ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

ACRL Board actions, January 1992

The Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries met twice during the Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio: on January 26 and January 28,1992. Highlights of their meetings are as follows:

President’s 1992 Recruitment Theme.President Anne Beaubien announced the completion of the minority recruitment grant proposal. Mary George, grant proposal developer, met with ALA Executive Board subcommittees to review the proposal. The proposal would bring minority students between their junior and senior years to a campus where there is a library school and expose them to library science in hopes that they will choose it as a career.

The Strong Vocational Interest Inventory Task Forcehas finalized the demographic questions that will be asked along with the Strong Vocational Interest Inventory survey. A sample population will receive survey instruments around mid-February 1992. After the return of the Strong Vocational Interest Surveys, the sample population will receive a Myers-Briggs instrument to complete and return. The results from these surveys will be reported at Annual Conference in San Francisco.

ACRL Board to hold planning retreat

During their Midwinter Meetings, the ACRL Board of Directors voted to hold a full-day planning retreat. The Board will be reviewing and developing strategies for a 1993-95 strategic plan and will consider the process through which priorities within the association are set. The retreat will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, April 11, 1992, from 9:00-5:00 p.m. just prior to the opening of ACRL’s Sixth National Conference. ACRL’s Executive Committee will hold its annual spring meeting Friday, April 10, from 9:00-5:00 p.m.

ALA Minority Fellow, Sheila Delacroixreported on her progress with DISCOVER and SIGI Plus. Librarian Profile questionnaires have gone out to 25 librarians. She will develop a single response from all of the information received from respondents and submit it to the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Changes in the profile will be discussed at a program during Annual Conference in San Francisco.

ALA Code of Professional Ethics.The Board endorsed a statement prepared by Board member Karin Begg asking that the code be revised and that it provide inspiration towards ideals, be broad enough for all situations, and be clear and simple.

Preconferences.The Board approved requests for two preconferences to be held before the 1993 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans: 1) The Rare Books and Manuscripts Section will offer a preconference on June 22-25, 1993, tentatively titled “Special Collections in the 21st Century: How Others See Us and How We See Ourselves”; 2) The Science and Technology Section will offer a preconference on June 25,1993, entitled “Science Reference Service: An Introduction for the General Reference Librarian.”

WESS London Conference.The Western European Specialists Section (WESS) received Board approval to continue with planning for their 1994 London conference to be held between March and May. The conference is expected to attract 300 attendees.

Coalition for Networked Information.The Board heard a report from Thomas Kirk and Noreen Alldredge, representatives to the Task Force of the Coalition for Networked Information. Kirk and Alldredge see their role as that of bringing as much information as possible to the ACRL membership as well as helping the Coalition meet its objectives.

Joint Committee on the Definition of Membership Services.The Board approved the report from the Subcommittee, made up of both members of the Membership Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee. The report presented proposals which identified three categories for ACRL services and programs: a) basic membership services fully covered by membership dues, b) services and programs on a cost-recovery basis, and c) programs designed to produce net revenue.

ACRL Board Retreat.The Board agreed that the ACRL Strategic Plan, which was developed in 1986, should be reviewed. The Board will meet in Salt Lake City, April 11, in a planning retreat to review and develop strategies for a 1993-1995 strategic plan.

Constitution and Bylaws.The Board voted to change the makeup of the ACRL Board of Directors to include the Chair of the Planning Committee as an ex-officio member of the Board. The membership will vote on this constitutional change to the bylaws in the spring election.

WHCLIS.The Board endorsed the resolution put forth by the ACRL White House Conference Task Force and the Governmental Relations Committee that ACRL adopt the three top priority action issues of the conference as priority action areas for ALA. The three priority issues are: Omnibus Children and Youth Literacy; NREN available in all libraries and other information repositories at all levels; a national, regional, state, and local commitment of financial resources for library services.

Planning Committee.The Board accepted reviews of four committees: Audiovisual, Constitution and Bylaws, Budget and Finance, and Academic Status, and approved the continuance of the work of these committees.

Taxation on Periodical Subscriptions.The Board endorsed the resolution from ALCTS against taxation of periodicals subscriptions.

Improvement of Information Act.The Board endorsed the resolution from GODORT.

Sixth National Conference—Salt Lake City.Executive Committee Chair Joseph Boissé reported that things are going well. Exhibitors are past 100% of the projected numbers and budget. An outstanding program has been arranged and we are now looking forward to a very large conference registration.