RSS Board Meeting
ALA 2013 Chicago
McCormick Place Convention Center, S505b
29 June 2013, 10:30-11:30am (CDT)
Present: Susan Beck (RSS Operations & Planning Committee), Don Boozer (RSS Scheduler & Co-Chair,
Virtual Reference Services Committee & RSS Representative to RUSA Conference Program Coordinating
Committee), Ann Brown (RSS Vice Chair & RSS Representative to RUSA Budget and Finance Committee & RSS
Representative to RUSA Publications and Communications Committee), Jason Coleman (RSS Secretary), Cathay
Crosby (Chair, Marketing and Public Relations for Reference Committee), Sally Dockter (Chair, Management of
Reference Committee), Lynda Duke (Chair, Research and Statistics Committee), Abigail Elder (Chair, Library
Services to an Aging Population Committee), Jessica Hagman (incoming Chair, Marketing and Public Relations for
Reference Committee), Sarah Hammill (RSS Chair), Jamie Hollier (RSS Exec Member-at-Large), Jared
Hoppenfeld (Co-Chair, Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee), Qiana Johnson (incoming RSS Vice-Chair),
Ellen Keith (Chair, Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee), Jason Kruse (RSS Representative to
RUSA Standards and Guidelines Committee & incoming Chair, Evaluation of Reference and User Services
Committee), Cindy Levine (RSS Archivist), Kate Oberg (Chair, Job and Career Reference Committee), Amy
Rustic (RSS Review Editor), Colleen Seale (Chair, Catalog Use Committee), Diana Shonrock (RSS’ Liaison to
RUSA’s Organization and Planning Committee), Emilie Smart (RSS Exec Member-at-Large), Karen Vargas
(Chair, Health and Medical Reference Committee), Arlene Weismantel (member), Joseph Yue (Co-chair,
Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee)
I. Welcome and Introductions
A. Chair, Sarah Hammill called the meeting to order at 10:30am (CDT)
B. Each member of the RSS Executive Committee who was present introduced herself/himself.
1. Chair, Sarah J. Hammill (present)
2. Vice Chair, Ann Brown (present)
3. Past Chair, Liane Taylor (unable to attend)
4. Secretary, Jason Coleman (present)
5. Member at Large, Jamie Hollier (present)
6. Member at Large, Virginia Cole (unable to attend)
7. Member at Large, Emilie Smart (present)
8. RSS Review Editor, Amy Rustic (present)
9. RSS Archivist, Cindy Levine (present)
10. RSS Scheduler, Don Boozer (present)
C. Each Chair of an RSS Committee who was present introduced herself/himself.
1. Catalog Use Committee, Colleen Seale (present)
2. Communication and Teaching at the Point of Need, Holly Wilson (unable to attend)
3. Discussion Forums Coordinating Committee, Crystal Lentz (unable to attend)
4. Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee, Kristen Leigh Mastel (unable
to attend) & Joseph Yue (present)
5. Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee, Ellen Keith (present)
6. Health and Medical Reference Committee, Karen Vargas (present)
7. Job and Career Reference Committee, Kate Oberg (present)
8. Library Services to an Aging Population, Abigail Elder (present)
9. Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking, Steven Marvin (unable to attend)
10. Management of Reference Committee, Sally Dockter (present)
11. Marketing and Public Relations Committee, Cathay Crosby (present)
12. Nominating Committee, Marjorie Lear (unable to attend)
13. Organization and Planning Committee, Liane Taylor (unable to attend)
14. Recognition Committee, Virginia Cole (unable to attend)
15. Research and Statistics Committee, Lynda Duke (present)
16. Virtual Reference Services Committee, Don Boozer (present)
17. Virtual Reference Services Tutorial Subcommittee, Jared Hoppenfeld (present) & Jennifer LauBond (unable to attend)
18. Web Advisory Committee, Shu Qian (unable to attend)
19. Young Adult Reference Services Committee, Nicolette Warisse Sosulski (unable to attend)
D. Each RSS Liaison to a RUSA Committee who was present introduced herself/himself.
1. Access to Information, Jessica Moyer (unable to attend)
2. Budget and Finance, Ann Brown (present) & Liane Taylor (unable to attend)
3. Conference Program Coordinating , Don Boozer (present)
4. Membership, Candace Merbler (unable to attend)
5. Nominating, Marjorie Lear (unable to attend)
6. Organization and Planning, Diana Shonrock (present)
7. Professional Development, vacant
8. Publications and Communications, Ann Brown (present)
9. Standards and Guidelines, Jason Kruse (present)
E. Sarah explained that although only the Chair, Vice Chair, Past Chair, Secretary, and Members-at-Large to
the RSS Executive Committee can vote, the opinions of the entire RSS Board will always guide those
decisions.
