RIG Newsletter
April, 2004
WLA Reference Interest Group Newsletter
RIG ELECTIONS
It should come as no surprise that Shireen Deboo and Elinor Appel are our de facto winners of the RIG elections for 2004-2005 Co-chair. What has surprised and delighted us is that so many of you took the time to vote in an essentially uncontested election. We heard from almost 40% of our RIG members---by the way, RIG membership is up 20% over last year's numbers! So thank you so much to all of you. And congratulations Shireen and Elinor!!
RIG MEMBERSHIP
Reference Interest Group membership is up to 117 and rising. Thank You to all for renewing your membership and a big Welcome to new members! We have a strong band of I-School student members, including Lisa Euster as our new I-School representative.We have heard from many members looking for an opportunity to participate
in some way. Well, look no more! You can start by reviewing the following
Strategic Planning document below, and sending in your thoughts and
comments. We will be looking for volunteers to help at the conference and
you will hear more about that as the dog days of summer near. We are also
trying to set up RIG as a conduit for I-School Directed Fieldwork students
and conference mentorship. Stay tuned.
STRATEGIC PLANNING - Important - Input Needed!
The 2003-2005 WLA Strategic Plan is available using the drop-down menu on the WLA Home Page. This planning document assigns responsibility for each of the Strategies and Tactics.I have excerpted the 12 strategies that Interest Groups need to address and incorporate into their working plans. Please read these and think about how RIG can grow in these activities. For context, the stated purpose of RIG from our newly adopted bylaws is:
"Promotes growth in the reference profession by facilitating communication among library staff, encouraging cooperative reference networks and providing enrichment opportunities."
There is a WLA board retreat on April 16th, and I will update the document with your suggestions. This will be an ongoing document, and we'll continue this discussion at our annual business meeting. Don't be
shy,--this is a brainstorming exercise! Send in your creative & wildest as well as plain productive ideas of what RIG can do.Strategic planning INTEREST GROUP RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Identify and create opportunities for developing leadership skills for library employees and trustees.
- Create new and expanded opportunities to encourage participation for new and/or younger members.
- Support career development of library workers.
- Sponsor social events throughout Washington state.
- Collaborate with other library associations and organizations with common goals within the library community.
- Increase and encourage the sharing of association resources and member expertise.
- Ensure that the organization reflects the diversity of the Washington community.
- Recruit targeted prospective member groups:
Recruit WALE members
Recruit academic library members
Recruit members from the Friends and trustees groups- Revitalize Interest Groups: Meet & Greet at conference
- Identify and collaborate with associations and organization with common goals beyond the library community.
- Advocate and promote issues of intellectual freedom.
- Increase public awareness of intellectual freedom issues.
*******Thanks for taking the time to participate.
PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
It was great to see so many of you at the recent PLA conference in Seattle. Thirteen RIG members volunteered at the successful WLA booth in the main lobby, and many more members stopped by to meet friends and colleagues. The WLA booth served as a gathering point for current members and those now dispersed around the country.I would like to ask anyone who attended presentations at PLA to let us know which ones you found valuable, what didn't meet your expectations, and how we might adapt or expand some of these presentations for RIG. And let us know if there were presentation topics missing. Many of the presenters were from the Pacific Northwest and might be available for our conference next April, or for training sessions throughout the year.
INTEREST GROUP LEADERSHIP RETREAT in April WLA will be sponsoring a leadership retreat on April 17th, covering material in the Interest Group handbook, Continuing Education support, a shortened version of Five-Star Presentations, and other goals and collaboration between Interest Groups. RIG will have 5 members attending, and we will report back to you after this inspiring event.
WLA/PNLA CONFERENCE 2004
Five RIG presentations and two preconferences will be presented, and brief descriptions are available from our Winter '04 Newsletter. These presentations came from suggestions you all made during our annual business meeting in April, 2003, and will provide practical training in Legal Research, Government Documents, Consumer Health, Virtual Reference and Northwest History, topics that concern library staff in public, special and academic libraries throughout the state. We expect a strong turnout,--come early for the best seats!
Best,
Catherine and AnneCatherine Haras (Co-Chair)
Highline Community College
Library 25-2
Des Moines, WA 98198-9800
Phone: 206-878-3710 ext. 3232
E-mail: charas@highline.eduAnne Bingham (Co-Chair)
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle WA 98195-2900
Phone: 206-685-1446
E-mail: abingham@u.washington.eduThe Reference Interest Group (RIG) is an interest group of the Washington Library Association. The purpose of our list and web pages is to share information regarding WLA RIG and professional information that would interest members of WLA RIG.