ACRL Board of Directors’ Actions

Highlights of the Board’s 2023–2024 Meetings

For LibLearnX 2024, the ACRL Board of Directors met virtually on January 26 and 31, 2024. An informal virtual Board Update meeting was held on January 12, 2024. The Board also met virtually with the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee for a joint meeting on January 29, 2024. For the 2024 ALA Annual Conference, the ACRL Board met in-person on June 29 and 30, 2024. The Board held an informal virtual Board Update meeting on June 13, 2024. Between ALA conferences, the Board held virtual meetings on October 24, 2023, and April 25,2024, along with holding informal virtual Board Update meetings on September 1 and December 1, 2023, and May 17, 2024.

At LibLearnX, the Board met virtually with the leaders of its five goal-area committees: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; New Roles and Changing Landscapes; Research and Scholarly Environment; Student Learning; and Value of Academic Libraries to assess progress on ACRL’s strategic plan, the Plan for Excellence. At ALA Annual, the Board received updates from goal-area committee leaders for the Value of Academic Libraries; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and New Roles and Changing Landscapes. Updates on the Student Learning and Research and Scholarly Environment will take place later this year.

At LibLearnX, the Board received an update and final recommendations from leaders of the Awards Process Implementation Task Force. At the spring meeting, the Board received an update from representatives on the ALA Work Group for Standardization of Division Membership Dues. At LibLearnX and ALA Annual, the Board received updates from the ALA Treasurer and ACRL’s liaison to the ALA Executive Board. In January and June, the Board reviewed the preliminary FY25 budgets for ACRL and Choice and will take action on the final budgets in late summer 2024, prior to the ALA Executive Board approving the budget for the association.

Board members, whose terms ended on June 30, 2024—Erin L. Ellis and Jessica Brangiel—were recognized and thanked for their service.

The ACRL Board of Directors took the following actions during the 2023–2024 program year.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

• Approved the ACRL Budget & Finance Committee’s recommendation to use up to $9,440 to fund 40 ALA/ACRL memberships for academic and research library workers identifying as BIPOC and/or Disabled and serving underrepresented groups.
• Approved $600 to provide ASL services and honoraria for the ACRL Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s programming panel for librarians with disabilities/disabled librarians.
• Established the Library EDI Committees Discussion Group and Training and Equity in Library Work Discussion Group.
• Renewed for another three years the Academic Library Services for International Students Interest Group and Universal Accessibility Interest Group.

Student Learning

• Extended to June 2026 the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Information Literacy Module Review Task Force.
• Established the Privacy Literacy Discussion Group.

Value of Academic Libraries

• Updated the Project Outcome for Academic Libraries Editorial Board to remove the ex-officio members from the Value of Academic Libraries Committee, Student Learning and Information Literacy Committee, and Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey Editorial Board.

Enabling Programs and Services

Strategic goal areas will be supported by financial and operational planning and will guide the development and implementation of programs and services that target education, advocacy, and member engagement.

Advocacy

• Approved the 2023 ACRL Legislative Agenda.

Publications

• Approved the appointments of Samantha H. Peter as editor of Publications in Librarianship (PIL) with an initial term of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2027, and Michelle Demeter as editor-designate of College & Research Libraries for the term of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, and then as editor with an initial term of July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028.
• Approved the ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Loans of Special Collections Materials for Exhibitions and Resource Sharing and Competencies for Academic Library Outreach Work.
• Established the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competencies for Library Workers Task Force.

Member Engagement

• Approved the Awards Process Implementation Task Force report and recommendations, which included:
  • Establishing the Awards Coordinating Committee.
  • Lifting the pause on giving awards and grants, effective July 1, 2024. In 2024–2025, each awards committee will be charged with reviewing the description, selection criteria, and selection process for the award(s) it juries. It is anticipated that awards and grants will be issued starting in 2025–2026.
  • Adopting new policies and procedures related to awards and grants that support equity.
  • Developing and implementing an awards portal.
  • Ending cash gifts for award recipients.
• Approved the following awards’ program definitions:
  • Awards: Non-monetary recognition of a specific person(s) or institution(s) to acknowledge achievement.
  • Grants: Distribution of competitive funding for a specific project planning or project implementation given to a specific person(s) or institution(s) that benefits the profession.
• Approved RBMS proceeding with the awarding of the Leab Exhibition Awards in the 2024–2025 fiscal year due to the section completing their awards processes review to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles are incorporated into all aspects of the awards’ program.
• Established the Communities of Practice Task Force with the charge to review and make recommendations for ACRL Interest Group and Discussion Group structure, leadership, budget, and reporting.
• Renewed for another three years the Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group; Evidence Synthesis and Methods Interest Group; Residency Interest Group; and Virtual Worlds Interest Group.
• Transitioned the Image Resources Interest Group to the Image Resources Discussion Group.
• Dissolved the Hip Hop Librarian Consortium Discussion Group and the Research and Assessment Metrics Discussion Group.
• Approved a policy update to disallow Section Basic Services Funds or solicitation of donations to be used for external social events, effective fiscal year 2024.
• Approved that Chapter Council Officers no longer are required to also serve on their state Chapter’s Board.

Enabling Programs and Services: Operations

• Approved revisions and additions to the ACRL Bylaws: Article VII Budget and Finance Committee Chair; Article IX Board of Directors, Section 5; Article XI Nominations, Section 1; Article XIII Elections, Section 2; and Article XVIII Mail and electronic votes, Sections 1, 2, 3 and approved their inclusion on the 2024 election ballot. These revisions and additions were approved by ACRL membership on April 3, 2024.
• Aligned ACRL retired member dues category with the Type I personal dues’ category to simplify the division’s dues’ structure in accordance with the new ALA membership model approved by the ALA Executive Board. The other Type II dues categories (International/Non-Salaried/Library Support Staff) are already aligned with Type I personal dues in the ACRL dues’ structure.
• Approved the ACRL Budget & Finance Committee’s recommendation to increase personal member dues by $2, which is 3% of the 4% increase in the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) as allowed by the ACRL Bylaws. The FY25 personal member rate for Type I and Type II will be $76.
• Approved the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee’s recommendation for a student dues rate of $5 for FY25.
• Approved the ACRL Budget & Finance Committee’s recommendation to approve the ACRL and Choice FY25 budget assumptions, with the amendment to reflect ACRL 2025 conference registration to increase by 2.5% (down from 5% as originally included).
• Approved the Board’s proceedings from the 2023 ALA Annual Conference, 2023 Fall Board Virtual Meeting, and 2024 LibLearnX.