ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 4 / C&RL News A CRL Presid ent’s letter B y B a r b a r a J . Ford A C R L’s 52nd President A C R Ls past year in perspective. Dear ACRL Colleagues: The accomplishments of a large and dynamic organization such as ACRL are varied and wide- ranging. The activities owe their success to members involved in com mittees, sections, discussion groups, chap­ ters, and task forces and to the very competent headquarters staff. The following represents only a small portion of the projects and pro­ grams undertaken by ACRL members during 1990. Barbara J. Ford Several important publications were issued during the past year. ACRL Publications in Librari- anship. no. 47, Academic Libraries: Research Per­ spectives edited by Mary Jo Lynch and Arthur P. Young was published in July. The eight essays provide perspective on the changes confronting academic library planners. Measuring Academic Library Performance: A Practical Approach by Nancy Van House, Beth Weil, and Charles McClure was prepared for the ACRL Ad Hoc Committee on Performance Meas­ ures chaired by Virginia Tiefel. Programs at the Annual Conference sponsored by the type of li­ braries sections talked about measuring the effi­ ciency and effectiveness of library services. A paper presented at the International Federation of Li­ brary Association and Institutions Conference in Stockholm, Sweden in August focused on the ACRL project. ACRL University Library Statistics 1988-89 is also now available from ACRL. It is a review of the year’s activities of 114 university libraries. The data was compiled by Denise Bedford, a member of ACRL’s Academic Library Statistics Committee. “Academic Libraries: Partners in Higher Educa­ tion” was Bill Moffett’s liaison theme during his presidency. Issues in higher education were ad­ dressed by a panel at the presidential program at the annual conference. The ACRL 1989-90 An­ nual Report, the first produced in recent years, is entitled, Academic Librarians: Partners in Higher Education. Academic Libraries: Your Campus Information Service was developed by Edward Holley and Barbara Moran. Librarians can use this brochure to explain their role and services to their faculty, administrators and students. A cadem ic L ib raries: A Source o f N ational Strength was prepared by the ACRL Task Force on the White House Conference on Library and In­ formation Services for use at state and the national conferences. The committee, chaired by Pat Wand, also prepared a series of articles for College & Research Libraries News. During my presidency I have continued the liaison and advocacy effort by stressing information literacy. This topic has brought many academic administrators to revisit their opinions about the role their libraries should play in the teaching and learning process. A very active President’s Program Planning Committee, chaired by Mary Reichel, has devel­ oped a number of information literacy products, January 1991 / 5 has encouraged members to write on the subject for College & Research Libraries News and is planning a program including poster sessions on information literacy for the 1991 annual confer­ ence. Members have responded to my call for assis­ tance in defining and finding quotations relating to information literacy. Two brochures on Information Literacy have been produced. Information Literacy: Critical Skills f o r a Changing W orld was developed by Rao Aluri and Mary Reichel and Evaluating Informa­ tion was prepared by Hannelore Rader, Billie Rein­ hart, and Gary Thompson. Librarians can use the brochures with faculty, administrators and stu­ dents. Posters, folders, bookmarks, and frisbees were designed by members of the president’s program planning committee, Mary Ellen Davis from the ACRL staff, and ALA Graphics. Folders, book­ marks, frisbees, and one poster feature the mes­ sage: “Get a Grip on it! Ask Your Librarian About Information Literacy." Another poster highlights a quote by Dr. Samuel Johnson: “Knowledge is of Two Kinds: We Know a Subject Ourselves, or We Know Where We Can Find Information Upon It.” Three new ACRL guidelines were approved and are available from ACRL. They are “Guidelines for Security of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and other Special Collections;” “Guidelines for Borrowing Special Collection Materials for Exhibition;” and "Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Serv­ ices.” ACRL and AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) issued “Stan­ dards for Community, Junior and Technical Col­ lege Learning Resources Programs.” They are in­ tended to assist in evaluating and developing learn­ ing resources programs. Costs were shared for mailing copies to directors of learning resources centers. The ACRL Board received final reports from several task forces appointed by past ACRL Presi­ dents. Reports received include recruitment of underrepresented minorities chaired by Edith Fisher, financial development chaired by Betsy Baker, paraprofessionals in academic libraries chaired by Sheila Creth, and the operating agree­ ment chaired by Elizabeth Salzar. In response to the task force report on under­ represented minorities, at its fall meeting the ACRL Executive Committee voted to establish an ACRL standing committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. It will address issues related to recruit­ ment, advancement, and retention of underrepre­ sented groups; and the promotion of quality library and information services for members of racial and ethnic groups. After discussion of recommendations from the Appointments and Nominations Committee on the length of service for interns and committee mem­ bers, the ACRL Executive Committee voted to increase the size of ACRL committees to expand the opportunities for involvement by ACRL mem­ bers. ACRL continued to grow as the Extended Campus Library Services group became ACRL’s 16th section. Three new discussion groups were formed: Fundraising and Development, Perform­ ance/Output Measures for Academic Libraries, and Philosophical, Religious and Theological Stud­ ies. Utah became the 41st chapter affiliated with ACRL. Two new ACRL tasks forces were appointed. The Access Policy Guidelines Task Force will de­ termine if the current guidelines need to be re­ vised. The Organizational Members Task Force will review ACRL services for institutional mem­ bers. Advisory Boards