ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

JCLS Chairman’s Newsletter

MAY 1968

(Rather than mail copies of a mimeographed Newsletter to the membership this year, it was decided to include the Newsletter in CRL News issues.)

I want to take this opportunity to report to you about Section activities, and also to give you some information about what is being planned especially for junior college librarians at the Kansas City ALA Conference. Before reviewing the year’s activities, I would like to discuss some of the details about the various meetings scheduled both in St. Louis and Kansas City.

“Library Services to Vocational-Technical Programs in Junior Colleges” is the theme of this year’s Preconference to be held at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, June 19-22. Sponsored jointly by the American Association of Junior Colleges and the American Library Association, the Preconference will be of interest to all librarians who are concerned with vocational-technical education in the two-year college. The main areas of consideration within the framework of library service will be materials, communication, and personnel. Richard L. Ducote, director of the Instructional Resource Center at the College of Dupage and chairman of the Preconference Committee, has worked diligently in planning meaningful Preconference sessions. Mrs. Ruthe S. Erickson, assistant coordinator of instructional resources of the Junior College District of St. Louis, and Local Arrangements chairman for the Preconference, has planned carefully to insure our enjoyment of both St. Louis and the meetings.

Information about registration for the Preconference will be mailed to you. Do plan to attend.

The Section meetings in Kansas City will be held on Tuesday, June 25. At noon that day there will be a luncheon in the Windsor Room of the Hotel Phillips. Tickets for the luncheon will be on sale at $3.25 each at the ALA Central Ticket Desk or you may send your check for $3.25 BEFORE JUNE 15 to George M. Bailey, Executive Secretary, Association of College and Research

Libraries, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago 60611.

You will have an opportunity to meet other junior college librarians at lunch. In addition to the socializing, there will be a speaker. Dr. Robert H. Deily, associate for library services of the State University of New York (in New York State public junior colleges are under the program of the State University), will talk to us about the report of the National Advisory Committee on Libraries. If the Committee does not issue its report prior to the ALA Conference, Dr. Deily will, of course, explore another topic.

At 2:00 p.m. the group will convene in the Tower Room at the Aladdin Hotel. The program portion of the meeting will be devoted to reports about current Section activities. It was felt that the membership would want to be brought up to date on various projects and that the report session would be preferable to a program involving a speaker or a panel discussion on a more esoteric topic. A business meeting will conclude the session.

Although some of the Section activities will be discussed at greater length in Kansas City, I would like to review briefly this year’s progress. One of the most outstanding developments was the establishment of the Junior College Library Information Center at ALA headquarters. Miss Peggy Sullivan, former director of the Knapp School Libraries Project accepted appointment as director of the Center as of March 1. Miss Sullivan will work on a half-time basis for one year and will be involved with the collection and dissemination of information about junior college libraries. As many of you know, Miss Sullivan is an enthusiastic, dedicated person who will contribute immeasurably to the success of the Center.

A project proposal to establish demonstration junior college libraries has been written, revised, and rewritten by Norman Tanis, director of the library at Kansas State College, Pittsburg. It is hoped that the proposal will be approved by the ALA Executive Board this Spring. If approval is gained, it will then be necessary to seek funds to make the proposal operational by the Spring of 1969.

A Subcommittee of the ACRL Standards Committee has been working this year on the revision of the Junior College Library Standards. Under the able leadership of J. O. Wallace, librarian at San Antonio College, the Subcommittee has been doing a thorough, painstaking piece of work in considering desirable changes in the present Standards.

The Junior College Libraries Section has had representation on two ALA committees. Mrs. Joleen Bock, from Rio Hondo Junior College, represents the Section on the Interdivisional Committee on Training Programs for Supportive Library Staff, and the ALA Editorial Committee’s subcommittee on Vocation-Technical Education Lists has the following Section representatives: Shirley A. Edsall, Corning Community College, Joan L. Foley, Broome Technical Community College, and Harold Young, Washtenaw Community College.

The Section Committees have been busy with several projects including:

—Updating of the bibliography on the junior college library (Bibliography Committee )

—Planning a text on library orientation in the junior college (Committee on Instruction and Use)

—Reorganization of the network of regional and state chairmen of the Special Projects Committee

—Preparation of a checklist and statement concerning instructional materials centers (Ad Hoc Committee on Instructional Materials Centers)

—Writing of a position paper on private junior college libraries (Ad Hoc Committee on the Needs of Private Junior College Libraries)

—Preparing a revision of the By Laws of the Section (Ad Hoc Committee on By- Laws)

I hope that you will be able to come to St. Louis and Kansas City. Please mark your calendar and make the necessary reservations. I shall look forward to meeting you in June when we will be able to learn more about the Junior College Libraries Section and the exciting developments in its work.

Alice B. Griffith, Chairman Junior College Libraries Section, ACRL