ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 1 0 2 / C & R L N e w s ■ F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 3 C o l l e g e & R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s ns ew Dumont and Maloy share plans for ACRL Vote in the election this spring E d. note: C&RL N ews offered ACRL candi­dates for vice-president/president-elect, Paul Dumont and Frances Maloy, this opportunity share their views with the membership. Although many o f the issues facing ACRL are discussed informally at meetings, we want to use this venue to provide a national forum to all members. We hope this will assist you in making an informed choice when you receive your ballot this spring. PAUL DUMONT “Reason and judgement are the qualities of a leader.”— Tacitus “Judge a leader by the followers. ” — Anonymous What an honor it is to stand for the presidency of ACRL, the largest division of the ALA, with a membership o f approximately 11,000 academic librarians, information professionals, and inter­ ested individuals, ACRL is acclaimed for its spirit of dedication to service and advocacy for all aca­ demic librarians and information professionals. Through its chapters, sections, discussion groups, committees, and task forces, ACRL members will lead our profession through the challenges cur­ rently facing academic libraries. As academic and research librarians, our overarching goal is to provide services to our stu­ dents and faculties to further improve learning and research in all academic institutions. To achieve this goal, the profession and the libraries we serve must flourish. We must work collectively on an almost daunting number of critical issues identi- to Paul Dum ont Frances Maloy fled by the ACRL membership, task forces, and association leaders over the past couple o f years. Th e c h a lle n g e s Among the issues are 1) recruitment, education, and retention o f librarians; 2) the role o f the library in academic institutions; 3) the impact of information technology on library services; 4) digi­ tal resources in our libraries; 5) scholarly commu­ nication and publishing; 6) the role o f academic libraries in teaching, learning, and research; 7) mar­ keting our academic libraries; and 8) funding for our libraries in the academic enterprise. These are but a few of the many challenges that have been identified as critical by our members, the Board o f Directors, and the strategic plan. Some of the issues mentioned are currently being addressed by ACRL. In 2001, ACRL Presi­ dent Mary Reichel established the Focus on the Future Task Force whose chair, W. Lee Hisle, re­ ported on the task force’s progress in the Novem- A b o u t the authors Paul E. Dumont is director o f educational resources support services for the Seven Colleges Dallas County Community College District, e-mail: Pdumont@dcccd.edu; Frances Maloy is leader o f the access services division at Emory University, e­ mail: libfm@emory.edu nosre lk W i m Ti 2 002 thgirypoC mailto:Pdumont@dcccd.edu C&RL News ■ February 2003 / 103 ber 2002 issue of C&RL News. ACRL President Helen Spalding has created a complimentary task force, chaired by Maureen Sullivan, to look at the future of ACRL as an association and has partici­ pated with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to appoint an ACR1/ARL Joint Task Force for Recruitment into the Profession, led by Shirley Baker and Hannelore Rader. Spalding has also cre­ ated a task force led by Ken Marks to develop the ACRL @ Your Library Campaign. This group will roll out its first training sessions on how to develop an academic library marketing strategy at the ACRL National Conference in Charlotte. Spalding has also appointed Board member Theresa Byrd as chair of the ACRL Spectrum Scholar Mentor Task Force. The Board of Directors has incorporated these initiatives into its strategic plans and the divi­ sions’ sections and committees are including them in their activities. The Board continues to support diversity in the profession through its generous contributions on your behalf to the ALA Spectrum Initiative. President-elect Tyrone Cannon will be work­ ing with academic libraries to embrace the new resources revolutionizing the cooperative sharing and equitable availability of information and in­ formation literacy. All of these initiatives are im­ portant and will have, if successful, a powerful influence on the good of our association, our pro­ fession, and our campuses. I don’t want to identify a new theme that will pull resources and attention away from these criti­ cal initiatives that are moving forward. I pledge to lead ACRL to the successful accomplishment of these ongoing initiatives. Success in each area will be different, but, taken together, I will guide and shepherd them to concrete, measurable outcomes. I will also continue to foster and further develop ACRL’s culture of opportunity for talent and lead­ ership, providing opportunities for members to serve and contribute to the future of our profession. Service I have been an active member of ALA and ACRL for the past 30 years. I have served you on many ACRL committees, sections, councils, task forces, and boards. Some examples of my ACRL service are my many years of service with the Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) as sec­ tion chair and my service as a Board member, chair of various committees, and Texas Chapter representative to ACRL Chapters Council. A h e a lth y associatio n needs a ste ad y stream o f n ew ideas and in itiative s, b ut it also needs tim e and e n e rg y spen t on e n su rin g the ve ry best outcom es fo r w h a t it starts.