UL Professional Development

Amy Fry suggested this CFP–I am intrigued by the format.

Are you offering Reference or Instruction services through social media streams such as text messaging, Twitter, or Facebook? Have you evaluated those services to determine their success? Have you applied assessment measures to the transactions or the service as a whole? What methodologies and tools are you using to evaluate? Do traditional methods work? Are you collecting data and reviewing transactions? How are you using the analysis of these services? Have they helped justify additional social media services or identify patron needs?

The Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Committee and Public Libraries (PL) Committee of RUSA MARS invite you to share your successes and challenges with a Virtual Poster Session. We seek virtual posters which describe how libraries are evaluating and assessing social media reference in their library.

Social media services may include text, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, FourSquare, or any other new wave of social interaction used to provide Reference service. Evaluation methods can include statistical analysis, patron surveys, transcript analysis, use of standards and guidelines, interface usability testing, or any other method or combination of methods that the library uses to evaluate its service.

Submissions will be subject to a peer review selection process. Accepted posters will be mounted on the American Library Association (ALA) web site before the ALA 2011 Annual Conference and will be announced at the conference.
Presenters will be asked to participate in on-line discussions of their posters through the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) blog (http://rusa.ala.org/blog/).

To apply, please send the following information to MERS Chair Valerie Boulos at
vboulos@fiu.edu:
Primary Contact:
Names of Additional Authors and Their Affiliations:
Poster Session Title:
Abstract (150-200 words):
Proposals will be accepted through 5 p.m. Eastern, Friday, March 4, 2011.
Authors of selected proposals will be contacted by e-mail by March 18, 2011.

Virtual posters can be submitted as Web pages, PowerPoint presentations, or
other formats which can be mounted on the Web. Completed virtual posters must
be submitted to the committee by April 22, 2011. The committee will review the posters and work with the creators on any suggested edits needed for clarity and to comply with ALA and other guidelines.

Questions? Please contact the MERS Chair, Valerie Boulos at vboulos@fiu.edu.

MERS (Management of Electronic Resources and Services ) and PL (Public
Libraries) are committees of the MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference
Section in the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA).