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					                                                                                           Reference and User Services Association
                                                                                          A division of the American Library Association
                                                                                                                         50 E. Huron St.
                                                                                                                       Chicago, IL 60611
                                                                                                                         (312) 280-4398
                                                                                                                  (800) 545-2433 x4398
                                                                                                                     Fax (312) 280-5273
                                                                                                                 http://www.ala.org/rusa


                            Reference and User Services Association Board of Directors

                                         2012 Midwinter Meeting, Dallas TX

                                                     Draft Minutes

       Session I, Saturday, January 21, 2012, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm, Dallas Convention Center (DCC) - D161

PRESENT: Wayne Bivens-Tatum, Chris LeBeau, Kathleen Kern, Carolyn Larson, Dianna McKellar, Alesia McManus, Mary
Popp, Amber Prentiss, Doris Ann Sweet, Janice Schultz, Liane Taylor, Barry Trott, Patrick Wall, Heather Weltin, Gary
White (president), J. Linda Williams, Diane Zabel, M. Kathleen Kern, Mary Parker

Guests: Emily Kornak (2012 RUSA Spectrum Scholar), Emily Hamstra, (RUSA Emerging Leader), Joe Thompson, Kate
Kosturski , David Atkins

Staff: Susan Horning (executive director), Andrea Hill (web manager), Liz Markel, (marketing and programs manager).

Excused: Judith Solberg

CALLED TO ORDER: 1:30 PM by Gary White

INTRODUCTIONS:

Gary introduced RUSA Emerging Leader, Emily Anne Hamstra and Spectrum Intern, Emily Kornak; also introduced were
former Board member Joe Thompson, along with Kate Kosturski, chair of the RUSA Structure Task Force.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Liane reminded attendees of the RUSA Social that evening at the Adolphus Hotel from 6-8 PM, and Gary highlighted the
RUSA Midwinter Book and Media Award Reception at 5PM on Sunday afternoon at the Fairmont Hotel.

AGENDA: Agenda approved

Town Hall Meeting.

Gary announced the beginning of the Town Hall Meeting with the opening of the 5 chat rooms at 1:35 PM and invited all
RUSA members to share comments, suggestions and concerns with the Board. Among the comments:

   Make action on loss of access to government information a RUSA priority

      Alesia, who is also the owner of the "Save the US Statistical Abstract!" Facebook site, called the Board's attention
      to the lively discussion at the RUSA/CODES Reference Publishing Discussion Forum on “Life after the Statistical
      Abstract,” held earlier in the day, which produced numerous ideas that could be translated into RUSA and ALA
      action items in response to the taking down of government information in general (another recent example being
      the National Biological Information Infrastructure database, nbii.gov, which is also being curtailed due to lack of
      funding.) Although vendors may bring out products to partially cover the loss of information, this will not
      completely replace the free access offered by the government sites. Alesia indicated that she is considering
  creating a web page as an extension of the Facebook page containing additional information and ways to take
  action. She also suggested RUSA might partner with GODORT and the ALA Committee on Legislation. Alesia also
  indicated that she will create a Connect group on this topic.

Challenges to leadership and participation

  Several members called attention to the challenges RUSA faces in recruiting strong leadership and active
  members, given the current economic climate in which lack of funding makes it more difficult for members to
  travel or to pay for online training courses, while reductions in staff at home institutions result in people having
  more responsibilities at their jobs and less time to devote to outside organizations such as RUSA.

