ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 814 / C&RL N e w s ■ N o v e m b e r 1999 news I n t h e W h e n I w a s a c h ild , o n e o f th e g a m e s I e n ­ jo y e d p la y in g w a s “lib ra ry .” M y frie n d s a n d I w o u l d p u t c a rd s in o u r b o o k s a n d ta k e tu r n s c h e c k in g th e m o u t. W e th o u g h t th is w a s g re a t fu n . W e a ls o t h o u g h t th a t w a s w h a t lib ra ria n s d id — c h e c k o u t b o o k s. D espite th e m a n y efforts to u p d a t e o u r im a g e , th e s te r e o ty p ic a l “b u n - c a p p e d , b o o k -c h e c k in g -o u te r, s h u s h e r ” is still w h a t m a n y fo lk s th in k o f w h e n th e y th in k o f librarians. W e k n o w h o w e x c itin g a n d re w a rd in g o u r p ro fe s s io n c a n b e — o u r c h a lle n g e h a s b e e n to c o n v e y th at to th e b ro a d e r c o m m u n ity . P articu­ larly, w h e n w e th in k o f th e “g ra y in g o f th e p r o ­ fe ssio n ,” w e m u st th in k o f h o w w e a re g o in g to m a k e lib ra ria n sh ip lo o k e n tic in g to th e y o u n g p e o p le w h o have a n ever-expanding sm orgasbord o f c a re e r choices. ACRL h a s a n o p p o r tu n ity fo r y o u to c o rre c t this o u td a te d im a g e w ith y o u n g p e o p le b y p a r­ tic ipating in J o b S h a d o w D a y 2000. Ju n io r- a n d se n io r-h ig h sc h o o l s tu d e n ts a re b e in g m a tc h e d w ith w o rk p la c e m e n to rs to g e t a n u p -c lo se lo o k at a variety o f careers. ACRL, in p a rtn e rsh ip w ith ALA’s divisions, is jo in in g a sso c iatio n s th ro u g h ­ o u t t h e U n ite d States in s u p p o r t o f J o b S h a d o w Day. So “c h e c k o u t” th e details o n p a g e 826, a n d se n d in th e form to volu n te e r y o u r tim e a n d share y o u r e n th u s ia s m fo r l ib r a r ia n s h ip w ith s o m e y o u n g stu d e n ts w h o just m ay, o n e day, b e c o m e y o u r colleagues. A n d p l e a s e d o n ’t lim it t h e s h a r i n g w i t h t h o s e o u ts id e o f th e p ro fe s s io n . P la n o n s h a r­ ing y o u r skills, insights, a n d e x p e rtise w ith y o u r c o l l e a g u e s a t ACRL’s 1 0 th N a t io n a l C o n f e r ­ e n c e , M a rc h 1 5 - 1 8 , 2 0 0 1 , in D e n v e r , C o l o ­ r a d o . T h e “C all fo r P a r t ic i p a t io n ” a p p e a r s a s a n i n s e r t in t h is i s s u e a n d is o n t h e W e b a t h t t p : / / w w w . a l a .o r g / a c r l / d e n v e r . h t m l . T h e N a tio n a l C o n fe re n c e C o m m itte e is e a g e r to re ­ c eive y o u r p ro g ra m p ro p o sa ls. A nd D e n v e r will b e f u n , t o o . S e e E lle n M e t te r ’s o v e r v i e w o f D e n v e r o n p a g e 8 2 9 a n d s a v e M a rc h 1 5 -1 8 , 2001, to a tt e n d th e c o n f e r e n c e . — M ary E llen K. D avis Editor-in-Chief, medavis@ala.org mailto:medavis@ala.org