MOUSS Cooperative Reference Services
2000 Midwinter Meeting
January 17, 2000, 9:30 AM to 11 AM
Paseo Del Rio Room
Marriott Residence Inn
San Antonio, Texas.
Present: Wei Ma (University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign), co-chair; Susan Curtis (University of Georgia); Gary Church (Texas A & M); Mark Allen (Angelo State University); Lace Keaton (Gwinnett County, Georgia, Public Library); and Barb Mann (Emory University), co-chair. Also in attendance were the following guests: Karen Greever (Kenyon College); Wendy Starkweather (University of Nevada-Las Vegas); Frances Gaudet (National Library of Canada); Sarah Hamrick (Gallaudet University); Ruth Nussbaum (National Library Service/Library of Congress); and Curley Jones (University of Utah).
MINUTES APPROVAL
The minutes of the June 28, 1999, committee meeting held at the ALA Annual Meeting in New Orleans were approved as written.
ANNUAL 2000 PROGRAM CO-SPONSORSHIP
Sarah Hamrick, from the Libraries Serving Special Populations Section (LSSPS) of ALA's Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, came to bring the committee up-to-date on the Annual 2000 program we are co-sponsoring entitled "Reference Service to Diverse Populations." She has lined up four speakers: Jim Van Buskirk: Gay and Lesbian user community; Lillian Marrero: Spanish-speaking user community; Olga Barnes: new immigrants particularly children user community; John Hickock: English as a Second Language user community. Sarah is still working on lining up a speaker to address people with disabilities user community. The panel is a good mix of academic and public librarians.
The Cooperative Reference Service committee will assist with publicity for this program. Sarah will prepare a publicity blurb, which we will send out on applicable listservs, other electronic discussion groups, etc. Wei will check at the MOUSS Executive Committee meeting about including information in the various RUSA prints publications.
WEB PAGE UPDATE
Wei presented the newest version of the Cooperative Reference Service webpage. Wei did an excellent job and the committee was pleased. Wei will add information about the Annual 2000 Program under the Event category, when it is received from Sarah Hamrick. Wei will also inquire at the MOUSS Executive Committee meeting about adding each member's institution name and email address to the committee membership list on this webpage.
COOPERATIVE REFERENCE SURVEY
The rest of the meeting was devoted to the discussion of the survey and the next steps. Barb thanked Susan Curtis for her valuable work in taking the old survey draft and synthesizing it into a more concise survey. Barb and Susan met together in October to further fine-tune the survey and presented the finished product to the committee membership before this meeting. The committee decided to go with this version and make the following changes: to number each question; add name of participating institution, name of participating cooperative reference service/consortium, and types of participating libraries at the top; and change possible answers in #12 to one working day (instead of 24 hours), two working days (instead of 48 hours), five to seven working days (instead of one week), and other (remains the same).
The next step discussed was how to build the mailing list. After a good discussion, consensus was reached to take each state and find addresses for the state library, the state library organization, and any regional consortia. Each committee member and guest volunteers would take the states assigned by Barb and compile this information. Susan volunteered to draft the letter that will go out seeking this information. An email mailing will be done when possible. When an email address is not available, a letter from the committee, printed on RUSA stationery, will be sent to the postal address. Barb will prepare these letters. February 15 will be the target date to send out the inquiry with a return date of March 15 being requested. Paper replies will go to Wei. Electronic replies will go to the original sender, who will then forward them to Wei. Included in this solicitation will be a definition of cooperative reference, purpose of the survey, and a promise to post the results on our webpage.
Wei will inquire at the MOUSS Executive Committee meeting as to whether any RUSA permissions are needed to send out the survey. The committee's goal is to send the survey out by summer 2000. The mailing list will be built from the inquiries the committee is presently making. The possibility of a web-based form will be explored, including a separate numbering system to properly tabulate results. The paper copies will also be numbered for the same reason. An explanatory blurb is needed to accompany the survey. Much of it can be taken from the letter Susan is drafting to accompany our address inquiries.
NEW BUSINESS
After the survey is sent out, the committee will analyze the data and write up the results, which will be posted on our website and incorporated into a possible future publication.
The meeting was adjourned at 11 AM
Respectfully submitted,
Barb Mann, Co-Chair
