ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Chapters Council: Reflections in a hall of mirrors

By Alan Ritch

Assistant to the University Librarian University of California, Santa Cruz

The growth of ACRL chapters over the past 36 years.

Twice a year, representatives of every chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries gather as a Council to discuss issues of mutual concern. Only a few years ago these gatherings were sufficiently modest in scale that they could be held in small meeting rooms around a single table. At its most recent meeting in New Orleans, Chapters Council found itself in a large mirrored ballroom, forced by its own growing membership into a setting more august but less intimate than at conventions of the not too distant past.

Though the regional voices and the accents from all parts of the country were made less distinct by size and shape of the aptly named Versailles Room, the reflections that surrounded us, echoing multiple images of each delegation off into apparent distance seemed an appropriate metaphor for our function and our growing importance in the national organization. Just as the regional chapters provide to every ACRL member the opportunity for small-scale, grass-roots involvement, local continuing education, and social and professional interaction, so the Chapters Council serves as a parliament for all those local constituencies, as a forum for sharing program ideas, and as a setting which fosters new social and professional friendships.

As past president of one of the largest chapters, CARL, representing California, member of Council for three years and its chair for the past twelve months, I have been asked to compile a brief history of ACRL chapters, less to celebrate any tidily round-numbered anniversary—the first chapters were constituted 36 years ago—than to take stock of our growth as we welcome the 39th Chapter, Western Pennsylvania, and the 40th Chapter, Arkansas, to advertise our existence to those few areas not yet represented; and to reflect, like the mirrors of the Versailles Room, on our several roles and accomplishments.

Times and places: The spread of chapters

The creation of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter nicely mirrors a pioneer event in the eastern part of the same state in the summer of 1951, when Philadelphia became the first ACRL chapter.¹ The subsequent history of chapter growth is less clear cut. A brief, unpublished report by Carol Marty suggests a flurry of activity in the early fifties, and the formation by 1955 of four more chapters, in the Pittsburgh area (possibly the site of our second oldest as well as our second newest organization!), and in New Jersey, Missouri, and Illinois.² However, the same report gives dates a decade or two later for the “official recognition” of these chapters, and so this brief historical geography will reflect the dates which appear in the current official ACRL Guide to Policies and Procedures.

For twenty years from the formation of the earliest ACRL chapters in 1952, there was little further activity. The map of represented areas remains largely blank until the mid-seventies, with only a pioneer outpost in Missouri and an eastern seaboard nucleus around Philadelphia and the valley of the Delaware offering local organizations for ACRL members (see Map 1, on cover).

In the next decade, the pace quickened dramatically. The multistate chapter of New England joined in 1972, followed by Illinois, (again?) and Michigan in the next two years. In 1975, there was further infilling in the northeast, as the state of New York yielded two Chapters, one internationally wrapped around the end of Lake Ontario, and the frontier moved west into Kansas and Minnesota. Most of this growth during the mid-seventies was contiguous to the old nuclei, but Oregon, in 1975, became the first chapter on the Pacific (see Map 2).

This period showed the effect of more formal recognition of the importance of chapters by the national organization. An Ad Hoc Committee on Chapters, chaired by George Railey, and a permanent Chapters Committee, chaired by Norman Tanis, worked towards the Resolution, in June 1977, which would formally establish a Council of Chapters.³ The emergence of chapter development as a significant priority for ACRL was reflected in a new surge of colonization, during the mid and late seventies.

By 1980, the south was well represented, first by Tennessee, then Maryland, Texas and Virginia, then Florida, North Carolina and Georgia; the Pacific coast saw new chapters in California in 1979 and Washington the following year. In the same period there was further infilling of the eastern and central states with the admission to chapterhood of Iowa, New Jersey (for the second time?), Indiana, and Nebraska (see Map 3).

After two decades of quietude, ten years of hectic activity saw the formation of twenty-seven new Chapters, and the last few years have witnessed, at an inevitably slower pace, the systematic process of chapter creation in areas less densely populated. Several new chapters have been formed in the south (Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama); in the Midwest, plains and prairies (Ohio, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and North Dakota); and in the more sparsely populated hill and mountain states (Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Kentucky).

