ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries Septem ber 1 9 9 2 / 5 1 7 Annual Conference: Meetings for all minds Highlights o f the ACRL programs at ALA’s A n n u a l Conference: Part 1 P olitical correctness, recruitment to the pro­fessio n , lib ra ria n s’ p u b lic im ag e, the problem s o f East E uropean librarianship, off-campus services w ere som e o f the varied topics covered by ACRL at ALA's 111th Annual Conference in San Francisco, Ju n e 25-July 2, attended by 19,261 registrants. Highlights of som e ACRL program s are given below; part 2 will appear in O ctober. See the accom panying sidebar for information on ordering audiotapes of selected programs. Ed. note: Thanks to the many individuals w ho contributed to this article. Influencing career decisions During the program o f ACRL President Anne Beaubien, “Prospecting for the Future: How You Can Influence Career Decisions," a psy­ chologist, career counselor, librarians, and library school faculty offered their perspec­ tives o n how to recruit tal­ e n te d p e o p le to librarian- s h ip . P s y c h o lo g is t J o h n Krumboltz o f Stanford Uni­ versity re v e a le d th a t only about ten percent o f college u n d erg rad u ates accep t re­ sponsibility for their career decisions and that most ca­ reer decisions are m ade by others. He affirmed that ste­ reotypes really do influence p e o p l e ’s c a r e e r d e c i ­ sions an d can prevent indi­ viduals from considering career paths. “Com­ p le te a n d accu rate info rm atio n is the b e st defense against stereotypes,” said Krumboltz as he cautioned the audience not to allow them ­ se lv e s o r a n y o n e e ls e to b e b lo c k e d b y m isperceptions. University o f Michigan career c o u n selo r Sharon V aughters su g g ested that parents, friends, and a professional in the field J o h n K ru m boltz e x a m in e d ca r e e r b e lie fs. are the biggest influences o n students’ career decisions. She advised librarians to help stu­ dents take risks. Speakers Susana Hinojosa of the University of California, Berkeley, and Evan Farber, Earlham College, discussed their tech­ niques for recruiting students (including minor­ ity students) to librarianship an d recom m ended antadk ing a proactive approach. Jane Robbins and Mary Jane Scheredin o f the University o f Wis­ consin review ed characteristics of library school students and encouraged practicing librarians to recruit students into librarianship. All those attending the program com pleted Krumboltz’s “C areer Beliefs Inventory” designed to assess beliefs related to career goals. H o w do yo u describe a lib rarian? In “Guts, Brains and Sensitivity or the Ability to Stoop, Lift an d Reach to High Places—What Makes a G ood Librarian?” ACRL’s Vocational Interest Inventories Task Force reported on its w ork of changing the occupational profiles of librarians to better reflect today’s profession. ALA Mi­ n o r i ty F e llo w S h e ila D e la c ro ix s p e n t th e last y e a r try in g to c o n v in c e p u b lish ers to u p d a te the profiles o f the occupation o f librarian on tw o com ­ puter-assisted career guid­ a n c e p ro g ra m s th a t are p r e v a l e n t in s e c o n d a r y s c h o o ls . T o give y o u a sense o f the problem s with the profiles, students using SIGI PLUS, p u b lish e d by the Educational Testing Ser­ vice (ETS), w ere told by the system that historians “discover new sources o f inform ation” an d use im agination, persis­ tence, and luck, an d that their w ork “can be exciting.” Within that sam e category students learned that librarians may be required to w ork nights and w eekends, and “m ay n eed to stoop, lift, or reach to high places for books." W hen exploring w hat supervising and directing skills 5 1 8 / C&RL N e w s Casalini and Touzot feted Friends o f legendary E uropean booksellers Mario Casalini an d Jean T ouzot held a re­ ception in their h o n