II. Transition Questions
A. Announcements from RSS Chair, Sarah Hammill
1. Incoming chairs take over from outgoing chairs immediately after ALA Annual. Ann Brown,
incoming RSS Chair, will send out a list of new chairs on Tuesday, July 16.
2. New Chair Orientation will take place in conjunction with the RSS Board Meeting that occurs
after ALA Annual. She expects that this meeting may take place on Friday, July 19. A reminder
will be sent.
3. Incoming committee chairs should set committee goals and post them on their ALA Connect
space by Tuesday, July 16.
4. If a committee held a meeting today, the outgoing committee chair should post minutes of that
meeting to the committee’s space on ALA Connect by Tuesday, July 16.
5. Outgoing committee chairs need to post a summary of current activities on their ALA Connect
space by Tuesday, July 16.
6. Incoming committee chairs are responsible for their committee’s next RSS Review article. The
outgoing chair should assist with this by providing information about the committee’s recent
activities and plans for the future. RSS Review is a component of RUSA Update (a blog). It is a
promotional tool to help others know what your committee is doing.
B. Questions and Discussion
1. Diana Shonrock asked if it would be appropriate to have RUSA’s Ask Committee write a post for
the RSS Review. Amy said that she will ask Elizabeth Stephan, Co-chair of RUSA’s Ask
Committee. Diana stated that Ask is an ad-hoc committee of RUSA. They are looking at future of
reference services in all kinds of libraries. One of their main goals is to educate the public about
what reference is. Promotion and marketing are their primary foci. She stated that they are
looking to represent all varieties of reference at different types of libraries on a national
level. They wish to represent a cross-section of users' needs. She noted that the Ask campaign will
mesh with the new ALA President's focus on the right to read.
2. Cathay stated that RUSA’s Ask Committee is going to have a meeting soon. The Ask Committee
wants Ask to be like ALA’s Read campaign. She noted that they did a pilot program with
Maryland Ask Us Now. The pilot program originated when librarians at the University of
Washington noticed that students were holding up signs with their questions. The Ask Committee
took this idea and went to the Baltimore Public Library with a photographer. They obtained
permission from the director of the library and had participants complete waivers. They
approached people and asked if they could take their picture with them holding a sign of a
question they would ask a librarian. They wanted to pose the people in front of things that had to
do with their questions, e.g., I want to know more about plants in the area (pose in front of a
plant). The posters have not yet been made. Cathay said they wrote up notes and posted them on
Ask’s space on ALA Connect. She invites anyone who wants more information to e-mail her.
II. Share and discuss experiences as a member/chair of RSS
A. Sarah asked “What can the section as well as RUSA do better?”
1.
Cathay stated that things are much more organized than they were a few years ago. She said it would be
good to add information about who to contact. She also stated that deadlines would be helpful.
2.
Abigail said it would be helpful to have the entire year’s worth of deadlines in advance.
a. Ann noted that RSS is going to create a separate Chairs Handbook and that this will have a
calendar.
b. Jared recommended creating a Google Calendar and providing a link to the calendar.
c. Sarah noted that RSS’ Chairs Orientation Handbook has schedule/deadlines. She said RSS needs
to do a better job of highlighting this.
3.
Cathay suggested it would be helpful if the bylaws were searchable.
4.
Lynda noted that it is pretty overwhelming to take over as a new chair. She said it is vital to have outgoing
chairs provide help. Qiana was her outgoing chair and was very helpful.
a. Diana said that the handbook used to specify that past chair had to pass information on to the new
chair.
b. Cathay said that it helps to have information on ALA Connect.
5.
Abigail stated that the Chairs Orientation Handbook is very helpful.
6.
Ann remarked that at RUSA 101 on Friday she and Sarah stayed after to talk to the attendees. About 15
people came up to approach them. She encouraged our section to continue such efforts to reach out to new
members.
7.