Population density has become the principal limiting factor. While on the one hand, New York has found it necessary to add yet another chapter, Greater Metropolitan New York (1981), others have struggled with the challenge of spatial dispersion, small institutions and tiny rosters to create a critical mass of interest and a minimal numerical threshold to chapterhood. The current map shows only a few isolated blank areas scattered across the country: in the eastern half, South Carolina and West Virginia; a contiguous grouping in the Rockies of Idaho, Utah and Wyoming; and the really discontiguous younger states of Alaska and Hawaii (see Map 4, on cover).

The next chapter…

Some of the blank areas will not remain so for very long. A committee of Chapters Council is specifically concerned with providing support to new chapters. We are developing new ways to make this support more useful: assigning individual committee members, usually from neighboring states which have themselves only recently achieved chapterhood, to provide specific guidance and advice to those who aspire to it. More formal assistance, essential forms and financial support are provided to new chapters by ACRL headquarters, but the complementary informal support, provided by ACRL members with fresh experience in group organization, budget control and program planning, seems to have been equally valuable. We plan to supplement these activities by inviting prospective representatives of future chapters to attend meetings of Chapters Council, where they can learn directly about the activities of other chapters and the mutual benefits which are derived from the reciprocal relationship between these groups and the parent organization.

Fallow ground

I recently received a printout of names of ACRL members living in areas without chapters. A quick count of these names indicates the potential for these areas to achieve chapter status:

District of Columbia, 115

South Carolina, 75

Utah, 55

Arkansas, 43

Hawaii, 40

Idaho, 24

Wyoming, 24

Alaska, 20

The anomalous absence of an ACRL chapter in the nation’s capital will, we trust, prompt new organizational action, perhaps during the midwinter meetings in the same city. The need for an ACRL chapter in Washington was given practical weight during the planning, without local support, for Chapters Council activities at the January 1989 conference. An urban area with over 100 ACRL members seems well poised to take advantage of the benefits of chapterhood.

Lacking such demographic advantages, the possibility of all of the other areas forming chapters seems remote, certainly without creative interstate cooperation. Rut a liaison analogous to that forged among the New England states might allow the formation of a Rocky Mountain Chapter with Idaho and Wyoming (48 members) or Utah with these two northern neighbors (103). Alaska, alas, seems to be left out in the cold!

However, more ambitious plans to increase the geographic range of chapters, following the international precedent set by Western New York/Ontario might involve some of the 175 Canadian members of ACRL. And, conceivably, the 50 ACRL members residing in Australia might wish to form a Chapter of the Antipodes!

Conclusion

The growth of chapters mirrors and influences the growth of ACRL itself. Not only do chapters foster membership growth, but they offer a more practical, flexible and intimate context for professional involvement than can the national organization. Chapters Council provides a bridge between this productive regional activity and the resources and administrative support provided by the parent group. Though the number of chapters may now be expected to remain fairly stable, the number of programs organized by the chapters continues to increase, and their role in the continuing education of the ACRL membership is more important than ever. ■■

Ten Library/Book Fellow positions open

Applications are now being accepted for the 1989-1990 Library/Book Fellows Program. The joint program of the American Library Association and the United States Information Agency (USIA) will place approximately ten U.S. citizens overseas beginning in September 1989.

While 14 positions are listed, funding will permit approximately 10 placements.

Africa-Sub-Saharan

Manzini, Swaziland-.University of Swaziland. One year, preferably September 1989-August 1990. Work with the special collections department of the university library to identify and collect materials on Swaziland presently held in U.S. libraries and institutions; help develop the Swaziana collection as the nucleus of the department by assisting in organizing and processing documents and advising on how missing items might be acquired.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:University Library, University of Dar es Salaam. Academic year, beginning October 1989. New library school needs expert on library science curriculum development, staffing, and related matters; also teach library science courses in fellow’s area of expertise.

