ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


235

R a r e  B o o k s  a n d  

M a n u s c r i p t s  S e c t i o n

V ice-C hair/C hair-Elect: P e te r E . Hanff, Coor­
d in ato r, T e c h n ic a l S e rv ic e s, T h e  B an cro ft L i­
b ra ry , U n iv ersity  o f C alifo rn ia, B e rk e le y , CA
94 7 2 0  (208); Richard G. Landon, Head, Thomas
F ish e r Rare Book Library, University o f Toronto, 
Toronto, O ntario, Canada M 5S 1A5 (180).

M em b er-at-L arg e (th ree-year term ): Dean H. 
K eller, C urator o f Special C ollections, K ent State
U n iv e r s ity  L ib r a r ie s , K e n t, O H  4 4 2 4 2  (2 2 8 );
Donald Farren, Providence, R I 0 2 9 0 6  (151).

S l a v i c  a n d  E a s t  
E u r o p e a n  S e c t i o n

V ice-C hair/C hair-Elect: Edw ard Kasinec, R e­
search B ib lio g ra p h er and L ib ra ria n , Ukrainian
R e se a rch  In s titu te , H arvard U n iv e rsity , C am ­
bridge, MA 021 3 8  (57); G eorge V. Hodowanec,

D irecto r, William Allen W hite Library, Emporia 
State U niversity, Em poria, KS 66801 (31).

S ecretary  (th ree-year term ): Kay L . Shaffer, 
Slavic Bibliographer/Cataloger, University Librar­
ies, State University of New York at Albany, Al­

 
bany, NY 12222 (57); Harold M. L e ic h , Slavic 

 
A cquisitions L ibrarian , U niversity of Illin ois at 
Urbana/Champaign, Urbana, I L  61801 (34).

M e m b e r -a t-L a r g e  (o n e -y e a r te rm ): M urlin 
C rou ch er, Slavic Bibliographer, W ilson Library, 

 
U niversity of North Carolina, C hapel H ill, NC 

 
27514 (84).

U n i v e r s i t y  L i b r a r i e s  S e c t i o n

V ice -C h a ir/C h a ir-E le ct: Jean  B oyer Hamlin,
L ib ra ria n , D an a L ib ra ry , R u tge rs U n iv ersity , 

 Newark, NJ 07102 (735); Rita L. Paddock, Head 
o f P u b lic  S e r v ic e s , H arvard C o lle g e  L ib ra ry , 
Cam bridge, MA 021 3 8  (538).

Continuing Education— V 
Philosophical Square One— and Holding

Librarians have enthusiastically responded to 
the topic o f contin uing education with an ou t­
pouring o f words and an overabundance o f com ­
m ittees. Problem  definition, a prerequ isite to ac­
tion, lags behind. Perhaps it will be useful to 
consider the ways in which four o f the current 
C E  controversies and dilemmas touch profession­
als working in academic libraries.

First, concern has b e e n  expressed that a volun­
tary recognition system for continuing education 
(such as th e  m odel b e in g  refined  by C L E N E ) 
may lead to mandatory continuing education. I f  
th e  m andate o rig in ates at th e  state le v e l, th e  
greatest effect would be on persons employed at 
state co lleg es and u n iv ersities. H ow ever, sp e­
cialized librarians (e .g ., law, m edicine) working 
in th e s e  sam e settin g s m ight seek  recognition 
from a national or regional association related to 
their specialty. A more radical point o f view is 
that many academ ic librarians are already faced 
with m andatory co n tin u in g  e d u cation , as e v i­
denced by the increasing num ber o f college and 
university libraries that expect their professionals 
to have or to obtain a second m aster’s degree.

Second, many people think that C E  should be 
a factor in promotion, although we cannot decide 
which com es first— the em ployer should require 
it for promotion or the em ployee should expect 
that it be considered in promotion. B e that as it 
may, some college and university librarians will 
argue that they live in settings that have well- 
defined criteria for promotion and that continuing

education is not one o f them . Again, a slightly 
different point of view is that the tenure system 
will gradually b e  replaced by a contract system in 
which C E  might well be an important considera­
tion.

T hird, many librarians complain that manage­
ment is not interested  in C E  and staff develop-

T h e W ord from Colorado

The editor o f C &RL recently received this 
n o te from Ralph E . E llsw o rth , d ir e c to r o f 
lib ra r ie s e m e ritu s, U n iv ersity  o f C olorado, 
Boulder:

S e v e r a l c o lle a g u e s  r e tu r n in g  from  th e  
C h ic a g o  ALA C o n f e r e n c e  r e p o r t  th a t a 
“friend” is circulating rumors to the effect that 
I am: seriously ill, com atose, balm y in the 
grumpet, and no longer able to do consulting 
w ork. I h a s te n  to  s ta te  th a t I am  h ap p y , 
healthy, able to play daily snooker, go trout 
fishing and o th e r a ctiv ities com m on to 70- 
year-olds. Also, I am involved in various li­
brary building consu lting activities. Having 
served on most of the ALA reorganization ac­
tiv itie s c o m m itte e s and on th e  in te lle c tu a l 
freedom  organization com m ittee, I find much 
o f the conferen ce discussion redundant. W hen 
th e  dust se ttle s , I ’ll start a tten d in g  again. 
Sorry, “friend .”—R alph E. Ellsw orth.