o r o n Ju n e 29, 1992 in th e Library o f th e G oethe Institute in San Francisco T ouzot is retiring as the h e a d o f Jean Touzot Libraire in Paris, o n e o f the larg­ est an d m ost resp ected French booksellers to college a n d university libraries in th e U nited States. Casalini will continue at the h ead o f Casalini Libri in Fiesole. Both m en w ere cited for their long service as em issar­ ies o f E uropean culture to A m erican u n i­ versities, an d each sp o k e m ovingly o f their d eep ties to the libraries an d individuals w h o p ro m o te the study o f French a n d Italian in this c o u n try .—J im Spohrer, U niversity o f California, Berkeley librarians n eed ed , students learned that librar­ ian s m u s t “re s tra in c h ild re n fro m ru n n in g a ro u n d an d m aking too m uch n o ise.” ETS has ag reed to m ake m any, although no t all, o f the changes D elacroix’s research an d survey o f li­ brarians h ad indicated. Mary Jan e Scheredin, University o f W isconsin, rep o rted o n h e r w ork o f d eveloping a profile o f librarians using the Strong Interest Inventory (SSI) an d th e Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). A random sam ple o f 3,500 librarians received th e SSI an d MBTI w hich are n o w in the process o f being scored. Prelim inary results indicated that 96% o f th e re s p o n d e n ts lik ed w o rk in g w ith co m puters, 60% said that librarianship w as their first ca­ reer choice, an d 80% felt that th e public view s librarians positively. Plans call for the complete results o f the survey to b e shared at a program at next year’s Annual Conference in New Orleans. Im p ro v in g off-cam p us services O ff-cam pus students have th e sam e right to scholarly services as on-cam pus students, said th e speakers at “The Right to K now a n d Learn­ ing at a D istance” program sp o n so re d by the E x te n d e d C am pus Library Services Section. Ralph C. B ohn, d e a n o f continuing education, San Jo se State University, an d Elizabeth Salzer, u n iv e rsity lib rarian , Santa Clara U niversity, stated that th ere are tw o forms o f accredita­ tion: regional an d discipline. Regional associa­ tions have focused fairly w ell o n off-cam pus lib rary s u p p o rt w h ile discip lin e accred itin g bodies have a m ore m ixed history. Generally, th ere are tw o levels o f library services that are co n sid ered b y accrediting associations: course level an d d eg ree level. A fundam ental q u es­ tion that sh o u ld b e an sw ered is w h eth er the n eed s of th e stu d en t scholars o n a n d off cam ­ pus are being met. An additional consideration is th e level o f library su p p o rt a n d use by off- cam pus faculty. A ccreditation aims to attain a m inim um level o f activity an d en su re a periodic self exam ina­ tion o f existing program s an d activities. T here are th ree “I’s ” that relate to off-cam pus library services: intelligence, investm ent; a n d integra­ tion. Library resources o n an d off cam pus n eed not b e identical b u t th ey sho u ld b e equitable. H ere is a checklist for library resources off- cam pus program s: 1) D efine the nature o f the program to b e supported; 2) Profile the stu­ d en ts w h o will b e enrolled in the program ; 3) C oordinate planning for library services w ith o th er units involved in delivering off-cam pus instruction; 4) Identify goals a n d objectives clearly; 5) Identify the best m ethods for deliv­ ering services an d resources; 6) D evelop real­ istic b u d g et goals an d proposals; b e prep ared for this to take th ree years an d try to project for five years; 7) D eterm ine th e evaluation m ea­ sures to b e u se d w ith library services; 8) Set u p the initial program o f library services an d m ake sure they are advertised; 9) Set u p a com m uni­ cation m echanism b etw een the m ain library and off-cam pus library sites; 10) Be creative and take ad v an ta g e o f o p p o rtu n itie s for in n o v a­ tion.