ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 264 / C &R L News K id s, th e a c a d e m ic lib r a r y , a n d th e s c h o o ls By Carol Burroughs Hammond H ead, In fo rm a tio n a n d R esearch S u p p o rt Services A rizo n a S ta te U niversity W e st C a m pus A model fo r partnership. . A r i z o n a S ta te U niversity W est C a m p u s L ib ra ry is p a r t of a n e w b ra n c h c am pus, a n d is still in th e evolutionary process of developing policies. A re­ c en t e x perience w ith a lo c a l e le m e n ta ry school helped us develop a d iffere n t persp ec tiv e to w a rd school c h ild ren in th e lib ra ry , a n d m o tiv a te d th e d e v elopm ent of a p a rtn e rs h ip w ith school lib ra ri­ ans to re d u ce p ro b lem b e h av io r a m o n g y ounger c h ild ren w h o co m e to th e lib ra ry . W e h ave used th e sam e m o d el to h e lp im p ro v e o u r in te ra c tio n w ith h igh school students. ASU W e s t is a n e w ly e s ta b lis h e d in s titu tio n w hich is p re sen tly u n d e r c o n stru ctio n in n o rth w e st Phoenix. T h e c a m p u s covers 300 acres, encom pass­ ing several c ity blocks of p a rtia lly d eveloped p ro p ­ erty su rro u n d e d by a su b u rb a n re sid en tial a rea . T h e c am pus provides a pa rk -lik e e n v iro n m e n t for m an y of th e local a re a residents; th e p e rim e te r is lan d s c a p e d a n d in clu d e s several m iles of p a v e d w a lking a n d jogging p a th s. M uch of th e in te rio r is th e n a tu ra l d esert la n d sc a p e , co m p le te w ith jack­ ra b b its a n d ro a d ru n n e rs. ASU W est, situ a te d as it is w ith shopping, schools, a n d hom es n e arb y , a t­ trac ts c o m m u n ity m em bers of all ages w h o a rriv e on c am pus by bicycle, sk a teb o a rd , o r on foot in a d ­ d itio n to th e usual au to m o b ile . T h e n e w c am pus has been especially a ttra c tiv e to school c h ild ren , since it bord ers on th e p lay g ro u n d of a n e le m en tary school. T h e lib ra ry a t ASU W est is th e first b u ild in g to b e c o n stru cted , co m p le te d , d e d ic a te d , a n d open fo r business. T h e lib ra ry is n o t only th e first stru c ­ tu r e on th e c am pus o p e n to th e p u b lic as w ell as stu ­ d e n ts a n d fa cu lty , b u t is a sta te -o f-th e -a rt elec­ tro n ic fa c ility w h ic h has d r a w n a good d e a l of a tte n tio n from e d u ca to rs a t all levels. T h e lib ra ry , because of b o th its new ness a n d its ele ctro n ic o rien ­ ta tio n , has g e n e ra te d a g re a t d e al o f in te rest s ta te ­ w id e as w ell as n a tio n a lly , b u t especially o n th e w est side of Phoenix. I t plays h o st to m a n y visitors, in b o th fo rm al a n d in fo rm a l situations. A fter a fes­ tive o p e n in g d a y , as th e staff b e g a n to d e al w ith th e p u b lic , w e fo u n d som e visitors w e re m o re w elcom e th a n o thers b ecause som e w e re sim ply n o t good guests. T his b o th erso m e c ateg o ry o f callers w a s lo­ c al a re a school c h ild ren w h o c a m e a fte r school a n d on w eekends to sk a teb o a rd , r u n th ro u g h th e b u ild ­ ing, p la y w ith th e o n lin e c a ta lo g a n d o th e r com ­ p u ters, m ak e calls fro m o ne p a y p h o n e in th e b u ild ­ ing to a n o th e r to h e a r th e m rin g , a n d otherw ise exhibit b e h av io r t h a t w as n o t conducive to c o ncen­ tra tio n , study, re a d in g , or research. S taff found them selves try in g to c o n tro l curious, noisy, m isbe­ h a v in g c h ild ren all o ver th e b u ild in g . A t o ne p o in t, a d d itio n a l security officers w e re h ire d to h e lp li­ b ra ry staff c o n tro l c h ild ren in th e facility. O u r ob ­ jective w as to d iscourage th e m from co m in g to th e lib ra ry w h e re , unsupervised by tea ch e rs o r p a r ­ ents, th e y b e c a m e d isruptive. I n th e m id st of th is u n h a p p y situ atio n , w e re ­ April 1989 / 265 ceived a call from the assistant principal of the nearb y elem entary school, w ho w a n ted to arrange a to u r of th e lib ra ry for th e fifth grade students. O ne of the