ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Chapter visits

Minnesota, November 1.A brisk fall day, clear and bright, greeted me in Minnesota. Driving to Northfield for the Minnesota Chapter meeting with Peg Johnson gave me the chance to meet our new Audiovisual Committee chair and see some suburban countryside. The Concert Hall on Carleton College’s campus was the setting for the meeting, which was attended by over 60 academic and research librarians.

The day-long program began with my talk, entitled “Eight Possible Things Before the Main Speaker,” in which I described ACRL, its physical setting, its relation to ALA, a who’s who of the staff and a description of key staff activities, and how to participate in the Association at a variety of levels.

Beverly Lynch, president-elect of ALA, gave the keynote speech and addressed the role of the librarian as related to the academic environment. Emphasizing the Naisbett theme of decentralization, Lynch suggested that ALA will be increasing its outreach activities to involve members. She urged librarians in academic institutions to become aware of the environment within their institutions, to consider the problems facing the administration as the key problems for them also, and to contribute a unique viewpoint to their solution. She also emphasized that they need to keep abreast of the whole field of higher education—the external environment of the institution—and to increase their attention to such matters as information policy, access to information, the cost of information retrieval, new skills needed by library staff and users, and the principles of learning.

Lynch reviewed some of her earlier work on the relationship of the library to other organizations, characterizing them as input/output relations, and stressed the political realities which often carry more weight than “rational” management techniques in practical dealings among organizations. A lively question period ensued.

During the lunch break, visitors were treated to tours of the remodeled library building, which features beautiful vistas, practical facilities, plenty of cozy spaces for study, and room for expansion.

The afternoon’s program featured a panel of Minnesota librarians: Michael Kathman, Allen Dollerschell, Valera Rohrer, and Darrel Meinke, who presented some thought-provoking ideas for everyone to take back, including:

• the need for libraries to rise above competition among their institutions;

• new professionals are not ready to work on their first day on the job—how do we train them?

• recruitment potentials among rural junior college librarians;

• the assertion that the for-profit sector will pay for information and will make contributions if approached.

Illinois, November 2.The suburban train carried me from Chicago to Glen Ellyn to attend the Fall Conference of the Illinois Chapter (IACRL) at the College of DuPage, a very large community college serving the residents of DuPage County.

The full-day meeting began with my talk on organizational change. I described organizations as having life cycles and pictured change as equivalent to growth. After noting some of the most significant changing trends in higher education and their impact on libraries, I spoke about the way in which organizations (among them libraries) deal with change in the external environment via the techniques of differentiation and integration.

Describing the way in which libraries apply these concepts led to an examination of conflict and its resolution in the academic library, and to a presentation on open communication as a strategy for reducing resistance to change.

The day continued with sessions on funding, addressed by Ted Welch, Northern Illinois University, and Ken Peterson, Southern Illinois University, as well as innovative solutions to cutbacks, with speakers Donna Goehner, Western Illinois University, Ruth McRride, University of Illinois, Urbana, and Darrell Jenkins, Southern Illinois University. After lunch, there was a business meeting, followed by further small group sessions: one on the paraprofessional’s role and the other on group dynamics in maintaining quality services, including papers by John Tyson, Northern Illinois University, and Karen Bingham, University of Illinois, Urbana.

The closing session was addressed by George F. Gruendel, of the management faculty at Sangamon State University. His topic was “Maintaining Quality Worklife in Uncertain Times.”

Both of the chapters presented programs enriched by outside speakers, but gave their own members an important opportunity to make presentations to their colleagues at the local level—an invaluable experience for encouraging members’ professional development.—JoAn Segal, ACRL Executive Director.