ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


October 1 9 9 5 /6 4 5

sponsored a workshop on “Internet Training 
and Use Internationally.” Two perspectives were 
presented as Isabel Stirling, University of Or­
egon, and Sally Cheng-Hua Shen, Beijing Uni­
versity, spoke on teaching the Internet in the 
United State and China. Irma Pasanen, Helsinki 
University o f Technology, spoke about design­
ing World Wide Web browsers for improved 
Internet access. An open session on the Inter­
net hosted by Nancy John, University o f Illi­
nois at Chicago, and Ed Valauskus, Internet 
Mechanics, drew a large audience.

W o m e n  lib r a r ia n s  o f the w o r ld
The Women’s Issues Section program theme 
was “Women in the World o f Information.” 
Dong Ziaoying, Beijing University, reported on 
the first study o f women in Chinese libraries 
and their status and motivation. The issues there 
are much like those in other countries and the 
survey showed that the role o f women in se­
nior or high-ranking library administration is 
limited. Asli Davza-Mardin and Jale Baysal from 
the Women’s Library and Information Center 
in Istanbul reported on that library, which was 
set up on the initiative o f five resourceful 
women in 1989. It opened in 1990 in an Otto­
man edifice that dates back to the 18th century 
and was restored for the library. The Women’s 
Library issues a quarterly newsletter and a yearly 
diary and has published five books. With out­
side financial support the library has conducted 
three projects: a bibliography of publications 
related to women and women writers, pilot 
project on the oral history o f women, and a 
project on the attitude o f the press on women.

The 61st IFLA conference offered a host of 
useful programs in an interesting setting. Li­
brary visits and cultural programs provided 
delegates with a taste o f an historic and vibrant 
country. In his address to the Opening Session, 
Robert Wedgeworth, University o f Illinois at 
U rb a n a -C h a m p a ig n  and IFLA P re s id e n t, 
summed up the challenge to “Libraries of the 
Future”: “Our struggle to revitalize libraries and 
librarianship is not about techniques and fi­
nance. It is essentially one o f values. We must 
b e able to persuade governments, business, 
education, religious and civic leaders o f the 
value o f libraries as educational institutions that 
stimulate and inspire learning; that libraries are 
information access agencies that improve the 
quality o f decision-making; and that libraries 
can contribute substantially to the improvement 
o f the quality o f life at all ages.” ■

Letters
Research needed on library 
compensation
To the Editor:

I read with interest the “Research Agenda 
for College Librarianship” (July/August 1995). 
I was surprised that the individuals your 
committee consulted did not consider the 
issue o f library com pensation important 
enough to include. With library faculty earn­
ing 30% less than their teaching faculty col­
leagues who hold comparable qualifications 
(the master’s degree), and typically having 
to work a 12-month contract instead o f their 
nine, I would think that this issue merits 
study. If the purpose o f a professional asso­
ciation is to represent the needs of its mem­
bers, this is one major issue that is crying 
out to be addressed. I urge your committee 
not only to add it to its research agenda, but 
to ask ACRL to prioritize and fund such re­
search.— R. N eil Scott, G eorgia C ollege

The committee chair responds
As we state in the introduction to the 

Agenda, “the questions that follow are not 
intended to limit inquiry but to provide an 
example o f concerns that might be pursued 
in each o f the seven research areas. . . .” 
The issue o f library compensation is certainly 
an important one to the profession, and 
agenda questions such as “What is the status 
of librarians in colleges?” and “What is the 
impact of collective bargaining on library or­
ganizations?” were intended to promote more 
specific research in this area. The commit­
tee encourages Professor Scott and others to 
submit additional questions to be included 
in future editions of the Agenda.— M ickey 
Z em on , C hair, CLS R esearch  f o r  C ollege Li­
b ra r ia n sh ip  C om m ittee

One article fits right in
To the Editor:

As soon as I read the article “Research 
Across the Curriculum,” by Steve McKinzie 
(June 1995), I forwarded a copy to the chair 
o f our university curriculum com m ittee. 
McKinzie’s ideas fit right into some plans 
that this committee is formulating.—J e n n y  
Petty, O u ach ita B aptist University ■