ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

CONFERENCE CIRCUIT: ACRL programs inspire excellence: The President’s Discussion Group at Midwinter

by Susan Barnes Whyte

Mary Reichel’s theme for ACRL focuses upon learning communities. Midwinter’s

President’s Discussion Group underscored that theme as four librarians demonstrated how ACRL-sponsored programs affected their institutions’ commitment to fostering informa- tion literacy and standards for assessing aca- demic libraries.

Martha McCormick from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) highlighted IUPUI’s efforts to establish some of ACRL’s best practices. She recognized professional inertia due to overload, but suggested ways to “push through obstacles to excellence.”

Examples of IUPUI librarians’ commitment to excellence included participation in the ACRL Institute for Information Literacy during the summer of 2001 and the library’s recent reorganization and newly created client- based teams, rather than function or department-based teams.

During this reorganization, the instructional team was dissolved as “an intentional way to spread instructional responsibility” throughout the organization. With instruction more decentralized, there is the opportunity for enhanced collaboration with faculty through the Center for Teaching and Learning, which is conveniently located in the library.

Kathryn Crowe from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) described how the ACRL Competency Standards helped the librarians there persuade faculty that an information literacy standard belonged in the general education program. Interestingly, librarians decided not to use the terminology “information literacy” on this campus; rather they chose “library research skills instruction” as a better fit with their curricular vernacular. Librarians at UNCG have written sequenced objectives for library instruction for both first-year and upper-division undergraduates.

Jane Bradford from Stetson University outlined the “tangible and intangible effects that have radiated out” from her participation in the ACRL Institute for Information Literacy. Stetson University librarians have accepted “the challenge of being a teaching/learning library.” They are working more closely with faculty and with each other, have coupled their mission statement with the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards, and are working on assessing their total library. The Stetson librarians received a commendation from their accrediting agency for the “efficacy of the librarians’ efforts to bring information literacy into students’ learning.”

Bill Nelson from Augusta State, the final speaker, shifted our attention from information literacy to the new ACRL College Library Section (CLS) Standards. CLS was the first section to incorporate outcomes assessment into its standards. Now the University Libraries Section and Community and Junior College Libraries Section are revising their standards, as well. Moreover, Nelson remarked that common standards for academic libraries are springing forth from this effort. These common standards will provide a “flexible framework for any academic library.”

Mary Reichel summed up the program by touching on a few of the issues framing the conversation about the academic library. A theme that echoed around academic libraries last fall was the perception that libraries are devoid of people. Many librarians disagree with this perception. ACRL and its programs can go a long way to refute the empty library scenario.

Reichel also touched upon other issues raised during the program, such as burnout for teaching and reference librarians, the need for continued funding for travel to professional conferences for intellectual resuscitation, and ACRL’s absolute dedication to working with academic libraries in all areas, from information literacy to common standards. ■

About the author

Susan Barnes Whyte is college librarian at Lin field College, e-mail: swhyte@linfield.edu