ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

CONFERENCE CIRCUIT: ACRL at the Midwinter Meeting: Actions of the ACRL Board of Directors

During the 1999 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia the ACRL Board of Directors took the following actions:

ACRL governance

Approved the June 27 and 30 minutesfrom Annual Conference.

Confirmed the vote taken during the

December 14th conference call approving the 1999-2000 ACRL Priorities.

By consent approved a name changefor the Home Economics/Human Ecology Discussion Group to the Consumer and Family Studies Discussion Group.

Approved the merger of the AustralianStudies Discussion Group and the Canadian Studies Discussion Group into one combined group renamed the “Australian-Canadian Studies Discussion Group.”

Approved a name change for theFund-Raising & Development Discussion Group to the Libraiy Development Discussion Group.

Approved revisions to bylaws for theAnthropology and Sociology Section and revisions to bylaws for the Instruction Section.

Lee Van Ordsel and Maureen Sullivan review ideas for the plan being developed by ACRL's Professional Development Committee.

Upon recommendation from its Bylaws

Committee, voted to suspend its bylaws, Article IX, Section 3 and 3b (term of office and term overlap), and approved a plan to correct the current problem with the director- at-large term rotation that will bring the Board into compliance by 2003 (see sidebar).

ACRL structure

By consent approved the creation of the

Task Force on Recruiting into the Profession and its charge. (Report due at the 1999 Annual Conference.)

By consent approved the creation ofthe Task Force on Excellence in Academic Libraries Award and its charge. (Report due at the 1999 Annual Conference.)

Approved the creation of the Information Lteracy Competency Standards Task Force, its charge, and membership composition. (Report due at the 2001 Midwinter Meeting.)

Approved the creation of an AcademicLibrarians’ Code of Ethics Task Force and charged it to study and recommend an effective educational program for members regarding the ALA Code of Ethics. (Report due at the Midwinter 2000.)

Approved creation of the ACRL/AASLTask Force on the Librarian’s Role as Educator and its charge.

Advocacy

Approved ACRL’s membership in the

Council of Higher Education Management Associations (CHEMA).

Voted upon recommendation of ACRL

Government Relations Committee to approve a legislative agenda for ACRL for FY1999 that focuses on issues of Intellectual Properties, NGI/Internet II, and Government Information.

Voted upon recommendation of ACRL

Government Relations Committee to support in principal resolutions drafted by GODORT on FY2000 salaries and expense appropriations for the Government Printing Office, and a draft resolution commending Anne Heanue, an employee of the ALA Washington Office for nearly 30 years.

Mary Beth Clack, chair of the President's Program Committee, and Jane Hedberg, chair of Leadership Development, confer during the ACRL Leadership Council.

Voted upon recommendation of theACRL ART section to endorse a resolution for ALA to withdraw its support of the National TV-Turnoff Week, April 22-28, 1999.

Supported ALA President AnnSymon’s statement, “Libraries: An American Value,” in principal and will develop a statement that will help clarify the application of “libraries: An American Value” to academic libraries.

Awards

Approved the establishment of two

Awards in the Women’s Studies Section: “Award for Significant Achievement in Women’s Studies Librarianship” and “Award for Career Achievement in Women’s Studies Librarianship.”

Financial actions

Approved the following changes to the FY1999 budget:

• Additional $10,000 increase to facilitate the development of case studies for the ACRL/Harvard Leadership curriculum with provisos that contractual issues regarding ownership and use of the case studies be clarified.

• Additional $10,000 increase as seedmoney to support the information literacy competency standards project.

• Additional $5,000 increase to facilitate ACRL’s participation in CHEMA meetings during the year.

• Increase budgeted registration revenue from 90% to 95%, adjusted other expenses and approved the use of $3,032 from net revenue to train additional faculty for the Institute for Information Literacy.

• A reduction in registration fee from$225 to $200 for the FY1999 RBMS preconference.

• Increased the budget by $1,000 tocover expenses for an ACRL member’s participation in the ALA 2001 Education Congress.

Voted to defer action on the 2001 National Conference registration fees and asked ACRL staff to research ways to reduce registration fees and report back to the Board.

Professional development

By consent approved the proposal for the

Rare Books and Manuscripts Section’s 41st Annual preconference in Chicago, Illinois, for the year 2000.

By consent approved the proposalfor the Instruction Section’s preconference program entitled “Library Instruction on the Web” for the 2000 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Amended and approved a motionfrom the Racial & Ethnic Diversity Committee to offer five scholarships annually of $500 each to minority librarians who have been in the profession less than five-years to attend the ALA Annual Conference with priority given to librarians who have not attended an ALA Annual Conference before.

By consent approved the Distance

Learning Section’s request to sponsor a program at the ALA Annual Conference program in New Orleans entitled “The Future is Now!”

Approved a request from the ACRL

Copyright Committee to co-sponsor a program at Annual Conference in New Orleans with the RUSA MOUSS Interlibrary Loan Committee on the effect of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act on interlibrary loan.

Publishing

In Executive Session voted to approvethe appointment of Lisa M. Browar and Marvin J. Taylor as co-editors of RBML for three-year terms.

In Executive Session voted to approvethe re-appointment of Donald Riggs to a three- year term as editor of C&RL and commended Don for doing an excellent job in producing the journal.

Standards

Approved a request by the ACRL Standards and Accreditation Committee to resume the routine five-year cycle of review for standards and guidelines.