— K en Marks, East C arolina University Linking co m m u n ity college lib ra rie s Speaking w ith a sense o f hu m o r an d adven­ ture, J. Richard M adaus, director, College Cen­ ter for Library A utom ation, described th e saga o f successfully linking Florida’s 28 com m unity colleges into an online catalog netw ork. The first o f four sp eak ers for “The Virtual Library: The Florida C om m unity College E xperience” sp o n so re d b y the C om m unity an d Ju n io r Col­ lege Library Section, M adaus said, “In a n e t­ w ork you really d o n ’t plug it in a n d have it w ork; yo u p lu g it in an d start trying to m ake it w ork.” Stating that autom ation takes a long time, he advised librarians to stay flexible, look for­ w ard to th e future, k e e p things in perspective, an d b e willing to take risks. D errie Roark, chair, College C enter for Library A u to m atio n A dvisory B o ard , d is c u sse d the b o a rd ’s role in th e Florida project. H er tips in­ Septem ber 1 9 9 2 / 5 1 9 eluded involving as m any people as possible, taking plenty o f time, and deciding ground rules before playing the game. She recom m ended that a board be o f “one voice even if you are not o f one m ind” to k eep the goodw ill o f the funding agency. Bill O dom, Florida Association of Commu­ nity Colleges, stated that the key to success in Florida w as the legislature’s com m itm ent to the concept that centralized resource sharing is m ore econom ical than cam puses purchasing separate systems. Bill Schmid, director, Florida Information Resources Network, said that the value o f a com puter d epends m ore o n w hat it’s connected to than o n w h at it does by itself. Michelle Dalehite, assistant director, Florida Center for Library Automation, observed that after g o v e rn m e n t d o c u m e n t re c o rd s w e re loaded on a Friday night, the use of docum ents rose 400 percent the follow ing w eek. Refer­ ring to the continuing increase in use o f public access catalogs, she said, “Build it, and they will com e.”— Rebecca B. Kiel, Cottey College Discussing th e fu tu re O ver 450 p eo p le turned out on Saturday after­ n o o n to hear B erkeley vice chancellor John H eilbron and Stanford English professor David Riggs address “Views from Across the Quad: The University’s Expectation for the Library of th e 21st Century,” sponsored by the University Libraries Section. Positing a Gresham-like law that “People will tend to use the m ost readily available docu­ m e n ta tio n , n o t th e b e s t d o c u m e n ta tio n ,” H eilbron w arned against playing into the hands o f com puter-addicted undergraduates by in­ creasing the existing overabundance o f elec­ tronic information. Instead, librarians should seek to reduce barriers to actual reading, to fight for library support, and to build strong collections through shared purchases. N oting th at c o n sen su s can n o t b e fo u n d am ong university faculty regarding libraries or a n y th in g else, Riggs a rg u e d th at librarians should shape their ow n destinies by taking the initiative to becom e full partners in team -based News from Hie University Libraries Section D espite the fact that som e 60% o f ACRL's 9,500 personal m em bers belong to the Uni­ versity Libraries Section (ULS), ULS has not traditionally had a high profile. P erhaps this is because by num erical predom inance, uni­ versity librarians felt that “ACRL R us.” ULS leaders have sought to revitalize the section and to make clear its distinct role within ACRL. H ere's a brief report of ULS activities in San Francisco (see accom panying article for a report on the ULS program). Executive C om m ittee actions Highlights o f the ULS Executive Committee meetings w ere the acceptance o f the section’s Five-Year Review, p rep ared by the ULS Policy and Planning Committee chaired by Louise Sherby; the planning