ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL professional liaison activities

By Louise S. Sherby

Chair, ACRL Prof essional Association Liaison Committee

ACRL looks for more links to other organizations.

The ACRL Professional Association Liaison Committee (PALC) has spent the last several years working towards the strengthening of ACRL’s relationships with other professional associations. The committee has done this in several ways.

First, the committee has awarded grants to individual members in support of their activities in non-library professional associations. A PALC grant supported the participation of Gloria Smith, University of Arizona, in presenting a panel at the Twelfth Annual National Council of Black Studies in Philadelphia in April 1988. The idea for this panel grew out of Smith’s earlier involvement in the Black History Internship Project at the Arizona Historical Society. The purpose of this project was to learn about local African-American history. In addition to collecting individual oral history, family photos and surveying existing materials of the society, the group was trained in oral history techniques and in techniques for working with older residents. This activity led to Smith’s continuing involvement in local African-American history and ultimately to her organizing a panel presentation for the National Council of Black Studies Conference. Smith’s paper explained the project’s Historical Happening at the Arizona Historical Society. As she indicates in her report to the committee, “This panel shows how librarians can be productive in acquiring community history and can work effectively with professionals of other disciplines. It also shows how a library, the Arizona Historical Society, can be productive in helping a community to gather, preserve and display its ethnic heritage.”

Another ACRL member who received support was Martha L. Brogan, University of Minnesota. Brogan participated in the fourth biennial Interdisciplinary Conference for Netherlandic Studies (ICNS) in June 1988. As she reports to the committee: “The ICNS is sponsored by the American Association for Netherlandic Studies (AANS), a national scholarly organization formed in 1982 to promote the study of the language, literature, and culture of the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking Belgium. Its 250 members are primarily engaged in teaching and research in the field of Dutch studies in the United States.

“For the 1986 ICNS conference I proposed to write a paper analyzing the content of the RLG Conspectus relevant to Dutch studies. It was rejected on the grounds that it didn’t fit into any of the pre-ordained program areas. Undeterred, I tried again in 1988, only this time I proposed to organize an entire session—‘High Tech in the Lowlands: Library Resources in the Electronic Age’— which would include my paper. This time the proposal was accepted. It was my contention that the Conspectus has been discussed almost solely within library circles and analyzed primarily as a collection management tool for library staff. Further, few articles, with the exception of those on verification studies, have analyzed the substance of the Conspectus as it pertains to a specific subject area. It was my goal to consider in-depth the subset of Conspectus data pertinent to Dutch studies and to present my findings to faculty teaching in the field. I also invited James Spohrer, associate librarian for Germanic collections at the University of California-Berkeley, who contributed a paper on ‘Dutch, Flemish, Frisian Materials at Berkeley: Collections and Access,’ and Michael Wintle, a social and economic historian at the Centre for Modern Dutch Studies, at the University of Hull (Great Britain), who presented a paper about the compilation of the bibliography, The Netherlands (World Bibliographical Series, Clio Press, 1988), which he co-authored with Peter King. About thirty faculty attended our session, including the President of A ANS, who recommended publicly that a program on library resources become a regular feature of future ICNS conferences. Selected papers, including Spohrer’s and mine, will be published by the University Press of America this spring.

“This conference experience reinforced the partnership between professional librarians and teaching faculty in the academic enterprise. As an unexpected result of this professional liaison, I was invited to review Wintle and King’s bibliography in the British journal, Dutch Crossing: A Journal of Low Countries Studies. The next ICNS will be held at UCLA in June 1990 and a precedent has been set for a library session.”

The Professional Liaison Committee also partially supports the activities of the appointed ACRL liaisons to professional associations. Sharon J. Rogers, George Washington University, is the ACRL liaison to the American Council on Education. At the 1989 ACE Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, Rogers presented a paper entitled “Managing Information For Change” at the ACE Fellows Workshop.

The committee is also looking at other ways to enhance the visibility of academic librarians in other professional associations. Suggestions from the ACRL membership would be welcome. ACRL encourages such participation and the Professional Association Liaison Committee would welcome such proposals.

If you are interested in applying for a grant in support of individual liaison activity, applications should be received by June 1, 1989. Proposals should include the following information: 1) name, title, address and telephone number of requester; 2) name of organization sponsoring the program; 3) requester’s relationship to the organization; 4) summary of participation (e.g., abstract of paper); 5) statement of potential impact for promoting academic or research librarianship; 6) budget and amount being requested; and 7) supporting documentation as relevant (e.g., receipts, program, etc.). The criteria for the distribution of funding appeared in “Funds for Professional Activities,” by Jacqueline M. Morris, C&RL News 49 (May 1988): 291-92.

Please send applications to: Louise S. Sherby, Chair, ACRL Professional Association Liaison Committee, General Library, Room 107, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 5100 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110-2499.