ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ A p ril 1999/313 ACRL at the Midwinter Meeting Actions o f the ACRL Board o f Directors During the 1999 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia the ACRL Board of Directors took the following actions: ACRL governance A p p r o v e d t h e J u n e 2 7 a n d 3 0 m in u te s from Annual Conference. C o n fir m e d th e v o te ta k e n d u r in g th e December 14th conference call approving the 1999-2000 ACRL Priorities. By c o n s e n t a p p r o v e d a n a m e c h a n g e for the Home Economics/Human Ecology Discussion Group to the Consumer and Fam­ ily Studies Discussion Group. A p p roved th e m erg er o f th e A ustralian Studies Discussion G roup and the Canadian Studies Discussion Group into one combined group ren am ed the “Australian-Canadian Studies Discussion G roup.” A p p r o v e d a n a m e c h a n g e f o r t h e Fund-Raising & D evelopm ent Discussion Group to the Library Development Discus­ sion Group. A p p r o v e d r e v is io n s to b y la w s fo r th e Anthropology and Sociology Section and re­ visions to bylaws for the Instruction Section. Lee Van Ordsel and Maureen Sullivan review ideas for the plan being developed by ACRL's Professional D evelopm ent Committee. U p on reco m m en d a tio n fro m its Bylaw s Committee, voted to suspend its bylaws, Ar­ ticle IX, Section 3 and 3b (term of office and term overlap), and approved a plan to correct the current problem with the director- at-large term rotation that will bring the Board into compliance by 2003 (see sidebar). ACRL structure By c o n s e n t a p p r o v e d th e c r e a tio n o f th e Task Force on Recruiting into the Profession and its charge. (Report due at the 1999 An­ nual Conference.) B y c o n s e n t a p p r o v e d th e c r e a tio n o f the Task Force on Excellence in Academic Libraries Award and its charge. (Report due at the 1999 Annual Conference.) A p p r o v e d th e c r e a tio n o f th e In fo r ­ mation Literacy Competency Standards Task Force, its charge, and membership composition. (Report due at the 2001 Midwinter Meeting.) A p p ro v ed th e c r e a tio n o f a n A cad em ic Librarians’ Code of Ethics Task Force and charged it to study and recommend an ef­ fective educational program for members re­ garding the ALA Code of Ethics. (Report due at the Midwinter 2000.) A p p r o v e d c r e a tio n o f th e ACRL/AASL Task Force on the Librarian’s Role as Educa­ tor and its charge. Advocacy A p p r o v e d ACRL’s m e m b e r s h ip in t h e Council of Higher Education Management Associations (CHEMA). V oted u p o n r e c o m m e n d a tio n o f ACRL Government Relations Committee to approve a legislative agenda for ACRL for FYI999 that focuses on issues o f Intellectual Properties, NGI/ĭnternet II, and Government Informa­ tion. V oted u p o n r e c o m m e n d a tio n o f ACRL Government Relations Committee to support CONFERENCE CIRCUIT 3 1 4 / C&RL News ■ A p r il 1999 M a ry Beth Clack, c h a ir o f th e P resident's Program C om m ittee, and Jane Hedberg, chair o f Leadership D e ve lo p m e n t, c o n fe r d u rin g th e ACRL Leadership Council. in principal resolutions drafted by GODORT on FY2000 salaries and expense appropriations for the Government Printing Office, and a draft reso­ lution commending Anne Heanue, an employee of the ALA Washington Office for nearly 30 years. Voted u p o n re co m m e n d a tio n o f th e ACRL ART section to end orse a resolution for ALA to withdraw its support o f the Na­ tional TV-Turnoff W eek, April 2 2 -2 8 , 1999. S u p p o r te d ALA P r e s i d e n t A n n Sym on’s statement, “Libraries: An American Value,” in principal and will develop a statement that will help clarify the application of “libraries: An American Value” to academic libraries. Aw ards A p p ro v e d th e e s ta b li s h m e n t o f tw o aw ard s in th e W o m en ’s Stu d ies S e ctio n : “A w ard fo r S ig n ific a n t A c h ie v e m e n t in W omen’s Studies Librarianship” and “Award for Career Achievement in W omen’s Studies Librarianship.” Financial actions A p p ro v ed th e fo llo w in g c h a n g e s to the F Y 1999 budget: • Additional $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 in cre a se to fa­ cilitate the developm ent o f case studies for the ACRL/Harvard Leadership curriculum with provisos that contractual issues regarding own­ ership and use o f the case studies b e clarified. • Additional $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 increase as seed money to support the information literacy com ­ petency standards project. • Additional $ 5,0 0 0 in crease to facili­ tate ACRL’s participation in CHEMA meetings during the year. • In crease budgeted registration rev ­ enu e from 90% to 95%, adjusted other e x ­ penses and approved the use o f $3,032 from net revenue to