ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


168

m ight be more appropriately shown in a special may encourage viewers to relate m aterials in new 
collections area than the lobby of an undergradu­ ways. Occasionally campus libraries m ay provide 
ate library. alternative exhibition space for shows deemed in­

Most library exhibit program s w ould benefit appropriate for the art gallery or museum. And on 
from broader participation by library faculty and occasion library exhibit planners should take their 
staff in their planning and execution. Although shows “on the road” to the student union or adm in­
special skills are involved in exhibit preparation, an istration building. The services offered by aca­
experienced installer or a committee appointed to demic libraries and the astonishing variety of m ate­
oversee exhibitions could assist w ith technical ques­ rials they house deserve w ider recognition.
tions. Library exhibits offer a fine opportunity to The conception of an exhibit idea, the research 
bring patrons and inform ation together under en­ needed to choose items to be included and the orga­
joyable circumstances. nization of these m aterials into a m eaningful pre­

W hile exhibitions are a secondary function of ac­ sentation are a challenge for the exhibit planner. At 
ademic libraries, they may make a substantial con­ its best, the academic library exhibit is a scholarly 
tribution to the academic community. An exhibit effort subject to review by a large audience. Al­
c a ta lo g  p u b lish ed  in-house can c o rre la te  and though few libraries can m ount exhibits on the 
present inform ation which is otherwise unavail­ scale of the New York P ublic L ib ra ry ’s recent 
able. This is especially true for collections of local show, “Censorship: 500 Years of C onflict,” such ef­
and regional m aterials. Because libraries generally forts should serve to inspire the library com m unity 
approach exhibitions from a contextual perspec­ to use exhibitions more purposefully. ■ ■
tive, skillfully w ritten captions and commentaries

ACRL and higher education

By JoAn S. Segal and Sharon Rogers

The ACRL executive director and president visit the 
higher education community in Washington, D.C.

S i n c e  the ALA M idw inter Meeting was held in 

W ashington, D .C ., w here m any higher education 
associations have their headquarters, Sharon Rog­
ers and JoAn Segal decided the visit m ight afford an 
opportunity to meet w ith leaders in those associa­
tions to establish some links between the profes­
sional association for academic librarians and the 
associations dealing w ith the academy in its other 
aspects. On January 11 we visited the American As­
sociation for Higher Education (AAHE), the Asso­
ciation of American Colleges (AAC), the Chronicle 
o f Higher Education, and the American Council

on Education (ACE).
At AAHE, we had an excellent visit. The Associ­

ation, like ACRL, is one of individual members. 
Most of the members are adm inistrators in institu­
tions of higher education. An im portant activity of 
this association is th e N atio n al C onference on 
Higher Education (N CH E), which will be held this 
year in Chicago. AAHE seeks a broad base of m em ­
bership, and offers through its National Confer­
ence the opportunity for networks of educators to 
meet together and to establish relationships w ithin 
their own groups and betw een the groups. W e



169

w ere invited to use th e N ational C onference as a 
w ay of im proving our netw orking activities w ith 
others in th e field of higher education.

It is possible, for exam ple, for us to m eet on an 
inform al level, to hold com m ittee m eetings at the 
tim e and place of the conference, to exhibit, to hold 
a reception, or to design some kind of joint session. 
W e decided th a t p a rtic ip a tio n  in this y ear’s C o n ­
ference was very im p o rta n t for us, since th e C h i­
cago location m akes it possible for us to study the 
m eeting w ith  an eye to how  w e can use it m ost ef­
fectively to advance th e linking of lib rarian s and 
o th er academ ics. As a result, w e have tak en  an ex­
h ib it booth for C hoice m agazine, and both Rogers 
an d  Segal w ill a tten d  th e m eetings, p artic ip a tin g  
actively w ith  a group of academ ic lib rarian s in ­
cluding Beverly L ynch, Joanne E u ster, P atricia 
Breivik, and o th er ACRL m em bers, w ho w ill ac­
tively seek ways to b rin g  the lib rary  role an d  pres­
ence to b ear in this im p o rta n t natio n al association.

