Reference
Interest Group Meeting
Rain Restaurant
Present: Anne Cisney, Lisa Euster (iSchool Liaison), Deb Raftus (iSchool Liaison), Danielle Rowland, Esti Shay (Secretary), Deanna Sukkar (co-chair), Jennie Westlund (co-chair), Michael Wood
The meeting started at
Potential conference workshops
Business resources
Co-sponsorship of program with Social Responsibilities Round Table
Genealogy
Graphical search engines
Medical reference
Prison reference
Readers’ advisory
Reference “star”
Reference Research (“Keeping Current” as presented at WLA 2005 conference)
Senior issues
Serving diverse communities
Potential standalone (outside of the conference)
workshops
“Best of RIG” (statewide tour of workshops)
Online resources (genealogy, legal, government)
Statistics
Potential tours
Ballard Library (SPL) with RIG meeting
Boeing
Central Library (SPL), “mixing chamber”
Experience Music Project
Gallagher Law Library (UW)
Health Sciences Library (UW)
Microsoft
Membership and Marketing
The group discussed the value of RIG membership and what people gain by joining and becoming active members. Membership recruitment and marketing ideas were discussed. A plan for recruiting new iSchool students will be pursued, along with recruiting reference professionals. RIG will see if it is possible to get a list of incoming 2006 students and contact them during the summer before they begin classes.
Marketing ideas included the possibility of launching a RIG logo contest. This would be advertised in ALKI. It was suggested that RIG sponsor a number of memberships. This could be an incentive for students to join.
Don Willis suggested by email, to repeat the same workshop several weeks apart in several locations across the state with people from the local area. He also recommended that for anything that is web-based, to present the topic using screen-prints and not to depend on a live hookup. This would provide flexibility as well as hold down associated costs.
Tim Mallory wrote in that he would like to see a “RIG’s Greatest Hits” program on tour throughout the state – a training event for all reference library staff. This would include handouts and summaries from RIG presentations, links to web resources or the online version of the presentation, and the names of “willing experts” that one might call. He recommended that RIG identify under-served areas needing a workshop, and work with the WLA coordinator of continuing education to establish workshops in those area.
Mikey Wood proposed that a letter be created for RIG members that they could attach to a resume or application packet. The letter would describe RIG, acknowledge their membership, and describe any involvement or contribution made to the group by the member. The letter would be personalized, formal, and signed by the co-chairs. In order to be an incentive, the letter process would need to be ongoing and maintained by the next RIG leaders. The group felt that this was a valuable idea, and would benefit both students (seeking their first job) and professionals (seeking advancement). It could also benefit a person seeking membership in a professional committee or other group. Mikey was awarded a Starbucks gift card for his idea.
The idea of a shadowing program was discussed, where people not yet working in the field could shadow professionals for a few hours on the job to gain further insight in the field.
Other
The website design and functionality was discussed.
There is some consternation regarding who is or is not included on the RIG membership and email list. This will be checked out.
Lisa Euster and Deb Raftus explained that the role of the iSchool Liaison is to provide a connection between the interest group and the iSchool, which is vital when the chairs are not iSchool students, or otherwise connected to the iSchool.
The next RIG meeting will be planned to coincide with an event, possibly a tour of the new Ballard Library.