ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL President’s letter

1986—ACRL’s year in review.

Hannelore B. Rader

Dear ACRL Colleagues:

The time has come once again for the annual as- sessment of our Association’s activities by its Presi- dent. This open letter will review for you several outstanding accomplishments of our dynamic Association in the hope of encouraging even more support from all of you in 1987.

During my first six months as ACRL President, I have been privileged to attend a number of chapter and other academic library meetings and found to my dismay that many academic librarians are not aware of the full range of activities sponsored by ACRL sections, committees, task forces, chapters and discussion groups. I hope this letter will serve to inform more academic librarians about ACRL’s timely and, exciting endeavors.

Our Association continues to grow; membership is currently at 9,897.

The Association’s revenues for 1986/87 are projected at $666,687; expenditures are projected at $718,463, resulting in a deficit of $51,776, which will have to be covered by reserve funds. The increase in projected expenses demonstrates the aggressive growth in activities by membership. Funding for our 14 sections has tripled since 1984/85 and funding for the 38 chapters has almost doubled, while funding for the more than 48 committees and task forces has decreased by approximately 5 % .

Hereare some highlights from 1986:

•ACRL honored Millicent (Penny) Abell for her ten years of service on the ACRL Roard.

•Five new ACRL Task Forces were established: Libraries and Computer Centers, Library Access, Librarians as Instructors, Fundraising, and Chapter Guidelines.

•The ACRL Women’s Studies Discussion Group became the Women’s Studies Section.

•Virginia Tiefel, Ohio State University, was named the Miriam Dudley Bibliographic Instruction Librarian of the year 1986.

•Margaret Beckman, University of Guelph, was named 1986 Academic/Research Librarian of the Year.

• ACRL staff and the ACRL Planning Committee are working on ACRL’s first Annual Operating Plan for 1987/88 based on our new Strategic Plan.

Publications

• Eleven of the fourteen sections published a newsletter, an increase of 275% since 1985.

• Energies for Transition, the proceedings from ACRL’s Fourth National Conference, has been published.

• ACRL’s new journal, Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship, made its debut in April.

• Charles Martell was reappointed as editor of College and Research Libraries for 1987-1990.

• Revised “Guidelines for Audiovisual Services in Academic Libraries” were published in the May 1986 issue of C&RL News.

• The ACRL publications program, identified as membership’s number one priority, continued to grow in strength and quality.

Continuing education

• The ACRL Fourth National Conference in Baltimore, April 9-12, 1986, was a tremendous success. 2,309 participants from 48 states and 29 foreign countries enjoyed six theme sessions, 60 contributed papers, a variety of appropriate exhibits and various social events.

• Sharon Hogan, Past ACRL President, was appointed chair of ACRL’s Fifth National Conference to be held in Cincinnati in 1989. This event will also celebrate ACRL’s 100th anniversary.

• More than 500 people participated in ACRL’s 18 Continuing Education courses.

ACRL’s two Humanities Programming Workshops funded by NEH were attended by 90 persons.

•In addition to the ACRL President’s Program, Sections, Committees and Discussion Groups sponsored 22 programs during the ALA Annual Conference in New York, June 28-July 3, 1986.

•Most of the 38 ACRL Chapters also sponsored programs throughout the United States to provide their membership with relevant professional development opportunities.

Standards

• The Academic Library Statistics Committee was established.

•The 1986 “College Library Standards” were approved and published.

Liaisons

Many ACRL members participated actively in more than 30 non-library professional organizations. The Professional Liaison Committee is completing a survey to assess the extent of this involvement. Preliminary findings indicate that at least six librarians were speakers at non-library meetings last year. Following are examples of some professional associations to which ACRL members belong:

American Association of Higher Education

American Historical Association

American Association of State Colleges and Universities

American Association of University Professors

American Psychological Association

American Sociological Association

American Educational Research Association

American Marketing Association

American Society for Public Administrators

American Statistical Association

Association of Educational Communication and Technology

American Chemical Society

American Association for the Advancement of Science

College English Association

Economic History Association

National Women’s Studies Association

Society for History of Technology

Articles by non-librarians are beginning to appear in ACRL publications, and there has also been a slight increase in the number of articles by librarians in the non-library higher education literature.

Chapters

Two new chapters were established, in Alabama and New Mexico. A new Task Force on Chapter Guidelines is considering the relationship between ACRL and its chapters, especially in regards to legal and fiscal responsibility.

I have attempted to highlight several of the Association’s 1986 accomplishments and activities to demonstrate the dynamic quality of ACRL. In the next few years, we will need our professional Association more than ever for our own development and education as we forge toward new horizons in librarianship caused by newly emerging technologies and the need for new approaches to service.

Hannelore B. Rader ACRL President

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