Midwinter Meeting Minutes 1-21-2006 8-10am

January 2006 ALA Midwinter Meeting


Reference Services Section All Group Meeting


Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006


8:00 – 10:00am


Convention Center 217D

Minutes: Education and Professional Development for Reference Committee

Present: Shelby Anfenson-Comeau, Charlotte Dugan, Valli Hoski, Hilary Kraus, Elizabeth Leonard, Katherine Mossman, Teresa Omidsalar, Michelle Roubal,


Lise Snyder, Leslie Sult, Lynn Westbrook

1. Introductions. All were present, introductions were made.

2. Announcements:


a. Discussion of Michael Gorman’s Forum on Education for Librarianship will take place during the committee’s 4:00 – 6:00pm meeting time.


b. Clarified that all committee members began their appointments after the ALA Annual Conference June 2005; their appointments end after ALA Annual June 2007.


c. Lise thanked Shelby for creating the Yahoo Group for the committee. Shelby reminded the committee members that they would need to join. She will resend instructions on how to do this.


d. Lise informed the committee that since neither she nor Teresa would be able to attend the Executive Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24, that both would attend the meeting scheduled directly after our meeting to report on the progress of the work our group.


e. Lynn Westbrook asked if anyone was participating in digital reference and would like to send her their reference transcripts for analysis. This is part of her research.

3. Working Group Updates:


a. Literature Review: Elizabeth Leonard and Charlotte Dugan suggested that we refine out literature search focus. Initially the search they had been asked to do was much too broad and too many articles were retrieved. After much discussion it was decided that Elizabeth and Charlotte would focus on finding articles that cover the rationale (or why) for orientation programs and how to go about creating them. They will search: Library Literature, LISA, ERIC, and Education Abstracts. They may consult thebusiness literature as well.


b. Checking ALA Divisions: Valli Hoski distributed a handout outlining and summarizing library orientations available through ALA divisions. There was little information on starting orientation programs. Valli pointed out that some sites were for members only, and therefore she could not get into these. She asked for edits, comments, and additions to be sent to her so she could update. This document will be posted on the Yahoo Group site.


c. Survey for Librarians New to the Profession: Hilary Kraus, Leslie Sult, and Shelby Anfenson-Comeau presented a draft of survey questions.


d. Survey for Librarians Responsible for Orientation and/or Training of New Librarians: KateMossman, Michelle Roybal, and Lynn Westbrook presented a draft of survey questions.


e. Both surveys were discussed at length. The committee decided that it


would be best to incorporate both sets of questions into a single survey.


that would incorporate demographic information to indicate if the


questions were answered by new or supervising librarians. All agreed that


if the survey was done correctly the first time, it could be given on a


regular basis to gauge the status of progress. It was suggested that the


survey also be administered to library school students before they graduate


to learn about their expectations for orientation and training. Both survey


groups will continue to develop their questions and then post to the Yahoo


Group site for input from the committee.


f. Teresa and Lise will find out how to go about getting approval from ALA


to distribute the survey, and determine if the survey could be distributed via ALA.

4. The areas of interest for the committee still remain: orientation, training,


professional development, and long-term mentoring.