oct05b.indd


charting our future 
Kara Malenfant and Heleni Pedersoli 

ACRL supports sister libraries 
Strengthening relationships across borders 

Would you like to increase the stature of your library, gain publicity, pro-
vide better service, reach out globally, and 
collect hard to fi nd materials? Then sister 
libraries is for you! 

We’re so pleased Camila Alire has 
chosen to make ACRL’s support of sister 
libraries an important part of her ter m as 
ACRL President. At the 2005 ALA Annual 
Conference, the ACRL Board of Directors 

ACRL signed with the National Council 
of Higher Education Libraries of Mexico 
(CONPAB-IES) in 2003, the initial focus 
of the agreement will be on finding 
U.S. libraries to partner with Mexican 
libraries. 

By participating in the sister libraries 
program, academic and research librar -
ies c an s trengthen e xisting r elationships 
between their institutions and others. Con-

Reasons to become a sister library and build a partnership 
with a library in another country 

•  Promote awareness of the library and its 
international “reach.” 

•  Exchange information between your 
library and its sister library. 

•  Improve access to published information 
in both countries. 

•  Raise awareness of issues and needs fac­
ing libraries in various countries. 

•  Offer opportunities to learn more about 
a region or country represented by 
an immigrant group in your com­
munity. 

•  Share techniques and technologies to 
help solve problems. 

•  Broaden both your own and your staff’s 
view of the library profession. 

•  Increase staff and community knowledge 
of other cultures. 

•  Increase diversity of interaction between 
professionals. 

•  Share strengths through exchange of 
resources and expertise. 

•  Address weaknesses by providing re­
sources, training, and exposure. 

endorsed a declaration encouraging institu-
tions to explore sister library partnerships 
and to build relationships with libraries 
in other cultures that can help us lear n, 
understand, and better serve our own 
communities. 

The Board char ged the ACRL Inter na-
tional Relations Committee (IRC) with rais-
ing awareness of the benefi ts of working 
with sister libraries to the ACRL community. 
To further the cross-border agreement 

sider study abroad programs, international 
degree partnerships, research institutes or 
centers, and the makeup of the population 
you serve. The program is flexible to allow 

Kara Malenfant is ACRL’s scholarly communications/ 
government relations specialist and immediate past-
chair of ACRL’s IRC, e-mail: kmalenfant@ala.org, and 
Heleni Pedersoli, is librarian for Western European and 
Latin American studies at the University of Maryland and 
a member of ACRL’s IRC, e-mail: pedersol@umd.edu. 
© 2005 Kara Malenfant and Heleni Pedersoli 

October 2005  657 C&RL News 

mailto:pedersol@umd.edu
mailto:kmalenfant@ala.org


libraries to define their own relationships 
with their sister libraries. ALA’s Inter na-
tional Relations Office provides a Web site to 
facilitate matches, highlight tips, and feature 
success stories. It plans to include sample 
agreements, as well. 

Sister libraries in action 
In early July, the libraries at Universidad 
Anáhuac in Mexico City, Mexico, and St. 
Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, 
agreed to be sister libraries, and they are 
very excited about their new venture. Both 
are private, Catholic universities with simi-
lar programs. They say the sister libraries 
program could lead to broader partnerships 
between their universities’ study abroad and 
faculty exchange programs. 

ACRL IRC is working in conjunction with 
the ALA International Relations Round Table 
(IRRT) Sister Libraries Committee to promote 
and foster sister library relationships among 
academic and research libraries. IRRT Sister 
Libraries plans to hold a discussion group 

and poster session for ALA Annual Confer -
ence in 2006, and ACRL will showcase suc-
cessful academic relationships there. 

To generate more interest among ACRL 
members and Mexican academic libraries, 
ACRL IRC is working to secure funding and 
provide seed grants to encourage nascent 
sister library relationships between U.S. and 
Mexican libraries. Look for more news on 
that later this year. 

Why not become a sister library? 
We ur ge ACRL members to explore sister 
library relationships and ACRL sections and 
units to support this ef fort. Please spread 
the word among your membership and 
prominently link the IRR T Sister Libraries 
Web page to your Web sites. 

Libraries can search for potential sis-
ter libraries or complete a request for m 
and become part of the database at ALA’s 
Sister Libraries W eb site: www.ala.org/ala 
/ourassociation/othergroups/sisterlibraries 
/sisterlibraries.htm. 

C&RL News October 2005  658 

www.ala.org/ala