Future of MOUSS

Possible Committees for a frontline reference section

  1. Ethical and Legal Issue in Reference Service
  2. Access to Services
  3. Outreach - Reader's Advisory
  4. Literary Information Literacy
  5. Continuing Education
  6. Technology
  7. Management
  8. Performance and Evaluation of Services
  9. User Profiling
  10. Awards
  11. Professional Development
  12. Research and Statistics
  13. Publications
  14. Marketing/PR
  15. Digital or Virtual Reference
  16. Cooperative Reference/Digital Cooperation
  17. Designing User Interfaces
  18. Customer Service
  19. International Outreach - IFLA
  20. Multicultural Services
  21. Evolving Models of Reference Service
  22. Measurement and Assessment
  23. Training
  24. Services to Diverse Populations
  25. Services to Special Populations
  26. More discussion groups and fewer committees
  27. User interfaces - Websites and marketing
  28. Copyright and Licensing
  29. Staffing - Professional and Paraprofessional
  30. Focus on the User
  31. Distance Education
  32. Reference Collection Development

What are the major issues facing frontline reference in the next 2-4 years?

  1. Dual assignments and rotating chairs
  2. Technology will change the definition of "frontline" and user contact
  3. Shift to greater use of paraprofessionals in reference service
  4. Consider merging MOUSS and MARS
  5. ILL will be a new section
  6. Reorganization of physical facilities and arrangement of materials
  7. More process information
  8. Other libraries will deliver information
  9. Electronic resources will serve people wherever
  10. More service to remote users
  11. Growth of the instructional component of reference
  12. Training of paraprofessionals will become more of an issue
  13. Publishing trends will change
  14. Customer service to the forefront
  15. More shared reference services
  16. Digital reference
  17. Generations A-Z and not just Gen X
  18. Confidentiality
  19. Services to multicultural and special groups
  20. Emphasis on evaluation of reference
  21. Keeping up on current research
  22. Marketing
  23. Ethical issues
  24. Overall management of user services
  25. Legal issues; the Patriot Act, etc.
  26. Distinction between MARS and frontline reference is very artificial
  27. Issues of size
  28. Education and training; staff and patron
  29. Closest contact with the public---can affect change
  30. Links to other areas of the library
  31. Evaluation is critical---how we do it is important

Possible Names for the Section

GRASS = General Reference and Services Section
FLRS = Front Line Reference Section
RAPS = Reference ands Patron Services
SAILS = Services and Information Literacy Section
FLIPS = Front Line Information and Public Services
VENUS = Virtual Evaluative Neoclassical User Services
MOUSS = Mastering of User Services