The MARS Local Systems & Services committee is seeking panelists for its discussion forum at the 2011 ALA Midwinter meeting in San Diego on Sunday, January 9th, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The topic of the discussion forum is “Designing Around a Single Search: How Discovery Layers are Changing Library Websites.”

Panelists are asked to describe their experience incorporating discovery systems (such as Summon, Encore, EBSCO Discovery Service, Primo, and Primo Central) into the library’s website. Proposals might address some of the following questions: Where do we put a discovery system search box on the library’s website? What tools or lists does it replace, if any? Should it replace the main website search box or remain separate? What content is included or left out? How do we teach our students and patrons about what it does (and doesn’t do) and when to use it?

If your library has implemented a discovery system and studied its impact on user website experience, please consider sharing what you’ve learned with your colleagues.

Each panelist should plan to speak for no more than 20 minutes and participate in a general Q&A at the end of the session.

Please e-mail proposals to: Matt Lee / Minitex-U of MN / leems001@umn.edu

Proposals should include a title (including name of discovery system) and brief summary of the talk, as well as the names, positions and e-mail addresses of the presenters.

Deadline for proposals: November 19, 2010

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) invites interested instructors and presenters to submit proposals for online professional development courses and webinars to be offered starting in early 2011.

RUSA currently offers several online courses in the areas of reference and readers advisory, and is looking to expand its available course topics, and also include webinars among its offerings. Topics of particular interest include skills for assisting patrons with job searches, collection development and introductory reference and user services skills. There is also significant interest in offering online learning opportunities that go more in-depth with business reference skills as a follow-up to the consistently sold out Business Reference 101 course currently offered by RUSA.

Topics for online learning proposals might include but are not limited to company and industry research; international business; small businesses; entrepreneurship; consumer demographics; fundamentals of reference; providing reference in virtual libraries; providing reference in the one-person library; reference services in church and synagogue libraries; customer service fundamentals for reference staff; reference service fundamentals for embedded librarians; marketing the library and reference services; government documents fundamentals for reference librarians; legal reference for non-law librarians.

A complete list of criteria is available in the Professional Development section of the RUSA website. In summary, successful proposals will:

• Include a description, main topic outline and an estimate of length of the proposed course, webinar or webinar series
• Outline the audiences who will be interested in this topic, including job titles as appropriate
• Address the direct competition for this course/topic that already exists in the online professional development marketplace.
• Provide a description of the instructor/presenter and their relevant experience, e.g. education, job history, that illustrates their expertise in the proposed topic area.
• Include a writing sample if the proposal is for an online course.

Proposals should be submitted via e-mail to rusa@ala.org as MSWord or PDF attachments. Presenters for accepted proposals will receive compensation for their time, and will also receive training for the software used to deliver the online learning experience. Questions can be directed to Liz Markel, RUSA marketing specialist or Susan Hornung, RUSA executive director at lmarkel@ala.org and shornung@ala.org, respectively.

In addition to the topics suggested above, RUSA encourages programming that addresses the competencies–especially the Reference and Information Services competency set–for the ALA-APA Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) program. Those interested in proposing a program to fulfill this purpose should review the LSSC page for course providers. Any proposals submitted with the LSSC program in mind should specify the competency set the program addresses, and how the content will address these competencies.

Librarians seeking genealogy reference skills or those hoping to aid their personal family history research can now register for “Genealogy Happens! At the Genealogy Reference Desk”, a 2011 Midwinter institute offered by the ALA genealogy experts: the History Section of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

This full-day event, sponsored by ProQuest, is a not-to-be-missed learning experience for reference librarians of all levels of expertise, with coverage of both basic genealogy reference skills and more detailed topics include social networking for genealogists and military research. Speakers include “Genealogy Guy” Drew Smith; David Rencher, Director of the Libraries Division of the Family History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Ron Arons, author of WANTED! U.S. Criminal Records; and Curt Witcher, Manager, Historical Genealogy Department, Allen County Public Library. ProQuest provides lunch for all event attendees.

The event will be held 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, 2011, at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch of the San Diego Library, 5148 Market Street, San Diego. Interested participants can register for this event only (event code RUS1) or can register in conjunction with Annual Conference registration by adding it as a ticketed event. For institute-only registration using the online form, select “SO-Institute and Ticketed Events Only” as the registration type and proceed to select this event from the list. Advance registration ends Nov. 29, 2010.

Advance registration prices for this event start at $100 for RUSA members, and lunch is included in the registration fee. Registration will be available online until Sunday, Jan. 3 2011. All interested participants must register by this date—there will not be seats available at the door on the day of the event. More information about the Midwinter Meeting is available at www.ala.org/midwinter.

*NEW SURVEY END DATE: OCTOBER 7*

The RUSA Membership Committee would like your feedback regarding the RUSA Social that takes place during Midwinter  – regardless of whether you have attended a RUSA Social in the past! We look forward to planning a Social for Midwinter 2011 in San Diego (www.ala.org/midwinter).

Please take a few minutes to answer our short survey regarding the RUSA Social in order to assist us in the planning process: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/310468/rusa-social

Please send us your feedback by Oct. 7.

Thank you in advance for your time and feedback. We look forward to seeing you at Midwinter. If you have any questions or comments, contact Liane Taylor, RUSA Membership Chair, at ltaylor at txstate dot edu.

Thanks,
RUSA Membership Committee