All Sessions

This full-day interactive workshop is designed for new business librarians; generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship; or librarians who handle business reference-related inquiries in all types of libraries including academic, public and special libraries. This workshop will provide librarians with a broad conceptual understanding of business topics in four major business disciplines: Accounting, Finance, Marketing, and Management. This preconference will complement Business 101, which focuses on business reference, business resources, and collection development. This is a repeat and updated version of the 2009 preconference.

Do you belong in RUSA? Come learn more about this the Reference and User Services Association--a division of ALA. We represent librarians, library staff and leaders in readers' advisory, collection development, genealogy, reference services, adult services, business reference, archives, interlibrary loan and resource sharing, reference technologies and more. Current members looking for ways to get involved with the division are also welcome to attend.

Are you looking for ways to become more involved in your profession, and to meet and network with other reference service providers? Visit the Reference Services Section (RSS) Open House to learn more about the work being accomplished in RSS. RSS officers and members will be available to answer your questions and suggest possible committees of interest, and you can visit committee tables where members will be available to talk about current projects. You are welcome to stay from 9am-10:00am to sit at a committee table while they conduct their meeting. Refreshments are sponsored by EBSCO.
RSS officers and members will be available to answer your questions and suggest possible committees of interest, and you can visit committee tables where members will be available to talk about current projects. You are welcome to stay from 9am-10:00am to sit at a committee table while they conduct their meeting.

LPSS Committees will be divided into 2 groups; half will meet from 8-9 and half from 9-10; for more details, go to http://www.ala.org/acrl/lpss

Embedded librarianship is not a new term, however, for librarians being partnered with faculty in online classrooms it is becoming a critical job component. Attendees of the session will contribute a tip or frustration of embedding which will be integrated into the program. Following a brief history on embedding, a panel will discuss different types of embedding models as they involve the audience with interactive audience polling. This panel presentation, facilitated by Debbie Nolan, Dean of University Libraries at Towson University, will present embedded librarian models for distance learning at different institutions.

Panelists will give 20 minute presentations on the following topics:

Three’s Company
Kathleen Pickens-French, Public Services Librarian, Hamilton Campus at Miami University and Krista McDonald, Director, Regional Campus Library, Hamilton Campus at Miami University
Pickens-French and McDonald will describe the core model that their embedded librarians have used to create resources pages within their university’s CMS. They will explain the “Three Rule” of keeping content organized, students interested, and the library’s website where it belongs.

Going Beyond the Embedded Librarian: Creating Online Classrooms to Teach Teachers About Information Literacy
By Kathleen Anne Langan, Assistant Professor, Western Michigan University.
Langan will present a pilot program that was introduced to use e-learning technology to introduce information literacy concepts to university instructors and teach them to incorporate these concepts into their curriculum. This presentation will discuss this experience, the importance of using online classrooms as a means of communicating with instructors, and introduce best practices to create similar classes.

Direct and Repeated Interactions: The Regis Experience with Embedded Librarianship
Paul Betty, Distance Learning Librarian, Regis University
Embedded librarianship at Regis University incorporates collaboration between librarians, students, teaching faculty, and instructional designers. Betty will discuss the model the librarians in the Distance Services department have developed to lead to greater rates of “embeddedness.”

The RUSA Professional Development Committee will review proposals for online CE courses and webinars.

Consolidated meeting time and location for EBSS committees.

All Members Meeting will include reports from Committees and a discussion of the proposed LPSS Strategic Plan

Meeting of the RSS Executive Committee, including RSS committee chairs and RSS representatives to RUSA committeees.

Join us for a lively discussion of the latest hot topics in emerging technologies for reference.

Smart investing @ your library grantees are at the forefront of financial literacy programs that reach all economic and interest levels. Learn how they are creating models that use social media to capture attention, design games that appeal to kids, teens and adults, partner with social service agencies and market school programs to provide unbiased, financial education and resources. As more people need and want to learn how to manage their personal finances, these innovative libraries are leading the way.

