David Lee King, Marshall Breeding and Jennifer Robinson. Liane Taylor assisted with on-site organizing and reported that the workshop went well.

As mentioned in our prior update, for ALA Annual 2013 in Chicago, we are pleased to collaborate with two other committees to co-sponsor with the RSS Virtual Reference (VR) Committee Chair Don Boozer and MARS co-chair Ellen Filgo a proposed workshop: ” Slam the Boards: A Model for Marketing Through Action.” This would be presented by Bill Pardue and may include an expansion of the concept of “guerilla marketing techniques for VR” (as Don put so well). We may shift this workshop to be a webinar prior to June’s conference, with a discussion forum at the conference. We’ll know soon which way we’re taking this.

Marketing and PR are essential for the promotion of all library services. During our most recent RSS meeting (Friday, July 20), our committee began to look at two elements for our upcoming initiatives to work on with partner committees:

1. School sustainability (working with YARS)
2. Marketing in academic libraries (working with Research & Statistics)

We’re excited for an active new year!

Cathay Crosby, Chair 2011-2013

The RSS Organization & Planning Committee will be working closely with the RUSA Executive Committee over the next year to continue to improve the effectiveness of the section. We will also be following up on feedback we’ve received over the next year, updating the handbook, reviewing the bylaws, and creating several surveys.

Liane Taylor, Chair 2012-2013

The Research and Statistics Committee hosted the 18th Annual Reference Research Forum on Sunday, June 25. This year’s presenters were Lili Luo presenting “Best Practices of Text Reference Service: A Synergistic View,” Susan Gardner Archambault and Kenneth Simon presenting “Apples and Oranges: Lessons from a Usability Study of Two Library FAQ Web Sites,” and Alison Graber, Alison Hicks, Caroline Sinkinson, and Stephanie Alexander presenting “Research Assistance Interactions: Exploration of Users’ Motivation and Perceptions.” The committee also combed the literature to select exceptional articles detailing research in reference for the Reference Research Review: 2011.

Lynda Duke, Chair 2012-2013

The RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Services Committee held its official meeting at ALA Annual in Anaheim on Saturday, June 23, as part of the RSS All-Committee meeting. Twelve people were in attendance. One of the primary goals of the meeting was final planning for the committee’s sponsored program held on Saturday, June 23, at 1:30-3:30pm: “Are Virtual Reference Services Worth the Effort? What ROI Analysis and User Evaluations Tell Us”. The program was successful with approximately 150 people attending.

The committee is partnering with the RSS Marketing Committee on a webinar with Bill Pardue on marketing virtual reference services prior to Annual 2013. A discussion forum on this topic is planned for Annual 2013 itself with some sort of “bridge” activity between the webinar and Annual also being considered.

With the Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee now having access to the RUSA Drupal installation, they are moving ahead with posting content. They have renamed the “Tutorial” the “Virtual Reference Companion” and aim to make it applicable to both managers/supervisors of VR service and frontline VR librarians. We are very excited about their progress and what they have planned.

We are also looking at a change in our official mission statement to fold in the charge of the now-disbanded Cooperative Reference Services Committee to “To identify and study issues relating to virtual reference services, and to evaluate and promote technological and service standards, guidelines, and ‘best practices’ for local and cooperative virtual reference services in all types of libraries.” We will be working with MARS and RSS to accomplish this.
Jason Coleman (Kansas State University Libraries and incoming Secretary of RSS) is moving ahead with the Survey Ad Hoc Group. He has recruited 2 people to help in designing and distributing the survey to determine the current state of virtual reference services.

The committee will be considering a Wikipedia edit-a-thon at either Midwinter and/or Annual. The committee plans to conduct their official midwinter meeting virtually with a time to be determined.

Don Boozer, Chair 2012-2013

After receiving training from Louise Gruenberg and with her assistance as well as that of Sean Bires and Andrea Hill, the VR Tutorial Subcommittee has begun populating the new resource in Drupal. The Planning Module now includes what used to be the Policies Module and is complete. The Training Module is currently in progress. The Resources section is a work in progress and we will add to this, as well as Tips & Best Practices and Activities, as we work on the modules. We will be reorganizing the Resources by topic, instead of alphabetically. We are awaiting permissions from ALA so we can populate the Welcome page.

The subcommittee continues to meet monthly and works in subgroups between meetings. We will be brainstorming about the Interview Skills Module next and a subgroup will take ideas from that meeting and implement into Drupal content. We plan to continue to work this way until the resource is complete, hopefully by next year’s annual conference.

We decided that “Virtual Reference Tutorial” does not fit the resource anymore and have renamed it the “Virtual Reference Companion: A Guide for VR Coordinators and Librarians”, or VRC for short.

The subcommittee would like your help in making this resource be as useful as possible. We will be sending out a survey in the near future to request tips & best practices, activities, and resources in regards to virtual reference that we may be able to use for the VRC. We will greatly appreciate your input.

Jared Hoppenfeld, Chair 2012-2013
Jennifer Lau-Bond, Chair 2011-2013

The newly minted Young Adult Reference Services (YARS) committee held a lively and informative discussion forum at 2012 Annual. The varied group of attendees points to the importance of reference services to this demographic. Fifteen participants talked about teen/young adult reference-related topics that ranged from assisting with research to marketing reference services to tweens, teens and undergrads (and the difficulties therein).

Plans are to continue offering discussion forums at conference and online while building name recognition and growing the committee’s membership from within YALSA and RSS.

Barbara Roos, YALSA
Emilie Smart, RSS
Co-Chairs, 2012-2013

RSS Review is the newsletter of the Reference Services Section of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association. Please send suggestions for future issues to Amy Rustic (aer123@psu.edu), editor.