ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL programs weave together rich tapestry of ideas and issues

Moon Unit rises to the occasion, technophobia is examined, and other highlights of the ALA Annual Conference.

Censorship, diversity, technology, access, literacy, and the environment were among the many topics covered by ACRL during ALA’s 110th Annual Conference in Atlanta; 17,764 registrants attended the June 29-JuIy 4, 1991, conference. Highlights of some ACRL programs are given below; see the accompanying sidebar for information on ordering audiotapes of selected programs. Ed note: Thanks to the many individuals who contributed to this article.

Free expression still valued

Over 800 librarians listened to the tunes of Frank Zappa as they awaited his presentation at the ACRL President’s Program. Due to scheduling problems, Frank did not attend the conference but sent a delightful replacement—his daughter, Moon Unit. Moon captivated the audience as she eloquently read her father’s September 18,1985, testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee. Zappa’s testimony, a witty defense of free expression, includes such barbs as, “It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC’s [Parents’ Music Resource Center] demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation.”

Moon Unit Zappa advocated freedom of expression

Following a television star is not an easy spot for a speaker to be in but Patricia Senn Breivik (Towson State University) was more than equal to the task as she addressed information literacy issues. Both Moon Unit and Breivik had interesting advice for librarians during the question-and-answer period. Moon recognized the image problems librarians have and urged the audience to be more relaxed (“I thought there was a dress code in libraries”) and to make libraries more like clubs (“Keep the libraries open later, put up some velvet ropes, and then go outside and pick who can come in. This will make the library seem more special”).

Breivik urged audience members to stop sending negative messages to their users. She recommended allowing eating in designated areas of the library and challenged attendees to look at how attractive and exciting their libraries are.

Technology as a barrier to information literacy

How can evolving technologies facilitate and/or thwart one’s need to know? Four speakers offered their insights at the Bibliographic Instruction Section’s program. Charles Forrest (Emory University) introduced the program by reminding the audience that in the long history of libraries, most technology has only recently been introduced, and yet, could our libraries cope without photocopy machines? Herbert White (Indiana University School of Library and Information Science) suggested that most library technology was not invented primarily for libraries and articulated three problem areas: 1) the need for training both staff and users; 2) the non-programmatic budgets for libraries that don’t allow for initial investments of new technology; 3) the desire of most users for information—not training on howto access the information. White urged librarians not to succumb to the pitfall of focusing on technology itself, mistaking it as an end rather than a means to information.

Carolyn Palmer (Bowling Green State University) expressed concern that women and minorities tend to have more “techno-phobia” than others, which may inhibit them from using library technology. Palmer called on librarians to evaluate all current practices, to design systems suitable for intended users, to train library staff to be good teachers, to educate library users to ensure their ease of use, to tighten up policies, and to make libraries accessible from offsite locations.

Lori Arp (University of Colorado) noted library use studies that indicated gender differences and called for new research to understand the barriers that thwart library use. Arp borrowed David King’s term “halfway technology” to describe library computerization, citing factors such as high cost, complexity, low ergonomics, and inability to have satisfactory outcomes as problems that need addressing.—Jon Eldredge, University of New Mexico

Excellence though cultural diversity

“America comes in all colors and tints and hues. It comes in all kinds of beliefs and sects and religions. But that is what America is all about That is the basis of the founding of this great nation of ours: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, just plain freedom to be,” exhorted Huel D. Perkins, executive assistant to the vice chancellor of Louisiana State University. Addressing the program sponsored by ACRL’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Task Force, Perkins recommended adding another freedom: freedom from harassment because of one’s skin color or because of the way one wishes to worship God. Perkins quoted a paragraph from Regina Minudri (Berkeley Public Library), “There are forces in our society that find diversity difficult to tolerate and wish to force a new definition of what is and what is not America.’ Those forces would have us worship the same kind of god, subscribe to the same cultural values, support the same beliefs. They would have our news cleaned and laundered before we got it, they would control access to information, they would give us ‘happy talk’ news, and they would make the bad news or news critical of them harder to find." Perkins added that those forces oppose diversity in America, thus opposing the very basic ingredient of what we call America. Perkins called for equal educational opportunities for all racial and ethnic groups. “This is the excellence we must seek. It becomes incumbent upon each and every one of us to see that quality education is provided to every student who enrolls in our colleges and universities.”—Felix Eme Unaeze, Ferris State University

Caspar Jordan reported on activities carried out by ACRL’s Historically Black College and University Library Committee at the Excellence through Cultural Diversity program.

