RUSA MARS Professional Development

Charge

To provide continuing education for librarians and others engaged with emerging technologies in reference services and to provide coordination and leadership for MARS activities related to professional development and continuing education.

Roster

Robin Elizabeth Miller (Member, July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015)
Andrea Hill (Staff Liaison, July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2015)

Previous Year / Next Year

Displaying active committee roster as of 07/01/2014. Last retrieved on 06/18/2013. Members can log in to view full contact information for committee members.

Suggest a Webinar to the MARS Professional Development Committee:

If you would like to submit an idea for a RUSA MARS professional development webinar, please fill out the form that is available below. You will be contacted within a few weeks about the status of your proposal. If your proposal is accepted by the MARS Professional Development Committee, you will be guided through the development process. Generally, webinars are one hour in length, but broad topics can be segmented and presented through a series of webinars.

MARS Professional Development Webinar Suggestion Form

Public Posts from ALA Connect

Composition

See RUSA or Section Bylaws.

MARS Professional Development Committee Workgroups

Introduction: MARS PD committee members may be interested in furthering their skills and experience by participating in various workgroups or subcommittees which focus on different activities to carry out the work of the larger committee.

Webinar Management & Promotion Workgroup

Purpose: To assist in the evaluation of webinar proposals, scheduling of webinars in coordination with the ALA RUSA office, communicating with webinar speakers, marketing and promoting webinars, and soliciting webinar proposals from MARS membership using the listserv MARS-L and other tools.

Workgroup member duties:

  • Assist in soliciting and developing webinar proposals
  • Assure that speakers have learning objectives and lesson plans to submit for RUSA approval
  • Assist in scheduling webinars in collaboration with ALA RUSA office staff
  • Assist in the coordination and communication with webinar speakers
  • Assist in coordinating practice sessions using Blackboard Collaborate training session.
  • Serve as the main contact for webinar presenters and be available to answer any questions about scheduling, etc.
  • Work with presenters to make sure speaking contracts are signed and payment for services is clearly communicated
  • Serve as moderators for the webinar presentations, introducing speakers, monitoring chat questions and prompting speakers to respond

BBC (Blackboard Collaborate) Training Workgroup

Purpose: To be available to train webinar presenters in how to use Blackboard Collaborate (BBC) in addition to training MARS chairs on how to use BBC for online meetings.

Workgroup member duties:

  • Become fully trained in BBC in order to train others in conducting webinars or virtual online meetings
  • Assist in the development of FAQs, and other text based and audiovisual training materials for RUSA members
  • Assure that all training materials are available to MARS members
  • Assist in orienting webinar presenters to BBC
  • Serve as moderators for the webinar presentations, introducing speakers, monitoring chat questions and prompting speakers to respond

Origin

See Committee Charge.

Get Involved

ALA values committed and active committee members. Qualified members are welcome to volunteer to serve on the committee. Committee members must have an interest in the work of the committee; be able to attend Annual Conferences and Midwinter Meetings to participate in the meetings and activities of the committee; and be able to work between conferences via e-mail and ALA Connect. Express your interest in serving on this or other committees by filling out an application form. Appointments take place once a year, during the spring. Committee service usually begins following Annual Conference, about July 1.

Staff Liaison

Andrea Hill
Web Services Mgr.
312.280.4397
ahill@ala.org