Are virtual reference services worth the effort? The answer to that question is a definitive "yes," but how do we know? A panel of experts discusses ways to look at return-on-investment and evaluation of virtual reference (VR) services and various methods used to assess their effectiveness. Real-life examples of ways this has already been done will be presented as well. Panelists represent a cross-section of different libraries and each will share their unique perspective.

The Guide to Reference Editorial Review Board and Contributing Editors will discuss direction and evolving practices for the Guide. Those interested in becoming a Contributing Editor are invited to attend.

The shift from traditional reference desk activity has become an accepted reality in most academic libraries. Librarians now offer a variety of reference services including live chat, “roving” reference in the library, embedded or personal librarian service for classes, and research services in residence halls, gyms, and campus centers. This program will focus on the challenges that college libraries face in deciding how to provide and assess reference services that best meet local needs without straining resources.

Current research references the increase of mobile devices amongst college students. Students use their mobile devices as calendars, phones, cameras, etc. According to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project 2010, 96% of undergraduates have a cell phone. The report states, "Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group." If libraries want to meet users where they are, text messaging seems like an obvious choice. The UC San Diego Libraries, aware of the changing environment, were wary of adding a new service when we have less staff and resources available. This poster discusses the UCSD Libraries Text a Librarian service pilot. This poster will highlight and share the implementation, staffing, marketing plans, and evaluation of the service. Many factors lead to a successful pilot. Once users add us to their list of contacts, sending a question is easy. We used a team of librarians and staff as well as an email notification system to spread the workload around so one person or unit was not overwhelmed. Using an online product helped ensure everyone had easy access to the tool.

Taking library services outside of the library seems to be a growing trend in academic libraries, but is it really? In 2011, the authors conducted an online survey of academic libraries to measure if and how off-site reference is being utilized in academic libraries in order to provide a snapshot of current and past off-site reference trends. Broken down into four sections, the poster will look at the four questions asked of survey participants: Those who currently hold off-site reference hours, those who have held off-site reference hours in the past but stopped, those who have never held off-site reference hours in the past but plan to offer them in the future, and, finally, those who have never held off-site reference hours and would not consider it in the future. The poster will present, among other things, how programs were developed, if they were individual or library-wide programs, why programs stopped, and why people weren't interested in holding off-site hours.

How much do librarians really know about the demographics of their virtual reference patrons? The authors of this study staffed virtual reference at the Auraria Library, a multi-institutional academic library in Denver. They sought to discover how much information about identity patrons chose to provide during transactions that were theoretically anonymous. They kept in mind the idea that virtual reference patrons may or may not have quite the same demographics as those that they see at the reference desk or in the library instruction classroom. To help answer their questions, the authors developed a matrix for collecting and analyzing personal identifiers (such as year in school, non-native English speakers, and majors). The data they gathered helped them and their colleagues to know more about which patron groups chose to reach out for assistance via virtual reference. The authors believe that the matrix and process they have developed can serve as a model for colleagues at any institutions that provide anonymous virtual reference.

Embracing the freedom provided by tablet computer technology, librarians in academic libraries all over the country are implementing "roving" reference programs to better meet the information needs of their students. While each academic library is unique, common forces, such as student enrollment, campus size, and staff resources influence the creation and implementation of roving reference programs. This poster session provides a case study for roving reference in the urban, multi-campus library system of Florida International University. FIU Librarians will discuss the challenges and benefits of roving reference in a large, public university environment. FIU Libraries contains two distinct face-to-face reference models. In addition to the roving program, the larger campus library provides traditional reference desk services, while the smaller campus library relies on a consultation model. Comparative analyses of the two different models within a single university system provide insight regarding how roving reference service meets student needs. Constraints to references services due to staff, budget, space, and time, have prompted FIU librarians to transform reference services while effectively utilizing resources. In responding to student demands for point-of-need, face-to-face services, librarians transform reference interviews into active and personalized library experiences.