ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


Septem ber 1 9 9 2 / 5 3 5

Letters

C&RL News: Breath of fresh air
To the Editor:

W hen recently leafing through the July/A u- 
gust 1992 issue o f C&RL News to  see if th ere 
w ere any n e w  articles o n  the J o h n  C otton D ana 
Public Relations Awards, I h a p p e n e d  o n  a short 
piece by Phillip H. Y oung titled “D eath o f the 
book greatly exaggerated.” I w as thoroughly 
captivated b y  his vivid description o f an  estate 
auction an d  the b o o k  lovers w h o  w ere w illing 
to delve into card b o ard  bo x es in  th e backyard 
on a very h o t day, looking for treasures to  buy 
for their ow n collections. How I wish I could have 
been there to  see w hat w as u p  for auction!

As the “curator” o f a rath er small staff devel­
opm ent collection, I flip thro u g h  m any profes­
sional journals, m ost o f th em  rather boring (if 
necessary to  the profession). Y our publication 
of this piece puts y o u  o u t front o f m ost— it w as 
like a b reath  o f fresh air to  re a d  ab o u t p eo p le 
w ho LOVE BOOKS.— N a n cy C. Woodall, T rain­
ing Coordinator, F airfax C ounty P ublic Library, 
Virginia

L ib ra ria n s ' ro le  on a c c re d ita tio n  tea m s
To the Editor:

T he p ercep tio n  o f librarians’ roles o n  ac­
creditation team s d escrib ed  in Ralph W olffs 
article in the July/A ugust issue of College a n d  
Research Library News, “Rethinking th e  librar­
ian s’ role o n  accreditation team s,” closely p a r­
allels m y o w n  e x p e rie n c e  as a m e m b e r o f 
Middle States accreditation team s. I have often 
fo u n d  it difficult to  involve o th er team  m em ­
bers in the assessm ent of library services. I agree 
w ith Mr. W olff th at the evaluation o f th e li­
brary clearly n eed s to  go b ey o n d  looking at 
th e  library an d  talking w ith library staff, to  d e ­
term ining h o w  th e n eed s o f th e faculty and 
students are b ein g  met. Furtherm ore, at least 
in institutions accredited by th e Middle States 
A sso c ia tio n , th e  te a m  n e e d s  to  d e te rm in e  
w h e th e r inform ation literacy is being achieved.

A study, recently com pleted by Peter Deekle 
an d  m yself an d  so o n  to  a p p e a r in the J o u rn a l 
o f  L ibrary A dm in istra tio n , sh o w e d  that many, 

(Cont. o n  p a g e 5 3 7 )



Septem ber 1 9 9 2 / 5 3 7

R a c ia l &  
hnic 

c o n c e rn  fo r g a in in g  p e r ­
sonal com m itm ent to  diver­
sity fro m  staff m em b ers. 

s ity
T he tw o-page h an d o u t p re ­
p a re d  fo r th e  sessio n  in ­
cludes the five categories of 

 exch a n g e questions an d  th e listing of 
organizational qualities rec­
o m m en d ed  for effective di­
versity program s.For a copy 
contact: Susana H inojosa, inojosa
Library, U.C. Berkeley, Ber­
keley, CA 94720; fax: (510) 
643-7891; em ail: sh in o jo s 

@library.b e rk e le y .e d u .

ARL's d iv e rs ity  p ro ject
T h e A ssociation o f R esearch L ibraries’ project 
“M eeting th e  C hallenge o f a Culturally D iverse 
E n v iro n m en t” has im p le m e n te d  diversity c o n ­
sulting, train in g , a n d  p re s e n ta tio n  services. 
T he services available include: p resen tatio n s, 
p a p e rs , w o rk sh o p s, p a n e l discussions, facili­
tatio n  o f sm all g ro u p  discussions, a n d  c o n ­
sulting for th o se  involved w ith  diversity p la n ­
ning an d  program s. T he Office o f M anagem ent 
Studies (OMS) is d irecting the p roject a n d  has 
p re p a r e d  an  in fo rm atio n al p a c k a g e  o n  th e 
p ro ject an d  services. T h e services are avail­
ab le to  all ty p es o f libraries. For fu rth er infor­
m atio n  contact: Kriza Je n n in g s, D iversity C on­
sultant, C ultural D iversity P roject, ARL/OMS, 
B ox 815E, 1527 N ew  H am p sh ire Ave., NW, 
W ashington, D.C. 20036; (202) 232-8656. ■

e r
on

 H

ALA C onference 
u p d a te
T he c o m m itte e ’s v e ry  su e- 
cessful (first) ALA A n n u al 

Et
C onference p rogram , “G et­
ting B ack to  B a sic s ,” f e a ­
tured six discussion sessions. 