train additional faculty for the Institute for Information Literacy. • A red u ction in registration fee fro m $225 to $200 for the F Y 1999 RBMS p reco n ­ feren ce. • In cre a se d th e budget b y $ 1 ,0 0 0 to cover expenses for an ACRL m em ber’s partici­ pation in the ALA 2001 Education Congress. Voted to defer action o n th e 2001 Na­ tional Conference registration fees and asked ACRL staff to research ways to reduce regis­ tration fees and report back to the Board. Professional developm ent By co n sen t approved th e p rop osal fo r the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section’s 4 1st An­ nual preconference in Chicago, Illinois, for the year 2000. By c o n s e n t a p p ro v e d th e p ro p o s a l for the Instruction Section’s preconference pro­ gram entitled “Library Instruction on the Web” for the 2000 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. A m en d ed a n d a p p r o v e d a m o tio n from the Racial & Ethnic Diversity Committee to offer five scholarships annually o f $500 each to minority librarians w ho have been in the profession less than five-years to attend the Board members get in synch According to the ACRL Bylaws, members- at-large are elected to the Board according to a rotation cycle that allows for continuity o f the Board mem bership. Over the years this rotation cycle has gotten out o f synch due to resignations by individual Board m em­ bers. This required the Board to take specific action so that a majority o f the Board m em­ bers’ terms did not expire at the same time. At the 1999 Midwinter Meeting, the Board suspended its bylaws, Article IX, Section 3 and 3b so that it could implement a rotation cycle that would put the Board back in com ­ pliance with the cycle specified in the by­ laws. The solution that the Board approved to correct the cycle calls for som e current Board m em bers’ terms to b e shortened and others to b e lengthened. By taking this ac­ tion the Board rotation cycle will b e in com ­ pliance with the bylaws by the year 2003. C&RL News ■ A p r il 1 9 9 9 / 315 ALA Annual C onference with priority given to librarians w ho have not attended an ALA An­ nual Conference before. By c o n s e n t a p p r o v e d th e D ista n ce Learning S e ctio n ’s requ est to sp o n so r a pro­ gram at the ALA A nnual C o n feren ce pro­ gram in New O rleans entitled “T h e Future is N ow!” A p p ro v ed a re q u e st fr o m th e ACRL Copyright Committee to co-sponsor a program at Annual C onference in New Orleans with the RUSA MOUSS Interlibrary Loan Commit­ tee on the effect o f the Digital Millennium Copyright Act on interlibrary loan. Publishing In E xecu tiv e S ession v oted to a p p ro v e the appointm ent o f Lisa M. Brow ar and Marvin J. Taylor as co-editors o f RBML for three-year terms. In E xecutive Session voted to approve the re-appointment o f Donald Riggs to a three- year term as editor o f C&RL and com m ended D on for doing an excellent jo b in producing the journal. Standards A p p roved a req u est by th e ACRL Stan­ dards and Accreditation Committee to resume the routine five-year cycle o f review for stan­ dards and guidelines. Approved th e revised Media Resources Guidelines with three minor editorial correc­ tions. ■ University Libraries Section activities at Midwinter T he ULS Executive Com mittee, chaired by Maurine Pastine, m et tw ice during the Midwinter co n feren ce to report on the status o f ULS activities. T h e Com m unications Com ­ m ittee is w orking on a w elco m e letter for n ew ULS m em bers as w ell as a letter inviting lapsed m em bers to rejoin. T h e drop in ULS m em bership o f about 4 -5 % is com parable to the overall drop in o th er divisions. T h e 199 9 A nnual C o n fe ren ce Program Com m ittee has finalized plans for an excit­ ing program entitled “B ottom Line Leader­ ship: Com m unicating your R esource Needs for Successful Services.” Speakers and topics include B etsy W ilson on b est p ractices and Steve Kaufm an on fee-b ased services. T he program is b ein g cosp o n so red by the ACRL Instruction Section. Finally, ULS will host a roundtable dis­ cu ssion group at the ACRL 9 th National C on­ feren ce in Detroit. T h e discu ssion will focu s on a variety o f controversial topics such as: Are undergraduate libraries a thing o f the past? W hat is the role o f the library in d evel­ op ing lifelon g learning skills fo r students? Should libraries continue to provide com puter lab space? ULS w elco m es all ACRL co n feren ce par­ ticipants w h o are interested in th ese topics to participate in the roundtable discussion in Detroit. Assessing student learning outcomes T h e ULS Current T op ics D iscussion Group held a stimulating talk on “Education versus Training: A ssessing Student Learning O ut­ c o m e s.” Led by D ebra Gilchrist, director o f Pierce