were established to prepare directories of experts on accreditation, information literacy, and managing academic libraries. Current and future chairs of ACRL committees attended the first annual ACRL Leadership Con­ ference in June. Past President Joseph Boissé was Orientation Committee chair. As part of the session John Tyson conducted a session on team building using a work styles inventory. Several important staff changes took place dur­ ing 1990. Following the appointment of JoAn Segal to a new position in ALA, the search for an Execu­ tive Director began at the annual conference. The search committee is chaired by Maureen Sullivan. In the interim, Cathleen Bourdon has been a very effective Acting Executive Director. George Eber- hart who has edited College & Research Libraries News for 10 years resigned in the fall. Alia Al-Taqi who was membership/chapters program assistant resigned and Carolyn DeBonnett was appointed to the position. Mattye Nelson was selected as Profes­ sional Development Officer and the Continuing Education Office is beginning the transformation to the Professional Development Office. Gloriana St. Clair became the first woman editor of College & Research Libraries in its 50 year history. Pilot projects for linking Choice reviews to on­ line public access catalogs at Carnegie Mellon University and the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries were initiated. “Academic Libraries: Achieving Excellence in Higher Education” was approved as the theme for ACRL’s 6th National Conference from April 1-4, 1992 in Phoenix. Conference Chair Joseph Boissé stated that each day of the conference will be devoted to one of the following subthemes: diver­ sity in the academic community; the increased complexity of information resources in many for­ mats; the research agenda for academic and re­ search libraries and technology and library users. 6 / C&RL News ALA Executive Board approved ACRL’s request to hold its Seventh National Conference in Pitts­ burgh, March 29-April 1, 1995. Library directors at 89 historically black colleges and universities were mailed surveys from ACRL. The survey is the third part of a project for histori­ cally black colleges and universities begun in 1987 and supported with grants from the Andrew Mel­ lon Foundation. Other activities included holding conferences on preparing for accreditation visits and an NEH funded workshop on humanities programming. Librarians, higher education administrators, and federal officials met in October to work out details of a plan to improve the quality and timeli­ ness of national academic library statistics. Organ­ ized by an Advisory Committee from ACRL and the Association of Research Libraries, the meeting was funded by the National Center for Education Statistics through a cooperative project with the National Commission on Libraries and Informa­ tion Sciences. ACRL became a member of the Task Force of the Coalition for Networked Information founded by the Association of Research Libraries, CAUSE (the association for administrative computing), and EDUCOM (a consortium of academic comput­ ing). The Coalition will promote the National Re­ search and Education network (NREN) which will interconnect colleges, universities, and research organizations. ACRL promoted partnerships in higher educa­ tion by linking up with other higher education associations to strengthen the role of librarians on campus. Patricia Breivik chaired a session on aca­ demic officers and librarians as partners for change at the American Association for Higher Education conference. ACRL became an affiliate member of the Association of American Colleges and Evan Färber will present a program on information over­ load at their January 1991 conference. ACRL joined the National Forum on Information Liter­ acy which is composed of national education asso­ ciations. ACRL continued to work closely with other parts of ALA and with its chapters. In April, 54 academic librarians attended Legislative Day in Washington, D.C. and met with members of con­ gress. The ACRL legislative network was devel­ oped to keep members informed of issues of inter­ est. ACRL chapters carried out a number of impor­ tant programs and activities of benefit to academic librarians. This is only a selected list of the many projects undertaken by ACRL during the past year. Without the interest and efforts of ACRL members and staff these accomplishments would not have been pos­ sible. I would especially like to recognize two com­ mittees that facilitate the work of ACRL: the Budget and Finance Committee chaired by Linda Piele and now Leslie Manning and the Planning Committee chaired by Michael Kathman. 1990 was a very successful year for ACRL. As President, it is a pleasure to work with all of you, ACRL’s members. ■ ■ Bibliographical research awards announced The Bibliographical Society of America has announced the research fellows selected in its sev­ enth annual competition: Claire Badaracco, Marquette University: “Beatrice L. Warde, Propagandist for Print, 1920-1940.” Whitney S. Bagnall, Columbia University Law School Library: “A Descriptive Bibliography of the Press of Robert Bell.” Stephen Lewis Emmel, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University: “She- noute’s Literary Corpus.” G. Elizabeth Korn, Columbia University: “A Critical Edition of Impressions of Theophrastus Such by George Eliot.” Yvonne Noble: “Music Printing Practice in the Shop of John Watts, 1728-1735, from a Study of the Octavo Edition(s) of The Beggar’s Opera.” Diana Alexandra Patterson: “Marbling Over Print in 18th-Century Books in England.” Anthony Johann Pillai, State University of New York at Buffalo: “Literary Theory and Textual Criticism: The Transmission and Reception of Poe Texts in Translation.” Richard C. Simmons, University of Birming­ ham, England: “British Imprints Relating to North America, 1621-1760.” Members of the Fellowship Committee were: Richard F. Landon (chairman), Katharine F. Pantzer, Andrew B. Myers, and Michael T. Ryan. Since 1983, the Bibliographical Society of America has been funding short-term fellowships to help support scholars undertaking research as­ sociated with the study of the history of books and printing. Inquiries about the fellowship program should be addressed to the Executive Secretary, Bibliographical Society of America, P.O. Box 397, Grand Central Station, New York, NY10163. ■ ■