ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 9 4 6 1 C& RL News More on broadening the lines of c ommunic ation By Margaret R. Dittemore A ssistant Bibliographer f o r the Social Sciences Tulane University Getting involved with the scholarly community. P atricia Buck D om inguez’s concern with “B roadening th e Lines o f C om m unica­ tion” ( C b R L News, May 1990) am ong ALA, li­ brarians, faculty, and scholarly organizations is timely and w ell-stated.1 T h e c u rre n t discussion in the literature and at m eetings on this topic is a very im portant one and may yield substantive results. Towards th a t end, I w ould like to com m ent on several o f th e steps D om inguez recom m ends o u r profession take. D om inguez points to th e im portance o f indi­ viduals in this effort w hen advocating th a t librari­ ans becom e “m ore active in nonlibrary associa­ tions, in o rd er to p re se n t th e library’s p oint o f view on various issues.” Such activity w ould certainly contribute tow ards b ro ad en in g com m unication and w ould not b e th a t difficult for ALA and its m em bers to accomplish. In th e past several d e c ­ ades, an increasing n u m b e r o f individuals have en tered librarianship w ith p rio r experience in o th e r fields. Among these are librarians w ho have w orked in publishing or in th e book trad e and those who have academic preparation in o th e r subject areas. W ith th eir prior knowledge o f kindred groups, these individuals could co n trib u te substantially towards integrating our profession into th e b ro ad er publishing and educational com m unity and in ­ creasing our visibility there. I focus my com m ents h ere on one subset o f this P a tric ia Buck D om inguez, “ALA, Librarians, Faculty, and Scholarly O rganizations,” C & R L News 51 (May 1990): 396-97. group— those w ith second graduate degrees in o th e r subject disciplines. T hey are especially well- eq u ip p ed to assist in this effort w ithin th e scholarly co m m u n ity itself. T h e ir involvem ent in o th e r scholarly organizations and publication in th e jo u r­ nals o f th ese organizations w ould greatly increase com m unication am ong us and p rom ote a b e tte r u nderstanding o f who we are. T h ere is m uch th a t we w rite in o u r own journals— surveys o f th e su b ­ je c t literature, histories o f th e bibliography o f a field, discussions o f changing m odes o f scholarly com m unication, etc.— th a t w ith some m odifica­ tion w ould be appropriate for o th e r subject or higher education journals as well. In addition, th e re is a real n e e d (as evidenced by D om inguez’s MLA experience) for discussion groups o r sections voic­ ing library concerns w ithin those scholarly organi­ zations. T hese are only a few examples. T h ere are num erous o th e r opportunities for profitable ex­ change. O f course, th e re are some librarians w ho are already active participants in o th e r organizations or exchanges. T h e ir particip atio n m ainly req u ires personal tim e, effort, and resources. Surveys show th a t m uch research and w riting in librarianship is done this way. H owever, th e re are professional rew ards for th e la tter th a t do not usually accom ­ pany th e form er. M em bership and participation in o th e r associations is as costly as ALA, and holding two such m em berships (i.e., ALA and an o th er subject area) can be quite burdensom e. I f th e p ro ­ fession truly seeks to integrate itself into larger kindred groups, th e n it m ust provide m ore substan­ November 1 9 9 0 1 947 tive professional and institutional encouragem ent o f and support for these kinds o f activities. T rue integration o f librarians into larger com ­ m unities, both o f th e ir own college o r university and o f o th e r disciplines, can really only take place at th e grass roots level. T he large n u m b e r o f librarians with p rio r experience in o th e r areas presents our profession wixh th e unique opportunity to accom ­ plish this goal fairly readily. I f this is w hat we want, why aren ’t we taking advantage o f it? A second step reco m m en d ed by D om inguez is th at ALA “should identify speakers and develop program s on library-related m atters for p resen ta­ tion at national and regional scholarly o r publishing conferences.” ALA has many such opportunities through its own Annual C onference program m ing