C olleg e Library, and Trudi Ja c o b s o n , coord i­ nator o f U ser Education Program s at SUNY/ Albany, the w ell-attended discussion w as vid­ e o ta p e d fo r c a b le te le v isio n an d w ill b e show n at the ACRL 9th National C on feren ce in Detroit. Ja c o b s o n beg an the discussion by asking participants to d efine the terms “ed u cation ” and “training.” T h e group arrived at a c o n ­ sensus that, loosely speaking, edu cation in­ volves long-term learning, it attempts to iden­ tify con text, it is con cep tu al, and it generally explains the “w hy” o f som ething. Training, on the other hand, imparts short-term instruc­ tion, such as for w ell-d efined tasks involving sp ecific applications. Ja c o b s o n sum m arized recen t literature on the su bject and con clud ed that education and training are tightly interw oven term s in b ib ­ liographic instruction. T o im prove our cur­ rent instructional activities, w e must focu s on incorporating outcom es assessm ent m eth­ ods into them that can analyze and offer feed ­ b a c k on the program ’s edu cational and train­ ing aspects. 316 / C&RL News ■ A p r il1 9 9 9 D ebra Gilchrist con tin ued the discussion b y u n packing the term “assessm en t.” She ex ­ plained that this term m akes m any p eop le nervous b e ca u se it im plies accoun tability, m andates, justifications, and, o f cou rse, e x ­ tra w ork. However, assessm ent can also b e s e e n as simply providing a new fram ew ork in w hich to en h an ce student learning. Rather than involving o n ero u s tasks, a ssessm en t m ethods provide opportunities to share wis­ d om w hile giving feed back. “O utcom es as­ sessm ent equals good criteria m ade p u blic,” Gilchrist believes. T o establish an ou tcom es assessm ent pro­ gram, a library first need s to articulate its pro­ gram to students, staff, and faculty at the uni­ versity or college. This is easier to do o n ce you have established what you are doing, why you are doing it, and w hat your stu­ dents are learning as a result o f your pro­ gram. T h e n ex t step is to establish a curricu­ lar pedagogy that you can share w ith the cam pus, and articulate that pedagogy at ev­ ery opportunity. T h en th e library can c o n ­ tinually assess b o th the students and its pro­ gram. A continual process o f transition and adjustm ent c om m en ces as the library inter­ prets ou tcom es and com m its to the process o f assessm ent. A lively q uestion and answ er follow ed in w hich several specific m ethods for ou tcom e a ssessm en t w ere d iscu ssed . So m e o f the m ethods m entioned during the discussion in­ cluded asking students to fill out short qu es­ tionnaires (eith er W eb-based o r in print) at the en d o f instruction sessions, having stu­ den ts k e e p resea rch jou rn als during their cou rses, assigning annotated bibliographies that ask students to evaluate the usefulness o f the material, organizing focu s groups, and getting fe e d b a c k from students after their cou rses end. O ther methods include implementing Web tutorials and onlin e interactive tests. Librar­ ies n eed to query students about w hat they learned about research during your session. W hat did they do well? W hat did they not do particularly well? W hat w ould they do differ­ ently next time? Gilchrist clo sed the discussion by em ph a­ sizing that the keys to good ou tcom es as­ sessm ent program s are the ability to articu­ late a curriculum philosoph y to th e cam pus com m unity and th e cou rage to m aintain an ongoing com m itm ent to con stan t im prove­ m ent. Technology issues T h e ACRL/ULS Public Service D irectors at Large R esearch Libraries D iscussion Group, chaired b y Faye B ack ie, m et at Midwinter to discuss w orking with faculty to establish W eb pages, the inappropriate use o f library w ork­ stations, the organization o f electron ic refer­ e n c e services, and the latest developm ents at ARL. Mary Ja c k s o n o f ARL inform ed the group that the recently pu blished Measur­ ing the Performance o f Interlibrary Loan Op­ erations in North American Research and College Libraries has b e e n w arm ly received and is b ein g u sed in w orksh op s designed to help libraries b e co m e “b est practice” librar­ ies. Pat Steele o f Indiana University initiated an anim ated discussion on w hat various li­ braries are doing to help faculty establish W eb-based instructional environm ents. Libraries are playing a variety o f roles in the d evelopm ent o f faculty W eb-based cur­ ricula, from creating tailored W eb sites with elaborate pathfinders and onlin e tutorials, to sim ply providing links to library databases and e-m ail referen ce services on existing fac­ ulty pages. Many libraries are partnering with o th er departm ents on cam pus to integrate en h an ced W eb services. T h e TW IST