Status of faculty status reviewed

New data on faculty status and reports on the changes taking place were topics covered in the program sponsored by ACRL’s Academic Status Committee. Charles Lowry (University of Texas at Arlington) claimed that “any erosion of faculty status is dismaying.” From behind a foot of computer printouts, Lowry shared these figures: 67% of the institutions responding to a survey the Academic Status Committee conducted have faculty status and that 60% of the librarians in the institutions enjoy faculty status. Janet Krompart (Oakland University) suggested that quality time could reinvigorate staffwho had plateaued. She also posed the question, “Do librarians really want four months off to do research?” and indicated that since their eight month contract had only been in place for a year she did not have an answer. Virginia Moreland (Georgia State University) related that her provost had announced that the library would no longer have tenure appointments. She described apreven- tative stance for library faculty whose tenure is threatened: have your documentation in order; know your peer group; be good citizens; be visible.

The spirited discussion that followed indicated that many institutions are facing a challenge to faculty status. The “new provost syndrome” and the need for education of administrators was discussed. There were comments about how administrators used faculty status to “get rid of everyone after five years” and about the two-track system andits implications. There was general agreement that librarians should be interested in bread and butter issues, that they should be paid for what they do, and that they should be held in the same esteem as other campus faculty.—Irene Hoadley, Texas A&M University

Administrators used faculty status to “get rid of everyone after five years”

Environmental information empowers public

The ACRL Law & Political Science Section program “Empowering the Public: Information Literacy for Environmental Issues” provided a substantive introduction to environmental law, issues, and information sources.

John Applegate, professor of administrative law, University of Cincinnati, offered an excellent overview of environmental law and indicated a hope that “people pester you like crazy about these issues, because citizen involvement is critical to a healthy environment.” A “Guide to Federal Environmental Laws” from the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (ISBN 1-55871-191-0) was distributed.

Gayle Alston, information specialist at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, reviewed the types of materials and information available from ATSDR including fact sheets, toxicologi- cal profiles of hazardous substances, newsletters, reports, and bibliographies. To request a form listing the materials available, write to Alston at ATSDR, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1600 Clifton Road MS #33, Atlanta, GA 30333. She also suggested that if you ever need information from the EPA, you should call the library there.

Michael McCloskey, national chairman of the Sierra Club, identified key sources that meet his information needs such as newspaper clippings, specialized newsletters, research reports, etc. Bruce Kennedy, head of reference at Georgetown University Law Center, provided an abbreviated introduction to environmental law research. Kennedy identified four key information sources: 1) TRI annual inventory of chemical emissions; 2) MEDLARS database on toxic chemicals; 3) DIALOG databases; and 4) EPA. He reviewed the nature of legal research and identified four stages: 1) background; 2) finding the law; 3) validation; and 4) final analysis.—Mary Taylor, ACRL

Teaching study skills

A packed ballroom greeted the dynamic trio of speakers at the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) program co-sponsored by AASL, BIS, and LIRT. Bonnie Armbruster, senior scientist and director of the Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana, provided a background of the study skills movement and defined study skills as a wide range of skills that includes reading comprehension, time management, and library research skills, among others. John N. Gardner, vice-chancellor for university campuses and continuing education at the University of South Carolina, described the nationally recognized freshman orientation program he has developed and his work at the Center on Freshman Year Experience. His freshman year experience concept encompasses the needs of the whole student—academic, personal, social, emotional, and physical adaptation needs. He indicated that based on longitudinal studies, the components of freshman success are: the development of academic competencies (including information literacy); rewarding relationships in out-of-class contacts; a sense of self-esteem; a sense of total health and wellness; an integrated philosophy of life; and assistance learning a process of choosing a career and lifestyle .His research also indicates that study groups are very important to academic success. Carol Kuhlthau, director of the educational media services program at Rutgers University’s School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies, highlighted her research that has displaced the “Warriner model” of library research with a new model of the information search process. She identified six stages she observed in students: 1) recognizing an information need (initiation); 2) identiíy- ingageneral topic (selection); 3) exploring information as a general topic (exploration); 4) formulating a specific focus (formulation); 5) gathering information pertaining to the focus (collection); and 6) preparing to present the information or to solve the problem (presentation). She stressed the importance of cooperative work between librarians and faculty/teachers to teach students to be strategic learners and information seekers/evaluators.— Bonnie Gratch, Bowling Green State University

