ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


142 /C&RL News

ACRL Board actions, 
January 1 9 9 3

Highlights o f  the ACRL B oard o f 
Directors’ M idw inter meetings

T he Board of Directors of the Association
of College and Research Libraries met twice

during the Midwinter Meeting in Denver—on
January 24 and January 26, 1993. Prior to these
meetings they also held a priority planning ses­
sion with invited leaders of ACRL. A report of
this meeting will appear in a future issue of
C&RL News. Highlights of their Board meetings
are as follows:

Set dates for ACRL’s 8th National Confer­
en ce. The Board voted to hold ACRL’s 8th
National Conference in 1997, changing the cycle
for the 1997 conference to every two years from
every three years. A number of sites are being
considered. The 7th National Conference will
be held in Pittsburgh, March 29-April 1, 1995.

Approved tw o 1993 p reconferences. ACRL’s
Board added two preconferences to its offer­
ings prior to the 1993 ALA Annual Conference
in New Orleans. A half-day workshop, “Creat-

Guideline on collective 
bargaining

The policy of the Association of College 
and Research Libraries is that academic li­
brarians shall be included on the same basis 
as their faculty colleagues in units for col­
lective bargaining. Such units shall be guided 
by the standards and guidelines pertaining 
to faculty and academic status of the Asso­
ciation of College and Research Libraries.— 
Developed by the ACRL A cadem ic Status 
Committee; approved by the ACRL Board o f 
Directors a n d  the ALA Standards Committee 
a t the 1993 M idwinter Meeting.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

ing the Virtual Library: or Re-engineering the 
A cadem ic Library,” org an ized  by Laverna 
Saunders, University of Nevada, and sponsored 
by ACRL’s Education and Behavioral Sciences 
Section, will provide an overview of the virtual 
library, administrative concerns, and staff train­
ing issues.

ACRL will sponsor a full-day preconference, 
“Navigating and Navigators: Research and De­
velopment in Navigational Tools and Services 
for the Internet,” developed by the Coalition 
for Networked Information, discussing research 
and development in navigational tools and ser­
vices for the Internet. The session will include 
a panel of experts which will feature the de­
velopers of such tools as Archie, WAIS, Go­
pher, and Z39-50. Both of these preconferences 
will be held Friday, June 25.

ACRL will also be offering th ree other 
preconferences in New Orleans: “Special Col­
lections in the 21st Century: How Others See 
Us and How We See Ourselves,” sponsored by 
the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section; “Lead­
ership and Technological Change: A Call for 
Vision, a Call to Action,” sponsored by ACRL, 
LAMA, and LITA; and “Science Reference Ser­
vice: An Introduction for the General Reference 
Librarian,” sponsored by the Science and Tech­
nology Section. (Ed. note: details about these 
preconferences may be fo u n d  on pages 000. in 
this issue.)

Established discu ssion  group o n  Electronic 
Text Centers. This group will cover any topic 
related to electronic texts and libraries, includ­
ing collection policies, selection of materials 
cataloging, reference services, instruction, com­
puter facilities, and lending policies. Marianne 
Gaunt of Rutgers University will chair this group.

A pproved a p o licy  statem ent o n  social is ­
sues. The policy statement prepared by a task 
force headed by Cerise Oberman delineates 
three criteria which should be met when the 
ACRL Board of Directors takes action on so­
cial, political, and economic issues. See the



March 1 9 9 3 /1 4 3

accompanying sidebar for the full text o f the 
statement.

S usp en ded  ACRL’s statem ent o n  e le c tio n  
cam paigning. This statement, approved by the 
ACRL Board at its meeting during the 1992 ALA 
A nnual C o n feren ce, attem p ts to lim it the 
politicization of ACRL elections. ALA’s Policy 
M onitoring Committee, chaired by Norm an 
Horrocks, has questioned the statement, stat­
ing that it seeks to restrict the freedom of ex­
pression of candidates and their supporters. In 
a correspondence to the ALA Executive Board 
Administrative Subcommittee, Horrocks cited 
ALA Policies 53-1.13, 54.16, and ALA’s Priority 
Areas and Goals Policy 1.3 Area C as specifi­
cally conflicting with the statement. The ACRL

Executive Committee will review the statement 
and make a recommendation to the full ACRL 
Board at the 1993 Annual Conference.

A pproved Standards fo r Ethical Conduct.
“Standards for Ethical Conduct for Rare Book, 
Manuscript, and Special Collections Librarians, 
w ith G uidelines for Institutional Practice in 
Support of the Standards,” 2nd ed., 1992, was 
approved by both the ACRL Board and the ALA 
Standards Committee. The full text of the stan­
dards will be printed in C&RL News this spring.

