ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Highlights of the Annual Conference Meetings of the ACRL Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries met twice during the 1977 ALA Annual Conference in Detroit: on Friday, June 17, and on Tuesday, June 21.

ACRL 1978 National Conference

George R. Parks, conference chair for ACRL’s national conference scheduled to be in Boston, November 8-11, 1978, announced the conference theme, “New Horizons for Academic Libraries,” and the Call for Papers on topics relating broadly to the future of academic and research librarianship. (Note: The Call for Papers appears on p.230 of this issue of Cò-RL News.)

Screening and Appointment of Academic Librarians

The “Guidelines and Procedures for the Screening and Appointment of Academic Librarians,” developed by the Committee on Academic Status, was approved as ACRL policy. (Note: The policy appears on p.231 of this issue of C&RL News.)

Salary Survey

The ACRL Board of Directors approved in principle a proposal presented by the Committee on Academic Status to solicit funding for another ACRL salary survey of academic librarians. The results of ACRL’s first salary survey were published in August 1976 as Salary Structures of Librarians in Higher Education for the Academic Year 1975-76.

Academic Status

The board unanimously acknowledged the contributions of C. James Schmidt, director of libraries at the State University of New York at Albany, in his role as chair of the Committee on Academic Status from 1973 to 1977.

Revision of College Library Standards

Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Standards and Accreditation and the ACRL College Libraries Section, the board voted to establish an ad hoc Standards for College Libraries Revision Committee to review the 1975 Standards for College Libraries (published in the October 1975 issue of C&RL News) and to propose revisions where needed. Reactions to the use of the 1975 Standards have underscored the need to review the formulas to acknowledge new compilations of USOE data, the development of performance measures, and problems of interpretation of the “List of Subject Fields” in Appendix I. Arthur Monke, librarian at Bowdoin College, will chair the committee.

Continuing Education

Upon the recommendation of the ad hoc Continuing Education Task Force, the ACRL board voted to replace the task force with a standing ACRL Continuing Education Committee, which will be responsible for developing a continuing education program for ACRL that will assist ACRL members in their professional growth, thereby benefiting them, their libraries, and the library profession. Richard Werking, head of reference at the University of Mississippi in University, will chair the committee.

ACRL Chapters

The board welcomed as new ACRL chapters the College and University Libraries Division of the Texas Library Association and the Southern California Association of College and Research Libraries. Eighteen groups are now affiliated with ACRL as chapters.

The ACRL Chapters Committee presented a proposal for amending the ACRL bylaws to provide for a council of ACRL chapters. The Board of Directors referred the proposal to the Committee on the ACRL Constitution and Bylaws.

State of North Carolinavs. B. C. West, Jr.

At the suggestion of ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, the Board of Directors urged the American Library Association to enter the case of the State of North Carolina vs. B. C. West, Jr., as fully and as strongly as possible in appropriate ways and in the court oi appropriate jurisdiction. The ACRL board recommended that, in ALA’s activities regarding the case, the ALA Executive Board and the ALA executive director avail themselves of the expertise in ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section. The board also offered to contribute a sum of money to support the case.

Confidentiality of Library Records

The ACRL board approved the recommendation of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and the RBMS Committee on Manuscripts Collections that the ALA Council amend ALA policy #101.2, “Confidentiality of Library Rec ords,” so that it will not conflict with ACRL’s “Statement on Access to Original Research Materials in Libraries, Archives, and Manuscript Repositories” (C&RL News, November 1976) by providing that:

Nothing in this policy [on confidentiality of library records] is intended to limit the ability of a librarian, archivist, or manuscript curator to inform a researcher in original source materials of parallel research by other individuals using the same sources, providing that written acquiescence to use of his or her name has been obtained from each person whose name will be furnished.

Rare Books and Manuscripts Preconference The board approved the location of the 1978 Rare Books and Manuscripts Section preconference in New Haven, Connecticut. Terry Belanger, RBMS chair, announced that the Yale Center for British Art will host the preconference, the theme of which is “The Study of Books as Physical Objects: State of the Art.”

Legislation

Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Legislation, the ACRL Board of Directors endorsed S1328, the Career Education Implementation Incentive Act of 1977, with the provision that the role of libraries and librarians in the dissemination of career information be explicitly stated in the text of the act where appropriate.