American republics

Kingston, Jamaica:University of the West Indies, Department of Library Studies. Academic year, 15 September 1989 to 30 June 1990. Teach online searching of U.S. databases to students from 16 English-speaking Caribbean countries; develop course outlines in this area and the more general area of information science and research methodology.

Belo Horizonte, Brazil:Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), School of Library Science. Six months. Portuguese language required. Teach graduate-level course in library automation and assist in planning special courses in this subject.

Guatemala City, Guatemala:General Archives of Central America. Six months to a year. Fluency in Spanish required. Instruct archives staff in restoration and storage techniques and advise on needs related to the archive’s physical plant, staffing and cataloging; will be working with collection of Spanish Royal Documents dating from 14th century.

East Asia

Beijing, People's Republic of China:Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). Full year. Chinese language competence preferred but not required. Develop American Studies collection at BFSU and assist in establishing a model library operating on American principles, i.e., open stacks, free access to materials.

Taipei, Taiwan:National Central Library (NCL). Six months. Competence in Chinese preferred but not required. Assist the NCL in developing and organizing its U.S. government publications collection; provide staff training in the management and utilization of government publications.

Quezon City, Philippines:University of the Philippines, University and Archives Records Center. Six months. Train staff in theories, principles, and practices of archival development, organization, and management.

Europe

Oslo, Norway:Norwegian School of Library and Information Sciences. Academic year, 1 September 1989 to 1 July 1990. Train Norwegian librarians in online searching of U.S. databases; present lectures on availability of information through U.S. databases.

Dublin, Ireland:University College Dublin Library. Six months to a year. Assist in organizing and promoting use of U.S. government documents collection spanning 108 years.

Madrid, Spain:Universidad Compultense de Madrid. Academic year, September 1989 to June 1990. Fluency in Spanish required. Teach full course-load in online searching of U.S. databases and use of databases as reference tools.

North Africa and Southeast Asia

Lahore, Pakistan:Punjab Department of Education. Nine months. Assist the department in setting up a major science library by advising on acquisition of U.S. print and nonprint information sources and on development of networking and resource-sharing among libraries of Punjab.

Damascus, Syria:Asad National Library. Full year preferred. Fluency in Arabic desired, but library will provide full-time translator if necessary. Train 12 library employees in cataloging book and nonbook materials; if possible, advise on preservation and restoration of library materials.

Hyderabad, India:American Studies Research Centre. Nine to twelve months. Assist in development of the social sciences collection by analyzing existing collection, selecting titles to fill gaps and advising on acquisition sources; provide staff training in use of American Studies materials as reference sources.

Stipends for Library/Book Fellows are $23,690 per year. Travel expenses (fellow and one dependent) to and from will be reimbursed and health and life insurance coverage are provided. Some hosts will assist with housing. Eligibility requirements: U.S. citizenship; command of the language of the host country is desired; education and experience in library or information science, publishing or other fields directly related to the interests and needs of specific projects, with demonstrated competency as required. Persons who have lived abroad for a ten-year period immediately preceding application are not eligible.

If interested, send resume with a cover letter briefly stating desired position, foreign-language skills, subject expertise and maximum placement service length. (No application forms are available.) Application deadline date for the 1989-1990 positions is 15 April 1989. Contact: Robert P. Doyle, Director, Library/Book Fellows Program, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; (800) 545-2433; in Illinois, (800) 545-2444.

The United States Information Agency, an independent agency within the executive branch, is responsible for the U.S. government’s overseas cultural and information programs, including the Voice of America, the WORLDNET satellite television system and the Fulbright scholarship program.

Notes

1. Alphonse F. Trezza, “Philadelphia, First ACRL Chapter,” College & Research Libraries, April 1954, 180-82.
2. Carol M. Marty, “ACRL Chapter Growth,” [unpublished report] June 27, 1980.
3. Memo from Norman E. Tanis, Chair, ACRL Chapters Committee, June 6, 1977.