sept05a.indd I theIn the September is not only the start of the ac­ ademic year, it is also the beginning of a new fiscal year for ACRL, and a time to start ramping up for new projects and initiatives. Member groups worked hard all of last year, bringing their plans to fruition and develop­ ing new ideas. Much of this is refl ected in the actions taken by the ACRL Board of Di­ rectors (see page 581) at its June meeting held during the ALA Annual Conference. As the association continues to work on strategic plan implementation, the Board took a big step in restructuring ACRL’s division­ level committees. There are now three new committees intended to coordinate the work of units throughout the organization, reduce duplicative efforts, and allow the organization to conduct work more quickly and effectively. These coordinating committees are the Advo­ cacy Coordinating Committee, the Professional Development Coordinating Committee, and the Publications Coordinating Committee. ACRL sections and committees offered 19 programs at the ALA Annual Conference, providing academic and research librarians with the opportunity to learn and share across a variety of topics. Reports on 16 of these are included in this issue on page 571 for those of you who’ve wanted to revisit the issues or were unable to make it to some sessions of interest. At the close of this year’s Annual Confer­ ence, the gavel was passed to Camila A. Alire, who has officially stepped into the role of 2005–06 ACRL president. The focus of her presidential year is “Charting Our Future: Advocacy to Advance Academic Libraries.” In her article on page 590, Alire talks about the importance of grassroots advocacy, the role she sees for frontline academic librarians in this area, and her plans to support advocacy efforts during the coming fi scal year. —Stephanie Orphan, Editor­in­chief sorphan@ala.org September 2005 565 C&RL News mailto:sorphan@ala.org