ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

ACRL wants you!

Reap the many benefits of volunteerism

Now is a good time to increase your in- volvement in ACRL by volunteering to serve on a division or section committee. Vice- president Lee Hisle invites all ACRL members to contact the Appointments Committee about serving on one of ACRL’s 27 committees for next year. Members may also contact one of the section vice-chairs regarding service on one of the many section committees.

ACRL has recently adopted a new Strategic Plan (see page 584 of this issue) and during the next few years committee members will have an opportunity to help implement this plan, reshape the association, and influence the direction of academic and research librarianship.

You benefit by volunteering

Volunteers not only give to the association, they get back from the association:

• Build ties with academic and research librarians around the country.

• Enhance your leadership abilities through consensus building and persuasion.

• Share your expertise with colleagues.

• Gain additional expertise—learn more about a new area of academic librarianship or pick up new ideas for your current area.

Appointments: The process

Appointments are made at both the section and division levels. The ACRL president is responsible for the committee appointments at the division level for the year he or she serves as president. Likewise, section chairs are responsible for committee appointments in their respective sections the year they serve as chair. Committee slates are usually completed shortly after the Midwinter Meeting during the year in which the individual serves as president-elect or chair-elect. The ACRL Appointments Committee assists the president-elect in this process in an advisory capacity.

Factors influencing appointment

Although the emphasis in the appointment may vary from year to year according to the prerogatives of the president and section chairs, the same factors are considered. They include:

• Evidence of potential committee member’s interest:Have you attended the meetings and introduced yourself to the chair? Do you have previous experience that relates to the work of the committee? Have you indicated your interest on the application?

• Demographics and composition of committee:A balance is sought with respect to type of library (community college, college, or university), geographic representation, ethnic diversity, and gender. In addition, some committees have special requirements. For example, one member of the Professional Education Committee must be a library educator; the Government Relations Committees has a strict regional representation requirement.

• The recommendation of the current committee chair:Current committee chairs are asked to suggest potential members. Although all of these factors are considered, the final appointments are the prerogative of the ACRL president-elect and the section chair-elects.

How to apply

1) Select the committees that interest you.The ALA Handbook of Organization lists all of ACRL’s committees and their charges. (Ed. note: This year the Handbook will be published as a special issue of American Libraries and will automatically be mailed to all ALA members in mid-November.) Attend the committee’s meetings at the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference to help you decide if those are the activities that interest you.

2) Introduce yourself.Talk with committee members. Express your interest to the committee chair. Explain how you might contribute to the work of the committee.

3) Submit a volunteer form.Complete the volunteer form included with this article. (Ed. note: This form is also available on ACRL’s homepage at http://www.ala.org/acrl.html.) Be sure to cover all of the items asked for in background information. If you have attended committee meetings or programs, mention that. Fill out one form for ACRL division committees and a different form for each ACRL section you want to volunteer for. Send the division volunteer form to Helen H. Spalding at the address on the bottom of the volunteer form; send the section volunteer forms to the appropriate section chair-elects (see list of addresses below).

4) Volunteer again . . . and again.If you are not successful in being appointed one year, volunteer again the next year . . . and the next. Remember that a multitude of factors—number of appointments made, number of volunteers for each committee, number of volunteers from your type of library or your geographic area—determine the actual appointment, and these factors change from year to year.

ACRL section appointments

ACRL has 17 sections (listed below). You will find a description of their areas of responsibility in the ALA Handbook of Organization, 1996–97. Many of ACRL’s sections have developed new homepages that are linked to ACRL’s; check out http://www.ala.org/acrl.html. The chair-elect of a section appoints the chair and members of all section committees. Most of these appointments are made in the spring for terms beginning immediately after the ALA Annual Conference. If you would like to be considered for appointment as a chair or member of a section committee, fill out the attached ACRL Committee Volunteer Form and mail it to the chair-elect of the appropriate section listed below before December 13, 1996.

Afro-American Studies Librarians Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Itibari M. Zulu, Librarian, UCLA Center for African American Studies, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024-1301; e-mail: imz@ucla.edu.

Anthropology and Sociology Section.Vice- Chair/Chair-Elect: Joyce L. Ogburn, Assistant University Librarian, Old Dominion University Library. Preferred address: 1430 Magnolia Ave,, Norfolk, VA 23508; e-mail: ogburn@lib.odu.edu.

ARTS Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Stephen C. Bloom, Director, University of the Arts Libraries. Preferred address: 125 Bortondale Road, Media, PA 19063-4845; e-mail: bloom@hslc.org.

Asian, African and Middle Eastern Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Robert B. Marks Ridinger, Northern Illinois University, University Libraries, DeKalb, IL 60115-0000; e-mail: c6orbl@corn.cso.niu.edu.

College Libraries Section.Vice-Chair/Chair- Elect: Larry R. Oberg, University Librarian, Willamette University. Preferred address: 1053 Icel Court NE, Salem, OR 97301-1665; e-mail: loberg@ willamette.edu.

Community and Junior College Libraries Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Wanda K. Johnston, Director of Learning Resources, Central Florida Community College Library. Preferred address: 1525 SE 42nd Ave., Ocala, FL 34471; e-mail: johnstwccl@lincc.ccla.lib. fl.us.

