STARS
by
Kerry Keegan, Editor
Letter from the Chair
Greetings!
My name is Micquel Little and I am so excited to be your STARS Chair for 2017-2018. I am currently the Director of User Services and Resource Sharing at the Claremont Colleges Library in Southern California. I have been in this position for 2.5 years now, moving from Western New York during the winter of 2014/2015. I have been involved in resource sharing since 2010 when I joined St. John Fisher College’s Lavery Library as their Access Services Librarian and involved in STARS since 2011 when I received the Atlas Systems Mentoring Award and accidently sat at the wrong table during the All Committee meeting!
From the very beginning of my introduction to resource sharing I fell in love with the people and services our library communities provide to each other and our stakeholders. As our services continue to expand, collaborate, and transition to embody our own visions for the future, I am constantly inspired and re-energized by being surrounded by such intelligent, generous, and amazing colleagues.
The 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago was full of exciting STARS-related programming once again this year. All of the discussions and conversations organized and facilitated by our Hot Topics and ILL Discussion group members were progressive and thoughtful. Our STARS Outreach and Promotion Committee organized the STARS Social on Friday night, partnering with Reprints Desk to provide appetizers, and we are excited to say we saw the highest number of attendance since our 10 year anniversary in Las Vegas! Our committees and STARS section exec meetings were led by our fearless organizer, Heidi Nance, who did an amazing job as STARS Chair this past year. Her “behind the scenes” work in organizing documentation, procedures, timelines, and more in a shared space that will benefit Chairs of STARS to come is invaluable to me and our section. Thank you so much, Heidi!
Also, to echo Heidi’s letter from last year, I’d also like to extend continued gratitude to Tom Bruno for his work this past year as Past-STARS Chair and to Tina Baich for her ongoing service and willingness to provide leadership as Past-Past-Chair.
This coming year, we will begin reviewing the STARS section committees to better align with the RUSA organization changes that were implemented at ALA Annual 2017 as well as continuing to work on some exciting committee initiatives. To name just a few, these include a new Atlas Systems Publication Award implementation, engagement in STARS branding in alignment with RUSA rebranding efforts, continued deliverance of our popular ILL 101: Everything you ever wanted to know about ILL course, and implementation of revised Guidelines for Resource Sharing Disaster Preparation and Response. Our Outreach and Promotion committee will also be working closely with me to further Heidi’s efforts in providing documentation and guidance for STARS committee Chairs and to continue engagement with current and future STARS members through exciting outreach initiatives, tools, and our STARGazer highlights!
As I look forward to this year, I am excited to continue my STARS engagement with such wonderful colleagues. In my every day responsibilities at my library, I am constantly encouraged and motivated by the connections I have with all of you as well as just knowing you are out there in your own libraries doing fantastic work for your patrons. What we do is important. It is valued and it is essential to the support and education of the larger society in which we live. You are making a difference and I am so grateful to be part of your constellation.
Thank you, STARS!
Micquel Little
STARS Chair 2017-2018
Outreach and Promotion Committee
Dear RUSA-STARS Members,
Interested in volunteering your time, being on a committee or taking a leadership role in STARS? Aren’t sure where to begin? Help us help you!
Please take a moment to fill out this brief survey: https://goo.gl/forms/Qf8JELJpjXVSZ7Xh1
By doing so, STARS can help you find your perfect fit! Highlighting your ideas, skills and talents are so important to the success of our section.
We appreciate your participation!
Nancy Abashian (Chair), Micquel Little, Bill Jones, Mike Paxton, Candice Townsend
Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee
The Rethinking Resource Sharing Policies Committee met at ALA Annual to create a plan for transitioning administrative control of the checklist to new committee members. The possibility of rethinking the RSS manifesto, which is managed jointly with the RSSI Steering Committee, was also introduced and will be an ongoing topic of discussion with both groups.
Beth Posner, Chair
Research and Assessment Committee
Research and Assessment distributed and collected feedback forms for STARS-sponsored sessions at Annual, and is in the process of compiling final assessments. These will be posted to ALA Connect.
David Ketchum, Chair
Hot Topics Discussion Group
The Hot Topics Discussion Group met at Annual in Chicago. Our main speaker was Dr. Annie Payton, Director of Drake Memorial Learning Resources Center at Alabama A&M University. Drake Memorial Library is a Tipasa early adopter, and Dr. Payton spoke about their adoption process and the transition from ILLiad to Tipasa. Kurt Munson also spoke about the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s recent statement on resource sharing systems, and how other libraries & consortia can inform the process of resource sharing system development.
Hot Topics will meet again at ALA Midwinter 2018 in Denver, CO. We’re looking for topics and speakers. Interested parties can contact Hot Topics Chair Nora Dethloff at ndethloff@uh.edu.
Nora Dethloff, Chair