Choicereviews available online

The next logical step after adding other bibliographic databases to the online catalog might well be reviews of recent monographs acquired by the library. That was the focus of “Do Patrons Want a Choice?” a panel discussion that examined adding Choice reviews to OPACS. Choice managing editor Claire Dudley reviewed the purpose of Choice and noted that reviews since 1988—about 22,000 are now available online.

Trish Culldn, vice-president of CARL, explained how she worked with Choice, whose data is retained in a modified MARC format, to load the tape as an experiment. Access, besides traditional author, title, and subject, is also by key word, reviewer, and reviewer affiliation. Culldn noted that the database gets heavy use, and that it would get even heavier use if the reviews were linked to local ownership. Carnegie Mellon did just that, explained Mark Kibbey, former director of library automation there. The only criticism patrons had was that they wanted reviews of every book, not just those reviewed by Choice. Although the experiment has proven successful, Kibbey suggested that it might be more widely and easily used if the reviews were available through OCLC as part of the cataloging process.

Luther College head librarian Norma Hervey called attention to the need to balance success and equity. Hervey saw the value of Choice online as helping students determine from among the available literature the best monographs on a particular subject. Key word access in particular, she felt, was important in overcoming the limitation of LCSH and controlled vocabularies in dealing with new or interdisciplinary subjects. At Luther College Choice is available through CARL System. Students must return to the OPAC after consulting the review to get the call number and circulation status of the reviewed book.

Choiceeditor and publisher Patricia Sabosik mentioned during the discussion period that she is currently reviewing a contract for possible tape licensing. She has also had conversations with NOTIS and Innovac. Anyone interested in additional details should contact Sabosik at Choice.— Nick Burckeĭ, Washington University

Access and preservation key concerns

“Folk Cultures of the Modem South: Documentation of Living Traditions” sponsored by the Anthropology and Sociology Section, the African American Studies Librarians Section, the Ethnic Materials Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), and the Atlanta Historical Society, examined the issue of access to information sources, be they printed materials, field and archival records, documentary films, or early sound recordings .There are many reasons why access to materials can become such a stumbling block to researchers, proliferation of information being only one of them. Unless there exists good documentation surrounding interviews in folk culture studies, for example, this important source material, which is so often based on individual or collective memory, may lose some of its value over time. Material which is poorly indexed or organized, such as the narrative life histories arising from the Virginia Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration, may be virtually impossible to use. Likewise, unless the academic community knows about important sources of information that exist, such as documentary films in folklore, these sources will remain inaccessible and underused. Thus, there is an ever increasing need for the creation and dissemination of lists, catalogs, indexes, and bibliographies of research materials to a wide audience. Other obstacles to access include the various stages of deterioration that one encounters in trying to use field and archival records, as well as changes in technology when trying to access sources such as early sound recordings. What emerged out of the last three ANSS programs is the need not only to preserve and organize valuable research materials of the past, but also to learn from the past by assuring that folk and ethnic collections of the future will be accessible to all the anthropologists, sociologists, folklorists, historians, and many others who wish to use them.—Maija M. Lutz, Harvard University

Transforming competition into coalition

Beverly Guy-Sheftall, director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College and co-founding editor of Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, discussed the “miseducation” she received as a student in the 1960s during her presentation at the Women’s Studies Section (WSS) program “Women Studies and Ethnic Diversity: Transforming Competition into Coalition.” She also pointed out that many African American writings are missing in academia as well as in the women’s studies canon. She spoke of the problems of language: “the problems of isms as subtexts” which make it impossible to “concentrate on anything.” She asserted the phrase “women of color obscures the differences” among these very women. She spoke of curriculum integration projects which are provoking political correctness/diversity attacks, though there continues to be a lack of attention to race, class, or ethnic difference.

“PC’Vdiversity issues were much in the air as librarian respondents produced their own cultural literacy lists and wondered at the fuss the establishment was making. As Amy Seetoo put it, “women and minority literatures are as threatening to Western European literature as bicycle lanes are to highways.” Other comments dealt with collection building and the advantages to be gained by working together, using online catalogs and other resources to access African American, Native American, Mexican American and Asian American collections.