Karen noted that we only have in-person committee meetings one time each year and that these meetings
occur during RSS’ All Committee Meeting, along with the trivia contest. She stated that sometimes the
giveaways and trivia contest extend into the time for committee meetings and interfere with those meetings.
She suggested that there be a clearer dividing line between the social portion of the meeting and the All
Committee Meeting. She noted that the situation today was better because the trivia contest ended early
enough to give a good amount of time for the committee meetings.
a. Diana explained that scheduling difficulties require us to combine committee meetings into one
space and time. She suggested that in the future we call an official end to the trivia contest and
giveaways and also call an official start to the committee meetings.
b. Cathay agreed that there should be a more official start to the committee meetings.
c. Ann recommended that there be a 10 minute break between the social portion of the event and the
committee meetings.
8.
Diana suggested that RSS’ Executive Committee not meet during the All Committee Meeting time so that
members of the Executive Committee, especially the Chair, can circulate to learn what is happening in the
various committees. She noted that it is very helpful to have the Executive Committee present during the
All Committee Meeting.
a. Ann recommended having a short meeting of RSS’ Executive Committee prior to the All
Committee Meeting.
9.
Abigail recommended having the first meeting of RSS’ Board take place before the All Committee
Meeting. She explained that this would enable the committee chairs to provide current news and updates to
their committee during the committee meeting.
10. Ann stated that RUSA’s Executive Committee has decided to allocate all of the money that had been
previously given to individual committees to the overall sections instead. She suggested that RSS use this
money for attracting and retaining members and noted that we are not getting as many volunteers for
committee appointments as we had in the past.
B. Sarah asked “What should the focus of RSS be for the next year?”
1.
Diana recommended linking RSS' focus to the incoming ALA President's focus.
2.
Ann stated that she attended the Ask forum at the last ALA Midwinter meeting and came away with the
impression that reference experiences at public and academic libraries are diverging.
a. Emilie explained that public libraries are getting more questions, but that most are pretty quick.
She stated that numbers of questions for academic libraries are down, but their difficulty is greater.
3.
Cathay suggested that RSS focus on advocacy and on helping patrons learn about and use programs
available to them, e.g., GED preparation, Obamacare.
4.
Jamie stated that she sees a need for libraries to focus more on digital literacy. She would like to see digital
literacy represented more at conferences and in the profession.
5.
Cathay suggested that RSS provide information about intellectual property.
a. Jamie recommended including information about Creative Commons.
b. Kate suggested educating librarians about how Creative Commons allows reuse and modification.
6.
Sally stated that the Management of Reference Committee recently discussed how the roles of reference
librarians are changing due to emerging trends such as the combining of service desks. She noted that the
job descriptions of reference librarians are changing.
a. Jared noted that there are a number of different types of dual-use models for combined desks (e.g.,
IT and Reference, Access Services and Reference) and that each has different issues.
7.
Karen recommended that RSS examine two issues: (1) what new skill sets librarians need; (2) how libraries
can reach patrons who never come to the library.
8.
Ann stated that any committee can submit a request to hold a discussion forum or a program. Discussion
forums are scheduled by the committee chair and can take place during Midwinter and/or Annual.
Programs need to be submitted to RSS’ Executive Committee. Requests for programs need to be submitted
at least 18 months in advance.
9.
Sarah noted that RSS’ Executive Committee received two proposals for programs for ALA 2014. They
chose the one submitted by the Library Services to an Aging Population Committee and sent the one
submitted by the Marketing and Public Relations Committee to RUSA as a possibility for consideration if
additional program slots are available.
a. Cathay explained that the Marketing and Public Relations Committee proposes to have Jonah
Sachs do a program related to his book Winning the Story Wars. Cathay said she is currently
negotiating with him. She noted that the committee is co-sponsoring the program with the
Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS).
C. Sarah asked “What additional suggestions or announcements do you have?”
1.
Jared stated that the Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee is creating a website titled “Virtual
Reference Companion (VRC).” They have completed five of nine modules and plan to have the entire
VRC live by August. They will send an e-mail to RSS and MARS to ask for tips and tricks related to
virtual reference as well as general feedback about the VRC.
a. Ann suggested that the Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee propose a discussion forum to
introduce the VRC and receive feedback.
b. Diana suggested that the VRC be linked from as high up in the hierarchy of ALA’s website as
possible.
Meeting adjourned at 11:32am (CDT)
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jason Coleman, RSS Secretary