ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 364 /C&RL News A bridge between ACRL and other organizations By Elaine Coppola, Norma Hervey, and Susanna Bartmann Pathak Reports to ACRL ’s Professional Liaison Committee T he initial intent o f ACRL in establishing thProfessional Liaison Committee was to en courage members to offer papers and poste sessions, participate on panels at professional meetings, and/or publish in journals o f othe professional organizations. For some years in the 1980s, competitive funds were available t support building stronger links to other groups in higher education.1 While funding is no longer available, the committee continues to encour­ age and monitor liaison activities. In response to a request from committe chair Barbara Ford (Virginia Commonwealth University), the committee recently received a number o f written reports from official ACR liaisons. The committee believes that their ac tivities are o f interest to all ACRL members who like ACRL president Tom Kirk (Berea College), place importance on networking as a way o sharing our strengths and enhancing our abil ity to achieve mutual goals. The ACRL liaison reports The Modern Language Association. ACRL has two official liaisons to the Modern Languag A ssociation o f Am erica (M L A ): Susanna Bartmann Pathak (Johns Hopkins University) and William Gargan (Brooklyn College). Among their liaison activities are encouraging ACRL members to join and participate in the MLA attending the MLA annual conventions and re porting on programs, projects, and other issues at a variety o f ALA meetings and on electroni e ­ r r o e L ­ , f ­ e ; ­ c discussions lists when relevant; and participat­ ing in the MLA’s programs and activities. One special area o f participation is with the MLA International Bibliography. Several members o f ACRL’s English and American Literature Dis­ cussion Group index for the Bibliography and a large group (25+ members) have worked on ACRL’s Ad Hoc MLA International Bibliog­ raphy Scope and Overlap Committee which studies and advises on the coverage o f the Bibliography. This cooperative effort has proven so successful that ACRL is being peti­ tioned to establish a permanent discussion group (MLA International Bibliography in Aca­ demic Libraries Discussion Group) with an ex­ panded focus. Additionally, many joint mem­ bers o f ACRL and MLA are members o f MLA committees, give papers at the annual con­ ventions, and/or publish articles and books in their fields o f expertise. The Coalition for Networked Informa­ tion. ACRL liaisons to the Coalition for Net­ worked Information (CNI) are Thomas Kirk and Noreen Alldredge (California State University- Hayward). They attend the semiannual meet­ ings o f the CNI and prepare a report forC&RL News (see News from the Field, page 357 o f this issue). As Kirk indicates, CNI focuses on the activities o f its membership rather than con­ ducting programs o f its own. Thus, its working groups dedicated to areas o f effort (e.g., Trans­ formation o f Scholarly Communication, Legis­ lation, Teaching and Learning, Modernization o f Scholarly Publication, Access to Public In­ formation) are excellent avenues for ACRL in­ volvement. Kirk has worked closely with the Teaching and Learning Working Group that is participating in two projects: 1) the work o f Elaine Coppola is social sciences reference/bibliographer at Syracuse University; Norma Hervey is head librarian at Luther College; and Susanna Bartmann Pathak is resource services librarian at Johns Hopkins University. They are all members o f the ACRL Professional Liaison Committee. June 1994/365 the ACRL/BIS Emerging Technologies in In­ struction Committee on developing models for instruction in the use o f the Internet, and 2) a proposal for an invitational conference on the incorporation o f networking into teaching and learning activities. The Association for Asian Studies. Wil­ liam Sheh Wong (University o f Califomia-Irvine) is the ACRL liaison to the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). He reports that AAS has three librarians’ groups: 1) CEAL: the Committee on East Asian Libraries (159 members, 108 are also ALA members); 2) CONSALD: the Libraries Documentation Committee o f South Asian Council (29 members, 7 are also ALA mem­ bers); and 3) CORMOSEA: the Committee on Research Materials on Southeast Asia (29 mem­ bers, 5 are also ALA members). In addition, there is an Asian Librarians Liaison Committee (ALL) which includes the chairs o f the three librarians’ groups and three other individuals. Wong feels there are good opportunities for joint panel proposals and seminar and confer ence cosponsorships by ACRL and AAS. The American Association of Universit Professors. The American Association o f Uni versity Professors (A A U P ) liaison is Jody Newmyer (Eastern Connecticut State Univer sity), who is a member of the AAUP Council. At the November 1993 Council meeting there was consensus for the AAUP to join with othe organizations (including A LA ) to take proactive stance in ensuring that a nonprivatized electronic information network dedicated to non-commercial educational uses is maintained. The American Chemical Society. ACR liaisons to the American Chemical Society (ACS), Division o f Chemical Information, are Arleen Som erville (University o f Rochester) and Howard Dess (Rutgers University). Somerville has asked chemistry professor Norman Crai (Oberlin College), a member o f ACS’ Commit tee on Professional Training, to write an articl for C&RL News about the impact o f journal an Chemical Abstracts cancellations on ACS certi fication. In addition to her activities on thre ACS committees, Somerville has encouraged communication on bibliographic instruction be tween ACRL’s Bibliographic Instruction Sectio and ACS’ Division o f Chemical Information an submitted reports on ACS activities to ACRL’ Science and Technology Section’s electronic newsletter. The National Forum on Information Lit eracy. Barbara Ford and Althea Jenkins (ACRL) ­ y ­ ­ r a L g ­ e d ­ e ­ n d s ­ are ACRL liaisons to the National Forum on In­ formation Literacy. Ford reports that she worked with Patricia Breivik (Towson State University) to prepare an article for American Libraries on information literacy that was published in Janu­ ary 1992, and has submitted another article on information literacy going international. Ford notes that Breivik’s involvement with the fo­ rum is an excellent example o f an academic librarian’s involvement with another professional organization which has opened doors to ACRL collaboration. As these reports show, ACRL liaisons are very active and successful in their activities. The ACRL Professional Liaison Committee is certain that many other librarians, official liaisons or not, are involved with other professional orga­ nizations. We are interested in reporting on your activities in future issues o f C&RL News. We also invite your comments and ideas for future liaison activities. Please contact Susanna Bartmann Pathak, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218; e-mail: SPATHAK® JHUNIX.HCF.JHU.EDU. Note 1. Jacquelyn M. Morris, “Funds for professional activities,” C&RL News 49 (May 1988): 291- 92; Louise S. Sherby, “ACRL professional liai­ son activities,” C&RL News 50 (April 1989): 287-89. ■ (INFORMA cont. from page 347) log Project; Query by Image Content (QBIC); Simon personal communications manager pro­ viding cellular phone, fax, e-mail, cellular pager, address book, calendar and appointment scheduler, calculator, clock, paperless note pad, handwriting and keyboard functions, help func­ tions, and message pager; Images of the French Revolution; Promenade: The National Agricul­ tural Library and University o f Pittsburgh Im­ age Database Project; IBM ThinkPad notebook computer with the Trackpoint II pointing de­ vice; the Patent Information Access Server (P IA S ); and Express Author multim edia authoring tool, with which faculty can create effective courseware quickly, easily, and with no computer programming. Look for INFORMA incorporated as a track within the IBM Higher Education Executive Conference next spring. ■