L u n ch  w ith  M ark C urtis of th e Association of 
A m erican Colleges was an equally positive experi­
ence. C urtis suggested th a t ACRL m ight be in te r­
ested in an affiliate m em bership in AAC. In  a d d i­
tio n , he stressed th a t since th e  m em bers of th e  
Association are colleges th ere m ight be a good pos­
sibility for some joint g ra n t activity dealing w ith  li­
braries and th eir im p act in four year institutions. 
T h e a n n u a l m eetin g  of th e  AAC took p lace in 
W ashington, F e b ru a ry  10-13, and at th a t tim e the 
Association released an im p o rta n t rep o rt, In teg rity 
in the C urricu lu m , w hich voiced concern about 
u n d e rg ra d u a te  education, th e faculty role, and the 
need to provide an in teg ratin g  experience for the 
u n d e rg ra d u a te . W e p lan  to w rite a reaction p ap e r, 
b u t have not yet done so. W e will follow up on the 
affiliate m em bership idea and keep joint activity in 
m ind.

At th e C hronicle o f H igher E ducation  w e h ad  
th e o p p o rtu n ity  to m eet w ith  th ree w om en whose 
know ledge of the field of higher education and of 
th e  role of acad em ic lib ra rie s w as n o ta b le . W e 
shared in fo rm atio n  w ith  them  ab o u t w h a t is h a p ­
p ening in th e lib rary  w o rld , and our conversation 
ra n g e d  from  scholarly p u b licatio n s an d  in te rli­
b ra ry  loan to th e issues of access, legislation, and 
lib ra ry  au to m atio n . T he discussion w as lively and 
w e hope w ill have th e effect of giving th e C hronicle 
a source of inform ation reg ard in g  academ ic lib rar- 
ianship upon w hich they will call in th e fu tu re. In  
fact, d u rin g  th e C onference th ere w as considerable 
coverage by th e C hronicle an d  w e w ere asked to as­
sist in th e p re p a ra tio n  of an article involving an in ­
terview  w ith  an academ ic lib ra ria n . (The in te r­
view  w ith  C a ro ly n  D u se n b u ry  a p p e a re d  in th e 
F e b ru a ry  27 issue.)

At th e  A m erican C ouncil on E d u ca tio n  w e m et 
w ith  th e  new  Research D irector, Janice P etrovich, 
w ho discussed w ith  us th e opportunities for p a rtic i­
p a tio n  w ith  A C E in its ongoing activities. T he 
C ouncil is an association of institutional m em bers. 
In  fa c t, th e  A m erican  L ib ra ry  A ssociation is a

m em b er of A C E. It holds reg u lar w orkshops and 
m eetings th ro u g h o u t th e cou ntry. W e discussed the 
possibility of w orking jointly w ith  ACE in develop­
ing w orkshops, an d  in using resources of ACE to 
enrich th e  learn in g  experiences of academ ic lib ra r­
ians. W e also identified tw o groups m eeting in the 
W ashington, D .C ., area in th e field of higher e d u ­
cation research an d  have decided to m ake some 
overtures to those groups as well.

S ubsequent to our m eeting w ith  Petrovich we 
w ere asked to p re p a re  a proposal for A C R L p a rtic i­
p a tio n  in th e ACE A nnual M eeting in F lo rid a in 
O cto b e r. T h e th e m e  of th e  m eetin g  is C o rp o r- 
ate/C am p u s C ooperation. W e have suggested a 
p anel on th e academ ic lib rary , its p o ten tial role in 
p ro v id in g  in fo rm a tio n  services to c o rp o ratio n s, 
an d  its need for th e financial sup p o rt of those sam e 
corporations.