every year. In spite o f th e lack o f funding available to participate in these program s, they attract an im pressive array o f speakers on a n u m b e r o f im por­ ta n t and tim ely topics. Many o f these w ould be appropriate candidates as “re p e a t” sessions at the m eetings o f o th er professional associations as well. Pick up your program for th e 1990 Annual C onfer­ ence and th e crossovers will ju m p out at you. At least one attem p t to “re p e a t” an ALA session has already been m ade. Recently, A C R L’s A nthro­ pology and Sociology Section (ANSS) investigated subm itting its 1989 program , “Access to A nthropo­ logical Fieldnotes: Preservation, Collection and Ethical Issues,” to th e 1990 A m erican A nthropo­ logical Association (AAA) Annual M eeting. T he program was well received by librarians and th e topic has some currency in th e field o f anthropol­ ogy. T he program chair, Bonnie W right, felt th e program should be prom oted. T he speakers all agreed to p resen t th eir m aterial again, and two additional senior anthropologists accepted invita­ tions to participate. However, fu rth e r research revealed th a t all participants in sessions had to be registered and th a t only a selected n u m b e r could participate w ithout AAA m em bership. As several o f th e speakers w ere not AAA m em bers and would have b e e n attending th e conference at th e ir own expense only to participate in this session, they felt they could not accept th e extra financial b u rd en o f m em bership dues. As a result, th e program will not be repeated, a loss to both AAA and ALA. ALA and its m em bers would also greatly benefit from th e publication o f many ALA sessions. Those th a t are interdisciplinary in nature w ould find a b ro ad er audience, not only am ong librarians b u t in o th er subject disciplines as well. T he possibility o f publication w ould also enhance invitations to p o ­ tential speakers by program planners in com ing years. “R ep eat” sessions and publications would contribute substantially both to o u r integration into th e larger scholarly com m unity and to our visibility there. W e are truly shortchanging ourselves by not prom oting fu rth er some o f th e quality program ­ m ing th at is developed every year. However, sub­ stantive support from th e library profession is re ­ quired if such efforts are to succeed. William M offett’s title for his guest editorial in th e N ovem ber issue o f College and Research L i­ braries, “Talking To Ourselves,” was aptly chosen.2 As a profession, we indeed do a lot o f that. The problem is not unique, however. It is one th a t oth er professional associations are struggling with as well. In our case, th e re are certainly a n u m b er o f relatively easy first steps to take if we as individuals, as institutions, and as a profession are willing to do so. ■ ■ W illiam A. Moffett, “G uest Editorial: Talking to O urselves,” College and Research Libraries 50 (N ovem ber 1989): 609-10. Abstracts needed for practical sessions T he 19th National LO EX Library Instruction C onference to be held in Ypsilanti, Michigan, May 10-11, 1991, will feature 30-m inute practical in­ struction sessions and p o ster sessions. Anyone in ­ te re ste d in presenting a session may subm it an abstract. T he sessions should deal with working with faculty in th e new electronic library environ­ m ent, although not necessarily w ith com puters or any technology at all; hum an to h um an interaction is entirely acceptable. Some suggestions are listed below, although o th er topics will be considered: • designing curriculum w ith faculty; • teaching faculty o r graduate students to use research facilities; • designing and im plem enting CAI with or for faculty; • m arketing library instruction to faculty; • any cooperative venture with faculty o r spe­ cial outreach; • w orking w ith faculty o r adm inistrators to reach special groups such as minorities, part-tim e students, retu rn in g adult students, extended cam ­ pus students, etc.; • evaluating library instruction w ith faculty. Teaching faculty as well as librarians are invited to participate. Subm it a one-page abstract with proposed title, audiovisual re q u ire m e n ts, nam e, address, and phone n u m b e r by January 10, 1991, to: D irector, LO EX Clearinghouse, E astern Michigan U niver­ sity Library, Ypsilanti, M I 48197; (313) 487-0168.