91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — Beth Boatright, information services and instruction librarian at the Helmke Library at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, has been selected as the 2015 Emerging Leader for the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

The 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) Emerging Leaders (EL) program is a leadership development program that enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into 91´«Ã½ structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. The Emerging Leader experience begins with a day long session during the 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting, followed by six months of project engagement through online learning and networking environments. The program culminates with a poster session presentation to display the results of the project planning work of each group at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference.

As the RUSA Emerging Leader, Boatright will partner with other emerging leaders on the project of her choosing. She will also work with RUSA leadership in a variety of other roles throughout the year. Boatright will kick off her tenure as the 2015 RUSA Emerging Leader at the upcoming 2015 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting in Chicago.

Boatright received her M.L.S. with a Digital Library Specialization, from Indiana University in 2009 and earned her BA in English and Music from Houghton College in 2006. She is an active member of 91´«Ã½, RUSA’s Emerging Technologies in Reference Section (MARS), Reference Services Section (RSS),

Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) and the New Member Roundtable. A natural born leader, Boatright is a firm believer that effective leadership empowers people to contribute to their community and a good leader provides a clear sense of purpose, achievable goals, a well-defined path toward meeting those goals, and a mechanism for evaluating progress. “I am a firm believer in service leadership - casting a vision, creating a process, and then lending a hand. I think one of the most powerful leadership questions is, ‘How can I help?’”

In her current capacity at the Helmke Library, Boatright provides research support services, develops information literacy instruction and evaluation, collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to develop, implement, and assess library-wide marketing strategies and offers professional development workshops, to name just a few of her responsibilities.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the 91´«Ã½, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services and collection materials they need. Not a member, but interested in discounted registration rates on conference, preconferences and other events? Join, renew or add RUSA to your 91´«Ã½ membership at . Learn more about the association at .