A pp roved  “G u id elin es o n  C o llective Bar­
g a in in g .” See the accompanying sidebar for 
the full text of this statement prepared by ACRL’s 
Academic Status Committee.

ACRL policy statement on social issues
Academic and research libraries, and their 

parent institutions, are inextricably linked to 
the social, political, and economic fabric in 
w hich they exist. They are, therefore, som e­
times drawn into debate, action, and resolu­
tion o f many important issues affecting those 
institutions. ACRL is the national organization 
of the academic and research library profes­
sion. Its mission, as stated, is . . to foster 
the profession of academic and research li- 
brarianship and to enhance the ability of aca­
demic and research libraries to serve effec­
tively the library and information needs of 
current and potential library users.”

As the elected leadership o f ACRL, the 
ACRL Board of Directors has a responsibility 
to formulate policy on issues which directly 
impact ACRL’s ability to carry out its mission 
and is entrusted with the task of determining 
w hich social, political, or economic issues 
merit action from ACRL. The ACRL Board of 
Directors is responsible to the membership 
and recognizes and values the diversity of 
opinions of individual members.

The ACRL Board of Directors should make 
policy decisions, plan conferences, and struc­
ture association activities so as to adhere to 
the organization’s established mission and 
goals while offering opportunities for expres­
sion and education of ACRL’s diverse mem­
bership.

Therefore, the ACRL Board of Directors, 
in deliberating social, political, and economic 
issues, should take action only w hen those 
issues meet the following criteria:

1) Issues are of fundamental importance 
to the profession of academic librarianship;

2) Issues are directly and clearly identi­
fied as consistent with the mission and goals 
of ACRL and ACRL’s Strategic Plan; and

3) Issues are ones for which ACRL is rec­
ognized as an authoritative and know ledge­
able source by both its membership and the 
national community (such as issues having 
to d o  with intellectual freedom and access to 
information).

The ACRL Board of Directors, drawing 
from the knowledge base of the discipline of 
library and information science, its research 
and practice, and from the principles and eth­
ics of librarianship, should determine and pri­
oritize appropriate actions in response to is­
sues m eeting th ese criteria. Actions may 
include, but are not limited to, policy state­
ments, legislative initiatives, economic sanc­
tions, and educational programming. Actions 
should have clearly stated and defined ob­
jectives, and should provide a basis for evalu­
ating the effectiveness as well as the fiscal 
implications of the decision. All actions should 
be in full accordance with both the letter and 
the spirit of tile policies o f ACRL and ALA.



144 /  C&RL News

Mary Sue Ferrel, Lori Arp, and David Walch discuss 
strategies during the ACRL priority planning session at 
the Midwinter Meeting.

A ccepted the recom m endations o f  th e Pub­
lications Task Force. Seven recommendations 
on how ACRL could proceed to meet mem­
bers’ needs for information were included in 
the task force report presented by chair Michael 
Kathman. The ACRL Executive Committee will 
explore means of implementing the recommen­
dations at its spring meeting.

A p p ro v ed  a re v ise d  s e c t io n  n e w s le tte r  
p olicy. This new  policy, developed by the 
ACRL Publications Committee, in consultation

with ACRL section and new sletter 
editors, separates policy from proce­
dures and will be distributed to sec­
tion newsletter editors, section chairs, 
and vice-chairs, as well as added to 
the ACRL Guide to Policies a n d  Pro­
cedures.

Approved three 1994 p reconfer­
en ces. The Board approved plans for 
RBMS to hold its 35th preconference, 
June 21-24,1994, in Miami. The topic 
is “From Collector to Donor: Devel­
opm ent Issues in Rare Books and 
Special C ollections.” T he Biblio­
g rap h ic In stru ctio n  S ection also 
g a in e d  a p p ro v a l fo r a o n e -d a y  
preconference, July 24, 1994, tenta­
tively titled “Integrating Active Learn­
ing into Library Instruction: Practical

Information for Immediate Use.”
The Science and Technology Section re­

ceived permission to cosponsor, with the As­
sociation for Library Collections and Technical 
Services (ALCTS), a one-day preconference in 
Miami on the bibliographic control of confer­
ence proceedings.

Established a task force o n  electronic com ­
m un ication . The task force’s charge is: “to 
gather and disseminate information on how 
academic librarians and libraries can access the

New fiscal policies approved
The ACRL Board of Directors approved two 

new fiscal policies. The first deals with adminis­
trative fees for awards. The text of the policy is:

All proposals for new  awards must clearly 
indicate that the award will have financial sup­
port either from a vendor or from the establish­
ment of an endowment. Recurring funding for 
an award must include an amount to cover the 
costs of the award's administration. This ad­
ministrative funding will be used for such pur­
poses as publicity and reimbursement of ACRL 
staff time. The amount of administrative fund­
ing needed for an award should be determined 
in consultation with ACRL staff prior to the es­
tablishment of the award. After establishment 
of the award, staff will annually adjust the admin­
istrative fee in consultation with the award vendor.

