ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


366 / C&RL News ■ June 2003

news
In  t h e

W e all k n o w  that recruiting to the profession is a 
big issue in academic and research librarianship, and 
mentoring n e w  librarians is an important aspect of 
retaining those that join our ranks. However, it can 
sometimes b e  difficult to develop a recruitment and 
retention p lan o r to e v en  k n o w  w h e re  to  begin. 
This issue includes several articles that discuss re­
cruitment and retention a nd present ideas and ex­
amples that can help you jump-start your efforts.

In “G ot a secret? Pass it o n  … Lynn Chmelir 
shares w ays that academ ic librarians can  m entor 
n e w  librarians into the profession. She points out 
that m aking connections across cam pus, particu­
larly with career services departments, and reaching 
out to those already engaged in some level of library 
work, such as paraprofessional and student library 
workers, are excellent ways to tap n ew  talent.

Charlene Kellsey approaches the recruitment is­
sue from the perspective o f specialization. Noting 
the difficulty in hiring librarians w ith foreign lan­
guage expertise, she recommends ways to seek out 
individuals w ith these skills a n d  spread the w o rd

that academic a nd research librarianship is a career 
for them  (“Crisis in foreign language expertise in 
research libraries”).

In “Mentoring untenured librarians,” three ten­
ure-track librarians at O a k lan d  University w rite 
a bout their inform al m entoring group, led by the 
associate dean of the library, and provide guidelines 
o n  h o w  to  b e  a successful leader o f such a group, 
from the perspective of those being mentored.

Also in this issue, librarians from Brigham Young 
University share the results o f a survey o f  events 
geared towards advancing awareness of the schol­
arly communication crisis (“W idespread academic 
efforts address the scholarly com m unication cri­
sis”). A summary o f the survey findings will also be 
s h a re d  at th e  ACRL/SPARC Forum  at th e  ALA 
Annual Conference.

Complete ACRL results from the 2003 election are 
included as well. Congratulations to the winners.

— Stephanie O rp h a n , Editor-in-chief 
sorphan@ala.org

mailto:sorphan@ala.oig