Brand New RUSA CODES Convo Tomorrow and It's a Preview of Our ALA Annual Panel

So much RA programming and training news today and the best part of it is.....everyone can participate in some way. Yes, even if you aren't going to ALA Annual.

Let me back up a bit and explain. I am on the RUSA CODES RA Research & Trends Committee this year and two of the things we do is host email conversations throughout the year and have a panel at ALA.

The email convos are free and very easy to participate in or just lurk. Our next one is coming up tomorrow. Here are the details:

CODES Conversations: Reader-Focused Collection Development Tuesday, April 30, 10am-6pm EST 

Readers are flocking to library’s leisure collections. To make smart collection choices, we must look further than circulation statistics and learn what our entire community desires. Join us and special guest moderator Content Curation Manager for the Chicago Public Library, Stephan Sposato, to discuss how libraries can incorporate patron wishes into collection development. Bring your questions, suggestions, and advice! 

CODES Conversations are focused electronic conversations on issues facing collection development and readers’ advisory librarians—or anyone interested in those areas. The conversations are open to all who wish to participate (or lurk)! Use the link below to join us. 

RUSA CODES RA Research & Trends Committee 

Magan Szwarek & Alicia Ahlvers, Co-Chairs

I will be busy helping to moderate our discussion all day. I hope to see you there.

But if not, that's okay because not only will I link the notes of the entire convo here on the blog after the fact, but we will also be using some of your questions and comments during the convo in our ALA panel because it is on the same topic and I am the moderator. Details:

Give Them What They Want: Reader-Focused Collection DevelopmentSaturday, June 222:30 PM - 3:30 PMLocation: Washington Convention Center, 143A 

 

Readers are flocking to library’s leisure collections. To make smart collection choices, we must look further than circulation statistics and learn what our entire community desires. Our presenters are using methods suitable at libraries of any size to incorporate patron wishes into collection development, making readers integral to the whole process. 
From complex patron-driven acquisitions plans at large library systems, to bite-size surveys at the smallest libraries, to prioritizing patron requests, to canny materials displays, all of these librarians are finding innovative ways to put what readers want front and center, and to ferret out even the hardest-to-discover reading desires. 

Click through to see the full panel of speakers from across a variety of library experiences. I am not listed there as the moderator, but I promise you I am.

I have been working with the panelists to have them each prepare a very short presentation on different topics under the large umbrella of reader focused collection development, but the bulk of the presentation will be more conversational and we will incorporate some of the more popular topics and questions from the email convo tomorrow.

But, Becky, didn't you promise we didn't need to be at ALA Annual in DC in order for us to participate?

Yes, I did. And I can confirm that the above program will be one of the ones recorded by ALA to be put up on the website for virtual access after the conference. YAY!

So doesn't this make you more excited to participate [or at least lurk] in our email convo tomorrow?

Yes. The correct answer here is...yes.

Click here to sign up now and I'll see you in the convo tomorrow.

Finally, because it always comes up on convo days, we know the convo means that your email box gets flooded with a ton of messages. Please use your email's sort function to move them all to a folder to read later. It is only for 8 hours, and I promise you, it is worth being inundated. The email convos are a great way to connect with other readers' advisors form all over the country, to see what other libraries are doing on a single topic, and to collaborate. I have learned so much from these convos over the years. It is worth the small annoyance for 1 day. Please join us. Also, the link will take you to the archives of past convos. Or you can use this link to read the notes of convos past here on my blog.