From the President of RUSA: What Is the Value of RUSA to You?

Abstract

RUSA is facing some challenges ahead. As I mentioned in my last column, RUSA membership is declining. One of the main impacts of the decline in membership is that we have a deficit budget. We are in the process of drafting some bylaws changes to integrate interest groups into RUSA and to give RUSA more flexibility for dues increases as needed. We want to strengthen our association, which is the professional home within ALA for those of us who work directly with our patrons, users, and learners. The last dues increase of $15 was in 2005, so it has been a long time since we have considered a dues increase. Of course, a dues increase brings the possibility that members will not renew because of financial constraints, but I firmly believe that RUSA is worth the money.