PALS Reference Blog

Wed, 05 Dec 2007

RUSA reference and marketing classes offered online.
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is offering five Internet-based courses that offer training in specialized areas of reference and user services:

• Business Reference 101, Jan. 28 - Feb. 22, is a business reference course for library staff and researches that teaches the process of business research, as well as free and fee-based resources.
• Genealogy for Librarians: A Course for Beginners, Feb. 4 - March 14, is a new five-week course covering the basic sources and strategies for genealogy reference in the United States. Topics discussed will include census records, vital records, immigration records and other basic sources. The class will discuss reference strategies, with a focus on helping genealogy novices begin their research. Case studies will help illustrate the concepts discussed, and students will have an opportunity to practice research methods using online databases.
• Marketing Basics for Libraries, Feb. 25 – March 28, is a course designed as an introduction to marketing, focusing on the uses of marketing and explaining basic marketing tenets using the framework of libraries. Students learn about the nature and role of marketing, how to create a marketing plan, marketing research and evaluating the success of marketing efforts.
• Readers' Advisory 101, March 24 - April 23, trains library staff on how to use readers' advisory tools, craft annotations, read genres, articulate appeal and experiment with methods to offer readers' advisory tools, craft annotations, read genres, articulate appeal and experiment with methods to offer readers' advisory services.
• Reference Interview, Feb. 18 - March 21, is a course focusing on the methods of evaluating reference service, behavioral aspects of reference service and the different types of questions that can be used to help patrons identify what they need. The easy access of the online courses attracts students that live and work in the US and overseas. The students build their social network during scheduled chat sessions with the instructor and other students, sharing information and ideas on practices used in their organization, state or country.

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