ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL Board actions, January 1993

Highlights of the ACRL Board of Directors’ Midwinter meetings

The Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries met twice during the Midwinter Meeting in Denver—on January 24 and January 26, 1993. Prior to these meetings they also held a priority planning ses- sion with invited leaders of ACRL. A report of this meeting will appear in a future issue of C&RL News. Highlights of their Board meetings are as follows:

Set dates for ACRL’s 8th National Conference.The Board voted to hold ACRL’s 8th National Conference in 1997, changing the cycle for the 1997 conference to every two years from every three years. A number of sites are being considered. The 7th National Conference will be held in Pittsburgh, March 29-April 1, 1995.

Approved two 1993 preconferences. ACRL’sBoard added two preconferences to its offerings prior to the 1993 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. A half-day workshop, “Creating the Virtual Library: or Re-engineering the Academic Library,” organized by Laverna Saunders, University of Nevada, and sponsored by ACRL’s Education and Behavioral Sciences Section, will provide an overview of the virtual library, administrative concerns, and staff training issues.

ACRL will sponsor a full-day preconference, “Navigating and Navigators: Research and Development in Navigational Tools and Services for the Internet,” developed by the Coalition for Networked Information, discussing research and development in navigational tools and services for the Internet. The session will include a panel of experts which will feature the developers of such tools as Archie, WAIS, Gopher, and Z39-50. Both of these preconferences will be held Friday, June 25.

ACRL will also be offering three other preconferences in New Orleans: “Special Collections in the 21st Century: How Others See Us and How We See Ourselves,” sponsored by the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section; “Leadership and Technological Change: A Call for Vision, a Call to Action,” sponsored by ACRL, LAMA, and LITA; and “Science Reference Service: An Introduction for the General Reference Librarian,” sponsored by the Science and Technology Section. (Ed. note: details about these preconferences may be found on pages 000. in this issue.)

Established discussion group on Electronic Text Centers.This group will cover any topic related to electronic texts and libraries, including collection policies, selection of materials cataloging, reference services, instruction, computer facilities, and lending policies. Marianne Gaunt of Rutgers University will chair this group.

Approved a policy statement on social issues.The policy statement prepared by a task force headed by Cerise Oberman delineates three criteria which should be met when the ACRL Board of Directors takes action on social, political, and economic issues. See the accompanying sidebar for the full text of the statement.

Suspended ACRL’s statement on election campaigning.This statement, approved by the ACRL Board at its meeting during the 1992 ALA Annual Conference, attempts to limit the politicization of ACRL elections. ALA’s Policy Monitoring Committee, chaired by Norman Horrocks, has questioned the statement, stating that it seeks to restrict the freedom of expression of candidates and their supporters. In a correspondence to the ALA Executive Board Administrative Subcommittee, Horrocks cited ALA Policies 53-1.13, 54.16, and ALA’s Priority Areas and Goals Policy 1.3 Area C as specifically conflicting with the statement. The ACRL Executive Committee will review the statement and make a recommendation to the full ACRL Board at the 1993 Annual Conference.

Approved Standards for Ethical Conduct.“Standards for Ethical Conduct for Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Librarians, with Guidelines for Institutional Practice in Support of the Standards,” 2nd ed., 1992, was approved by both the ACRL Board and the ALA Standards Committee. The full text of the standards will be printed in C&RL News this spring.

Approved “Guidelines on Collective Bargaining.”See the accompanying sidebar for the full text of this statement prepared by ACRL’s Academic Status Committee.

Mary Sue Ferrel, Lori Arp, and David Walch discuss strategies during the ACRL priority planning session at the Midwinter Meeting.

Accepted the recommendations of the Publications Task Force.Seven recommendations on how ACRL could proceed to meet members’ needs for information were included in the task force report presented by chair Michael Kathman. The ACRL Executive Committee will explore means of implementing the recommendations at its spring meeting.

Approved a revised section newsletter policy.This new policy, developed by the ACRL Publications Committee, in consultation with ACRL section and newsletter editors, separates policy from proce- dures and will be distributed to sec- tion newsletter editors, section chairs, and vice-chairs, as well as added to the ACRL Guide to Policies and Pro- cedures.

Approved three 1994 preconfer- ences.The Board approved plans for RBMS to hold its 35th preconference, June 21-24,1994, in Miami. The topic is “From Collector to Donor: Devel- opment Issues in Rare Books and Special Collections.” The Biblio- graphic Instruction Section also gained approval for a one-day preconference, July 24, 1994, tenta- tively titled “Integrating Active Learn- ing into Library Instruction: Practical Information for Immediate Use.” The Science and Technology Section received permission to cosponsor, with the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), a one-day preconference in Miami on the bibliographic control of conference proceedings.

Established a task force on electronic communication.The task force’s charge is: “to gather and disseminate information on how academic librarians and libraries can access the

Internet and to recommend to the ACRL Board of Directors an operational and financial plan for the use of electronic communications to enhance and replace printed publications as appropriate. The task force (which has not been appointed as of this writing) will turn in a preliminary report at the 1994 Midwinter Meeting and a final report at the 1994 Annual Conference.

Approved several recommendations from the Budget and Finance Committee.Among the recommendations approved were:

1) make $12,367 available from the ACRL fund balance to finance specific ACRL projects in FY 1993;

2) request approval from the ALA Executive Board to transfer $10,000 from the ACRL fund balance into the ACRL endowment;

3) provide funding in the FY 1994 budget for two eight-page section newsletters for those sections currently producing newsletters;

4) allocate $100,000 during FY 1993 and

FY 1994 for planning the Seventh ACRL National Conference in 1995 in Pittsburgh.

(Ed. note: The 1994 budget will undergo another review; final approval will be made at the Tuesday afternoon meeting of the ACRL Board of Directors at the 1993 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.)

The Board also approved two fiscal policies recommended by Budget and Finance. One deals with nonfundable activities and the other with administrative fees for awards. These policies are presented in an accompanying sidebar and will be incorporated into the next edition of the ACRL Guide to Policy and Procedures.

Approved the Membership Committee’s request to conduct a survey in FY 1994.

The Board approved the recommendation from Membership Committee Chair Andrea Hoffman to conduct a membership survey in FY 1994 and charged the Executive Committee with considering how it could be implemented in a cost-effective manner. ■