D iv
The sessions focused on: u p ­ In form ati
w ard m obility, recruitm ent, 
library clim ate, coalition, d i­
versity training, a n d  library 
school curriculum . As a re ­ Susana
sult o f th e  d iscussions h eld  
on th ese topics, th e  com m it- 
tee will b e sh arin g  p u b lic a ­
tions, reco m m en d atio n s, strategies, a n d  ideas 
on th ese issu es th ro u g h  this colum n. At the 
mom ent, o n e  h a n d o u t p rep ared  for th e  p ro ­
gram is available to interested librarians. The 
han d o u t an d  session are described below .

Im p le m e n tin g  d iv e rs ity
“Fostering a Climate for D iversity” w as a ses­
sion led  b y  Kriza Je n n in g s, diversity co n su lt­
ant w ith  ARL. W hen p u rs u in g  diversity a n d / 
or m inority recru itm en t activities in libraries 
there is a n e e d  fo r a w o rk  e n v iro n m en t that 
values an d  w elco m e s differences. Five cate g o ­
ries o f q u e stio n s n e e d  to  b e  ask ed  w ith in  the 
organization p rio r to  im p lem en tin g  diversity 
activities. T h e se  q u e s tio n s  n e e d  to  b e  d is­
cussed th ro u g h o u t th e  o rg an izatio n  to  en su re  
a successful beginning; ev ery o n e m ust b e  fo­
cused o n  th e sam e goals, vision, a n d  d irec­
tion. E xploration o f th e  q u estio n s leads the 
organization in to  th e  identification o f strate­
gies for fostering a clim ate w h ich  is re s p o n ­
sive to  diversity.

Also included in th e  session w as a listing of 
qualities n e e d e d  to  p ro m o te a n d  su p p o rt di­
versity in the w orkplace. It w as stressed that a 
successful diversity program  sho u ld  b e inte­
grated w ithin library operations, w ith an em ­
phasis o n  providing diversity ex p erien ces at 
four levels: b y  th e individual, w ithin the de- 
partm ent/division, w ithin the library organiza­
tion, an d  w ithin th e cam pus com m unity. The 
group discussion follow ing th e p resen tatio n  
focused o n  h o w  to im plem ent diversity w ith

Su sa n a  Hinojosa, University o f  C alifornia, Berkeley, 
is c h a ir o f  th e ACRL R a cia l a n d  E th n ic  D iversity 
Committee

b u d g e t c o n s t r a in t s , a n d  

(Letters cont. fr o m  p a g e  5 3 5 )
if n o t m ost, chief academ ic officers saw  no  role 
for the librarian b ey o n d  th e library itself and 
few  o f th em  u n d ersto o d  th e term  “inform ation 
literacy.” W e m ust w o rk  tow ards changing this.

I w o u ld  like to  su g g est a n  add itio n al role 
for the librarian o n  accred itatio n  team s. H e / 
sh e sh o u ld  also p articip ate in th e  review  o f 
co m p u tin g  reso u rces, academ ic co m p u tin g  in 
particular, to  d eterm in e w h e th e r a p p ro p ria te  
n e w  info rm atio n  re so u rces can  b e  m ad e ac­
cessib le to  th e  cam p u s com m unity. It is tim e 
fo r a c ad em e to  m ak e th e  library th e  “h eart o f 
th e  university” in m ore th a n  n am e only.— A n n  
d e Klerk, d irecto r o f  library a n d  in s tru c tio n a l 
m e d ia  services, B u c k n e ll U niversity ■

library.berkeley.edu