ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


December 1989 /1001

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e

Carol C. Henderson (202) 547-4440; (ALA0025)
Deputy Director, ALA Washington Office

According to ALA President-elect Richard M. Dougherty, two overriding needs will affect 
A LA ’s recommendations for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act: (1) assistance in tak­
ing advantage of the continued and increasing extent to which technology is altering the profile 
of library service, and (2) aid in combating the increasing shortage of library professionals, es­
pecially Ph.D. faculty members, minorities, and certain specializations.

Dougherty, professor at the School of Information and Library Studies at the University of 
Michigan and former director of libraries there, was scheduled to testify on November 20 in 
Washington, D.C., at the last of several regional hearings on HEA held by the Department of Ed­
ucation. In its notice (54 Federal Register 39972-74) announcing the hearings, the Department 
asked two questions about library programs: “Is there a need for Federal support of college and 
university libraries? If need exists, how should a Federal program or programs be structured to 
disburse Federal funds to address those needs?”

Dougherty called for a visible federal role because college and university libraries collec­
tively represent the resource infrastructure which supports not only undergraduate and graduate 
education, but academic research and development as well as laboratory, experimental, and de­
velopmental research by scholars and researchers at locations beyond the campus. The benefits 
of access to library resources and to librarian expertise flow freely beyond those who teach or 
pay tuition at any one campus. This “public good” characteristic of academic and research li­
braries is in the national interest as it fosters U. S. educational achievement, economic devel­
opment, and informed government and citizen decision-making.

With the stimulus of federal funds, librarians have used technology to enhance this “pub­
lic good” aspect of information flow to share library resources across institutional, local, and 
state boundaries. A federal stimulus is needed for cutting edge developments as well as for assis­
ting smaller and more isolated libraries to enter the world of shared electronic information, for 
preserving library materials, and for links to the proposed National Research and Education 
Network.

On the supply of professionals, Dougherty indicated that shortages are critical in the areas 
of school media, children’s and young adult services, science reference, and cataloging. In addi­
tion, the number of minority librarians with m aster’s degrees has declined, paralleling the 
decline in HEA II-B fellowship funds. The shortage of appropriately prepared faculty members 
in graduate library schools is severe and growing, a situation with profound implications for the 
education of the next generation of librarians, and for future research in the field.

Together with the higher education community and the Association of Research Libraries, 
ACRL/ALA is in the process of formulating specific recommendations for the upcoming HEA 
reauthorization. Other librarians who commented to the Department of Education on HEA are 
urged to send a copy to the ALA Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, 
DC 20002.