ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


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



237

 for their own career developm ent, li­
b raries have a v ested  in te re s t in assuring co n­
tinued staff com petency. R esearch into continued 
education for librarian s has d em on strated  that 
administrative support is a necessary factor in as­
suming adequate staff developm ent. (See the fol­
lowing publications o f E lizabeth W . Stone: F a c­
tors R ela ted  to the Professional D evelopm ent o f  
L ib r a r ia n s  [M e tu ch e n , N .J .: Scarecro w  P ress, 
1969]; and “ A dm inistrators F id d le  W hile E m ­
ployees B u m — or F le e ,” ALA Bulletin, 63 [ F e b ­
ruary, 1969], p. 1 8 2 -8 3 .)

Ju st as libraries invest substantially in co llec­
tion developm ent, they must also invest in staff 
developm ent i f  they are to provide quality ser­
vice. I t  should b e  kept in mind that most librar­
ies spend two to four tim es as much money on 
p erso n n el as on th e  co lle ctio n . L ik e  all la b o rintensive

 organizations, lib raries m ust pay par­
ticular attention to m aintaining and developing 
their human resources if  they are to assure high 
performance.

Given that rationale, AALS believes that every 
type o f library standard should include a forth­
right statem ent acknowledging as necessary the 
library’s financial support for staff developm ent. 
T h e following statem ent might be used as a point 
of departure for drafting such a standard: “T h e li­
brary shall provide support, financial and other­
wise, at least sufficient to assure that the staff at 
all levels maintains cu rren cy as library philoso­
phy, services, programs, and technology ch an g e.”

F o r  fu rth e r inform ation, co ntact M. P. M ar­
chant, School o f Library and Information Scien ce, 
B righ am  Young U n iv ersity  (AALS C o n tin u in g  
Education C om m ittee), Provo, U T 84602. ■■

ACRL Chapters
• A d in n e r  m e e tin g  co sp o n so re d  by th e  

S o u t h e r n  C a l i f o r n i a  C h a p t e r  o f th e Associa­
tion o f C ollege and Research Lib raries and the 
Sou thern C alifornia T ech n ical P ro cesses Group 
was attended by 170 librarians. T h e  m eeting was 
held May 3 0  at the U C LA  faculty center.

Prior to the dinner th ere was a cocktail hour 
reception for U C LA  Librarian Russell Shank, in­
coming ALA president. M ichael Gorman, head of 
t e c h n ic a l s e r v ic e s , U n iv e r s ity  o f  I llin o is  at 
Urbana-Cham paign, and coeditor o f the abridged 
A nglo-A m erican C atalogu ing Rules, second edi­
tion (AACR II), was the featured speaker o f the 
m eeting.

In  speaking on “ C losin g  the C ard C a ta lo g ,” 
Gorman stated that the costs for card catalogs are 
too high and that th e  form at is no t adaptable, 
th u s p r o h ib it in g  c h a n g e s . W h a t h e  fe e ls  is 
needed  is a single autom ated, in tegrated  tool, 
which contains not only the bibliographic record 
of any given item  but all files on that item  main­
tained by the library. H e briefly d escribed the 
plans for closing the card catalog at the U niver­
sity o f Illinois.

After his presentation, questions on AACR II 
w ere raised. H e views it as the b e st summary of 
“prem achine’’ cataloging we have, though im per­
fect. T h e cu rrent concern surrounding AACR II, 
in his opinion, is not with the rules them selves 
b u t rather the p ro blem s o f integrating the old 
and new.

A C R L  will have a final m eeting o f the year in 
Sep tem ber. Chapter m em bership is automatic for 
cu rrent A C R L  m em bers. O thers wishing to join

may do so upon paym ent o f $5 dues mailed to: 
Philip M. O ’B rien , C ollege Librarian, W hittier 
College, W hittier, CA 90608. ■■

Buy T h re e  D o llars W o rth  of 

B o o k s fo r  E a c h  D o lla r You S p en d .

Best Buys In Print is a guide to quality 
books available at discount prices. It is 
also an indispensable acquisitions tool 
which offers an average savings o f  65% or 
more on 2 0 ,0 0 0  titles during 1978. BBIP 
belongs on the shelf next to Books In 
Print because it complements Books In 
Print in three ways:

1. It identifies sources o f  books that 
have been remaindered by original 
publishers.

2. It provides access to the special im­
port and reprint titles from remain­
der houses, and

3. It provides information on special 
sales and pre-publication discounts 
available from original publishers.

A subscription to Best Buys In Print 
is only $25.00/year (any four consecu­
tive issues). Foreign postage is extra. 
Subscribe now and save!

P IE R IA N  P R ESS 5000 Washtenaw Ave., 
Ann Arbor, Ml 48104