ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL executive summary

On November 11-13, 1988, division representatives, staff, and members of ALA’s COPES Committee and the ALA Executive Board met to work out some of the basic provisions of a new “operating agreement” between ALA and its divisions. While many details remain to be negotiated, several significant essentials were agreed upon by those present and will be brought to a larger forum at the Midwinter Meeting. Some of the issues are: •A clarification of ALA financial fundamentals: what do dues pay for?

•Moving some items from the category of ALA indirect costs to division direct costs.

•A framework for supporting divisions when they have financial problems.

•An outline for the written agreement.

Some of us left the meeting feeling for the first time that there may be a new operating agreement in our lifetime!

Amid all the hullabaloo and sandwiched in between meeting preparation, the meeting itself, and a Thanksgiving holiday, ACRL marched bravely forward toward its planned goals.

Professional development

Planning for the Cincinnati conference continued on target. ACRL staff and the Conference Executive Committee visited the Conference Center and the hotels in November, and the preliminary program was mailed. Sales of exhibit space are excellent. See the sections on the Conference in this issue.

Planning is underway for the RBMS Cambridge Conference. Conference chair William Joyce and his committee have been working on logistics and are well along on plans for speakers and a trade fair that will emphasize the antiquarian book trade.

More active marketing of awards resulted in a somewhat larger number of nominations being submitted for ACRL’s prestigious awards.

Invitations have been sent for the Humanities Programming Workshop for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their communities, co-sponsored with the Public Library Association and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Enhancing service capability

Advisory services continued to keep ACRL staff members on their toes. More than 40 calls from members and others—not all librarians—tested our reference skills in areas relating to academic library services, standards, advisory committees, accreditation, collection development, buildings, funding formulas, serials, and planning.

President Joe Boissé and his program committee have been examining the future of higher education for a “Think Tank” meeting in Cincinnati that will pave the way for the President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference in Dallas in June.

The collection of statistics on non-ARL university libraries is underway, with a non-print version of the statistics being considered.

A proposal is under development for a study of the sources of revenue in academic libraries. It would be carried out by the ALA Office for Research, aided by the LAMA Statistics Committee and an advisory group that would include ACRL s Task Force on Sources of Revenue in Academic Libraries.

Advocacy and liaison

ALA’s new recruitment brochure has been produced. It includes two academic librarians as examples of what librarians do.

Hannelore Rader addressed the ACRL California Chapter, and Bill Moffett talked to the Greater Metropolitan New York Chapter in November.

On October 31 I spoke to the College and University Section of the Arkansas Library Association. If their petition for chapter status is approved by the ACRL Board of Directors at Midwinter, it will bring the chapter total to 40.

In November I visited the Council of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities and addressed the topic of networking and automation.

Strategic management directions

Staff work with chapter, committee, and section leaders increased as plans for the Midwinter Meeting heated up.

Marya Engelmann began to work half-time as administrative secretary, following Margaret Joichi’s resignation. The office manager position is still open. Marina Kokkinias, our Cincinnati Conference secretary, has begun her temporary stint on the ACRL staff.

Those on the staff using WordPerfect have upgraded to the 5.0 version. An additional PC will be leased to help ease the strain of conference work.

ALA has continued to study its information flow; Bricker and Company have been hired as consultants and are working with the ALA Data Processing Steering Committee.

Staff is in the midst of preparing the 1990 Operating Plan and budget as this is written. A preliminary draft of each will be presented at Midwinter to the Planning Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee.—JoAnS. Segal ■■

Quality

Preservation Micrographics

As librarians, archivists or curators, you understand the importance of maintaining the quality of your collections and retaining records of the past.

Image Printsis dedicated to excellence in preserving rare, brittle or out-of-print materials. We offer the library community:

• Reproduction of books, periodicals, newsfiles and historical documents onto 35mm, 16mm or microfiche formats.

• Careful handling of material during the preparation for filming process.

• Only the highest quality equipment and materials used for reproduction.

• National, regional and local sales representatives.

In a world of declining craftsmanship, Image Prints, Inc., has a steadfast grip on one specific value, uncompromising quality. Call Dave Olstad.

2730 Alpha Street • Lansing, Michigan 48910 • (517) 484-4501 • 1-800-782-4502 Greensboro, NC • (919) 299-7534

BI as theatre

This is how one librarian handled an age-old problem: how to make talks about the library interesting, especially to freshmen.

At Xavier University in Cincinnati, Vicki Young, head of reader services, uses her theatrical background to get students interested. During freshman orientation, the library was the last item on a two-hour agenda held on a Saturday morning, which included academic policies, bookstore policies, and ROTC. Realizing that the students would be at an information overload, Vicki wanted to present the library in a positive light and reduce students’ anxiety. Dressed as “Ify” the Information Fairy, Vicki talked about six major misconceptions about librarians and libraries.

Misconception #1:Librarians are boring, stern, old, with their hair in buns and chains on their glasses.

Wrong! Librarians at Xavier are just the opposite of this stereotype. They are helpful, friendly, and they have a sense of humor.

Misconception #2:Everyone who works in a library is a librarian.

Wrong! Everyone who works in a hospital isn’t a doctor. Only half of the people you see working in libraries are librarians. Librarians have a master’s degree in library science.

Misconception #3:You should know how to use a library by the time you get to college, and people will think you are stupid if you ask for help.

Wrong! Just because you’ve used a high school library doesn’t mean you’ll know everything about a university library. Librarians don’t expect you to. One of the duties of a reference librarian is to sit at the reference desk and answer questions. So please ask questions.

Misconception #4:All librarians do is order books, read books, and check out books.

Wrong! Actually this is only a small part of a librarian’s job. The main duty of a librarian is to help people find information.

Misconception #5:Libraries only have books.

Wrong! Libraries have: microfilm, journals, records, microfiche, periodicals, videos, magazines, newspapers, and CD-ROM reference sources.

Misconception #6:The main purpose of a library is to provide study space.

Wrong! While the 3rd floor of the library is devoted to quiet study and has study carrels, the library is also a place to do research and find information.

The presentation was a big hit.

Last year, Vicki wore a safari outfit and used the theme on an ALA poster: “It’s an information jungle out there. Let your librarian be your guide.” The question remains—what will Vicki do next year?

Vicki Young dressed as “Ify, ” the Information Fairy.

Martha Bowman

Evan Farber

Jan Fennell

Mary Ellen Elsbernd

Jordan Scepanski

Anne Kearney