91´«Ã½

CHICAGO—Registration is now open for the fall 2010 offerings of the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) popular classes Genealogy 101, Business Reference 101 and Readers’ Advisory 101.

The next offerings of these courses will be held:

This new course is designed for reference staff with little to no experience in genealogy. Using a case study to frame the coursework, participants will learn about tools and techniques they can use to confidently assist patrons with family history research. A review of archival material, print reference tools and online sources is included in the curriculum. Jack Simpson, former curator of Local and Family History at the Newberry Library in Chicago and co-creator of ChicagoAncestors.org, will teach the course. This course is asynchronous—students login at their convenience and complete assignments throughout the week.

Appropriate for librarians and library staff of all types who wish to acquire business reference expertise, Business Reference 101 will demystify such topics as SIC, NAICS codes, ROI and 10ks. Students will also have access to such proprietary business reference databases as Standard & Poor’s Net Advantage and Thomson/Gale’s Business & Company Resource Center. This consistently sold-out course will be taught by Celia Ross, chair of RUSA’s Brass section and an experienced facilitator and practitioner in the business reference field. This course is asynchronous—students login at their convenience and complete assignments throughout the week.

Through practice sessions, participants learn how to use RA tools, craft annotations, read in genres, articulate appeal and experiment with methods to offer RA services. Readers' Advisory 101 is tailored for those at all types of libraries—support staff, library technicians, newly hired reference librarians and those librarians who want to brush up on their skills. The topics covered are introductory in nature. Course instructor Joyce Saricks is the author of “Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library” (3rd ed., 91´«Ã½, 2005) and “Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction” (2nd ed., 91´«Ã½, 2009), and is active in sharing her RA expertise with others through workshops, her monthly Booklist column and teaching courses at Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library Science. This course includes weekly chats, which will be held each Wednesday of the course at 3 p.m. CDT.

All courses will be administered using , an online course management tool. Online learning offers flexibility for busy professional schedules and facilitates interaction between instructors and students with weekly assignments, discussion boards and chat sessions.

is now open for all of these opportunities, with significant cost savings for RUSA members. Visit for detailed course information, or go straight to the for these courses. Information about group registration discounts for those libraries or library systems with two or more employees participating is available from Liz Markel, RUSA marketing specialist, at lmarkel@ala.org

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. For more information, visit . Not a RUSA member, but interested in discounted registration rates on conference, RUSA preconferences and other RUSA events? Join, renew or add RUSA to your 91´«Ã½ membership at .