ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL Executive Committee actions, April 1993

Highlights of the ACRL Executive Committee spring meeting

The ACRL Executive Committee met April 15-17, 1993, at ALA headquarters in Chicago for their spring meeting. Highlights of their meeting are as follows:

Set the priority areas for FY1994.Based on the priority planning session held at Midwinter with ACRL leaders, the Executive Committee identified four priority areas for fiscal year 1994: • participate effectively in the electronic environment

• seek input from members on their val- ues/interests/priorities • network with other ALA units, higher education and information related organizations

• provide learning opportunities for members.

Approved plans for future planning sessions.The Executive Committee agreed to hold a planning session at Midwinter 1994 through 1996 for the ACRL Board, chairs of committees, section vice-chairs and the chair and vice-chair of Chapters Council. The input from these sessions will be reviewed by the Executive Committee who will use the information for planning and setting priorities.

Reviewed the recommendations from the Publications Task Force.The Executive Committee reviewed the seven recommendations in the Publications Task Force report and took the following actions:

Recommendation 1:Determine members’ current and anticipated access to the electronic environment and their skill in using it. Action: Instruct staff and the Membership Committee to include items in the membership survey that would address this area.

Recommendation 2:Determine ACRL’s role in helping members gain access and training in the electronic environment. Action: The Membership Communication Task Force and the Professional Education Committee, working with the data from the Membership survey, will present this information to the board, Midwinter 1995.

Recommendation 3:Prepare business plans for periodical and non-periodical publications. Action: ACRL staff liaisons have this responsibility and plans are being prepared.

Recommendation 4:Contract with an outside consultant to determine:

a. Location for Choice. Action: Choice has signed a five year lease and will stay in Middle- town.

b. Assess benefits of unified ACRL publishing program c. Forecast a role for ACRL publishing in the scholarly market. Action: Staff will study and present a first report to the board by Summer, 1994.

d. Evaluate the effectiveness of ACRL publications in meeting member needs. Action: Membership Survey will include appropriate questions to cover this and the Membership Communication Task Force will present the results to the Board.

Recommendation 5:ACRL should experiment with a listserv. Action: ACRL listserv has been established and its progress will be reported to the Membership Communications Task Force routinely.

Recommendation 6:Financial support for section newsletter should be phased out. Action: The Membership Communication Task Force will develop plan.

Recommendation 7:Work with the consultant. Action: Staff will perform the analysis.

Established Leadership Luncheon.The ACRL 1992-93 Orientation Committee decided to discontinue the Friday afternoon training session due to declining participation. Instead the committee is planning a dutch-treat, leadership luncheon for Saturday, 12:30-2:00 p.m. New committee chairs and section vice-chairs will be invited to have lunch with representatives from Budget and Finance, program planning experts and the Board of Directors. ■