program (Teach in g W ith Innovative Style and T ech ­ nology ) at th e University o f Iow a is w orking to create a m odel training program for li­ brarians and faculty. T h e UWired Center for Teaching, Learning, and Tech n olog y at the U niversity o f W ash in g to n (U W ) Libraries h elp s educators at the UW to effectively use tech nolog y in their teaching. W hile the group agreed that the exten t to w h ich libraries in­ volve them selves in establishing W eb infra­ structures for their faculties rem ains variable, a ll a g r e e th a t s u c h d e v e lo p m e n ts h a v e o p e n e d a v a lu a b le d ia lo g u e w ith faculty m em bers. The group also discussed the increase in the inappropriate use o f reference Web termi­ nals at many institutions. In particular, librar­ ies offering 24-hour access have seen an in­ crease in inappropriate use. T he University o f Texas (U T) dealt with the issue through an attorney-drafted use policy statem ent as well as by installing software on all workstations ( continued on page 318) 318 / C&RL News ■ A p r i l 1999 S cience an d T echn ology Allison V. Level, associate professor, South­ w est Missouri State University, M eyer Library 901 South National, Springfield, MO 65807; allisonlevel@ m ail.sm su.edu Slavic an d East E urope Bradley Schaffner, Russian/Soviet Studies b ib ­ lio g rap h er, W atson Library, U niversity o f Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-2800; bschaffn@ ukans.edu U niversity Libraries Lori A. Goetsch, director o f Libraries for Public S e r v ic e s , U n iv e rs ity o f M a ry la n d , 3 1 1 5 ( “Image is everything” continued from page 2 7 7 ) Tired o f the im age problem? B e part o f the im age solution. In your next triathlon, w ear a T-shirt that says, “C onan the Librar­ ian.” W hen you accep t your Oscar, thank the d ean o f your library school. And w hen som e­ o n e rem arks that you d o n ’t look like a librar­ ian, take a page from Gloria Steinem and ( “learning to lead” continued from page 293) Recent articles in C&RL News on ACRL Presi­ dent Maureen Sullivan’s them e o f “Leadership and Learning” challenge all o f us to b e both leaders and learners and have offered insights into ways to do so within our libraries today. Another challenge is to stop thinking about learning as som ething that happens only in a classroom. B y participating in various groups and teams doing real w ork in real time, w e can both learn and lead. ( “ULS activities at Midwinter” continued from page 316) to validate users’ passwords. T he user sta­ tions are passw ord-protected at night, w hich effectively limits a ccess to UT students, staff, and faculty. Som e universities have adopted op en policies toward W eb access, w hile oth­ ers have initiated strict sign-up policies. T he final topic under discussion .dealt with electron ic referen ce services. Most libraries n ow offer som e type o f e-m ail referen ce ser­ McKeldin Library, College Park, MD 20742- 7011; lgoetsch@ deans.um d.edu W om en’s Studies D aren Callahan, associate professor, Library Affairs, Southern Illinois University, Delyte W. M o rris L ib r a ry , 1 8 0 3 W. F r e e m a n , Carbonctale, IL 6 2 901-2105; d callaha@ lib.siu. edu W estern E u ro p ean Specialists Thom as Izbicki, collection developm ent c o ­ ordinator, Eisenhow er Library, Jo h n s Hopkins University, 340 0 N. Charles, Baltim ore, MD 21218; Izbicki@ jhu.edu ■ say, “Yes, I do. This is w hat a librarian looks lik e .” M aybe o n c e p e o p le realize that librar­ ians, like th ose in m ost o th er professions, co m e in every sh ap e, size, sex , sexual pref­ ere n c e , tonsure, d ecib el level, and body-fat com p osition , w e ’ll feel free to just relax and b e ourselves. It just so h ap p en s that I do w e a r m y h a ir in a b u n . I t ’s g r e a t fo r kick b oxin g . ■ Notes 1. Warren B en nis and Burt Nanus. Lead­ ers: Strategies fo r Taking Charge (N ew York: HarperCollins, 1997): 176. 2. Ibid., 17. 3. P eter B. Vaill. Learning as a Way o f Be­ ing: Strategies f o r Survival in a World o f Per­ manent White Water (San Francisco: Jo ssey - B ass, 1996). 4. B e n n is a n d N an u s, Leaders Strate­ gies‚ 1 7 8 - 9 . ■ v ice although not all have established pro­ cedures for monitoring these services or track­ ing statistics. T h e n ex t discussion at the An­ nual C on feren ce will focu s on GIS and data services, planning for s cien c e libraries, and 24-hour library access. T h e Discussion Group w elcom es all librarians w h o are interested in these topics to attend its m eeting in New Orleans.— Anne Garrison, reference librarian at Georgia Tech Library, e-mail: anne. garrison@library.gatech.edu ■ mailto:allisonlevel@mail.smsu.edu mailto:lgoetsch@deans.umd.edu mailto:dcallaha@lib.siu mailto:Izbicki@jhu.edu mailto:garrison@library.gatech.edu