ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Letter

Travel Funds Committees

To the Editor:

It seems to me that the core of any successful policy of travel fund distribution lies in its being perceived as equitable by the staff (see pp. 195- 96, C&RL News, July-August 1980). This situation can be addressed most effectively as a function of library travel committees established to evaluate requests for travel funds and make recommendations to the library director.

As chair of the Travel Funds Advisory Committee at Arizona State for three years, 1 am quite familiar with the many problems that involve disbursement of travel funds—and I am convinced that the committee format is an excellent solution.

Of the twenty-one travel policies available from ACRL (“Travel Policies of Twenty-One College and University Libraries,” ACRL, 1980, $3) and those of thirty-five other ACRL member institutions we surveyed in 1978, there are thirteen that have travel funds committees.

The results have been highly successful. On the one hand, library directors and department heads (who usually make the initial recommendation in the absence of a committee) are freed from the pressure of individual supplications and pleas for special consideration, from the pitfalls on inconsistent judgment, and from the inevitable charges of favoritism. The library faculty, on the other hand, feels that the committee is responsive to their interests and welcomes the opportunity to participate in decisions directly affecting their continuing education and development plans (not to mention pocketbooks).

Their recommendations are generally accepted by the library director and reversals rarely occur—even in those occasional instances of individual protest and dissatisfaction with specific decisions. To promote fairness in disbursement, Arizona State compiles an annual list of amounts given to each recipient.

The closing wholehearted recommendation is— try a travel funds committee for your library!

—Winberta Yao, reference librarian, Arizona State University, Tempe. ■■