o f a brainstorm ing ses­ sion scheduled for the next Midwinter Meet­ ing to generate goals and objectives for fu­ ture section activities an d programs; approval of the form ation o f a Joint Ad-hoc Committee o n Medium-Sized Academic Libraries in con­ junction w ith the ACRL College Libraries Sec­ tion to study the special needs o f those li­ braries an d m ake recom m endations to both sections to assure that these need s are being m et through program s, comm ittee com posi­ tion, an d future action agendas; and approval of a cosponsorship w ith th e ACRL Commu­ nity and Junior College Libraries Section for a program o n standards and accreditation. Program com m ittee chair Virginia More­ land described plans for the 1993 New O r­ leans program , “Organizational Transforma­ tion: N ew Structures for N ew Realities,” at w hich sp eak ers will provide a theoretical overview follow ed by case studies. ULS officers for 1992-93 are chair Carolyn Robison; N oreen Alldredge, vice-chair/chair- elect; Joseph Branin, past-chair; Lori Goetsch, secretary; William Crowe Jill Fatzer, Judy Sackett, Beverlee French, Kent Hendrickson, and David Lewis, members-at-large; Sylvia Curtis, C&RL News liaison; Paula Watson, ACRL Legislation Committee liaison; and Olive Jam es, ACRL Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee liaison. For details about ULS activities contact Carolyn Robison, association university librarian, Georgia State University, 100 Decatur St., SE, Atlanta, GA 30303-3081; (404) 651-2172; or libclr@gsuvm. bitnet—Lori Goetsch, secretary’, ULS ■ 5 2 0 / C&RL N e w s faculty research. This role can b e best achieved not by imitating com puter program m ers, Riggs argued, but by using subject expertise and bib liographic sophistication to help sort out know l edge from information. Both speakers argued that, at least for hu m anities scholars, the traditional on-site collec tion o f printed texts w as the optim um library. Riggs stated that the hum anist will always study “the book, the painting, the recorded so u n d , “For a sane, just, hum ane, a n d jo y fu l future, keep talking back a n d refuse to be silenced.…” w hile H eilbron characterized the library as a “place for alchem y an d necrom ancy, w hich needs the relevant devices: shelves, books, and catalogs." For these scholars, at least, the “vir tual library” w ould be seen as virtually useless. Sharon H ogan, Richard D eG ennaro, an d N ancy Van H ouse resp o n d ed to the principal s p e a k e r s ’ rem ark s. H o g a n a rg u e d fo r th e library’s role in undergraduate education, main taining that libraries have too faithfully echoed their parent institutions’ m isplaced values. Va H ouse noted the difficulties o f sim ultaneously maintaining the “Ptolemaic” model of traditional libraries w hile introducing “C opernican” revo lution. D eG ennaro observed that “most facult library comm ittees favor the old library para digm (w hich w as created by librarians to fit w orld that n o longer exists), but d o not trus librarians to create a suitable new paradigm for a future only dimly perceived.” — Paul Metz, Virginia Tech University The PC backlash “For a sane, just, hum ane, and joyful future, k e e p talking back and refuse to b e silenced, advised keynote sp eak er Gloria T. Hull, Uni versity o f California, Santa Cruz, in the pro- Clarification Betsy Baker an d Natalie Peltser of North­ w e ste rn U niversity p re s e n te d th e p a p e r “Curriculum Reform: Catalyst for Building Strong Faculty/L ibrarian P artn ersh ip s” at ACRL’s 6th National Conference as sum m a­ rized in th e Ju ly /August issue o n page 455. ­ ­ ­ ­ ” ­ ­ n ­ y ­ a t ” ­ gram “Is the ‘Political Correctness’ Backlash Con­ trolling W om en’s Right to Know? Information Suppression in the Information Age” sponsored by the W om en's Studies Section. Oppressive academ ic climates attem pt to silence w om en by labelling their writing