At the WSS general meeting there was an extensive discussion on ACRL’s decision to hold the national conference in Salt Lake City. Virginia Daley (Women’s Studies Archivist, Duke University) echoed many of our sentiments in her note to ACRL: “How ironic that you would choose to have a conference focusing on excellence in a state that could win excellence awards for the suppression of information as well as the suppression of the rights of women, blacks, gays, and lesbians—in essence, a good portion of the ACRL membership.” WSS passed a resolution to cancel plans for a program at the ACRL Conference and to communicate its decision and reasons to the ACRL Board and ALA membership.

WSS developed plans for its 1992 program entitled, “Controlling Women’s Right to Know: Information Suppression in the Information Age.” The program will look at the general climate of repression in the country, continuing legal attacks on reproductive rights within the context of state- imposed censorship issues for libraries and the emerging trend for “political correctness” and its implications for ethnic and women’s studies.— Jacquelyn Marie, University of California

European university libraries examined

The University Libraries Section (ULS) program titled “Libraries on the Shores of Lake Atlantic: Diverse Approaches—Common Issues,” featured a panel composed of Henry Snyder, director of the 18th-Century Short Title Catalog project; Patricia Donlan, director of the National Library of Ireland; and Ann Matheson, assistant director of the National Libraryof Scotland. Snyder reflected on the differences between U.S. research libraries and those of Europe. European libraries in the traditional universities are much older, but not necessarily larger than their U.S. counterparts. “There is nothing in Europe like the profusion of university libraries in this country,” said Snyder.

Cassettes of Annual Conference programs available

Although the conference is over, you have not missed your chance to leam what happened. Audiotapes of selected programs from the ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, are available from: ACTS, Inc., 14153 Clayton Rd„ Dallwin, M063011; (314) 394-0611; fax: (314) 394-9381. ACRL programs selected for taping are:

Cultural Diversity in the Academic Library.Discusses recruitment and retention of staff. Order no. LA91009ae. $60.00

Video Collections: Copyright and Public Performance.Addresses issues of public performance of copyrighted video materials. Order no. LA91020ab. $24.00

Empowering Students: Institutionalizing Information Literacy in Higher Education.Highlights why information literacy and resources- based learning are important tools. Order no. LA91021ab. $24.00

Empowering the Public: Information Literacy for Environmental Issues.A panel will review the history of the environmental movement in legislation. Order no. LA91036ab. $24.00

Folk Cultures of the Modem South: Documentation of Living Traditions.Archivists, folklorists, and anthropologists discuss organizing archives andlibraiy collections. Orderno. LA91046ab. $24.00

Technology as a Barrier to Information Literacy: Implications for Bibliographic Introduction.Discussion of the role of technology in providing access. Order no. LA91058ab. $24.00

European Unification—1992: Impact on Information and Libraries.Analysis of emerging trends as they relate to international trade policy, world politics, etc. Order no. LA91062ac. $36.00

Libraries & Economic Development: Are We Making the Connection?Discussion on the ability of government and business to obtain information for planning and decision-making. Order no. LA91074ab. $24.00

Hidden Treasures: Governmental Publications in the Arts and Humanities—International, Federal, State, and Local.Program highlights gems of depository collections. Order no. LA91079ab. $24.00

Empowering People: Information Literacy.Frank Zappa will speak on the topic of information literacy. Order no. LA91084ab. $24.00

Europe 1992: Access to European Community Information.Experts will provide insight into the problems of accessing current information about European Community integration. Order no. LA91086ab. $24.00

Promoting Scientific Literacy and Education: Can Libraries Meet the Challenge?Distinguished government and academic leaders discuss how the federal government and leading scientific associations are promoting science education in the U.S. Order no. LA91101ac. $36.00

Masters wins free trip to ACRL National Conference

Deborah C. Masters, assistant university librarian for information services at the Gelman Library of George Washington U niversity, is the winner of a free trip to the ACRL 6th National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 12- 14,1992. Masters’s name was drawn by ACRL president Barbara J. Ford at the ACRL membership booth at the ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta. The contest was sponsored by the ACRL Membership Committee and the National Conference Executive Committee. Information on the conference is available from the ACRL office, (800) 545-2433, ext. 2516.