  Suggestions for ameliorating the situation included:

     -   Review RUSA process committees to see how the work of the organization might be streamlined
     -   Make the organization “more nimble” by making it easier to form interest groups, which would allow
         members to bring forward their ideas more easily, an effort which MARS is currently pursuing which might
         serve as a model for RUSA.
     -   Do a better job of promoting the organization – Susan noted in this connection that Cognotes will for the
         first time feature the RUSA Book and Media Awards on the front page of the Monday edition.
     -   Offer a discounted membership for those joining multiple Divisions (e.g. YALSA and RUSA, PLA and RUSA,
         etc.). From subsequent discussion, it appears that ALA permits this, and all the Division needs to do is to
         submit a request to the ALA Executive Board (which must be renewed periodically).
     -   Offer some free content/events to RUSA members as a benefit of membership. In terms of training,
         RUSA is competing with vendors who are increasingly offering customers free training and webinars.
         Providing more free offerings would serve as good publicity for the Division, and the good will it would
         generate would more than offset the loss in revenue. – Suggestions included charging for attending a live
         webinar, but later making the archived recording available to members for free; and offering, in lieu of a
         standard preconference, a “free” workshop offsite such as STARS has done, with vendor sponsorship to
         offset costs to participants. Although such offsite events lack official ALA support for publicity and
         registration, they give members a sense of receiving value for their membership fee.

Website issues

  Some members expressed ongoing concern about the website. While the recent conversion to the Drupal Content
  Management System holds out promise of improvement, members are still encountering outdated content and
  bad links. Because of questions about responsibility for technical issues versus content on the website, Susan
  will set up a phone call with Amber and Andrea to discuss website issues further. Going on to note that Sections
  and Division committees have an important role to play in updating content, Susan observed that the RUSA site
  includes thousands of individual pages, and she asked for everyone’s help in reporting problems with the web site
  to her and Andrea, who has an excellent track record of correcting problems once they are reported.

Content ideas for new RUSA blog




                                                         2
      Emily Hamstra, current RUSA Emerging Leader, asked people to send her ideas for content for a new blog to
      complement the existing blog (which is used primarily by staff - and those invited by staff- to provide information
      on RUSA programs and activities).

   Policies/Procedures for Section emails to the entire Section

      In response to a concern about the difficulty and expense of emailing all members of the Section to inform them
      of a current development or seek their feedback on an issue, Susan reported that the Division is now paying a
      single rate/year for as many inquiries of the membership database as needed, rather than incurring a separate
      charge each time an inquiry is made, as was the case in the past; hence, there is no longer a charge to Sections for
      obtaining a complete list of their membership. All a Section chair needs to do is to ask the RUSA office for the list,
      which can then be shared with anyone in the Section who needs to see the list to conduct Section/RUSA business.

   Provide training/more accessible information to Chairs and members of Awards Committees

      Committee manuals relating to this topic are out of date and not easily accessible.

   RUSA Bylaws

      In response to a comment that the RUSA Bylaws on the web site appear outdated, Barry indicated that some
      updating has already been done, but apparently the latest version has not yet been loaded onto the web site.

Big Think

Gary thanked all participants in the Town Hall, including those on chat and the chat monitors. He then opened the Big
Think discussion by Board members, asking for members’ ideas for the future of RUSA to be used in formulating the
strategic plan which will be further discussed at the virtual Board conference call tentatively scheduled for March.
Comments focused on:

   RUSA Structure

            -   Take into consideration ideas generated by the review of ALA structure by Division Vice-Presidents.
            -   Include some of the specific suggestions from the RUSA Structure Task Force in the Strategic Plan.
            -   Address the problem of overlapping committees. Are there too many committees? Is the procedure for
                sunsetting inactive committees too time-consuming and cumbersome? (Barry noted that each Section can
                set its own rules for ending committees so the process does not inherently have to be difficult, but
                Sections should follow whatever rules they have put in place.)
            -   Consider greater reliance on task forces or create interest groups that can be created and disbanded
                easily.

   RUSA Program Offerings

            -   Make an effort to gather more feedback to determine if the programs we are offering meet members’
                needs.


                                                             3
  General

        -     Look at “sacred cows” – what things do we do, just because we’ve always done them.
        -     Focus less on “process.”