or speech hostile, frivo­ lo u s , n o t a c a d e m ic , o r to o ra d ic a l a n d marginalizing their research as unimportant. Cit­ ing Audre Lorde’s observation, “Your silence will not protect yo u ,” Hull called for w om en to find the courage to speak o u t an d experience the transform ation o f silence into language and action. “‘PC’ is a code w ord for ‘She hit m e first’— but she didn’t,” observed school librarian Chris­ tine Jenkins. The right wing’s protesting the use of inclusive language, gender neutral pronouns, and illustrations free o f stereotypes in children’s books reveals its longing for a return to the all- w hite w orld o f children’s books o f yesterday and resentm ent over the fairer representation of diverse groups in m odem literature. Calling the PC backlash “business as usual,” Ellen B roidy o f the University of California, Irvine, considers the PC debate a diversionary tactic used by those w ith the m ost to gain from the status quo. Drawing attention to the “u n ­ holy alliance o f PC an d traditional v alu es,” Broidy w arned that these phrases serve as code w ords for critiquing feminist curriculum con­ tent via highly subjective moral judgments. Re­ flecting o n the W om en’s Studies Section’s deci­ sion to stay aw ay from Salt Lake City because U tah’s laws end an g er w o m en ’s lives, Broidy concluded, “P erhaps in the future w e w o n ’t be asked to endorse business as usual w h en that business puts w om en at risk.”— Betty J. Glass, University o f Nevada, Reno N e w challenges fo r Slavicists “Slavic an d East E uropean Collections and the Dilemmas of th e Non-Specialist,” sponsored by the Slavic an d East E uropean Section, featured som e o f the nation’s leading Slavic librarians discussing a w ide range o f topics. The speak­ ers— Allan U rbanic, University of California, Berkeley; Wojciech Zalewski, Stanford Univer­ sity; Leena Siegelbaum, Michigan State Univer­ sity; Laszlo Kovacs, St. O laf College, Hungary; a n d S u s a n B u rk e , U n iv e r s ity o f W a s h ­ ington— each addressed a different geographic reference region, covering som e or all of the following areas: reference sources; acquisitions o p eratio n s such as selection sources, major bookdealers, major publishers, current publish- The most complete reference collection. The Social Sciences Citation Index Compact Disc Edition with Abstracts! I t s th e only reference collection that a n d displays bibliographic records that co m p letely in d ex es 1400 in tern atio n a l have references in com m on. W hen you social sciences joumals...selectively indexes d isp la y o n e reco rd of interest, y o u 're 3100 in te r n a tio n a l sc ien ce jo u rn a ls... quickly led to additional records th a t are a n d then p u ts all th a t bibliographic infor­ related to y o u r search — item s y o u 'd m ation — representing over 40 disciplines n ev er find u sin g traditional research tools. in aU — onto one disc. A n d n o w w ith s e a rc h a b le a u th o r This single disc enables y o u to retrieve abstracts, th e SSCI® CDE is th e one CD- every article th a t pertains to y o u r search ROM th at m akes y o u r reference collection — no m atter w h a t the discipline. complete. C a ll to ll-fre e : 800-336-4474, A n d it also features Related RecordsTM, o p e ra to r R493, for a free trial copy. O r th e u n iq u e retrieval m echanism th a t links w rite to one of th e addresses below. A lso available! The Social Sciences Citation Index® Compact Disc Edition 1986-90 Cumulation. Five years on one disc! In s titu te fo r S cie n tific Inform ation® 3501 M arket Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3389 U.S.A. Telephone: (215) 386-0100 Fax: (215) 386-2911 ISI® E uropean Branch: Brunel Science Park, Brunel U niversity, U xbridge UB8 3PH U.K. Telephone: +44-895-270016 Fax: +44-895-256710 Telex: 933693 UKISI 5 2 2 / C&RL N e w s Cassettes of Annual Conference