ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 242 ACRL Membership Meeting ANNUAL CONFERENCE DALLAS, TEXAS Thursday, June 24, 1971—2:00-4:00 p.m. President Anne C. Edmonds presided. The meeting was called to order and Miss Edmonds read the ACRL election results. The president-elect and chairmen-elect were an­ nounced and introduced (see p.221 of this is­ sue). Miss Edmonds then gave a report on the activities of the Board of Directors and covered the items discussed and acted upon at the first Board Meeting on Monday, June 21, 1971. Miss Edmonds introduced Mr. Pullen, Chair­ man of the Ad Hoc Committee on the ACRL Constitution and Bylaws, who read a proposed amendment to the ACRL Constitution, Section I, Article 9 (See CRL News, June 1971, p.170). Miss Edmonds called for a vote on the amendment; it passed unanimously. Miss Edmonds then introduced Mr. Forth, Chairman of the Committee on Academic Sta­ tus, who gave a report on the activities of his committee. He stated that there had been a number of meetings in the two years since the Committee was established, and that he felt the total results were very healthy. He mentioned that the Committee, on behalf of ACRL, had begun discussions with the Association of Amer­ can Colleges and the American Association of University Professors to see if it were pos­ sible to arrive at some sort of joint statement on academic status. Mr. Forth then referred to the Standards, Exhibit I, which had been dis­ tributed prior to the meeting. These had been approved in principle by the ACRL Board of Directors and published in the June 1971 issue of CRL, News. I move the adoption of the standards in Exhibit I, excepting number 4, as the offi­ cial ACRL interim standards for faculty status until such time as permanent joint standards are agreed on by AAUP, AAC, ACRL and perhaps other educational as­ sociations. A general discussion and question period on the proposed standards then followed. Mr. John Wilkenson, University of Toronto, commented that a great deal was being demanded in these standards, but if the section on education were left out, we would not be offering much in re­ turn. Mr. Forth replied that the Committee wanted to make them as strong as possible to have room for negotiations. Mr. Wilkenson agreed they should be strong b u t suggested we should be willing to police certain internal stan­ dards in return for what we are asking. Mrs. Susan Martin, Harvard University, then wanted to know whether adoption of the standards would include the sanctions portion and if so, was ACRL prepared to apply these as stated. Mr. Forth replied in the affirmative and stated it was his understanding that if the standards were adopted, they would become ALA standards and we can expect ALA to do what it could to implement them. Mr. James Riddles, University of the Pacific, moved an amendment to the mo­ tion to include Item 4, on education, in the standards. The motion was seconded and Mr. Riddles then spoke for his proposed amend­ ment. The California Library Association had adopted the standards as previously published including the item on educational requirements. He felt that if the national organization adopt­ ed standards in any way different from those published, difficulties would be created for the California Library Association and other organi­ zations which had endorsed these. Mr. John Beard, Montclair State College of New Jersey, spoke against Mr. Riddles’ proposed amend­ ment. He felt th at it was highly unrealistic at this time to require two master’s degrees for tenure. Mr. John Morgan, University of Toledo, pro­ posed a substitution in wording for Item 4, E d­ ucation. Because of the dual demands upon librari­ ans for both professional and subject field competence, librarians should expect that the acquisition of a relevant earned degree beyond the professional degree may be a requirement for promotion an d /o r tenure. After the motion was seconded Mr. James Schmidt, Ohio State University, spoke against both amendments and urged their defeat. Fur­ ther discussion followed. Mr. Bernard Holicky, Purdue University, then moved that discussion be ended and the issues brought to a vote. Af­ ter being seconded from the floor, Mr. Ho­ licky’s motion passed unanimously. The vote on Mr. Morgan’s substitution in wording was af­ firmative; Mr. Riddles’ amendment, however, was defeated. Discussion continued on the main motion. Mr. Beard spoke in support of the proposed standards. A question was raised concerning the library governance provisions. Mrs. Martin spoke against sanctions being applied; she thought that this provision could prove to be a hardship. Mr. Robert Grazier, Wayne State University, moved that the last sentence of Item 7, “the Librarians’ promotion ladder should have the same titles, ranks and steps as that of other faculty,” be stricken. His motion 24 3 We reco g n ize d th is u n i­ in te rn a tio n a l, reg io n a l, v e rsa l need and developed s ta te , and local e v e n ts are THE NEWSPAPER INDEX to indexed th ro u g h a com ­ The Chicago T rib u n e , The p le te range o f s u b je c t Los A ngeles T im es, The New c a te g o rie s , and in d iv id u a ls O rleans Tim es-Picayune, in a lp h a b e tic a l o rd e r and The W ash in g ton Post. by new spapers. Bound, Each new spaper w ill be c u m u la tiv e issues are indexed se p a ra te ly o r in a in c lu d e d a n n ua lly. In a d d i­ com bined m o n th ly volum e tio n , o f course, m ic ro film ava ila b le b e g in ning o f each o f th e se new spapers January, 1972. N a tio n a l, is a va ila b le fro m us. You asked f o r a balanced, easy-to-use ne w sp a pe r index. W e've made i t a w ay o f life to pro d u ce w h a t you need. John M. Carter. Librarian at Winthrop College fo r Women, Rock Hill, S. C„ suggested: ”We really need adiversified, easy-to-use newspaper index.” 