Barbara Ford, with the help of Cynthia Taylor, draws the winning entry for a free trip to the ACRL 6th National Conference in Salt Lake City.

There is also little consistency within or between countries concerning bibliographic control or automated systems, making resource-sharing a difficult proposition. The best effort at a comprehensive national union catalog is in Switzerland, and it consists of a single-copy manual card file at the National Library. Calling diversity the watchword for European university libraries, Snyder cited the extreme example of Belgium, where the Flemish separatist movement resulted in the splitting of the Flemish-speaking University of Leuven from the French-speaking University of Louvain. The library collection was split such that even-numbered shelfmarks stayed north while odd numbers moved south, and journal runs were also split with odd numbered volumes staying and even numbered volumes going. Noting that lack of access to others’ collections is critical, Snyder commented that the whole European system of university libraries “almost defies attempts at automation and modernization.”

The following two speakers, however, made it clear that the research library situation in Scotland and Ireland is much better organized than on the continent. Donlan characterized Ireland as “that small island to be west of Europe that spends as much time looking west to America as east to Europe.” She cited several projects of the National Library of Ireland which indeed seemed familiar to American librarians: a cooperative automation project with Trinity College and University College, Dublin; a national newspaper cataloging and preservation project; attempts to achieve a national policy on information provision; and the beginnings of a union list of Celtic-language holdings in various countries worldwide. She cited the 18th-century STC project as helpful for the latter, as the 18th century was a “golden-age” for Irish publishing. While adequate funding is aconstant problem, the National Library of Ireland is working on a strategic plan for its future.

The situation in Scotland, as described by Ann Matheson, is even more similar to the U.S. university library scene. The National Library has joined with eleven major research libraries to form a Working Group on Library Cooperation. Collection development is a major item on their agenda, and they have adopted the conspectus methodol ogy to create an overall map of research collections. They also maintain a central file of major collection emphases and specializations, and look forward to voluntary adoption of collection responsibilities among members. A future project is to coordinate preservation responsibilities based on conspectus data. The National Library, Matheson feels, “should have clear collection development policies, devised from a knowledge of the strengths of other major libraries, and should widely distribute it, so that others can devise their own policies in light of what the National Library does.” Deploring the lack of adequate funding, however, Matheson noted, “cooperation is not a substitute for properly supported collections at the local level; shared poverty does not necessarily create wealth.”

In response to a question, both Donlan and Matheson commented favorably on the European Communities’ plan to bring all national libraries up to a common standard. Funding is seen as the main obstacle. Matheson ended the session by noting somberly that "in the corridors of power [in Europe], libraries are very far down the line, perhaps at the bottom.”—Jill Fatzer, University of New Orleans

Ideas for dealing with economic crisis

The ULS Current Topics Discussion Group presented a panel discussion on “Economic Crisis: Danger and Opportunity for Libraries.” Gerald Munoff, deputy director of the University of Chicago Library began the discussion by stating that one of the opportunities is to look for funding sources outside the normal. He observed that “development is viewed as an attractive avenue for new funding, particularly by those who aren’t doing it. Those who are realize how much work it is.” Development of individual donors is a long-term effort, divided into a period of cultivation, followed by solicitation. Friends groups are also important, but again take a period of time to become established and useful. Munoffs advice is to begin a multifaceted development effort, but do not expect it to solve this year's budget crisis.

…development is viewed as an attractive avenue for new funding, particularly by those who aren’t doing it. Those who are realize how much work it is.”

Frances Painter, assistant director for administrative services at Virginia Tech, discussed approaches to economic crises which include mandated staff layoffs. She recommended providing staff with as much information as possible as soon as possible. Efforts must be made to provide services ranging from emotional support and the opportunity to ventilate feelings, to concrete help such as outplacement services. “Don’t do away with normal farewell rituals for those who are laid off, and recognize that the survivors need support in getting on with the work at hand,” recommended Painter. The opportunity in the situation is to plan for the future. “A real danger is to turn in on oneself and say poor pitiful me, I have no money. But it is no excuse to stop planning, stop looking forward, and positioning oneself to make best use of resources when they return,” said Painter. “One can emerge from afinan- cial crisis ready to move with confidence into the future.”