—Paul Dum ont I am very proud of receiving the 1992 ACRI/ CJCLS EBSCO Community College Learning Re­ sources Leadership Award. I have just completed four years on the ACRL Board of Directors and have, in the past, served on ALA and ACRL statis­ tics committees as well as ACRL nominations and awards committees. I cuπently serve on the College an d R esearch Librarieseditorial board. Beyond ACRL service, I chaired the Texas Li­ brary Association College and University Section; I am past chair of the AMIGOS Board of Direc­ tors and currently an elected AMIGOS represen­ tative to OCLC Members Council; I have served on many committees of the Texas Library Asso­ ciation and recently completed two terms on the Texas State Library TexShare Advisory Board. Does it seem as if I can’t say no? Well, I con­ sider professional service a privilege—I learn so much and make deep friendships—and as a re­ sponsibility, I want to make academic librarianship better because of my having been an academic librarian! In any case, professional service has been an important part of my career, and ACRL has been my venue of choice. The road ahead With the help of ACRL members, through chap­ ters, sections, discussion groups, committees, task forces, and leadership, I would like to work with all of you. What would we work on together? In reviewing what’s on our collective plate now, it seems to me imperative that ACRL position it­ self to lead our profession through the challenges ahead. ACRL must remain a significant partner with ALA and its Spectrum and @ Your Library initia­ tives. ACRL must continue the development of the Institute for Information Literacy and Harvard Leadership Institute. It is imperative that the ACRL leadership support Susan Martin, program officer for scholarly communications, and the Scholarly Communications Committee, led by Ray English, in their SPARC efforts. The ARL/ACRL Joint 1 04 I C&RL News ■ February 2003 Task Force for Recruitment into the Profession, as well as the ACRL academic and research library campaign will provide the ACRL leadership with a roadmap w e can use to respond to important problems facing our profession. These efforts, along with the work o f the Focus on the Future Task Force, represent the best academic library talent serving all ACRL members. I would like to use my effort and energy to lead ACRL into the brightest o f futures and ask for your support. Each new ACRL president is steadied and strengthened by the solid foundation built by past presidents and past Boards o f Directors. As I look to ACRL’s near-term future (three-to-five years), w e have a lot of unfinished legacy initiatives on our plate. Through these initiatives w e have collectively started to explore and define: • What it means to be an association in the 21st century. • What the future holds for us, our association, and our libraries. • The ways in which w e might become more successful at influencing and changing that future. Seven issues to focus on I would posit that the efforts w e now have under­ w ay are critical to ACRL’s ability to affect the course and future o f information access and de­ livery o f services to our students, faculty and in­ stitutions, that w e need to commit deeply to them and shepherd them to completion. Many o f you have had experiences o f good efforts that fail to become implemented and mainstreamed. It is im­ portant that ACRL leadership, as well as all o f us as members, focus our collective energy on the following seven issues: F R A N C E S M A L O Y Being a part of a vibrant organization such as ACRL has energized me and my library career, and it is a great honor to be nominated to stand for vice-presi­ dent/president-elect. ACRL provides leadership for librarians, contributes to the continuing education o f librarians and academic administrators, and ad­ vocates for the work of librarians, libraries, and the needs o f the people w e serve. I am very impressed with the new initiatives ACRL is undertaking, such as SPARC, Spectrum fellows, information literacy, and the future o f ACRL. I fully support the strate­ gic plan and I think it is visionary while also prag­ matic and achievable. Theme As president, I will focus on two themes: the inte­ 1. Define what our future membership will look like. 2. Influence the course o f scholarly communi­ cation. 3. Raise the awareness o f North America’s educated public about the value and role o f aca­ demic libraries. 4. Recruit and provide opportunities for new and diverse members in the academic library pro­ fession. 5. Define the role o f and secure funding for the library in the academic enterprise. 6. Lead our institutions in digital resource de­ velopment. 