  Potential Carnegie Grant

        -     Susan announced that ALA has been asked to submit a proposal to the Carnegie Corporation for a
              $300,000 3-year grant for a book prize ($100,000 per year), which would be shared by RUSA and BookList.
              One fiction and one non-fiction title would be picked every year. Assuming ALA receives the grant, if we
              can meet the 2012 deadline (January 22 unless extended), then the first awards would be given this year. If
              that’s not possible, then annual 2013 would be the first year the awards would be given. Susan observed
              that the publicity that would be generated in connection with these prizes could serve as a powerful
              recruiting tool for the Division.

RUSA Structure Task Force Report and Recommendations – Kate Kosturski, Chair DISCUSSION - #B1201

  Kate reviewed the charge and Recommendations of the Task Force:

     Charge

        In addition to reviewing the recommendations of the RUSA Electronic Participation taskforce, the Task Force
        was asked to go beyond looking at electronic participation and make recommendations for structural changes
        that RUSA can implement that can help to:

        -     Increase membership
        -     Better meet member needs and interests
        -     Facilitate member participation
        -     Make the best use of RUSA committee and Board meeting time

     Recommendations

        -     Attract more non-academic librarians to RUSA –
              She noted that ½ of the members do not come from the academic community. The TF recommends
              developing a Value Proposition Statement (i.e. a statement of the reasons why someone should belong to
              RUSA), including RUSA goals, mission, and testimonials from members from all types of libraries.

            - Provide suggestions and guidelines for Divisions and Committees to transition from in-person to virtual
               meetings
               Among the areas that should be addressed: conferencing tools needed; member access to resources (For
               example, depending on individual circumstances, some members may not have access to personal
               computers while other may not be permitted to use employer provided computers); timing of virtual
               meetings to best accommodate members in different time zones; and the special responsibilities and
               commitment required of the Chair and the participants to ensure successful meetings in a virtual


                                                            4
                environment.

             - Build and maintain support resources on the RUSA Website/ALA Connect to foster electronic participation
                The RUSA Web Page and Connect, which are already in place, can be used to provide information about
                such resources. However, there are still improvements to be made to the website.

             - Explore joint programming and other collaborative efforts with other ALA divisions and roundtables
                Many ALA groups, as detailed in the Task Force report, have expressed an interest in collaborating with
                RUSA on programming or other projects.

         -     Increase efficiencies and eliminate duplication across RUSA divisions
               Carrying out this task falls outside the scope of the RUSA Structure Task Force, but might be undertaken as
               an Emerging Leaders Project, by a separate Task force, the RUSA Board, heads of committees, and/or the
               RUSA Organization & Planning Committee

   For further amplification of these recommendations, Kate referred Board members to the full Task Force report,
   which details 18 questions that the TF believes RUSA should address. If Board members have additional questions
   about the report, Kate urged them to contact her directly.

   On behalf of the Board, Gary thanked Kate and the Task Force members for their hard work and timely report.

ALA Executive Board Liaison, RUSA representative, visit – J. Linda Williams

   The Presidential Task Force on School Libraries urges all ALA members and friends to sign the White House petition
   initiated by Carl Harvey, 2011-2012 AASL president, at http://wh.gov/WGD to ensure that every child in America has
   access to an effective school library program. For the petition to be reviewed by the White House, 25,000 signatures
   are needed by February 4. The site requires petitioners to create an account and sign-in; members are urged to be
   persistent if they encounter technical difficulties during this process.

   The newly formed ALA Working Group on Digital Content and Libraries is working with publishers and vendors that
   have been unwilling to offer e-books to libraries to increase awareness of the needs of libraries, exploring how
   various licensing models and alternatives may or may not meet these needs. A new ALA blog, “E-Content,” authored
   by Christopher Harris, launched in early October, to help communicate the work of the group.

   Membership issues: Attendance at MidWinter was down. ALA membership overall is also down by 2%. ALA is
   scheduling a virtual membership meeting for June 5th.

