ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Executive Director’s report, 1985–86

By JoAn Segal ACRL Executive Director

ACRL is in a strong position programmatically, financially, and in its staffing.

Editor’s note: This report was given by the ACRL Executive Director at the ACRL Board and Membership Meetings at ALA Annual Conference in New York.

JoAn Segal

I Current goals

The goals of ACRL as established by the Committee on an Activity Model (1982) were:

1. To contribute to the total professional development of academic and research librarians.

2. To improve service capabilities of academic and research librarians.

3. To promote and speak for the interests of academic and research librarianship.

4. To promote study and research relevant to academic and research librarianship.

II Achievements, 1985-86

During the 1985–86 year, the Association has accomplished a great deal in the areas of these goals. Goal by goal, the achievements have been:

1. Professional development

a. Courses were offered at Midwinter, National Conference, and Annual Conference. A total of 307 people took 18 courses. In addition, local courses were offered, involving 255 participants.

Two Humanities Programming Workshops were offered in the NEH-funded series. 42 participants attended the meeting in Colorado Springs; 27 came to Portland, Oregon.

Sandy Donnelly is the Program Officer in charge of both the continuing education and NEH programs.

The Fourth National ACRL Conference was held in Baltimore, April 9–12. There were 1,502 paid registrants; a total of 2,309 persons attended. A very active Conference Executive Committee designed a program with five major theme sessions stressing Energies for Transition. Most popular was Maya Angelou, whose address proved inspirational. Also highly praised by attendees were sessions by David McCullough and Alan Kay. There were 60 contributed papers given. Social events ineluded an opening reception in the exhibits area, a party at the Enoch Pratt Library, and another at the National Aquarium. Baltimore was a hospitable city; its Convention Center lent itself nicely to this conference. A major report on the conference may be found in CòRL News, June 1986.

Cathleen Bourdon had the major staff responsibility for Baltimore; Sandy Donnelly handled all exhibit activity.

b. During the year, ACRL published:

•Energies for Transition, Proceedings of the 4th National Conference, ACRL, Baltimore.

•Mission Statements for College Libraries,CLIP Note #5, compiled by Larry Hardesty, Jamie Hastreiter and David Henderson.

•Special Collections in College Libraries,CLIP Note #6, compiled by Christine Erdmann for the CLS College Library Information Packet Committee.

• Library Instruction Clearinghouses: A Directory, 1985. Revised edition by Joan Ariel with assistance from Lynn Randall, BIS Clearinghouse Committee.

• Womens Studies in Western Europe: A Resource Guide. Edited by Stephen Lehmann and Eva Sartori, WESS and Women’s Studies Discussion Group.

Mary Ellen Davis took over responsibility for this program in November 1985.

c. CòRL News was the major tool by which we kept ACRL members informed about developments in the profession and the Association. The magazine had a record year for both display and classified advertising, and published its largest issue ever in January 1986, with a preview of the Baltimore Conference. George M. Eberhart is C&RL News editor, and assistant editor is Gus Friedlander.

In addition, eleven of ACRL’s Sections produce newsletters which are addressed to the Section members. Gus and George carry out the production work on these as well.

d. The opportunity to participate in determining the future of the Association was provided through the Strategic Planning Process, with an important step being the Open Forum at Midwinter in Chicago.

e. Awards give the Association a mechanism for honoring its members, thereby affording a sense of peer reinforcement. This year’s major awards are:

• Academic or Research Librarian of the Year: Margaret Beckman.

•Miriam B. Dudley Bibliographic Instruction Librarian of the Year:Virginia Tiefel.

• Martinus Nijhoff International West European Specialist Study Grant: Frederick C. Lynden.

•ISI Doctoral Dissertation Award:Gemma DeVinney.

• RBMS Exhibit Catalogue Awards: Getty Museum; University of Illinois Library-Urbana/Champaign; Pierpont Morgan Library; Houghton Library, Harvard. Honorable Mentions to Bryn Mawr College Library; Houghton Library, Harvard; Linda Hall Library; McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa.