7. D evelop strategies for funding the future direction o f our ACRL. All o f these issues are vital to the healthy fu­ ture o f ACRL and our profession. As ACRL Presi­ dent, I will work closely with the elected Board o f Directors to guide, nurture, and manage these and other new initiatives to fruition. A healthy association needs a steady stream of new ideas and initiatives, but it also needs time and energy spent on ensuring the very best out­ comes for what it starts. All the initiatives are complex, multiyear, multithreaded, and bravely undertaken efforts. To ensure that ACRL’s efforts really result in concrete outcomes is a task I would welcome. It is something I am very good at doing. I have lots o f experience in working with diverse groups and points o f view, building toward com­ mon goals. These initiatives are each vitally important to our future. Each o f these needs our collective care. That is my theme, “Leading for collective care! Working together to define and shape our future. ” gration o f academic libraries into the teaching and research activities o f their institutions and the relationship o f the academic library with the university’s campus life. I believe that the mission o f all academic and research libraries is to further the learning, teach­ ing, and research goals o f the institution it serves. We directly impact the ability o f the institution to meet these goals. I will champion the library’s role as integral to the teaching and research processes and the librarian’s role as a partner to faculty and researchers. ACRL has already made efforts in this area through initiatives such as its advertising cam­ paign in the Chronicle ofH igherE ducαtiσna nd its awards o f excellence to a college, university, and community college. To promote this theme, my president’s program, columns in C&RL News, and C&RL News ■ F eb ru a ry 2003 / 105 discussion groups would be focused on how li­ braries and librarians can become more integral to the teaching and research activities on their cam­ puses. I also feel academic and research libraries should embrace their ability to affect another education arena— campus life. We know a col­ lege education doesn’t just happen through the classroom; doing research, extracurricular activi­ ties, the diversity o f the student body and man­ aging the pressures o f campus life also play an important part. The library has a great ability to affect the quality o f a student’s experience not only through its collections and services but also by serving as a central gathering place for stu­ dents through an open environment and being a cultural center for the campus with exhibits, dis­ cussions, and speakers. As academic librarians, I think w e do not fully realize the impact w e can have on the climate o f a campus. I am interested in exploring how academic and research libraries can expand their relationship to campus life and the broad goals o f the institution. Strategic direction priorities I am particularly interested in two o f the ACRL strategic directions— how w e can attract, retain, and grow talented people to academic libraries as a career and h ow the ACRL office can achieve excellence in service to its members. The shortage o f qualified applicants for posi­ tions is well documented, and my ow n library is challenged to fill positions requiring specialized knowledge and skills and management experience. ACRL is already involved in many initiatives to help attract and grow talent. ACRL can play a role in exploring h o w w e grow and promote staff in our libraries w ho do not have library degrees. This type o f employee can be a technologist, a cataloger, or bibliographer with a master’s degree or Ph.D. in a subject field, a manager with many years o f experience, a re­ cent college graduate with fresh and creative ideas and the energy and drive to implement them. H ow do w e include these employees in our field? H o w d o w e pro vide opportunities for these em ployees to continue to grow and be recognized for their accomplishments in our libraries? H o w do w e prom ote librarianship and a degree in librarianship to these talented people? What is the role o f a professional or­ g a n iz a tio n d e d ic a te d to librarian s and librarianship? Finding answers to these ques­ tions should not only help us all clarify what it The library has a great a b ility to affect the q u a lity o f a student's experience n o t o n ly th ro u g h its collections and services b u t also b y serving as a central gathering place fo r students th ro u g h an open e n viro n m e n t and being a cultural center fo r th e campus w ith exhibits, discussions, and speakers. — Frances M aloy means to be a profession, but should also help us to hire and retain competent people. As a participant in a discussion on the future o f ACRL in a leadership forum at Annual Confer­ ence last summer, I was struck by tw o things: first, many o f our members are not aware o f all the ACRL initiatives and, second, members ex­ pressed frustration with the ALA bureaucracy. Many suggestions for new initiatives were things ACRL was already doing. We need to find more effective ways to promote ACRL’s services and programs to its members. While communica­ tion problems in large organizations will always be a challenge, I am interested in exploring how w e can better educate ourselves about all o f the ACRL initiatives. While it is important to identify the work the ALA offices do on our behalf, w e need to recog­ nize the dissatisfaction ACRL members express about the ALA bureaucracy. I am interested in working with ACRL leaders and the office staff on finding ways to address this dissatisfaction. I am curious as to what the dissatisfaction is about, so that w e can identify aspects w e might be able to change in our rela­ tionship to ALA, w here w e can create w ork­ arounds, and what w e need to accept. Strengths I have been active in ACRL for nearly 20 years and have served in a variety o f capacities. From this experience, I understand what it is like to be a member o f ACRL