teachers h a d visited th e cam pus and th ought it would be a w onderful opp o rtu n ity for th e children to see “ all the com puters” a nd to visit an academ ic library, especially one w hich they had w a tc h e d th ro u g h a ll th e phases of construction from g ro u n d -b rea k in g to d e d ic atio n . W ith th e staff already spending alm ost m ore tim e policing children th a n in providing inform ation services for users, one of o u r last interests w as to invite m ore school children to the building. A dditionally, the design of ou r collections a nd service program m ade th e lib ra ry e specially in a p p r o p r ia te fo r use by youngsters. As a b rand-new institution, our collec­ tio n is highly selective a nd is plan n ed to support only the needs of a g raduate a n d upper-level cur­ riculum in specific disciplines. W e rely heavily on access to a nd delivery of resources from the Tem pe cam pus, a service w hich is not available to non­ students u nder 21 years of age. In fa ct, those under 21 are not eligible fo r borrow ing privileges. O u r periodical holdings a re largely on m icrofiche. And since th e library opened, the staff w as extremely busy teaching students how to use an electronic li­ b ra ry w hich uses a n o n -traditional m odel for deliv­ ery of services. Besides, alm ost all of the children w h o h a d come to th e library so fa r h a d only caused b e h av io r p roblem s b o th inside a n d outside th e building, and everything w e d id w as aim ed a t dis­ couraging this group from com ing anyw here near the cam pus. T his was the message I conveyed to the caller. T he assistant principal invited m e to consider an a lternative approach to our problem w hich she be­ lieved w ould correct some of the behavior p rob­ lems w e h a d experienced. If w e w o uld provide a to u r for the fifth-graders, w e could deliver a posi­ tive message to the children a bout w h a t goes on in a n academ ic lib ra ry , a nd w hy a q u iet environm ent is im p o rta n t to the students of the University who are its p rim a ry users. W e could explain w h a t the com puters are for and w hy th ey aren ’t toys, and we could tell them w hy they should come w ith their parents if they w a nted to use this p a rtic u la r li­ b rary. She suggested th a t once their curiosity about w h a t was here w as satisfied, w e w ould see few er u n a tte n d e d c h ild re n in th e b u ild in g . She c o n ­ vinced m e t h a t if w e w ould give them th e o p portu­ n ity to visit th e lib ra ry , w e could stand to benefit considerably ourselves by solving some of our p ro b ­ lems w ith local children. W e agreed to schedule a field trip for the students, w ith th e understanding th a t I w ould coordinate the visit w ith the school li­ b ra ria n . I explained our situation to th e lib ra rian w ho understood th e lim itations of our library for fifth-grade students, a nd w ho a rranged to visit the class th e day before th e trip a n d give a talk to them about college-level study and th e difference be­ tw een th eir lib ra ry and ours. T he assistant p rinci­ pal planned to talk to them a b o u t behavior. Some tw e n ty students along w ith their teacher, school lib ra rian , and assistant principal arrived for th e ir to u r, w h ich w as h a ndled by tw o lib ra ry p a ra ­ professionals. Before th e to u r began, the lib ra ry as­ sistants talked a b o u t the need for a q uiet environ­ m ent in this lib ra ry , a nd explained w hy children should come w ith th e ir parents if they w an ted to use th e library. In a d dition to a w alking tour of the building, they gave dem onstrations of the online catalog, a CD-RO M index, o ur N ational G allery of A rt laser disk, and m icrofiche readers. T he chil­ d re n w ere quiet, th e to u r w ent w ell, b u t w e d id n ’t realize how well u n til w e received letters from the students a few days later. W e found w e h a d served as recruiters, w hen one student wrote: “W hen I grow u p and go to college I w a n t to go th e re to ASU W est,” and another said: “I can ’t w a it u n til 1996, w hich is w hen I will be go­ ing to college. T h a t is p ro