The staff member involved in awards activities is Mary Ellen Davis.

f. Career opportunities have been provided through classified ads in CòRL News, the Fast Job Listing Service, and the ACRL Jobline, and also through the provision of a placement service at the Baltimore Conference, which was staffed by ALA’s Margaret Myers and ACRL’s Emma Miller.

2. Library service

a. The new College Library Standards were developed, approved by the ACRL Standards and Accreditation Committee, and sent on to the ALA Standards Committee.

Audiovisual standards were printed in draft form in the May CòRL News and was the subject of a hearing at the New York Conference.

A hearing was also held on the revised Model Statement of Criteria and Procedures for Appointment, Promotion in Academic Rank, and Tenure for College and University Librarians.

An Accreditation Manual is under development for publication in 1986–87.

b. Advisory services are demanding increasing amounts of staff time, as librarians, journalists, vendors, and the general public learn that questions about librarianship can be asked of ALA; academic library questions are referred to ACRL. While all the staff provide such service, our main librarian’s librarian is Mary Ellen Davis.

c. Encouraging innovation is an objective furthered with regularity by the publication of articles in C&RL News.

d. Supporting fiscal and legislative efforts is a part of the goal of C&RL News, but special mailings in conjunction with matters having an impact on academic libraries were prepared by the ACRL Legislation Committee and sent out by staff on two occasions this year in connection with the renewal of the Higher Education Act. The Executive Director also attended briefing sessions at the Department of Education in an effort to encourage them to keep library programs viable.

3. Advocacy

a. Efforts to further recognition of librarians as full partners in the academic enterprise included participation in the AAHE National Conference and representation by Chapter officers at a regional Conference sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

b. Enhancing awareness of librarians among other groups included visits by staff and officers to the Higher Education Group of Washington, the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, the National University Continuing Education Association, and the conference of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education. Sandy Donnelly is a section co-chair in the local AAACE chapter.

c. Recruitment activities included the sending of posters to library schools.

d. Alliances with other associations have included appointment of Sharon Rogers to an AAHE working group which is to produce a publication on the hiring of key administrators, including library directors; cooperation in National Community and Junior College Month; exchanging of exhibit booths with SLA and with NUCEA, and plans for the joint presentation of a course with the Northern Illinois University Division of Continuing Education.

e. Staff has regularly responded to Washington Office memos and written to legislators. In addition, the Executive Director responded to the question of privatization of NTIS.

f. In addition, several staff members are actively participating in the American Society of Association Executives.

4. Study and research

a. Serial publications include College and Research Libraries, edited by Charles Martell and produced by ALA’s Central Production Unit; College ò Research Libraries News, edited and produced by George Eberhart, editor, and Gus Friedlander, assistant editor; and the new Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship, for which George and Gus do the production work. ACRL also publishes Choice, a magazine of reviews, from offices in Middletown, Connecticut, where a staff of 20 FTE is housed.

b. Forums for discussion were provided at the Baltimore Conference.

c. The Research Committee, the Ad Hoc Research Development Committee and the Research Discussion Group have worked this year on presenting research as an attractive option to academic and research librarians. Through programs at Midwinter and at the Baltimore Conference, they are encouraging newcomers to attempt research.

d. Two projects are under development: one for a program to seek ways to assist traditionally black institutions with their libraries; another for a guide to doing research. A new NEH grant was sought and has been funded for 1986–88.

III. Finance

ACRL’s financial condition continues strong. Even the introduction of accrual accounting at ALA will find ACRL with reserves, building toward the goal recommended in the planning document. At the end of the 1984–85 fiscal year, the “fund balance” for ACRL and Choice was calculated at $496,524 after accruals, according to the audited report from Peat, Marwick, Mitchell. Of this, some $24,000 is (erroneously, we believe) attributed to Choice. Our projection on August 1 is that we will end the year with a contribution to reserves of some $90,000 from ACRL activities, and about $72,000 from Choice.

This condition is stated at the point in ACRL’s three-year budget cycle where the Association is at its peak, just following a national conference.

