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“Standards for libraries in higher education,” 
approved by the ACRL Board in June 2004, is 
perhaps the most far­reaching of ACRL’s stan­
dards and guidelines, as it applies to all types 
of libraries in higher education and covers 
overall library service, staffing, facilities, bud­
geting, and other areas. In “Who uses ACRL 
standards?,” the authors provide some insight 
into the degree to which various library types 
are using the standards. Primarily citing usage 
of the now rescinded “Standards for college 
libraries,” the 2000 document that served as 
the basis for the current standards, the authors 
describe the methods by which 23 academic 
institutions have relied on the ACRL standards 
to prepare for accreditation review and inter­
nal assessment of library services. 

This issue also contains two draft stan­
dards that will come before the Board at 
their June meeting during the ALA Annual 
Conference. “Guidelines for university library 
services to undergraduate students” was de­

veloped to be used in conjunction with the 
“Standards for libraries in higher education” 
and provides quantitative and qualitative 
guidelines specific to libraries serving an 
undergraduate population. “Information lit­
eracy standards for science and technology” 
uses the “Information literacy competency 
standards for higher education” as a basis for 
developing 5 standards with 26 performance 
indicators geared specifically toward students 
in the areas of science and technology. Your 
comments on these draft guidelines are en­
couraged. Contact information for providing 
feedback is supplied with each standard. 

For a complete listing of ACRL preconfer­
ences, programs, meetings, and special events 
at the ALA Annual Conference (June 25–28, 
Chicago, Illinois), see the preliminary pro­
gram. Don’t forget to take this pullout guide 
to conference for easy reference. 

—Stephanie Orphan, Editor­in­chief 
sorphan@ala.org 

May 2005  353 C&RL News 

mailto:sorphan@ala.org