Approved the revised Media ResourcesGuidelines with three minor editorial corrections. ■

University Libraries Section activities at Midwinter

The ULS Executive Committee, chaired by Maurine Pastine, met twice during the

Midwinter conference to report on the status of ULS activities. The Communications Com- mittee is working on a welcome letter for new ULS members as well as a letter inviting lapsed members to rejoin. The drop in ULS membership of about 4-5% is comparable to the overall drop in other divisions.

The 1999 Annual Conference Program Committee has finalized plans for an exciting program entitled “Bottom Line Leadership: Communicating your Resource Needs for Successful Services.” Speakers and topics include Betsy Wilson on best practices and Steve Kaufman on fee-based services. The program is being cosponsored by the ACRL Instruction Section.

Finally, ULS will host a roundtable discussion group at the ACRL 9^th National Conference in Detroit. The discussion will focus on a variety of controversial topics such as: Are undergraduate libraries a thing of the past? What is the role of the library in developing lifelong learning skills for students? Should libraries continue to provide computer lab space?

ULS welcomes all ACRL conference participants who are interested in these topics to participate in the roundtable discussion in Detroit.

Assessing student learning outcomes

The ULS Current Topics Discussion Group held a stimulating talk on “Education versus Training: Assessing Student Learning Outcomes.”

Led by Debra Gilchrist, director of Pierce College Library, and Trudi Jacobson, coordinator of User Education Programs at SUNY/ Albany, the well-attended discussion was videotaped for cable television and will be shown at the ACRL 9^th National Conference in Detroit.

Jacobson began the discussion by asking participants to define the terms “education” and “training.” The group arrived at a consensus that, loosely speaking, education involves long-term learning, it attempts to identify context, it is conceptual, and it generally explains the “why” of something. Training, on the other hand, imparts short-term instruction, such as for well-defined tasks involving specific applications.

Jacobson summarized recent literature on the subject and concluded that education and training are tightly interwoven terms in bibliographic instruction. To improve our current instructional activities, we must focus on incorporating outcomes assessment methods into them that can analyze and offer feedback on the program’s educational and training aspects.

Debra Gilchrist continued the discussion by unpacking the term “assessment.” She explained that this term makes many people nervous because it implies accountability, mandates, justifications, and, of course, extra work. However, assessment can also be seen as simply providing a new framework in which to enhance student learning. Rather than involving onerous tasks, assessment methods provide opportunities to share wisdom while giving feedback. “Outcomes assessment equals good criteria made public,” Gilchrist believes.

To establish an outcomes assessment program, a library first needs to articulate its program to students, staff, and faculty at the university or college. This is easier to do once you have established what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what your students are learning as a result of your program. The next step is to establish a curricular pedagogy that you can share with the campus, and articulate that pedagogy at every opportunity. Then the library can continually assess both the students and its program. A continual process of transition and adjustment commences as the library interprets outcomes and commits to the process of assessment.

A lively question and answer followed in which several specific methods for outcome assessment were discussed. Some of the methods mentioned during the discussion included asking students to fill out short questionnaires (either Web-based or in print) at the end of instruction sessions, having students keep research journals during their courses, assigning annotated bibliographies that ask students to evaluate the usefulness of the material, organizing focus groups, and getting feedback from students after their courses end.

Other methods include implementing Web tutorials and online interactive tests. Libraries need to query students about what they learned about research during your session. What did they do well? What did they not do particularly well? What would they do differently next time?

Gilchrist closed the discussion by emphasizing that the keys to good outcomes assessment programs are the ability to articulate a curriculum philosophy to the campus community and the courage to maintain an ongoing commitment to constant improvement.

Technology issues

The ACRL/ULS Public Service Directors at Large Research Libraries Discussion Group, chaired by Faye Backie, met at Midwinter to discuss working with faculty to establish Web pages, the inappropriate use of library workstations, the organization of electronic reference services, and the latest developments at ARL. Mary Jackson of ARL informed the group that the recently published Measuring the Performance of Interlibrary Loan Operations in North American Research and College Libraries has been warmly received and is being used in workshops designed to help libraries become “best practice” libraries. Pat Steele of Indiana University initiated an animated discussion on what various libraries are doing to help faculty establish Web-based instructional environments.

Libraries are playing a variety of roles in the development of faculty Web-based curricula, from creating tailored Web sites with elaborate pathfinders and online tutorials, to simply providing links to library databases and e-mail reference services on existing faculty pages. Many libraries are partnering with other departments on campus to integrate enhanced Web services. The TWIST program (Teaching With Innovative Style and Technology) at the University of Iowa is working to create a model training program for librarians and faculty. The UWired Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the University of Washington (UW) Libraries helps educators at the UW to effectively use technology in their teaching. While the group agreed that the extent to which libraries involve themselves in establishing Web infrastructures for their faculties remains variable, all agree that such developments have opened a valuable dialogue with faculty members.

The group also discussed the increase in the inappropriate use of reference Web terminals at many institutions. In particular, libraries offering 24-hour access have seen an increase in inappropriate use. The University of Texas (UT) dealt with the issue through an attorney-drafted use policy statement as well as by installing software on all workstations to validate users’ passwords. The user stations are password-protected at night, which effectively limits access to UT students, staff, and faculty. Some universities have adopted open policies toward Web access, while others have initiated strict sign-up policies.

The final topic under discussion .dealt with electronic reference services. Most libraries now offer some type of e-mail reference service although not all have established procedures for monitoring these services or tracking statistics. The next discussion at the Annual Conference will focus on GIS and data services, planning for science libraries, and 24-hour library access. The Discussion Group welcomes all librarians who are interested in these topics to attend its meeting in New Orleans.—Anne Garrison, reference librarian at Georgia Tech Library, e-mail: anne. garrison@library.gatech.edu ■