RSS

Denise Wetzel, Editor

Message from the Chair:

Hello RSS Members!

I hope you’re enjoying spring and are gearing up for the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

As you may know, RSS went through a section review last year. The section review was a great way for RSS to reflect on how we are meeting the needs of the profession, and for ways in which we can collaborate with our colleagues in other sections and divisions across ALA. Look for some of these changes to take place in 2017, we’ll likely have more information after Annual.
In the spirit of reflection, RSS will be sending a survey for members to tell us about their experiences with the section. The survey is being finalized, and the link will be posted to the RSS listserv soon. We hope to hear ideas from members on how the section can stay relevant and respond to our always changing field!

With ALA Annual coming up soon, I wanted to highlight a few events, and remind you that we will post events and information on the RSS Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/rss.rusa/) as the conference approaches. As always, RSS events will be in the conference scheduler as they are added.

On Saturday morning, RSS will host our annual Open House Breakfast and All Committee Meeting. Committees will meet during this time, and if you’re interested in learning more about RSS, please stop by. The Open House is a great way to learn about the work of RSS.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Time: 8:30am – 10:00am
Location: Hyatt Regency McCormick, room Burnham/CC 23A-C

On Saturday evening, we will co-sponsor The Plunkett Research RUSA ETS/RSS Happy Hour.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Time: 6:00pm -7:30pm
Location: Bar Louie (333 N. Dearborn Street)

Two RSS committees will host Discussion Forums during the conference.
RSS Discussion Forum I (RUSA) Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Time: 1:00pm – 2:30pm
Location: McCormick Place West, room W196a

RSS Discussion Forum II (RUSA) Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Hyatt Regency McCormick, room DuSable/CC 21A-C

Look for details about the specifics of their sessions in their reports below.
Please feel free to get in touch if you have questions.

Amy E. Rustic,
RSS Chair 2016-2017
aer123@psu.edu

RSS Honor Roll

It’s that time of year! We want to recognize you and your contributions to RSS!

The RSS Honor Roll gives recognition to active RSS members who have served the section in three different capacities since its inception.

If you have been a member of three or more committees or discussion groups since RSS was established in 2004 and have not previously been added to the honor roll, please send your name and a list of the three ways you have served RSS to Ellen Keith at keith@chicagohistory.org.

Not only will you become a member of this esteemed group, you will also be recognized at ALA Annual in Chicago!

Join the RSS Honor Roll today!

RSS COMMITTEE REPORTS

Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee

The Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need Committee is sponsoring the RSS Discussion Forum II during ALA Annual 2017 in Chicago on June 25th, from 3:00pm – 4:00pm. It will be at the Hyatt Regency McCormick, in the DuSable/CC 21A-C room. Although we still need to finalize our title for the forum, our overall theme is “Best Practices in Social Media.” We plan on having a four-person panel on the topic, with ample representation from academic, public, and special collections libraries.

Shannon Richie, sgr1@psu.edu
Patricia Greenstein, southard@gwu.edu
Co-Chairs 2016-2017

Communications Committee

The Communication Committee held its Mid-Winter Meeting virtually on February 22, 2017. Since that time, committee members drafted an elevator speech about RSS. The speech is as follows:

RSS works to ensure that reference and information services are kept current and relevant in the context of the ever-changing needs and interests of library users, by providing professional development and educational opportunities, by creating, assessing, and publicizing resources and services, and through collaborative and shared experiences for its members.

The committee still welcomes comments on the elevator speech. Please send them to Chair, Laura Friesen at lflynn@umflint.edu). This speech will be posted prominently on the RSS web page, and distributed to members through various means that are forthcoming.
All RSS committees are encouraged to send committee news and activities to the Communication Committee’s Facebook coordinators, Denise Wetzel (dwetzel@library.msstate.edu) or Manda Sexton (asexto14@utk.edu). Committee members continue the effort to update the web pages of all RSS committees.

The committee has also been working with the ETS Membership and Communication Committee to sponsor The Plunkett Research RUSA ETS/RSS Happy Hour at ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. It will be held Saturday, June 24th from 6:00pm – 7:30pm at Bar Louie (http://www.barlouie.com/locations/states/illinois/river-north) 333 N. Dearborn Street. Food will be provided by Plunkett Research and a cash bar will be available.