   As a reminder in this election year, given its tax exempt status, ALA does not endorse political candidates. Members
   should be mindful should they write or speak in favor of a candidate that they must do so as individuals, not as
   representatives of ALA.

   ALA Publishing has acquired Neal-Shuman Publishers, which will continue publishing under its own name. The
   acquisition is intended to serve as a new revenue stream for the association.



                                                             5
  Linda will email a more extensive document to the RUSA Board covering additional issues discussed by the ALA
  Executive Board.

  She concluded by asking the Board if there were issues which she should take back to the Executive Board, which led
  to a brief exchange regarding the necessity of continuing to hold the MidWinter meeting. It was pointed out that
  Midwinter meeting venues have been reserved through at least 2017, and cancelling would cost the association
  money. Members also expressed support for the idea of alternating meeting locations between the east and west
  coast insofar as possible. Board members also asked about the idea floated earlier in the Big Think about the
  possibility of offering a discount for membership in multiple Divisions. Linda indicated that this is possible if the
  Division submits a written proposal for approval by the ALA Executive Board, although the Division would have to
  renew the arrangement periodically.

  She urged Board members to contact her at any time if they have questions or concerns. Gary thanked Linda for her
  service.

Action items**

  - EXECUTIVE SESSION: RUSQ Editor Selection – DISCUSSION AND ACTION – Diane Zabel, Chair, RUSQ Editor
  Selection Committee

  After reviewing the qualifications of the candidates for the position, each of whom brought strengths to the position,
  the RUSQ Editor Selection Committee recommended to the Board the selection of Barry Trott as the new RUSQ
  editor. Barry will become the editor designate in February and gradually take over the editorial duties over the next
  few months.

  Motion to approve the RUSQ Editor Section Committee Recommendation: Approved

  Dianne will let the Board know when the appointment can be officially announced. Gary thanked Dianne and the
  Committee for their efforts.

  - New BRASS Award – DISCUSSION AND ACTION – Chris LeBeau, Chair, BRASS –Document #B1202

  Business Expert Press will sponsor a $1,250.00 cash award for each of the next three years to support attendance
  to the ALA Annual Conference to be given to an academic librarian who is new to the field of business librarianship
  and wants to make a career as a business librarian.

   Motion to approve the BRASS Business Expert Press Award for Academic Librarians: Approved


Highlights of Management Report— Hornung – Document #B1203: (moved from Monday to the Saturday agenda)

  Financial Report, 1st Qtr FY2011

        -   Dues are down slightly, but are still on target.

                                                               6
     -   Revenue is slightly under target, primarily because of the elimination of advertising revenue for RUSQ, but
         lower costs of production for the digital journal should offset this.
     -   Online Continuing Education courses are doing very well.
     -   Expenses are under target

Membership & Marketing

     Membership statistics:

     -   Year to date membership statistics as of November 2011 indicate RUSA is about 7% behind where it was in
         November 2010, with a 4.7% increase in dropped members and a 54% decrease in reinstatements.
         However, new memberships increased 11.8%.
     -   The transition of Reference and User Services Quarterly to digital may explain some of the
         increase in YTD drop rates and the decrease in reinstatement rates
     -   There was a good response last year to the reinstatement message campaign, which is scheduled to be
         repeated this year after MidWinter, which may help to improve the reinstatement number.

     Online Courses:

     -   The Business Reference course is being revamped and will be offered again later in 2012.
     -   The new MARS screencasting webinar has proved to be very popular. Since some registrants are groups,
         registration figures do not fully reflect the total number of members who have taken part in the webinar.

     Programming

     -   Because Annual Conference program planning process has been confusing, a group has been set up in
         Connect with information on FAQ's, deadlines, forms, procedures, etc., which has helped to address this
         issue.

