The Four E’s of Experience and Leadership; or How to Plot a Future Course for RUSA

Abstract

In this column in previous volume of Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ), Diane Zabel, then-president of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), took a look at issues facing reference librarians as they plan for future, followed by a great review of RQ/RUSQ literature that highlighted exciting reading we've brokered throughout our existence as an organization. So, as torch passes from Diane to me, and as she moves on to become both past-president and editor of RUSQ, I wish her best. THE FUTURE FOR REFERENCE AND RUSA Currently my library--and probably a lot of yours--are examining reference services in our libraries and asking, now? Where can we look for guidance? At Iowa State University, we have begun anew process of examining trends that have occurred within our services to help us rethink way we are delivering reference services. In 1992, Virginia Massey-Burzio changed way we did reference at Iowa State with her article, Rethinking Reference Desk, and as a result we created a tiered-reference service. (1) In 2002, white papers presented at a RUSA workshop on future of reference challenged us to look at various future scenarios for future of reference service. (2) As a consequence, we implemented e-mail and Web-reference services at Iowa State, and later, chat reference. Now many libraries of all types (academic, public, corporate, and school) are again examining how they deliver reference service and how new technologies of new millennium will drive change. As old Bob Dylan song says, the times, they are a changin'; (perhaps we should include word again?) As we think about future of our services, what would we do without Google? We don't necessarily like how much our students and patrons depend on Google, but we all are using it, and depend on it in those times all else eludes us. So how can we move to future of reference without selling out? What will be our roles in five years, or ten? What will be role of RUSA in creating this future role? In April 2006, Cathleen Bourdon (RUSA's executive director) and I attended a leadership symposium in Chicago, along with a hundred or more people representing other nonprofit organizations. During our two days together, we spent time examining challenges to our organization's focus in twenty-first century. In course of contemplating where to go next--Diane is a hard act to follow--I began by examining some of organizational issues that literature indicates are affecting ways in which we choose our leaders and values our organizations have come to represent. I have combined this information with insights from Chicago symposium, results from a May 2005 RUSA needs survey, and findings from a RUSQ survey also conducted in 2005. Some of my thoughts about what this may mean for RUSA as an organization and for our membership frame my musings. I began by asking questions that many have probably asked before: What do our members expect from RUSA as an organization, and how can we meet those needs? Where are we now, what are challenges ahead, and how do we meet them? As I reflected on symposium, I realized that RUSA's development could be adapted to fit into a couple of models called four E's, one developed for business community, and a second framed in perspective of organizational leadership. Both perspectives offer opportunity to encourage same goal--the growth of RUSA as an organization. In world of business, four E'S are defined by Pine and Gilmore as experience economy that occurs when a company [organization[ intentionally uses services as stage, and goods as props to engage individual customers [members] in a way that creates a memorable event. (3) Therefore, I would propose that this line of thought works for nonprofit organizations such as RUSA as well. …