BRASS Notes

Elizabeth Malafi, Editor

Message from the Outgoing BRASS Chair

Dear BRASS Members,

Many thanks to all the folks who served on BRASS Exec Board, and committees this past year. Your work culminated in wonderful events at ALA Annual in Chicago. These included a pre-conference, membership reception, Public Libraries Forum “The Many Paths to Empowering Your Business Community,” Publisher’s Forum “The ABCs of Private Equity & Venture Capital Data and Information,” the ever popular BRASS Discussion, BRASS Program “Demystifying the Federal Reserve,” and ended with a membership dinner Monday night to wrap things up. Details of each committee’s work is below.

It has been a pleasure serving as BRASS Chair this past year and getting to work with many of you. I am continually impressed by the dedication our members have to BRASS and its continued success in offering excellent networking and education events and opportunities to business librarians. Thank you for the honor to serve as Chair. I look forward to serving as Past Chair and assisting Greg and Natasha as they take over leadership of BRASS.

Best,
Louise

Louise Feldmann
Past Chair 2017-2018
Louise.Feldmann@Colostate.edu

BRASS Education Committee

The BRASS Education Committee met at ALA Annual. They reviewed the ALA Annual 2017 Pre-conference (sponsored by Emerald; held at Buddy Guy’s) whi9ch was full at 75 registrations. Proposal submitted for 2018 Preconference Annual for “The Education of Business: 21st Century Strategies for Success”. The 3 paid webinars that were sponsored with RUSA in the last year on “Data in Libraries” will be repeated this fall. Thanks to Jennifer Boettcher, Bobray Bordelon, and Ryan Womack for agreeing to present again! No free webinars in 2016/2017 but might bring back in lieu of preconference. Committee brainstormed themes for 2018 Best of the Best Business Websites and will vote in the summer.

Robbi De Peri , 2017-2018 Chair

Business Reference in Academic Libraries Committee

BRASS members are encouraged to write and submit articles to Academic BRASS. More information is available on the BRASS Website at http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass/publications/academicbrass. Our committee recommends that the names of current editors, Carol Schuetz and Karen Chapman, and all past editors be noted on the table of contents page for each issue.
We are planning another Lightning Talks Forum for the 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans. An ad hoc committee will be coming up with a timeline for request for proposals, refereeing, etc. Please contact incoming chair, Ilana Stonebraker at Purdue if you would like more information.

Susan Norrisey, 2016 – 2017 Chair

Business Reference in Public Libraries

The Business Reference in Public Libraries Committee presented “The Many Paths to Empowering Your Business Community” at ALA Annual in Chicago. Terry Zarsky, Amilcar Perez, Elizabeth Malafi and Ed Rossman presented. Overall response from attendees was positive, with most commenting that they appreciated the fact that many ideas were presented in a short time period, and that it would be useful for their own library’s services. The committee met following the presentation to discuss the various potential projects that the group could focus on during the new term. A new committee chairperson as well as new members will be announced shortly.

Sal DiVincenzo, 2015 – 2017 Chair

Business Reference Services Discussion Group

The Business Reference Services Discussion Group hosted an open forum at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago on June 25th and over 90 BRASS members were in attendance. We had a lively discussion covering topics from strategies for handling difficult business research assignments to updates on resources. Mintel generously sponsored the event by providing a continental breakfast.

Thank you to all of the committee members this past year for hosting the virtual discussions and taking notes for BRASS members. Lisa Martin, from the University of Houston, is the incoming BRASS Discussion Chair and will be facilitating the fall virtual discussions.

Felipe Castillo, 2016-2107 Chair

Publications and Communications Committee

The committee discussed pursuing LinkedIn as another social media venue. However, due to Genifer Snipes finishing her term as Social Media Coordinator, we decided to table the issue for a later time. In general, the committee was not in favor of adopting another social media venue, given the limited uptake with our existing efforts in Twitter and Facebook.

The Committee discussed taking a large role in the web redesign task force, as outlined by Annette Buckley’s separate report.

The Committee discussed concerns over the work of the committee. For several years the group has struggled with finding the role of the committee in the larger BRASS organization. There are several individual positions (web manager, Notes editor, etc.) within the committee, but it does not take a committee to do that work or direct their work.

Over the next year, Committee will do an environmental scan and audit of other communication groups, as well as survey membership on their communication needs. This work will help the Committee to decide if a Publications and Communications Committee is still relevant/needed.

Chad Boeninger, 2015 – 2017 Chair

Vendor Relations Committee

Thank you to our sponsors for Annual 2017 in Chicago:
BRASS is fortunate to have loyal sponsors that support the section activities and awards. Our members benefit from generous sponsorship of travel awards and recognition of librarian excellence and research. Our award sponsors and the 2017 awardees are:

• Mergent for the Excellence in Business Librarianship Award, 2017 Awardee Elizabeth Malafi, $4000.
• SimplyMap for the BRASS Student Travel Award, 2017 Awardee Ian Richardson, $1250.
• Emerald Group for the BRASS Research Award, 2017 Awardee Raymond Pun, $5000.
• Morningstar for the Public Librarian Award, 2017 Awardee Erin Cavell, $1250.
• Global Financial Data Travel Award for new academic librarians, 2017 Awardee Bradley J. Kuykendall, $1250.

Look for nominations notices for achievement and travel awards in early fall for 2018.

BRASS sponsors also kept attendees at annual well nourished at these BRASS Programs and Events:

• Emerald Lunch and Panel Presentation at Buddy Guy’s in Chicago
• InfoGroup / ReferenceUSA for the Friday BRASS Member Reception at Cavanaugh’s
• Mintel for coffee break during the BRASS Discussion Group and New Business Librarians Discussion Group.
• Visit to Mintel Offices on Monday afternoon.
• S&P Global Market Intelligence for the Monday BRASS Program Breakfast.
• Springshare for the ongoing hosting of BRASS LibGuides.

Ann Fiegen, 2015-2017 Chair

Award Committees

Morningstar Librarian Support Award Committee

Winner, Erin Cavell, Small Business Librarian, Business, Science, and Government Documents, Minneapolis Central Library, Hennepin County Library attended many BRASS events at ALA Annual.

Ed Rossman, 2016 – 2017 Chair