The Reference and User Services Association is responsible for stimulating and supporting excellence in the delivery of general library services and materials to adults, and the provision of reference and information services, collection development, and resource sharing for all ages, in every type of library.
The specific responsibilities of RUSA are:
Conduct of activities and projects within the association's areas of responsibility;
Encouragement of the development of librarians engaged in these activities, and stimulation of participation by members of appropriate type-of-library divisions;
Synthesis of the activities of all units within the American Library Association that have a bearing on the type of activities represented by the association;
Representation and interpretation of the association's activities in contacts outside the profession;
Planning and development of programs of study and research in these areas for the total profession; and
Continuous study and review of the association's activities.
RUSA's Current Strategic Plan
Every three years, the RUSA Board of Directors develops a strategic plan. The Objectives of this plan for 2006–09 are:
Provide leadership in professional development for reference and user services librarians and library staff.
Work towards equity of access.
Seek ways to improve participation in RUSA by reference and user services librarians and library staff.
Ensure the effectiveness of RUSA in meeting its and ALA’s mission.
Increase the visibility of RUSA in the profession and society at large.
RUSA conducted an online member survey in May 2005 asking members to respond to the level of importance and performance of eleven value propositions. Here are the results.
From RASD to RUSA
Among the pages of this Web site, and of the greater ALA Web site, you may come across the acronym RASD, the Reference and Adult Services Division. Many divisions of the ALA began with names that used the word division rather than association. The following is the background on how RASD became RUSA:
When the Board discussed a new name for the Reference and Adult Services Division (RASD), the following points were made:
The Board wanted to include the word "association" to clearly indicate that it was an association in its own right in addition to being one of the component parts of the American Library Association. All of the other divisions of ALA had adopted the word "association" into their names instead of "division."
The division's mission states that it "is responsible for stimulating and supporting in every type of library the delivery of reference and information services to all groups, regardless of age..." Having the phrase "adult services" in its name suggests that children and youth are not included in its mission. There was also concern that the term "adult services" may not speak very clearly to people outside of the division.
A history of RASD was presented in the Spring 1995 issue of RQ.
Incidentally, the Board also desired the name to have a pronounceable acronym. The name change took place in the fall of 1996.