White House Conference on Libraries

The board approved the recommendation of ACRL’s Committee on the White House Conference and State Library Conferences and the ACRL Committee on Legislation that an orientation/education session be held at the 1978 ALA Midwinter Meeting for academic librarians serving on committees planning state library conferences preparatory to the White House Conference on Libraries. ACRL officers and members of the Committee on Legislation will host the meeting, to discuss ACRL concerns and issues.

Eunice Rockwell Oberly Memorial Fund

A recommendation from the Agriculture and Biological Sciences Section was approved by the board, to permit additions to the capital funding of the Eunice Rockwell Oberly Memorial Award, which is presented every two years for the best bibliography in the field of agriculture or the related sciences. The award is administered by the section.

ACRL Publications in LibrarianshipThe Board of Directors unanimously endorsed a resolution prepared by the Publications Committee in recognition of the contributions of Kenneth G. Peterson as editor of ACRL Publications in Librarianship from 1972 to 1977:

WHEREAS Dr. Kenneth G. Peterson has served for five years as editor and editorial board chair for the ACRL Publications in Librarianship series, and WHEREAS under his leadership the series has maintained and increased its reputation for scholarly research and careful production, and

WHEREAS these publications and Dr. Peterson’s efforts in seeking out scholarly work, advising its authors, and shepherding the entire process through to completed publication have constituted a major contribution to the library profession,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the ACRL Publications Committee unanimously votes its special gratitude to Kenneth G. Peterson and invites the ACRL Board of Directors to join the committee in this special recognition.

The board unanimously approved the recommendation of the Publications Committee that Joe W. Kraus, director of libraries at Illinois State University, Normal, be appointed as editor of ACRL Publications in Librarianship for a five-year term (1977/82).

College &- Research Libraries

The 1977/78 fiscal-year budgets for College & Research Libraries and College & Research Libraries News were approved as presented by the Committee on Budget and Finance. The Board of Directors also approved an increase in the subscription price, effective for 1978.

Choice

The Board of Directors approved a set of principles concerning the fiscal management and status of Choice, which had been developed by representatives of Choice, ACRL, and ALA:

1. The Choice deficit of approximately $37,000 that has accrued over prior years will be liquidated from the surpluses realized in 1975/76 and 1976/77. All of the remaining surpluses from the 1975/76 and the 1976/77 fiscal years will be dedicated to the establishment of a reserve fund for Choice.

2. Choice will establish a separate reserve fund rather than participate in a general ALA Publishing Reserve Fund. This arrangement may be subject to review from time to time. As is true for all ALA current funds, the Choice reserve fund will not bear interest. The objective will be to create a reserve fund for Choice that will reach a level of approximately 15 percent of a five-year moving average of operating expenditures. ACRL will seek to build a reserve fund to that level within the next five years as a primary budgeting objective. However, this objective does not preclude consideration of needs to develop and improve the Choice program through current budget funding.

3. Should any surpluses be generated by Choice beyond those needed to pay reasonable indirect cost rates to ALA, improve the Choice program, and create the reserve fund outlined above, they will be dedicated to the further development of Choice and will not inure to the benefit either of the ALA General Fund or of ACRL programs other than Choice.

4. Choice will be assessed by the American Library Association at an overhead rate of 3.08 percent of total direct costs for the 1977/78 fiscal year. That rate will increase by 1 percent per year until it reaches the rate of 6.08 percent. This rate may be revised from time to time on the basis of procedures and allocation methods identical to those used in the 1977 indirect cost study.

5. Should Choice experience major financial problems in the future, the first attempt to resolve them will be from the Choice reserve fund. As a second level of support, ACRL will examine its overall program requirements and financial status to determine if assistance can be given to Choice. The final responsibility for resolution of such problems will rest with the ALA General Fund.

6. It is recognized that the Committee on Program Evaluation and Support (COPES) and the ALA Executive Board will still have purview over the Choice budget in a general sense, but the detailed budgeting procedure and de- cisions will follow the current process involving Choice staff, the ACRL executive secretary, the ACRL Committee on Budget and Finance, and the ACRL Board of Directors.

Budget

The Board of Directors approved the budget for ACRL for 1977/78, as presented by the Committee on Budget and Finance. ■ ■