ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


September 19 9 5 /5 3 3

A LA  re o rg a n iza tio n  d estin ed  for fu rth er 
study: Actions at ALA Council, Chicago, 1 9 9 5

At the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago 
in June, the ALA Council voted not to reorga­
nize the association at the present time but to 
continue to study the possibility. A plan to 
reorganize ALA was proposed by the Organi­
zational Self Study Committee (OSSC) during 
the spring. A slightly revised version was re­
leased at conference. The subject of impas­
sioned discussion in the exhibits, at cocktail 
parties, and during caucuses all over ALA 
Chicago, the proposed restructuring was met 
with criticism it never overcame. Problems 
resulting from the current structure were never 
identified, so it was impossible to tell if the 
proposed structure w ould improve ALA.

Additional concerns included the lack of 
time for m em bership input (the plan was 
never published in Am erican Libraries, for 
e x a m p le ), th e  ra d ic a l r e s tr u c tu r in g  o f 
roundtables and type-of-activity sections, the 
lack of Council restructuring as a corollary to 
the ALA proposal, and the lack of a budget 
impact statement. Members of the OSSC took 
this criticism well, offering the explanation 
that this proposal was intended to “get dis­
cussion started.” It certainly did that.

Council created a Structural Revision Task 
Force to review the proposal, to offer addi­
tional options for reorganization, to oversee 
public hearings at AIA in New York next sum­
mer, and to present new recommendations 
for restructuring ALA to Council in San Fran­
cisco in 1997. The Task Force will no doubt 
benefit from the hard work done by the OSSC 
and learn from the failed attempt at ratifica­
tion this summer.

In another important Council action, the 
Intellectual Freedom Committee’s “Access to 
Electronic Information, Services, and Net­
works: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of 
Rights” was sent back to committee in order 
to gain input and consensus on the provi
sions and wording. Urging that the proposed 
draft was too hastily composed and included 
provisions which were unreasonable and un­
workable in many libraries, ACRL was joined 
by representatives of the Library and Infor­
mation Technology Association and many 
other members o f Council involving this ac­
tion. A new  draft of the statement should be 
ready by Midwinter for reconsideration.— 
W. Lee Hisle, ACRL Councillor

“Guidelines for Instruction Programs” is avail­ ily and friends at her wedding and chose the 
u/ ALA Annual Conference as the perfect place. 
he Following the conference, the couple honey-

M arried at th e ALA A nnual C on feren ce w ere ACRL 
m em b er Mary Lou G oodyear (righ t) and Adrian 
A le x a n d e r  ( c e n t e r ) . RASD e x e c u t iv e  d ir e c to r  
C athleen B ourdon is at left.

able for your review at http://uxl.cso.uiuc.ed
~bswoodar/guidelin.html. A print copy of t
final draft will be published in the De­
cember 1995 issue o f C&RL News. This is 
the first revision to the “Guidelines for Bib­
liographic Instruction” since its approval 
in 1977.

Wedding doesn't stop conference 
attendance
Mary Lou Goodyear, ACRL member and 
the 1995–96 ALA Reference and Adult Ser­
vices Division (RASD) president, was mar­
ried during the 1995 ALA Annual Confer­
ence in Chicago. Goodyear married Adrian 
Alexander, director of western region sales 
for the Faxon Company, on June 22 at the 
Doral Plaza Hotel. Goodyear, senior asso­
ciate director at the Texas A&M University 
Library, said she wanted to have both fam­

http://uxl.cso.uiuc.edu/