W e w ill continue to follow up on th e contacts 
m ad e in W ashington and will continue, u n d er the 
co o rdination of th e  Professional Association Liai-



170

son C o m m itte e  c h a ire d  by Jo an  C h a m b e rs, to 
m ake contacts w ith other higher education associa­

tions and to w ork cooperatively in bringing lib ra ri­
ans into the m ainstream  of academ ia. ■ ■

Baltimore ’86

Baltimore epitomizes “Energiesfor Transition.”

resent day Baltim ore is changing dram atically P
in its race to prepare for the electronic, high-tech 
future to w hich the B altim ore-W ashington corri­
dor seems destined. T he planning com m ittee for 
the F ourth N ational ACRL Conference is just p u t­
ting together the program , bu t it is not too early to 
think about visiting Baltim ore and its environs. 
Baltim ore is a city of the future, b u t its past is still 
visible to the casual observer. The energy of B alti­
m oreans has fueled a succession of u rb an  transfor­
m ations over the city’s long history. Hence, Balti­
m ore epitomizes the them e chosen for the ACRL 
C onference, “Energies for T ran sitio n ,” w hich is to 
be held at the Convention C enter April 9 -12,1986. 

H isto ry

T he C ity Leaders are fostering attem pts to learn 
from the past and to preserve outstanding achieve­
ments of earlier times. Baltim oreans recognize the 
tru th  of w h at John Dos Passos said of this city in 
1968:

“Some day the prim e movers who decide our 
destinies m ay come to understand th a t the charac­
ter of a city as a fit place for m en and w om en to live 
depends on the survival of intriguing vestiges of the 
p a s t.”1

W itness four inner-city archaeological digs in re­
cent m onths and the $11 million late 1970s restora­
tion of the 1875 C ity H all w ith its m agnificent ro­
tu n d a  and dome.

O nly a ham let in 1750, by the early nineteenth 
cen tu ry  B altim ore was considered a large city. 
From  m id-century to the end of the nineteenth cen-

LJohn Dorsey and James D. Dilts, A G uide to 
Baltim ore A rchitecture (2d ed., Centreville, Md.: 
T idew ater, 1981), p. xv.

tury, Baltim ore doubled its population again. One 
can now easily spot from atop Federal Hill or the 
W orld T rad e C enter the geographical features— 
the Piedm ont fall line to the W est and the sheltered 
harb o r on the E ast—w hich provided the energy7 
and outlet for B altim ore’s productivity. The city’s 
m aritim e and industrial heritage is depicted well in 
the Baltim ore Museum of Industry, one of the new ­
est of our city’s forty plus museums and galleries.

C alled the northernm ost Southern city in the 
country, B altim ore shared in the strengths of both 
regions. In the thriving nineteenth century, three 
of the four Baltim oreans who gave their names to 
w orld-renow ned city institutions w ere Yankees. 
Enoch P ra tt (of library fam e), born in M assachu­
setts, augm ented his already considerable fortune 
by controlling the horseshoe and mule-shoe busi­
ness during the Civil W ar. By 1830 George Pea­
body, also from M assachusetts, was the senior p a r t­
ner of the largest m ercantile house in the country. 
In 1857 he set about creating the Peabody Conserv­
atory, long the center of B altim ore’s musical life, 
and the Peabody L ibrary, now u nder the control of 
Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins was the native 
M arylander of the four, while the other Yankee 
was W illiam  T. W alters, originally from Pennsyl­
vania, whose collecting penchant eventually re­
sulted in the W alters Art Gallery. T he Peabody is 
one of the cornerstones of M ount V ernon Place, the 
sq u are su rro u n d in g  R obert M ill’s m o n u m en t to 
G eorge W a sh in g to n , fin ish ed  in 1829. M ount 
V ernon and nearby beautiful squares were hom e to 
m any prom inent families, some of old M aryland 
stock. Baltim ore looked to the South for guidance 
in the m atters of cookery, hospitality, and the so­
cial conventions gen erally . H en ry  Jam es once 
called these squares of M ount Vernon “the parlour