b a b ly w h en you have re­ tired or q u it, b u t I hope th ere w ill be teachers as nice as y ou.” T hey w ere impressed w ith technol­ ogy, a nd m ay be th e only group of users w e have encountered w ho seem to like m icrofiche. They w rote: “My favorite things w ere y our C D player and th e m icrofische,” a nd “I am am azed at the stuff you have there. I did n ’t know th a t you have m icrofische.” T here w as evidence th a t w e would see an im provem ent in behavior from letters w hich said, “W e m ostly th a n k you for tru stin g us,” and from this confession: “I ’m sorry for all th e people w ho have been riding th eir skateboards up to the library. I ’m one of them . I am sorry for w h a t I d id .” Finally, w e h eard from a traditionalist: “T he four things th a t I liked w ere th e com puters, the d a ta disks, a nd th e new spaper copier. But th e one th in g I liked m ost of all w as th e books.” T o w ork to w a rd a m ore positive a nd w orkable relationship w ith b oth elem entary a nd secondary school students w ho com e to the lib ra ry , w e have taken a pro-active stance in establishing a program of w orking through th e school librarians in our area to educate the teachers they w ork w ith about th e lim itations and the possibilities of using the ASU W est C am pus library. W e have invited the school librarians from each district to come to our cam pus for a lib ra ry tour. W e have held discussions a t these sessions a bout how w e can w ork together to h a ndle th e lib ra ry needs of th eir students. W hen w e receive requests for tours o r from teachers w ho w a n t to b ring classes, w e require th a t they h ave a session w ith th e ir school l ib r a r ia n befo re they come. W e ask the librarians to provide basic in­ struction, such as how to read L C call num bers, a nd to explain some of our policies. W hen high school students or classes arrive w ith o u t m aking prior arrangem ents, w e contact th e school lib ra r­ ian and ask him or her to encourage the faculty m em ber to p lan fu tu re visits a h ea d of tim e, and only come w h en th e assignm ent is ap p ro p ria te to ou r collection a nd students have some instruction in how to use our lib ra ry . E lem en tary school li­ b rarians are asked to stress ap p ro p ria te behavior. 266 / C&RL News W e h a v e a lre a d y seen enco u ra g in g a n d positive results from o u r p a rtn e rsh ip a p p ro a c h to serving those young lib ra ry users w h o m a y b e o u r fu tu re students. T h e a u th o r w ishes to ac kn o w led g e the co n trib u ­ tions to this article m a d e b y th e fifth -g ra d e students a n d the a d m in istra tio n o f S w e e tw a te r School in G lendale, A rizona. ■ ■ ALA c a n d id a t e s o n ACRL The fo u r candidates fo r A L A president share their views on academic and research librarianship. R ebecca T. B in g h a m Richard M. Dougherty Ire n e B. H o adley H a nnelore B. R ader R e c e n t l y th e ALA pre sid en tial can d id ate s w ere asked to give som e th o u g h t to A L A /A C R L relations a nd aca d em ic lib ra ria n sh ip in ge n era l for this spe­ cial C ir R L N e w s fe atu re. T h e ir sta te m en ts m ay a id you w h e n you vote for ALA officers on this spring"s b allot. Rebecca T. Bingham: I h a v e lo n g a d m i r e d th e l e a d e r s h ip ro le of A C R L , ALA’s largest, fin an c ia lly strongest u n it. I believe t h a t th e goal of any professional association is to e n h an c e th e profession i t represents a n d th e tale n ts a n d abilities of its m em bers. By th is m ea ­ sure, A C R L ’s re co rd is o u tstan d in g . I t has n o t only p ro v id ed a m odel of sta n d a rd s , long-range p la n ­ n in g a n d effective use of th e c h a p te r system for ALA, b u t A C R L has p layed a stro n g leadership role in ALA th ro u g h th e service of its m em bers a nd officers on C o uncil, in th e units, o n th e c o m m it­ tees, a n d o n th e ro u n d tables. At th e risk of so u n d in g d ra m a tic , I c an say th a t I h ave a lo n g-standing love a ffa ir a n d id en tification w ith a cadem ic libraries. I a ttrib u te m y b e ing a li­