     SmartInvesting@your library /grant – B1204

     -   In March 2011 FINRA extended the grant for two additional years. Sixty-four grants totaling over $4 million
         dollars have been given, benefiting over 700 library facilities which together serve over 25 million people.
     -   Institutions benefiting from the grants have ranged in size from the Camden Maine Public Library serving
         just over 5,000 people to the Brooklyn Public Library and the Los Angeles Public Library serving populations
         of over 2 million and 4 million respectively.
     -   ALA consultant Kit Keller did an evaluation of the project, which found among other things that the FINRA
         grants have led to the creation of "core financial resources and a cadre of experts and potential
         trainers/mentors equipped to expand the program to libraries nationwide."
     -   Libraries interested in receiving an invitation to apply for the grant can review the Frequently Asked
         Questions Page for the Grant or contact the Project Director, Margaret Monsour (mmonsour@ala.org)
         for more information.

     Website

                                                       7
        -   There were some problems with the migration of the RUSA website from the Collage
            Management System (CMS) to the Drupal CMS in November 2011, with not all content migrating
            successfully. Much content has now been restored and staff continue to work on locating
            additional missing content.
        -   RUSA Section webmasters were offered a Drupal training session, and a virtual meeting of this
            group will be set up after MidWinter to address ongoing concerns.

     Publications

        - RUSQ made a smooth transition to digital format last summer. ALA Subscription services is requiring
        that institutions having multiple locations have separate institution subscription rates.

     Virtual meetings

        -   A five room subscription to Blackboard Collaborate has been purchased.
        -   Policies and procedures, including those for use of an external calendaring tool to manage
            scheduling, will be worked out in the next few months;
        -   MARS has agreed to work with interested members from the Task Force on Remote Technology
            to produce a webinar on how to use BlackBoard

     New Member Power Point

        -   Will be added to the RUSA web site after MidWinter, and further personalized with photographs
            and testimonials as they are obtained for the Just-Ask campaign.
        -   It was not possible to arrange to do headshots at MidWinter. They will be scheduled for Annual.

3:30 p.m.   Meeting adjourned




                                                     8
                            Reference and User Services Association Board of Directors

                                         2012 Midwinter Meeting, Dallas TX

                                                     Draft Minutes

          Session II: Monday, January 23, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm, Dallas Convention Center (DCC) - D161



PRESENT: Wayne Bivens-Tatum , Chris LeBeau, Kathleen Kern, Carolyn Larson, Dianna McKellar, Alesia McManus, Mary
Popp, Amber Prentiss, Judith Solberg, Doris Ann Sweet, Janice Schultz, Liane Taylor, Barry Trott, Patrick Wall, Heather
Weltin, Gary White (president), Diane Zabel, M. Kathleen Kern,

Guests: Emily Kornak (2012 RUSA Spectrum Scholar), Emily Hamstra, (RUSA Emerging Leader), Joseph Thompson, Daniel
Windham (MLSIS Student UNC at Greensboro)

Staff: Susan Horning (executive director), Andrea Hill (web manager), Liz Markel, (marketing and programs manager).



CALLED TO ORDER: 1:30 PM by Gary White

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

   Gary extended his thanks to Liane Taylor for the successful Social and to Sharron Smith (Chair, CODES Reading List
   Committee) and Liz Markel for their work on the Book and Media Awards event, which, Liz noted, was written up in
   Monday's Cognotes.

GROUP PHOTOGRAPH

SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF SWOT ANALYSIS OF RUSA FROM SECTIONS FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS – DISCUSSION

   In the interest of time, Gary asked Section representatives to briefly summarize the opportunities that they had
   identified from their Section SWOT analyses (which will be particularly pertinent to the Section’s strategic planning).
   The full SWOT analyses should be emailed to Gary, who will distribute to the Board.

   STARS

      -    Develop new marketing strategies (e.g., offer free passes to Conference exhibits as PR)
      -    Start publicizing Conference events early (e.g. begin publicizing Anaheim events now).
      -    Sections need representation at the events of related organizations (For example, STARS needs more
           representation at meetings of other resource sharing organizations. Maybe have a STARS program at these
           gatherings – or just bring brochures.)