The second policy delineates categories of 
expenses not eligible for ACRL funding:

Chapters may not use ACRL basic services 
funding for the following activities: coffee, meal, 
or reception expenses; travel expenses for chap­
ter members; speaker expenses (travel, hono­
raria, etc.) for members and librarians living in 
the meeting region; flowers for conference pro­
grams; computer software or hardware; film or 
film development; audiovisual production; or 
purchase of capital equipment.

Sections may not use ACRL basic services 
funding for: coffee, meal, or reception expenses; 
speaker expenses; travel expenses; flowers for 
conference programs; audiovisual productions;- 
film or film development; computer software 
or hardware.



Internet and to recommend to the ACRL Board 
of Directors an operational and financial plan 
for the use of electronic communications to 
enhance and replace printed publications as 
appropriate. The task force (which has not 
b een  appointed as of this writing) will turn in 
a preliminary report at the 1994 Midwinter 
Meeting and a final report at the 1994 Annual 
Conference.

Approved several recom m en dation s from  
the Budget and Finance Committee. Among 
the recommendations approved were:

1) make $12,367 available from the ACRL 
fund balance to finance specific ACRL projects 
in FY 1993;

2) request approval from the ALA Executive 
Board to transfer $10,000 from the ACRL fund 
balance into the ACRL endowment;

3) provide funding in the FY 1994 budget 
for two eight-page section newsletters for those 
sections currently producing newsletters;

4) allocate $100,000 during FY 1993 and

FY 1994 for planning the Seventh ACRL Na­
tional Conference in 1995 in Pittsburgh.

(Ed. note: The 1994 budget will undergo a n ­
other review; fin a l approval will be m ade a t the 
Tuesday afternoon meeting o f the ACRL Board 
o f Directors at the 1993 ALA A n n u a l Confer­
ence in New Orleans.)

The Board also approved two fiscal policies 
recom m ended by Budget and Finance. One 
deals with nonfundable activities and the other 
with administrative fees for awards. These poli­
cies are presented in an accompanying sidebar 
and will be incorporated into the next edition 
of the ACRL Guide to Policy a n d  Procedures.

A pp roved  th e M em bersh ip  C om m ittee’s 
requ est to  co n d u ct a su rvey in  FY 1994.
The Board approved the recommendation from 
Membership Committee Chair Andrea Hoffman 
to conduct a membership survey in FY 1994 
and charged the Executive Committee with 
considering how it could be implemented in a 
cost-effective manner. ■

University Libraries Section—Midwinter report
As usual, Midwinter in Denver was a busy 

working session for the University Libraries 
Section of ACRL.

The Communications Committee submit­
ted a detailed job description of the liaison to 
C&RL News to the Organization and Bylaws 
Committee. This description was approved 
as read by that committee and the Executive 
Committee.

The Policy and Planning Committee pre­
sented an updated analysis of the ULS Con­
ference Programs. The programs seemed to 
have shifted in emphasis from management 
and personnel issues to a broader outlook 
including library service, an appreciation for 
international issues, and deeper examination 
of the environment of higher education.

Speakers have also been more represen­
tative of the section as a whole. More innova­
tion in the formats for the programs is still 
seen as an area for improvement.

The Current Topics Discussion Group pre­
sented “Applying TQM in Academic Librar­
ies: Lessons Learned Along the Way,” with 
featured speakers Mary Reichel of Appalachian 
State University, Rao Aluri of Parkway Pub­

lishers, Karyle Butcher of Oregon State Uni­
versity, and Jane Conrow of Arizona State Uni­
versity. The discussion group considered the 
successes and problems of applying Total 
Quality Management (TQM) in a nonprofit 
setting, and all speakers emphasized the ne­
cessity of commitment from top management 
in the college o r university setting if the 
projects are to succeed. Several of the speak­
ers presented analysis of the results of the 
experiment in TQM on their campuses. Some 
of the lessons learned included understand­
ing the total TQM process, decision-making 
c o m m itm e n t, c o m m itm e n t to  tr a in in g  
throughout the process, understanding that 
the process takes time, being prepared to d e a l. 
with conflict, making the little changes that 
can be made easily first, and overcoming fear 
of change and fear of the negative.

Plans for the future were an important part 
of the work at Midwinter. Look for confer­
ence programs at ALA Annual from several 
of the discussion groups and a great slate of 
nominations for section officers. More later 
from your C&RL News liaison—Mary Munroe, 
Georgia State University

March 1 9 9 3 /1 4 5