Laura Friesen, lflynn@umflint.edu
Chair 2016-2017

Discovery Services Committee

In November and December, the Discovery Services Committee chairs worked with the chair of Services for Systems & Discovery Committee from RUSA’s Emerging Technology Section (ETS) to flesh out the pros and cons of a possible merge. The two committees have different foci and the Services for Systems & Discovery Committee has an active and engaged membership. Creating a new charge for a new committee demonstrated that we would be creating an entirely different committee and would be diminishing the strengths of the current Services for Systems & Discovery Committee. Instead of merging with another committee in the organization, we have determined it is time to sunset the Discovery Services Committee. The RUSA RSS Board approved this motion in February 2017. The Discovery Committee will have a final virtual meeting before Annual 2017.

Cynthia A. Johnson, cynthiaj@uci.edu
Lyndsie Robinson, Lyndsie.Robinson@oneonta.edu
Co-Chairs 2016-2017

Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee

The Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee will host The RSS Discussion Forum I at Annual on Saturday, June 24th from 1:00pm – 2:30pm in McCormick Place West, room W196a. Our featured guest speaker is Dave Tyckoson, librarian at the Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno. First and foremost a reference librarian, Dave has published and presented extensively about reference services, reference collections, and the reference interview. He recently co-edited a book on reference service, Reimagining Reference in the 21st Century, published by Purdue University Press. Dave also teaches two online continuing education classes for librarians and library staff, The Reference Interview and Rethinking Reference Collections. He firmly believes that libraries are primarily about people and that they should be designed to meet the needs of the local user community.
The operative word in this Discussion Forum is “discussion,” so we hope you will join us and participate by bringing your own thoughts and comments to the floor. Hope to see you there!

Bryna Coonin, cooninb@ecu.edu
Chair 2016-2017

Health and Medical Reference Committee

Chair Ann Glusker is presenting the RUSA webinar, “Health Reference and You: Guidelines, Best Practices, and Strategies” on May 16th. It will focus on using the new Health and Medical Reference Guidelines as a support for training staff to be more comfortable with health-related reference questions.

Since the committee has already done an extensive job of publicizing the guidelines, we are moving on to trying to get more action on the MedRef@ALA list-serv (especially now that we have a moderator). Ideas include:

• Sending information to selected list-servs (in particular, state library association list-servs)
• Considering doing lightning talks or webinars at the state level
• Seeking out newsletters in which we could announce the list-serv

We are also seeking out collaborative opportunities; two of the committee members work for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) which is always interested in collaborative work. We can also check in with organizations to which we publicize the MedRef list-serv. To this end we look forward to exploring additional promotional avenues, hopefully creating one or two ongoing relationships (with NNLM and the Consumer Health section of MLA, for example), as well as thinking about directions for the committee next year.

Ann Glusker, glusker@uw.edu
Chair 2016-2017

Research and Statistics Committee

The Research and Statistics Committee will be hosting the New Discoveries in Reference: RUSA/RSS 23rd Annual Reference Research Forum at ALA Annual on Sunday, June 25th, from 10:30am – 11:30am in McCormick Place West, room W180. Our presenters and presentation titles are:

• Research Consultations and Student Success, Ann Roselle, Faculty Librarian, Phoenix College, speaker
• Analyzing Data Consultations: What Liaisons Can Learn about Users’ Data Needs and Use of Tools, Wenli Gao, Communication, Sociology, and Anthropology Librarian, University of Houston, speaker.
• ‘Is it a journal title, or what?’ Mitigating Microaggressions in Virtual Reference, Marie Radford, Ph.D. Professor and Director, Ph.D. Program, Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers University, speaker.

Full presentation descriptions and lists of all research teams are posted on ALA Connect.

The committee is also wrapping up its review of reference articles from the past year, and will be publishing the review in early June.

David Ward, dh-ward@illinois.edu
Cindy Levine, crlevine@ncsu.edu
Co-Chairs 2016-2017