and, as president, I w ill be sensitive to the needs o f members. My 20 years experience in libraries, at both a small college and a research institution, and my experience as an ACRL board member, enable me to understand and represent our diverse membership. The ex- 106 / C&RL News ■ February 2003 perience I had with leading my library’s organiza­ tional redesign project for three years taught me how to manage complex and emotionally charged issues, while staying focused on the end goal. I also gained extensive experience leading groups in dis­ cussions and in making decisions. I have excellent listening skills and can articulate key points clearly. I am truly interested in getting to know other people and developing effective relationships with them. ( “.Internet resources, ” cont.f ro m page 99) bibliography of core titles, and a guide for school teachers, as well as language lessons, grammar, glos­ saries, poems, songs, short stories, riddles, and more in Tagalog. Access: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Ta- galog/Tagalog_mainpage.htm. • Mindanao Homepage. This is a commer­ cial site, but the virtual city tours (not interactive) cover more information than most, including maps, local sites o f interest, and local history. Access: http://www.mindanao.com/. Singapore • KnowledgeNet Singapore. This site bills itself as the “Authoritative Singapore History Site.” It bases the authority in part on its associa­ tion with the National Archives o f Singapore. This sophisticated site presents multiple databases o f text and images through three major entry ways: biographies, landscapes, and chronologies. There is also a forum for students, an e-journal with full- text articles (some o f them reprinted from pub­ lished sources), and links to a small number o f unusual Singapore history Web pages (such as the Germans in Singapore). Access: http://www. knowledgenet.com.sg/. • National University of Singapore Digi­ tal Library. This collection includes original documents and bibliographies. PDF files include an 1830’s travel diary and a Chinese-language news­ paper. Best o f all is Tim Yap Fuan’s “A Sense o f History: a select bibliography on the history o f Singapore” (based on the print edition o f 1998), as well as a bibliography of Singapore literary criti­ cism. Access: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ecoll/ projects.html. Thailand • Information on 76 Provinces. Hosted by the royal Golden Jubilee Network, this site contains images and descriptions of cultural life in each province. Access: http://kanchanapisek. or.th/kρ8/oncc/. • Leeds Thai Politics Bibliography. This comprehensive (but not current) bibliography of Finally, I am dedicated to the profession, and I love being a librarian. I am a librarian because I personally cherish the values libraries stand for— respect for differences, freedom o f inquiry, free­ dom o f expression, and open access to informa­ tion. As your president, I will enable us to work together to keep ACRL strong and effective while strengthening our ow n positions in our institu­ tions. ■ books and articles (no links to full text) was pro­ duced in 1998 by Michael Nelson o f the Univer­ sity o f Leeds. Access: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ thaipol/thaibibl.htm. • Thai Fiction in Translation. Created by Marcel Barang, a journalist living in Thailand, this site offers a menu o f Thai short stories, novels, or excerpts that have been translated into French or English. Access: http://www.thaifiction.com/. • Yao Religious Culture Bibliography. Created by Barend ter Haar in Leiden, this bibli­ ography covers scholarship o f the Chinese and Thai regions o f the Yao people. Many o f the cita­ tions are in European languages. Access: http:// www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/yao.htm. Vietnam • Indochina Arts Partnership. This site is the result o f a partnership between U.S. and Vietnamese cultural institutions. The Web page carries a calendar o f arts events, lists o f artists and exhibitions, one online exhibition, and links to related Web sites. It uses graphics heavily and does not appear to work on some Netscape brows­ ers. Access: http://www.iapone.org/. • The Vietnam Project, Texas Tech University. The Vietnam Center is dedicated to scholarship o f the American experience in Vietnam, but the Web site provides a rich vari­ ety o f materials unrelated to the American as­ pects o f the Vietnamese revolution and war. The Virtual Vietnam Archive contains nearly half a million digital documents, videos, and sound files available for download. Access: http:// www.viemam.ttu.edu/. • Vietnamese Language Homepage. From Arizona State University, this page has links to online language learning resources. Access: http://www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/. ■ M o r e a b o u t S o u th e a s t A s ia See the full article on the Web at http:// www.ala.org/acrl/resfeb03.html. http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Ta- http://www.mindanao.com/ http://www http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ecoll/ http://kanchanapisek http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ http://www.thaifiction.com/ http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/yao.htm http://www.iapone.org/ http://www.viemam.ttu.edu/ http://www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/ http://www.ala.org/acrl/resfeb03.html C&RL News ■ February 2003 / 107