                                                             9
MARS


  -     Offer greater opportunities for virtual participation both through committee membership and through more
        continuing education opportunities
  -     Offer a variety of collaborative technologies and presentation tools to allow for greater virtual participation
  -     Increase opportunities for Conference presentations to be recorded and quickly made available online
  -     Offer more no/low cost programming
  -     Ensure website content is current and organized so that it is more easily navigated
  -     Set up networking opportunities between conferences
  -     Sponsor “unconference” opportunities within the regular ALA conference
  -     Offer free or discounted ALA/RUSA membership to selected speakers for a period of time (e.g. 1 year) to
        encourage their involvement in ALA and RUSA.
  -     Increase opportunities for collaborations across committees, sections, divisions, and non-ALA organizations


CODES

  -     Sponsor a library school student to come to the conference
  -     Offer more webinars and educational opportunities
  -     Increase RUSA resources and dedicated staff time available to the Sections

BRASS

  -     Offer more webinars
  -     Take advantage of the new Drupal Content Management System to showcase Section and Division activities
  -     Anticipate and respond more quickly to members' concerns

HISTORY

  -     More interaction with other Sections
  -     Use the Internet to make Sections more active between conferences
  -     Look at the structure of RUSA and make revisions where necessary

RSS

  -     Learn from what other divisions are doing in terms of online programming.
  -     Emphasize wide spectrum of libraries (e.g. public, academic, government, special) represented in RUSA when
        marketing the Division.
  -     Highlight the value of reference services in publicity efforts.
  -     Target outreach efforts to RUSA's large potential membership, which includes many public service/reference
        librarians who are articulate, passionate, and highly skilled.
  -     Partner with other library organizations.



                                                         10
      -   Move quickly to explore and offer more opportunities for virtual programming, meetings, etc. With
          Blackboard, the Division can move beyond traditional webinars and offer drop-in forums, as well as
          committee meetings.
      -   Make use of expertise among the membership to provide professional growth opportunities
      -   Find more opportunities for partnering with other Divisions, Sections, Committees, and Round Tables.

   Individual Comments

      -   Make recruitment of recently graduated and soon-to-graduate librarians a priority
              o Might consider working with ALCTS, when marketing to this group, as ALCTS also has members from
                  many types of libraries
              o Target marketing to library school students in the Anaheim area
              o Low/No cost webinars particularly important to this group
              o Need to be mindful of the academic calendar when reaching out to library school students
              o Offer conference registration plus a set sum to be applied to travel, housing, etc
      -   Interact with Sections, etc. beyond RUSA.
              o STARS program planning committees which include members from other Divisions could be a model
                  for other Sections of RUSA
              o RSS/YALSA are considering joint interest groups
              o Need to be mindful that there are no administrative barriers when setting up such groups
              o Offer joint programming with other ALA groups in which each group actively contributes to
                  developing the program – this would be a new model that goes beyond traditional co-sponsorship in
                  name only
                       Topics of interest to GODORT or various aspects of E-books or might lend themselves to this
                          approach




COUNCIL ACTIONS – KERN, DIVISION COUNCILOR

   With the exception of the endorsement of the work of the Working Group on Digital Content and Libraries, there
   were no substantive issues relating to RUSA to report at this time.



DISCUSSION OF PRESIDENT'S REPORT – White, #B1205


   In answer to a question about the current status of the Just-Ask campaign, Gary indicated that the initial meeting will
   take place shortly. A Chair has yet to be identified for the group.



DISCUSSION OF DIVISION OFFICERS' MEETING WITH THE ALA EXECUTIVE BOARD – White, Popp, Trott

   Highlights of the meeting included reports from ALA officers:

                                                           11
      ALA President Molly Raphael discussed her two main initiatives: an advocacy initiative, "Why Libraries Matter:
      Empowering Community Voices," offering tools and ideas to librarians to increase support for libraries within their
      communities, and her diversity leadership initiative, “Empowering Diverse Voices." The latter included a
      “Champion Connections” event held at Midwinter 2012, at which selected new and emerging leaders were given
      an opportunity to meet with past ALA presidents and other leaders within the organization and a Leadership
      Video Series, a series of video segments featuring established leaders from the profession.