As we become more mature in our accounting practices, it is becoming obvious that ACRL has embarked upon a process referred to by ASAE as “unbundling,” or breaking out charges for specific services, especially those not used by all members. For some time, ACRL has had a policy of making its continuing education (professional development) program self-supporting, as well as its publications, any conferences and workshops, and any special funded projects. The (perhaps unexpected) outcome of this is to identify most clearly what services ACRL provides from dues. While the amounts of money spent on individual services vary from year to year, it is clearly possible to identify which services are being paid for out of dues monies. They are:

•Membership Services (this includes recruitment, production of membership brochures, processing of new memberships, keeping of membership statistics, answering calls and letters about membership, tracking membership campaigns for effectiveness, mailings to those appearing in the People column in C&RL News, and measuring staff time).

•Executive Committee, Board and President (this includes their travel, expenses of the President’s Program, operating expenses such as postage and telephone, agenda preparations, and staff time).

•Budget and Finance Committee (includes travel, which has not been necessary for the past two years, agenda preparation, copying and mailing expenses, and staff time).

•Section budgets include financial requests from sections, such as newsletter and manual costs, and section committee expenses. Again, staff time is counted in.

•Chapter budgets include similar requests. Staff time is included for work with the Chapters Council and individual chapter members, and for preparation of the Chapter Topics newsletter.

•Committees also have budget requests and much staff time is spent in providing assistance to committees.

•Discussion groups require little staff time. No budget requests are honored.

•Advisory services are provided to members and non-members, but are included here, because staff time, copying and mailing costs, and telephone costs are included. We also include as advisory services the preparation of papers and speeches to groups,and consulting activities, which do generate a small amount of revenue.

•Statistics and research activities do not occur regularly, but when they do, they come out of the general budget.

•The ACRL Jobline and the free distribution of ministrative secretary for Sandy and Mary Ellen for about six months, but after the Baltimore Conference, she decided she did not want to stay with us permanently. We have hired two part-time employees, Dawn Jacobson and Margaret Lentz so that each staff member has one supervisor and each exempt person has a dedicated support staff member.

In filling our new office manager position we promoted Elaine Opalka, who had been Cathleen Bourdon’s administrative secretary. Of course, that left her position open, but we were fortunate in being able to hire Karen Duhart, who has an excellent secretarial background.

Emma also needed a successor and we were able to hire Vivian Hunter, who had worked for RTSD, into the position of administrative assistant. Vivian is a well-educated and skilled woman who will, I am sure, also be a valuable addition to the staff.

We have had two changes in the assistant editor position in C&RL News. Lorraine Dorff was with us only six months, but left to accept a better position for which she had interviewed before coming to ACRL. Luckily, Gus Friedlander was available when we went looking for another assistant editor, and he began May 1. His previous experience in publishing and journalism has been helpful.

Thus we are at our full complement of 11 FTE staff members (12 persons) in our Chicago headquarters. We hope you had an opportunity to meet our new staff members, as well as old staff members in new hats in New York or back in Chicago.

At Choice, the major personnel changes have been related to staffing the operation of the Third Edition of Books for College Libraries. Virginia Clark has been serving as the project editor under the management of Pat Sabosik. Virginia’s position at Choice was therefore left vacant; we have been fortunate in being able to fill it by hiring Robert Balay, longtime head of reference services at Yale University.

Throughout this report, I have referred to ACRL staff members to indicate their areas of responsibility and expertise. As a division, ACRL has been very fortunate in being able to hire competent professionals to staff its operations in Chicago and Middletown, Connecticut. We also use regular staff meetings and informal communication means to ensure that all staff members have—in addition to their knowledge of their own area of specialization—an understanding of the salient aspects of their colleagues’ areas. Therefore, ACRL members may expect to be able to receive accurate information about division matters from staff members, even if the question involved is not exactly in that person’s bailiwick. At worst, the request for information will have to be transferred only once to the proper person; at best, an answer may be immediately available.

VII. Summary

ACRL is in a very strong position programmatically, financially, and in its staffing. We move into an exciting year, in which the new Strategic Plan will be implemented, Books for College Libraries editing will be completed, a new series of NEH workshops will be carried out, and there will be new initiatives in the area of continuing education and professional development. I look forward to meeting more ACRL members, and to working with a new team of leaders. Thank you for all the volunteer work, which is what really keeps the Association of College and Research Libraries going.