President’s Note

Hello again RUSA members!
It’s been a busy few months since we gathered together at ALA Annual 2016 in Orlando, FL.
First and foremost, I am very pleased to announce this year’s RUSA Emerging Leader Stacy Gilbert. Stacy received her MSLS from UNC Chapel Hill in 2014 and also has a Masters in Media and Communication from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK. She is a business librarian at the West Campus Library at Texas A&M University and is a member of RUSA & BRASS.
RUSA committees and sections have been busy doing the work of the Association by following up on action items in our strategic plan and planning for events and activities at ALA Midwinter 2017 in Atlanta, GA. Here are some of the things we are working on:

• Executive Committee has been working closely with the Organization and Planning Committee to develop recommendations to help transition RUSA to a new organizational structure. The first phase of this transition was the implementation of interest groups including Copyright, First Year Experience, Shared Collections, and our newest interest group, Financial Literacy. The next phase includes a reorganization of the RUSA Board and RUSA Committees.
• We have been preparing some changes for the RUSA Bylaws to go on the 2017 RUSA ballot related to interest groups and RUSA membership dues.
• RUSA office staff are working hard to plan for ALA Midwinter 2017, coordinating awards activities, and designing a new website for RUSA. ALA Connect will also be offered on a new platform with new opportunities for member engagement. Look for information sessions at Midwinter.
• RUSA Membership is offering RUSA 101 and RUSA 201 sessions to help RUSA members learn more about RUSA and how members can be involved and also benefit from RUSA.
• The Nominations Committee has presented a slate of officers for the 2017 RUSA elections.
• The Name Change Task Force and Learning Archives Task Forces have both submitted reports which will be discussed in the near future. We are expecting the report of the Professional Competencies Task Force by Midwinter 2017.

If you want to be involved next year, we invite you to volunteer for one of RUSA’s committees or a section committee! 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.

Lastly, I’m writing this the day after our U.S. Presidential Election so I want to highlight the importance of advocacy on behalf of libraries and library users. Joe Thompson, a past President of RUSA and Susan Schmidt, President of United for Libraries, have organized a discussion on advocacy best practices at Midwinter which will be on Monday, January 23, from 10:30-11:30 in room A301 of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Please feel free to contact me anytime at alemcmanus@ucdavis.edu. I welcome your questions and comments.

Alesia McManus
RUSA President 2016-17