Education and Behavioral Sciences Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Nancy J. Weissinger, Electronic Resources Librarian, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th St., New York, NY 10027; e-mail: njw4@columbia.edu.

English and American Literature Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Betty H. Day, Humanities Bibliographer, University of Maryland College Park. Preferred address: 1204 Goth Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20905-5518; e-mail: bd5@ umail.umd.edu.

Extended Campus Library Services Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Nancy J. Burich, Librarian, University of Kansas. Preferred address: 10528 Bluejacket, Overland Park, KS 66214- 3088; e-mail: nburich@ukanvm.cc.ukans.edu.

Instruction Section.Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Randy Burke Hensley, University of Hawaii Reference Center, Thomas H. Hamilton Library, 2550 The Mall, Honolulu, HI 96822-2233; e-mail: rhensley@hawaii.edu.

Law and Political Science Section.Vice- Chair/Chair-Elect: Stephen J. Stillwell Jr., 2021 Rumson Dr., Arlington, TX 76006-4608; e-mail: iy20@jove.acs.unt.edu.

Rare Books and Manuscripts Section.Vice- Chair/Chair-Elect: Laura Stalker, Associate Director for Technical Services, Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA 91108; e-mail: stalker@huntington.org.

Science and Technology Section.Vice-Chair/ Chair-Elect: Allison V. Level, Science Reference Librarian, Library of Congress. Preferred address: 2000 N. Adams St. #622, Arlington, VA 22201- 3746; e-mail: alev@seql.loc.gov.

Slavic and East European Section.Vice- Chair/Chair-Elect: Bradley L. Schaffner, University of Kansas, 210 Watson Library, Lawrence, KS 66045-2800; e-mail: bschaffn@ukans.edu.

University Libraries Section.Vice-Chair/ Chair-Elect: Lori A. Goetsch, Head, Reference Services, University of Tennessee. Preferred address: 7604 Westdale Dr., Knoxville, TN 37909- 2929; e-mail: lgoetsch@utk.edu.

Western European Specialists Section.Vice- Chair/Chair-Elect: Kurt F. DeBelder, 1 Washington Square Village, Apt. 13-H, New York, NY 10012-1609; e-mail: debelder@is.nyu.edu.

Women’s Studies Section.Vice-Chair/Chair- Elect: Jessica Grim, Associate Librarian, Ober- lin College Library, 148 W. College St., Ober- lin, OH 44074; e-mail: jessica_grim@qmgate.cc. oberlin.edu.

ACRL divisional committee appointments

ACRL has 27 standing committees to which appointments may be made. A list appears on the volunteer form at the end of this article. You will find the committees listed with a description of their charges in the ALA Handbook of Organization.

Appointments to ACRL standing committees are made in the spring for terms beginning immediately after the ALA Annual Conference. The Appointments Committee recommends to the president-elect of ACRL the names of members who might fill the vacancies. The presidentelect makes the final appointments. If you are interested in being considered for an appointment to an ACRL committee, you should complete the attached Committee Volunteer Form and send it to Helen H. Spalding at the address given on the form before December 13, 1996.

Editorial boards

ACRL has editorial boards for these six publications: Choice; College & Research Libraries; College & Research Libraries News; New Publications; Publications in Librarianship, and Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship.

Appointments to editorial boards are made at the Midwinter Meeting for terms that begin immediately after the ALA Annual Conference. The editors recommend the name of a person to fill the vacancy. The Publications Committee must approve the recommendation, and the president of ACRL makes the appointment.

If you would like to be considered for appointment to an editorial board, contact the editor of the editorial board.

Choiceeditor: Irving Rockwood, Choice, 100 Riverview Center, Middletown, CT 06457; e-mail: irockwood@ala-choice.org.

College & Research Librarieseditor: Donald E. Riggs, University of Michigan, 818 Hatcher Graduate Library, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1205; e-mail: driggs@umich.edu

College & Research Libraries Newseditor: Mary Ellen Davis, C&RL News, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; e-mail: medavis@ala.org.

New publications editor: Hugh Thompson, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; e-mail: hthompson@ala.org.

Publications in Librarianshipeditor: Stephen E. Wiberley Jr., University of Illinois at Chicago, University Library, P.O. Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680-8198; e-mail: u30959@ uicvm.uic.edu.

Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianshipeditor: Sidney E. Berger, University of California, University Library, P.O. Box 5900, Riverside, CA 92517-5900; e-mail: Sidney. berger@ucr.edu.

Share your opinion with C&RL News readers

C&RL Newsis looking for well-reasoned commentaries on issues of interest to academic and research librarians for its column “The Way I See It.” It’s an opportunity to share your thoughts with a national audience. Past columns include “Point/Counterpoint: The Value of Place” and “Madonna in the Hallowed Halls: Use of Popular Media in Collection Development and Reference.” Essays should be between 500–750 words and should be sent to “The Way I See It,” C&RL News, ACRL, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611- 2795; fax: (312) 280-2520; e-mail: medavis@ ala.org.