Contact: Liz Markel
Marketing Specialist, RUSA
(312) 280-4398
lmarkel@ala.org

 

NEWS
For Immediate Release
July 15, 2008

RUSA announces recipient of Reference Research Grant

CHICAGO —The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has awarded a research grant of $2,000 to a team of Kent State University Libraries and Media Services staff for its proposal, entitled “Building a Model of Excellent Reference Service Based on WOREP Data.”  

The award winners were announced at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference held last month in Anaheim, Calif.  Study results and outcomes will be presented at the Reference Research Forum during the 2009 the ALA Annual Conference. 

The WOREP (Wisconsin-Ohio Reference Evaluation Program) evaluates in-person reference services by asking the reference staff member and the patron to each answer questions about the same reference transaction immediately at its conclusion.

The winning research team, comprised of Julie A. Gedeon, assistant professor and coordinator of assessment, Carolyn J. Radcliff, professor and reference and instruction librarian, and Barbara F. Schloman, professor and associate dean for public services, will receive the funds for a study that will develop and validate (through in-depth interviews with staff and administrators) a model of the variables that help to predict excellent in-person reference service based on data collected from more than  120 academic libraries since 1983 through the WOREP.

The grant celebrates the 15th anniversary of the RUSA Reference Services Section (RSS) Annual New Reference Research Forum.  

Anne C. Moore, chair of the RSS Research and Statistics Committee that selected the proposal noted, “The committee was impressed with the quantity and quality of the proposals.   RUSA RSS is excited to support this important research project.”

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association ( http://www.ala.org/), is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need.