ULS activities planned for 1991-92

The new fiscal year promises to be a busy and productive one for the University Libraries Section (ULS). The largest section in ACRL, ULS, through its four program committees (Conference and Preconference Planning, Current Topics, Librarians in Higher Education and Administration Discussion Group) and four governance committees (Executive, Policy and Planning, Organization and Bylaws, and Communications), offers its members opportunities to update competencies, leam new skills, and share ideas relevant to university librarianship.

ULS is planning three programs for the 1992 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco: 1) its first preconference on the theme of university librarians, “Looking Outward, Moving Onward;” 2) “Views from Across the Quad: The Academy’s Views of the Library in the Twenty-first Century,” a look at how university administrators view librarianship; and 3) a program on team building for library staff.

Other ULS activities include: revising the 1977 ACRL Guidelines and Procedures for the Screening and Appointment of Academic Libraries; implementing the recommendations from the ACRL Task Force on Recruitment of Underrepresented Minorities; and carrying out a required five-year section review.

Members of ULS have many options for active participation in the section’s programs and projects. You can attend and evaluate conference programs; vote in section elections; run for elected office; or serve on a committee, task force, or discussion group. We want and need your active participation in ULS. Please send suggestions or volunteer forms to me, Joseph J. Branin, chair ULS, at University of Minnesota Libraries, 499 Wilson Library, 309 19th Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55455; (612) 624- 4520; fax: (612) 624-9353; Bitnet: J- Bran@UMINNI; Internet: J-Bran@VMl. SPCS.UMN.edu.

Ed. note:ULS has elected not to issue a section newsletter. Instead, information about ULS activities will appear irregularly in C&RL News. It is compiled by members of the ULS Communications Committee; this month’s ULS update was written by jill B. Fatzer; look for her byline in the accompanying article about ACRL programs at the ALA Annual Conference.

The final speaker, David Lewis, head of research and information services at the University of Connecticut, posited nine truths for middle managing in lean times: 1) It is a zero sum game; 2) If you don’t change the way you are doing things, the quality of what you do will decline; 3) Change is risky, but you don’t have a choice; 4) Get and keep control of your resources; 5) Stay focused on what matters most; 6) Vision is your job; 7) Keep your message simple and repeat it over and over again; 8) Make sure you clearly demonstrate what you can do and what you have accomplished; 9) Stamina is required.

Following the panel presentation, the audience discussed various approaches to budget cutting, and how to maintain campus support for the library during periods of austerity. Pre-existing support of students, faculty, or the administration is deemed vital.—Jill Fatzer, University of New Orleans

Librarians take on other administrative duties

The Discussion Group on Librarians in Higher Education and Campus Administration addresses issues of librarians who are increasingly involved in all aspects of higher education, and who hold positions in or are interested in University-level campus administration. Patricia Senn Breivik, vice-president for information resources at Towson State University, began the discussion with a presentation on the phenomenon of clustering together various information units under a single administrator on a number of campuses. In the case of Towson State, Breivik has the computing center, telecommunications, media services, and the library in her purview. She speculated that this trend arises from administrative disenchantment with computing centers’ past lack of accountability and service orientation.

The head of such a cluster ought to concentrate on information rather than technology. “Librarians will come out on top where information management is emphasized, and computer people where technology is emphasized,” predicted Breivik. “The media people seem to be out of the running in either scenario.” A librarian assuming such a newly established position needs to deal immediately with the concerns of the unit heads. “The computer center personnel will be fearful because s/he is not a technician, and the library director will be fearful that s/ he will try to run the library,” Breivik said.

Breivik encouraged more academic librarians to become American Council on Education Fellows or pursue similar leadership programs, if they think they have serious administrative contributions to make in this information age. “Interested individuals should be barred from Midwinter attendance—they should spend January going to EDUCOM, American Association for Higher Education, or similar discipline-based meetings instead,” she recommended.

The second half of the discussion centered on front-line librarians’ involvement in campus life and governance, particularly in regard to curricular reform. Participants felt that beginning academic librarians must be socialized not just to the profession, but also to the culture of universities. Part of this is an understanding that their role includes working closely with the teaching faculty, serving on university-wide committees, and involving themselves positively in campus politics.

Persons interested in these issues are invited to join this discussion group at future conferences. To get on the mailing list, contact incoming chair James Estrada at Sterling Library, Yale University.—Jill Fatzer, University of New Orleans