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 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, the ACRL Board of Directors met on January 26 and 28 and took the following actions. The actions appear here with the strategic directions that they address.

Awards

Approved changing the eligibility criteria of the Coutts-Nijhoff Award to require nominees to be librarians employed in a university, college, community college, or research library in the year prior to application for the award.

Approved the creation of a Distance-Learning Librarian of the Year Award, in principle, pending staff clearance and confirmation from sponsor.

Approved “Guidelines Regarding Theftsin Libraries” and “Guidelines for Curriculum Materials Centers.”

Approved the principles, practices, structure, responsibilities, and funding for the Council of Liaisons as summarized below:

• Priority will be given to establishing liaison relationships with those organizations where a commonality of concerns with ACRL exists and where there is a potential to develop a productive impact. Because funding is limited, the ACRI. Board will first focus on liaison organizations that have a potential to impact a large segment of academic and research libraries; however, a longer-range goal is to foster liaison activities with subject-discipline organizations through ACRL Sections.

• Funding for the ACRL Council of Liaisons program may be increased by up to $15,000 per year. The maximum that is available for reimbursing any one liaison is $1,500 per year.

• The ACRL Board appoints the chair of the Council of Liaisons for a three-year term based on the recommendation of the executive director and the current Council of Liaisons chair.

• An individual may serve as liaison to no more than one organization at a time. Liaisons are appointed by the Board for a three-year term with the option for reappointment for a second threeyear term and will be formally reviewed near the end of his or her second year of each term.

Government relations and advocacy Confirmed the Board’s September 2002support of a letter written in response to the proposal to eliminate PubScience. The statement was signed by ALA in collaboration with the Association of College and Research Libraries in fall 2002.

Approved the 2002—2003 ACRL Legislative Agenda.

Passed a resolution urging the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges, the Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges, and the Governor and Legislature of the State of California to not suspend the authority of the Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges to establish standards for community college libraries.

Agreed to support the ALA Committee onLegislation’s Resolution on USA Patriot Act and Related Measures that Infringe on the Rights of Library Users.

Approved by acclamation naming theACRL Spectrum Scholars Mentors Program after E. J. Josey, and that any money given by

ACRL for Spectrum Scholars scholarships, such as the $32,500 this year, be given in his name.

Approved the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section’s preconference proposal for ALA Annual Conference 2005.

Approved a loan for the Western European Studies Section (WESS) Conference scheduled for March 22-26, 2004, in Paris, France, if the following two conditions are met: • ACRL staff ensure that arrangements for deposits and prepayments are satisfactory and • WESS obtains written commitments from vendors for financial support for the conference totaling at least $30,000 by February 29, 2003.

Confirmed approval by electronic ballotfor funding of $5,000 to fund up to eight ACRL National Conference registrations (at $95 each) and up to eight travel awards of $530 each.

Approved upon recommendation fromthe ACRL International Relations Committee guidelines for selection of its members to represent ALA on appropriate IFLA Standing Committees. The guidelines are accompanied by a request to be nominated form and FAQs.

Approved text of cross-border agreements to be signed by ACRL and academic library organizations in Canada and Mexico to encourage international cooperation.

Approved the appointment of RichardClement to a three-year term as editor of RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage to begin at the close of the ALA Annual Conference 2003.

Approved the Annual Conference 2003

Board meeting minutes.

Confirmed the December 2002 approvalby electronic ballot of the 2003-2004 ACRL Priorities.

Approved the formation of an ACRL Long-Term Investment (LTI) Task Force charged with developing a strategy for future investments in LTI, a growth plan, and a plan for spending net interest while maintaining the corpus of the fund. The task force’s term will be two years with an interim report at Midwinter 2004 and a final report at Midwinter 2005. The task force will coordinate with the ALA Endowment Task Force, especially ACRL’s representative to that group.

Defeated the Membership Committee’sproposal to include section and chapter representatives on the Membership Committee and recommended that these representatives be exofficio members and that the Membership Committee be encouraged to share a draft of their proposal with section and chapter leadership before bringing it back to the ACRL Board for approval.

Approved the expenditure of $13,300in FY2003 to support and to fund association strategic planning efforts, such as focus groups at the ACRL National Conference in Charlotte and a forum at the ALA Annual Conference in Toronto.

Approved signing an agreement withTecker Consultants for strategic planning in FY2004 at an estimated cost of $52,000.

Approved expenditure of the accumulateddonations in the Friends of ACRL Professional Development Scholarship Fund, supplemented by a portion of the accumulated donations in the unspecified funds, to a total not to exceed $7,500 to fund additional scholarships for the ACRL National Conference in Charlotte according to the criteria and procedures being used for the scholarships previously budgeted.

Approved the ACRL Membership Business Plan.

Approved allotting chapters $1.50, a 50percent increase, for each national personal ACRL member living within the geographic region served by the chapter, for fiscal 2004. ■