      Jim Neal, ALA treasurer, noted that revenue streams continue to be a challenge. He specifically mentioned
      Continuing Education online courses, increased publishing, a new emphasis on fundraising and private giving, and
      the acquisition of Neal Schuman as sources for increased revenue.

      Maureen Sullivan, ALA President Elect, also stressed the importance of continuing the advocacy initiatives begun
      before her. To this end, she announced that ALA will convene a summit in early Fall 2012, which will bring
      together leaders from outside the library field including representatives from government, education, and cultural
      organizations to develop an action agenda to educate and demonstrate the value of libraries to various
      communities. She also indicated that she is working with Harvard Graduate School on a 2 ½ day leadership
      institute planned for the fall of 2012, Leadership in the Digital Age, that will focus on providing library
      administrators and managers with the skills to meet the challenges of the Digital Age. In addition, she announced
      she will be forming a group to look at the structure of ALA, and how it might be re-envisioned to make the
      organization more effective and better equipped to meet today's needs. In part, the discussion will be framed
      around the question, "If ALA did not exist, how would you create such an organization?"

      Executive Director, Keith Fiels also spoke about transforming libraries. He is working to put together a web site
      with resources on this subject. If anyone knows of resources that RUSA has that should be listed on this site, they
      should let Susan know.

      During small group discussions, attendees discussed moving the Fall Leadership meeting to a virtual format.
      However, the consensus was that in spite of the cost, the in-person event results in valuable networking and team
      building which would be lost in a virtual environment. It was also noted that these meetings are more effective if
      there is a targeted topic with follow-through.

DISCUSSION OF FY2012 PRELIIMINARY BUDGET – BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR, MARY POPP, DOCUMENT #B1206

   The ALA Deadline for the corrected preliminary budget is February 2nd. However, the final budget is not approved
   until Annual. The RUSA reserve fund as of the August 31, 2011, close totaled $601,411. Based on both ALA
   recommendations for reserve funds and on RUSA's stricter requirements regarding these funds (which mandate that
   Division maintain a reserve equal to 50% of the average expenditures over the most recent three fiscal years - which
   equals $205,675), the Division is in a very good position with regard to its reserve funds. Mary urged the Board to
   look at ways we can use some of these funds to work for the membership, including ways that will:

      -   Make the organization more attractive to non-academic librarians
      -   Increase participation by public libraries
      -   Increase visibility of RUSA in ALA
      -   Increase valuable programming and provide resources for members who cannot attend conferences
      -   Increase opportunities to participate virtually

                                                           12
  With regard to the President's Program for 2013, she would like to move the program time from Monday to Saturday
  afternoon, a time when most members are still here, and make it a program that will inspire them and leave them
  with "something to think about." She is also considering possibly streaming the program and would like to offer
  other related activities such as an essay contest open to members on the program theme with the winning paper(s)
  being published online, perhaps in a special edition of RUSQ, along with a portal that will allow for follow-up
  interactive activities and ongoing impact. Members expressed support for the proposals including the essay
  competition and the publishing opportunity it would give winners.

  Mary also proposed using some of the reserve funds to fund a pilot program in conjunction with the Blackboard
  Collaborate project to provide long distance access for those who cannot use Blackboard for whatever reason (e.g.
  physical limitations, or security policies of some libraries) to enable such individuals to call in with the cost being
  absorbed by RUSA rather than the individual member.