236

m ent and provides no money in support of it. Al­
though it is true that we are unsure of exactly 
how responsibilities should b e  spread among in­
dividuals, libraries, and the next largest units in 
which libraries are located, this is a very weak 
argument for academ ic librarians. C olleges and 
universities offer free or reduced tuition to their 
e m p lo y e e s  (a d m itte d ly , m o s t c o n s id e r  only 
co u rses for c re d it in regu lar acad em ic d ep a rt­
m ents), free or red u ce d -rate tickets to cultural 
e v e n ts and sp e cia l p ro gram s, and co n v e n ie n t 
bookstores that may also offer discounts to faculty 
and staff. In  many ways, one cannot help but be 
continually educated in the academic setting.

F ourth, for some C E  advocates, the basic ar­
g u m e n t is th a t lib r a r ia n s  sh o u ld  h a v e  w e ll- 
organized (perhaps, overorganized) C E  because 
other professions have it. This is m ore than a lit­
tle far-fetched. Many o f the professions that have 
highly developed and/or required C E  programs 
are the human services professions (medicine, so­
cial work, nursing, e tc .) w hose m em b ers deal 
e v e r y  day w ith th e  h e a lth  and w e ll-b e in g  o f 
clients. W hen will we give up trying to imitate 
this m odel? Academic librarians usually have ac­
cess to co llection s that include m aterials about 
the history of the professions and about continu­
ing education and lifelong learning. W e  should 
provide re fe re n ce  serv ice for our colleagues in 
oth er settings.

W h e th e r or not the above are really current 
topics o f discussion, they are not the real issues.

W e are lacking th e infrastru cture necessary for 
continuing education to becom e institutionalized 
within librarianship. And there appears to b e  a 
d iscrepancy o f needs— differing p ercep tions by 
state a g e n c ie s , p rofession al associatio n s, in d i­
vidual librarians, etc. W e need to address some 
or all o f th e  following topics: a university/higher 
education structure that facilitates C E , delivery 
systems that make individualized and off-campus 
study feasible, quality control, definition o f roles 
for facilitators/resource persons, a clearinghouse 
or product evaluation mechanism for courseware 
and curriculum  support materials, a recognition 
or record-keeping function, and many more.

A ca d e m ic lib ra r ia n s w ill h av e to  a ss u m e  a 
larger role in continuing education generally, b e ­
cause th eir institutions are increasingly interested  
in this market. Colleges and universities will, I 
th ink , p ro v id e th e  b a s ic co n tin u in g  ed ucation 
framework for most disciplines. My primary con­
cern is not how academ ic librarians will obtain 
continuing education, but, rather, how they will 
assume a role in providing it to o th ers.— Ruth M. 
Katz, D en v er R esea rch  Institu te, U niversity o f  
Denver.

E d it o r s  N ote: Ruth Katz ch a ir s th e RASD CE 
C om m ittee ( a d  hoc) an d  serves on the CLEN E 
A dvisory Comm ittee. She has w o rk ed  at the Li­
b r a r y  o f  C ongress (Sci-T ech Div.) an d  Rutgers 
University L ib ra r ies a n d  presen tly is a research  
scientist a t the D en ver R esea rch  Institute. ■■

AALS/Continuing Education 
Committee Resolution

At its Ja n u a ry  1 9 7 8  c o n v e n tio n , th e  m e m ­
bership o f the Association o f Am erican Library 
Schools approved th e following resolution on the 
reco m m en d ation o f the C o n tin u in g  E d u catio n 
C om m ittee:

W H E R E A S  high quality library service requires 
a high quality staff that is continually growing 
and changing as th e  nature o f library op era­
tions and librarianship changes, and 

W H E R E A S  accom plishm en t o f the goals o f li­
braries requires a growing staff, and 

W H E R E A S  the lack o f organizational support has 
b e e n  d em o n strated  to in h ib it staff d ev elo p ­
m ent, while recognizing that the individual has 
th e  p rim a ry  r e s p o n s ib ility  fo r his/her own 
care er developm ent,

T H E R E F O R E , the Association o f American L i­
b ra ry  Schools calls on all lib ra ry  b o d ie s in ­
volved in the establishm ent o f library standards

to include a forthright statem ent acknowledg­
ing a library resp on sibility for staff develop­
ment.

In brief, the position is as follows. Considering 
the rapid changes now occurring in libraries, staff 
developm ent and continuing education programs 
are im perative if a library is to maintain adequate 
service. Initial preparation through formal educa­
tion and orientation programs is not sufficient to 
m aintain adequate staff com p etency. T h e ALA 
statem ent o f policy, “ Library Education and P er­
sonnel U tiliz a tio n ,” in recognitio n o f this fact, 
states, “ L ib rary adm inistrators must accep t re ­
sp o n s ib ility  for p rov iding  su p p ort and o p p o r­
tunities (in the form o f leaves, sabbaticals, and re ­
leased time) for the continued education o f their 
staffs. ”

W hile library personnel retain the primary re sponsibility