Readers’ advisory trends subject of RUSA President’s Program

Contact: Liz Markel


Marketing Specialist, RUSA/ASCLA


(312) 280-4398


lmarkel@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


March 24, 2009

CHICAGO—Readers’-advisory, collection-development and reference librarians interested in cutting-edge trends and possibilities in their field should plan to attend the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) President’s Program:
:
From the Book and Beyond: Interdisciplinary Readers’ Advisory, at ALA’s upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago.

The program, which will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Monday, July 13, is the inaugural session of the Readers’ Advisory Research and Trends Forum, a new RUSA initiative where ideas, best practices and creative possibilities are actively engaged and deconstructed in order to contribute to the advancement of RA service. This year’s theme—how appeal is an interdisciplinary concept that applies to music, art and books—will be addressed with program content that covers multiple perspectives on the topic, including service implications and collection building.

The program will include three speakers whose resumes cover both the library profession and the multimedia arena toward which RA is headed. Nora Rawlinson, former head of Collection Development for Baltimore County Public Library and former editor-in-chief of
Publishers Weekly for more than a decade, gave a name to demand buying when she wrote the controversial article "Give 'em What They Want" for
Library Journal. Recently, Rawlinson co-founded EarlyWord.com with the mission of helping librarians anticipate public demand. Susan Chun is founder of
Steve: The Museum Social Tagging Project and a consultant to cultural heritage organizations, specializing in publishing, intellectual property and information management strategy and social media. She was previously general manager for Collections Information Planning at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nathan Altice is a musician, digital artist and adjunct professor of sound communication at Virginia Commonwealth University where he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Media, Art and Text.

Participation in the RUSA President’s Program is included with annual conference registration. Register for the Annual Conference using the
online registration form, by calling 1 (800) 974-3084, or by downloading a
printed registration form.

Not a RUSA member, but interested in discounted registration rates on conference, RUSA preconferences and other RUSA events? Join, renew or add RUSA to your ALA membership at
www.ala.org/membership.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers advisory and resource sharing. RUSA 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. For more information, visit
www.ala.org/rusa.