  In further discussion, Board members suggested additional uses for some of the reserve funds, including:

     -   Make RUSA's webinar offerings more accessible to members. Suggestions for doing this included:
             o Offering subsidized (reduced price) webinars for members
             o Offering some free webinars for members, particularly in view of the fact that they have already paid
                 for membership.
             o Allowing people to attend one free webinar, then get a discount on future webinars if s/he join within
                 a certain amount of time
             o Offering live webinars at cost, but offer the recorded versions free to members after a month
     -   Provide funds for training opportunities
             o Creating 5 minute "how-to" segments on YouTube
     -   Provide more RUSA support for research –
             o Might fold into the Reference Research Forum sponsored by the Research and Statistics Committee
                 of the Reference Services Section
             o However, need to phrase carefully, because such an emphasis might be at odds with the goal of
                 broadening RUSA's appeal to non-academic librarians. However, it was pointed out that the subjects
                 of research could include topics related to non-academic and public libraries, and members from
                 those communities might be interested in the results of such research without conducting the
                 research themselves.
     -   Provide funding/recognition to a library for a particular program which could be scaled
     -   Make it easier for new members to find out about opportunities in RUSA
             o In addition to the New Member Power Point, it might be possible to create a wizard that would ask
                 prospective members what they are interested in, then, based on their answers, direct them to
                 appropriate opportunities within the Division

ACTION ITEMS

     -   Revised STARS Guidelines: Guidelines for Interlibrary Loan Operations Management – DISCUSSION AND
         ACTION – Larayne Dallas, Chair, Standards and Guidelines Committee – Document #B1207

         Larayne noted that in Section 2.4, the word “agreement” was inadvertently omitted.


                                                            13
         In response to a question about the need for Section 5.4 (“The manager should advocate that library schools
         offer courses in resource sharing to better prepare graduates who enter this field.”), Larayne indicated that
         STARS feels strongly that this provision is needed to raise awareness of the importance of this activity.

         Motion to approve the STARS Guidelines: Guidelines for Interlibrary Loan Operations Management:
         Approved

         In answer to a follow-up question about publicity, Board members indicated the approved guidelines would be
         widely announced through such means as the RUSA Update, RUSQ, and the RUSA blog; Sections were also
         encouraged to inform their membership though their normal Section communication channels.

     -   Resource Development Committee Charge – DISCUSSION AND ACTION – All – Document #B1208

         Gary noted that the proposed charge had been discussed at the Executive Committee meeting on Friday, Jan
         20, 2012.

         Motion to approve the Resource Development Committee Charge: Approved

     -   New History Award, entitled RESEARCH AND INNOVATION AWARD – DISCUSSION AND ACTION – Janice
         Schultz, HS Chair, – Document #B1209

         Noting that the award was spearheaded by Agnes Widder, formerly Chair of the History Section, Janice
         stressed the need for the award, noting that there are few opportunities for history librarians to receive
         financial funding for research. The award winner, who needs to be a MLS degreed librarian from an ALA
         accredited school/program, does not need to be a member of RUSA or the History Section to apply, but must
         join both by the time the grant is awarded.

         In response to questions, Janice indicated that the award will be funded by Gale for 3 years.

         A motion was made to amend the award document to include the official Gale company name and the word
         History in the title and to add information about the source of funding for the award in the description of the
         award.

         Motion to approve the History Award as amended: Approved

OTHER BUSINESS

         In response to a question about Board meeting times at Annual 2012, Board members were told the
         information would be posted shortly. [Dates/Times for Board I (06/23/2012 - 1:30pm - 3:30pm) and Board II
         (06/25/2012 - 4:00pm - 5:30pm) were subsequently added to Connect.]

         Gary again thanked Board members and committee/task force chairs and their members for their work over
         the last few months, in particular citing Liane Taylor (RUSA/ASCLA Web Conferencing Task Force), Diane Zabel,
         (RUSQ Editor Selection Committee), and Kate Kosturski (RUSA Structure Task Force).


                                                           14
MEETING ADJOURNED: 3:20 PM




Rev. 3-27-12 (2)/SH




                             15

				
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