programs available A lthough th e conference is over, you have not m issed your chance to learn w hat h a p ­ pened. A udiotapes o f selected program s from the conference in San Francisco are available from: T each’em, Inc., 160 E. Illinois, Chicago, IL 60611; (312) 467-0424 o r 1 (800) 225-3775. T hese ACRL program s w ere taped: T h e V irtual Library: T h e F lorid a C om ­ m u n it y C o lle g e E x p e r ie n c e . O rd e r n o. ALA207 $24.00 In tera ctiv e Media: W hat Is It? W h ere Is It Going? O rder no. ALA205 $24.00 G earin g Up fo r th e Future: T h e Art an d A rch itectu re T h esau ru s M odel fo r Subject A ccess. O rder no. ALA230 $24.00 Is th e “P o litica l C o rrectn ess” B ack lash C o n tr o llin g W o m e n ’s R igh t to K now : In ­ ing, an d acquisition difficulties; an d types of collections.— Tanja Lorkovic, Yale University In fo rm a tio n exp e rtis e T he Bibliographic Instruction Section celebrated an d synthesized 15 years o f know ledge-base developm ent w ith a retro­ sp ectiv e slide sh o w th at highlighted BI history and goals, an d p erso n al p e r­ sp ectiv es from se a s o n e d an d n ew “BI recruits.” The program “Bulletins from the Recruits: Sharing In fo rm atio n E xpertise in th e G lobal Learning Com­ m unity” focused o n h o w v a rio u s BI recru its hav e shared their individual ex­ pertise across disciplines to d e v elo p a rich an d valu­ able know ledge base in li­ brary instruction programs. V irginia T iefel, O h io State U niversity, sp o k e a b o u t th e G atew ay Project an d o ther BI program s using technol­ ogy to achieve inform ation literacy. She out­ lined various factors in evaluating such p ro ­ grams. Alan Wallace, University o f Tennessee-Knox­ ville, gave a presentation o n m aking th e co n ­ M em b ers o f t h e ALA Gay a n d L esb ian T ask F o rce m a r c h at t h e G ay P ride P arade i n San F ra n cisco . fo r m a tio n S u p p r e ss io n in th e In fo rm a ­ tio n Age. “ O rder no. ALA266 $24.00 V ie w s f r o m A c r o s s t h e Q u ad : T h e U n iv ersity ’s E x p ecta tio n s fo r th e Library o f t h e 2 1 s t C e n tu ry . O rd e r no. ALA216 $24.00 T o d a y ’s L ib r a r ie s F a ce T o m o r r o w ’s S c h o la r s : F a u lts & F is s u r e s . O rd e r no. ALA252 $36.00 V o lu n ta r y A c tio n , P h ila n th r o p y a n d th e N o n p r o fit Sector: O v erv iew a n d Re­ so u r c e s . O rder no. ALA259 $24.00 S c i- T e c h I n f o r m a t i o n : L ib r a r ia n ’s R igh t to K n ow . O rder no. ALA284 $36.00 B r ie f E n c o u n te r s: U s in g T e c h n iq u e s fr o m P s y c h o lo g y a n d E d u ca tio n to Im ­ p r o v e th e Q uality o f th e R eferen ce In ter­ v ie w . O rder no. ALA267 $24.00 nection b etw een BI an d staff developm ent. He believes that BI librarians’ know ledge and prac­ tice in learning an d instructional theory m akes them ideal p roponents in the design and im ple­ m e n ta tio n o f staff d e v e lo p m e n t p rogram s. O ftentim es libraries turn to outsiders for sp e­ cial expertise w h en they sh o u ld be utilizing exist­ ing staff. Instructional li­ brarians are in a position to apply their expertise to a n ew group— their col­ leagues w ithin the library. Diane Nahl-Jakobovits, University o f Hawaii, sum ­ m arized the essential ele­ m ents o f instructional d e ­ sig n , d e s c r ib e d sev eral m odels, an d introduced a ta x o n o m ic a p p ro a c h to bibliographic instructional d e sig n . T his m atrix in ­ cludes various levels (b a ­ s ic , i n t e r m e d i a t e , a d ­ v a n c e d ) , d o m a i n s ( a f f e c ti v e , c o g n it iv e , sensorim otor), an d areas o f inform ation-seek­ ing skill. B ehavioral objectives should integrate th e three dom ains. This m odel w as th en a p ­ plied to testing inform ation-searching com pe­ tence.— B eth Sibley, University o f C alifornia, Berkeley ■ skno M irre M :tiderc ot o h P