RSS Review

Cindy Levine, Editor

Volunteer Opportunities Now!

Are you interested in serving on an RSS committee, or asking to be reappointed to a group you have been working with? If so, now is the time. Barb Mann, the Chair Elect of RSS has the responsibility for naming the committee members, liaisons to RUSA committees, and discussion group leaders. To volunteer, log into the ALA website, go to the RUSA page, and select
Volunteer (from the left menu). Then, click on ‘
Go to the RUSA Online volunteer Form.’ At the very bottom of the volunteer form is the pathway to RSS committee list. It’s not a bad idea to also send email to Barb Mann at
BMann@umuc.edu to let her know of your interest.

ALA Website

Along with the entire ALA website, the RUSA and RSS portions of the site are undergoing growing pains as we move to the new content management system. As we move forward, we will have some flexibility regarding how we organize our information on the
RSS level pages. The RSS Web Advisory Committee will soon conduct a survey to solicit your ideas on what it would take to make the website more useful. If you are interested in contributing further, consider volunteering for the RSS Web Advisory Committee, which is seeking new members with experience with web design, usability, user behavior and/or video & audio technologies.

In addition, if you have thoughts about
RUSA level pages, RUSA Board is currently soliciting comments through February 16. Make the comments specific, and be sure to include recommendations for improvement. Send comments to
bmacikas@ala.org with the subject line: “Web page suggestions.”

Awards and Recognition

The RSS Honor Roll recognizes members who have served on three committees since the creation of the section. Current Honor Roll Members are:

  • Wayne Bivens-Tatum
  • Sarah J. Hammill
  • Lisa Horowitz
  • Brett Lear
  • Cindy Levine
  • Barb Mann
  • Joe Thompson
  • Dave Tyckoson

To add your name once you’ve served three roles, contact Sarah Hammill at
hammills@fiu.edu.

In addition, RSS is in the process of developing a new RSS service award to recognize major contributions to the section.

RSS Section Review

About every 5 years, the Reference Services Section performs a self-study to review its committee structure and determine if section would benefit from changes in its organization. This process is currently underway. If you are a member of a committee, you will be contacted to get your thoughts on how well the committee is working. If you have other ideas you would like to contribute, send them to Lisa Horowitz, chair of the RSS Organization and Planning Committee, at lisah@MIT.EDU.

Looking Forward to ALA Annual in Chicago

RSS will hold an Open House at the beginning of the All-Committee Meeting on Saturday morning, with refreshments sponsored by Reference Services Review/Emerald. During this time, individuals will have an opportunity to explore RSS groups, learn about their interests and activities of groups, and consider becoming more involved.


RSS is planning the following programs for Annual:

  • Reinvented Reference V: Using Our collective Wisdom (preconference)
  • Beyond ¡Hola!: Spanish Reference Resources for Non-Spanish Speakers
  • When is Nice Too Nice? Disengaging from the Talkative Patron
  • You Got Me, Do You Like Me? Evaluating Next Generation Catalogs
  • 15th Annual Reference Research Forum

RSS Review is the newsletter of the Reference Services Section of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association. Please send suggestions for improving future issues to
Cindy Levine, editor.