ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

ACRL leads the way

By Patricia Senn Breivik

ACRL’s plan has tangible results

As I mentioned in my vice-president’s mes- sage in the 1994–95 ACRL Annual Report (C&RL News, December 1995) I feel a great sense of urgency this year to expedite ACRL’s progress in carrying out its new Strategic Plan. The plan, which is solidly based on ACRL membership’s priorities, needs all of our attention, efforts, and resources to realize measurable outcomes.

ACRL’s four goals

The plan’s four goals are: 1) to provide development opportunities for academic and research librarians and other library personnel that enhance their ability to deliver superior services and resources; 2) to collaborate with other professional organizations and associations of higher education in order to promote mutual interests; 3) to maintain at the national level a prominent role in planning and decision making for influencing information policy; and 4) to ensure that ACRL’s operating environment provides efficiency in its use of resources and effectiveness in the delivery of services to its members and constituent units.

Implementing the plan

How will ACRL work towards these goals? How will we measure our progress? And how will we obtain the resources to carry out the goals? The Board spent a full day this fall working out a way to implement the Strategic Plan. Timelines and responsibilities for implementing the plan have been established. We have begun identifying criteria for assessing progress. The implementation plan is being shared with all ACRL units. Members may also write, call, or e-mail the ACRL office for copies. There are a number of activities that I am writing about that answer these questions.

Progress to date

ACRL is working to bring to your region its practical education programs that will help you do your job better. My President’s Program will provide a multifaceted learning opportunity for conference participants and will also be packaged for use by chapters library staffs and other groups that wish to have it locally. ACRL vice- president Bill Miller is already working with the ACRL Professional Education Committee to establish a mechanism to annually capture the best of ACRL programming at both the national and chapter levels for broader distribution.

ACRL is partnering with institutions and organizations in higher education to effect change in the whole teaching/learning process and has restructured its Professional Liaison Committee to become a new Council of Liaisons to improve its links to other associations. The Council is developing plans for a summit which ACRL will host annually with other national organizations for the purpose of identifying key areas of mutual concern and for future collaboration.

In addition, the Membership Committee has been completely restructured and has a new focus. A number of other committees such as Research and Professional Education are redefining their roles in relation to the new Strategic Plan; discussion groups and section units are also engaged in this process.

ACRL has made a major contribution to ALA’s Goal 2000 to support better representation of academic librarians’ positions to Congress. C&RL News will continue to offer monthly reports from Washington with the latest updates from Capital Hill and how it affects libraries.

The Board of Directors approved the establishment of the “ACRL Leadership Center,” which will serve as a clearinghouse for information on leadership and centralize and coordinate activities and programs that focus on academic librarians as leaders. An advisory committee has already been appointed to develop the infrastructure for the center, and some exciting programs are in the developmental stages.

ACRL is engaged in a major cooperative project with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the Western Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, and the American Association of Higher Education to collect data for the purpose of documenting practices of schools in integrating information resources and technologies in higher education curricula across the United States. In addition to surveying the institutions in the six accrediting regions, a series of “best case” workshops was held and others are planned, a journal article is being written, and the American Council of Education is publishing the results of the study in book form.

Share your ideas with us

These are just the highlights of a number of tangible projects in the works at ACRL. Watch C&RL News for updates on our progress and remember, the Strategic Plan is a living document. Be sure to send us your ideas and comments on how to make ACRL an effective organization that meets your needs. ■

Patricia Senn Breivik is ACRL president and dean of University Libraries at Wayne State University; e-mail: breivik@cms.cc. wayne. edu