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A Conversation With FOLUSA's Jane Rutledge
Friends of The Library U.S.A. (FOLUSA), a national organization of Friends of the Library groups, publishes News Update, a quarterly newsletter for FOLUSA members with library related stories, resources, calendar items and general interest items. News Update has long been a forum and a resource for Friends of the Library Groups and it remains one of the best ways to share your experiences and successes. A bit over a year ago, Jane Rutledge took over the reins at News Update after the passing of longtime editor Jim Houck. Recently we asked Jane about News Update, FOLUSA and herself. What is your background? Here's the condensed version: Born in Kansas and grew up there, attended University of Kansas and then got a one-year teaching degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education. I taught high school math for four years while my husband was getting a PhD and then became a stay-at-home mom for four children. I got into the 'Friends' world via the booksale route. I continued to be active in Friends at state level when Friends of Kansas Libraries was formed. In Kansas I worked for Allen Press (scientific and scholarly journals) as a proof-reader and I've also worked as editorial assistant for Journal of Natural Products. After all that, library publications are a piece of cake! I served six years on the FOLUSA Board, much of it as secretary. How would you describe the newsletter, in look, in content? News Update is published quarterly, 16 pages. The look, yellow and white, is very lively — our graphic artist does a nice job. Our content is what we think our members want and need — some news from the library world, information about what FOLUSA is doing, announcements of special offers from other organizations and vendors, how-tos and good ideas from Friends groups from around the country. Do you sell ad space? No. How do you get your information? My part — the good ideas from Friends groups nationwide — arrives via press release (rarely) and local and state newsletters (usually). I am on about 220 mailing lists of local Friends groups. I scan newsletters looking for good ideas for book sales, programs, volunteers, fund-raising, advocacy — something that another group could replicate or adapt. If there's something that looks promising but details are lacking, I write or call asking for additional information. How would you prefer to get information? I'd like to receive even more local newsletters! And then when I ask for details, I'd like an immediate response! What we want is not usually what you put in a press release — we want the inside story, what you would tell us if we were sitting down with a cup of coffee and asked how you managed to do this project. For longer items, would you like the copy on disc or in electronic format? I'd really just as soon get it via e-mail. We don't usually do really lengthy stuff — around 700 words is max. and shorter is usually better. In general, we like to be concise. You must get a lot of stuff — what can a be done to make a submittal stand out? Tell me something I think other Friends will find of interest. I don't really look for news — I look for useable ideas. The more organizational details, the better. And I always like to have an anecdote or some human interest details or a nice quote. Should submittals include photos? Depends if we can get a good photo sent to us — and it needs to be a photo that helps to tell the story. Our space is valuable to us, so a photo needs to be a real addition to the story. I notice you do not use a lot of graphics, how come? Again, the best are the ones that help to tell the story. The graphics in the "Good Ideas From The Network" section are usually just the logos of the featured groups — although sometimes we will use a ticket, a bookmark, a program, etc. that illustrates the project we're highlighting. What is the process of putting an issue together? Sandy Dolnick, FOLUSA's executive director, and I do a rough outline of what we have and where it will go. Sandy usually has lots of material that has come to the office. She writes up the front page and the Executive Director's Report and special offers, and she will have other items that have come to the office or that she has seen somewhere and asked permission to reprint. She e-mails her stuff to me and I e-mail mine to her. Then I edit everything to try to get the pages to come out right and send the whole thing on disk and hard copy to our graphic artist in Philadelphia along with the photos and graphics. I also e-mail the whole issue to Sandy, and she and her office staff work with the graphic artist if questions come up during the set-up stage. When "paste-up" is complete, they send me a proof to check. Should friends be sending items or just their newsletters directly to Sandy? We work pretty closely together on the whole thing. It's easiest if newsletters and press releases come to me. Anything that might be a policy decision (like a vendor wanting to offer our members a special deal on something) should go to Sandy. The most direct route to News Update is via West Lafayette, Indiana. If you're still mailing your newsletter to our former address at ALA in Chicago or to our past editor Jim Houck in Youngstown, Ohio or even to our Philadelphia office, it's taking a detour. Please bring your mailing list up to date, get rid of the old address, and send your newsletter or news releases via e-mail, fax, or snail mail (no phone calls please) directly to: Jane Rutledge, Editor NEWS UPDATE |
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FOLUSA's Jane Rutledge
"What we want is not usually what you put in a press release — we want the inside story, what you would tell us if we were sitting down with a cup of coffee and asked how you managed to do this project." 
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