244 was seconded and discussed. Mr. E. J. Josey, State Library of New York, was one of several members speaking against this proposed amendment. Mr. Holicky moved to close debate and his motion was seconded and carried. The vote on Mr. Grazier’s amendment to delete the last sentence of Item 7 was defeated. Miss E d­ monds then called for the membership’s vote on Mr. Forth’s motion. The motion carried. Miss Edmonds next introduced Mr. Roy Kid­ man, University of Southern California and in­ coming chairman of the Committee on Academ­ ic Status, who discussed the Program of Action for the ALA Staff Committee on Mediation, Ar­ bitration and Inquiry. He explained that ap­ proval of this program would make standards an ALA matter rather than one for ACRL to handle, and th at he felt the position of academ­ ic librarians would be weakened by having their grievances handled by people who might not understand their problems. Mr. Beard then introduced the following resolution. W hereas, the achievement of academic status for all academic librarians is a press­ ing need, and W hereas, it has been demonstrated that those librarians who have academic status may, without adequate assistance, lose that status, and W hereas, the ACRL Board of Directors have voted to establish an Office for Aca­ demic Status at ACRL headquarters to provide the needed services and assistance for the achievement and retention of aca­ demic status by academic librarians, and W hereas, it is obvious th a t the proposed Program of Action for Mediation, Arbitra­ tion and Investigation will not meet all the needs of academic librarians, Be it therefore resolved that the ACRL Membership Meeting instruct the Board of Directors to assure the establish­ ment of the Office for Academic Status without delay by securing full funding for this office in the 1971-72 budget, and Be it further resolved that, failing to achieve this funding through allotment from the ALA, the ACRL impose a fee of five dollars ($5.00) .upon each of its per­ sonal members and ten dollars ($10.00) upon each of its institutional members, as provided in the ALA Bylaws, Article VI, Section 6 ( c ) , the proceeds of this assess­ ment to be used exclusively to support the establishment and operation of an Office for Academic Status. He moved the adoption of this resolution by the membership; the motion was seconded. During the discussion which followed, Mr. Beard explained his conviction th at the New Jersey librarians would not have lost their aca­ demic status had such an office been in exis­ tence to help them. Mr. Riddles moved the question; the motion carried. Miss Page Ackerman, UCLA, then asked for clarification on the ALA Program of Action. She said that Mr. Kidman’s remarks indicated the Program of Action was to be regarded as a substitute for an Office of Academic Status. This was not her understanding of the intent of the Program. She stated th at she thought the staff committee would handle individual cases concerning those who had tenure and lost it, but that it would not be a standard implement­ ing body; that is, implementing standards for institutions. Miss Edmonds replied that as Mr. Kidman pointed out, the program proposed by the Aca­ demic Status Committee included much more than would be covered by the ALA Staff Com­ mittee on Mediation, Arbitration and Inquiry program. However, ACRL had twice requested money for such an office and each time our funding had been disallowed. The ACRL Com­ mittee, agreeing th at some mechanism must be established to handle immediate problems, was therefore requesting approval of the ALA Staff Committee, b u t only on an interim basis, until ACRL could establish its own office and proce­ dures. Mr. Grazier asked to be recognized so that he could read the following statement which had been formulated at the meeting of the ACRL Publications Committee on June 22, 1971, for presentation to the ACRL member­ ship. Among the highest priorities of ACRL is a continuation of the current publishing program of CHOICE, CRL, CRL News, and Monographs at the same level of pro­ fessional excellence they have enjoyed in the past. For that reason the ACRL Publi­ cations Committee recommends to the membership th at it enter its strong objec­ tions to the COPES reduction of funds in the amount of $50,000 for CHOICE and reduction of CRL News to a bimonthly publication. We further recommend that the membership convey to the ALA Coun­ cil its view th at the prospective reduction of $50,000 in the budget of CHOICE and the proposed reduction in the number of issues of CRL News are completely unac­ ceptable to the members of ACRL. He then moved for adoption of the resolution by the membership. During the ensuing discus­ sion, Mr. Richard Dougherty, editor of CRL, related the background and sequence of events which had led the committee to draft the reso­ lution. Mr. Beard then moved the question; it carried unanimously. The next item brought up by Miss Edmonds 245 was the problem of reorganization and the ACONDA study. Miss Edmonds referred back to the membership meeting at the Annual Con­ ference in Detroit and stated th at the officers wanted to know the membership’s wishes on federation or a similar concept. She then asked Mr. Lou Jacob, Chairman of one of the Task Force committees, to read the goals which his group had drafted. These were read. (See Ex­ hibit III of the ACRL Board of Directors Meet­ ing in this issue.) Following Mr. Jacob’s presentation the dis­ cussion centered around the feasibility of sep­ aration from ALA or federation; it was felt that perhaps ACRL should go along for the time be­ ing on an “as is” basis, while a program was be­ ing worked out and alternatives explored. Mr. Arthur McAnally, University of Oklahoma, then made a brief statement. He referred to ALA as chaotic, unchangeable, and beyond hope. He mentioned that the Committee on Academic Status has been hamstrung financially and inter­ fered with by other units of ALA. He said ACRL is suffering attacks on its publications program, and although paying the largest amount in dues of any division, was getting lit­ tle in return. He said we must control our own destiny, work for our own members, set our own dues and decide on our own programs. He felt we should poll the entire membership to determine which course they wished to follow —complete separation, federation, or organiza­ tion as ALA wishes. If we should decide to go the separation route, he declared, a target date of September 1, 1973, should be set. It was also suggested th at in the interim all academic li­ brarians who are not presently members of ACRL should be questioned to learn if they would be inclined to join the Association once it served primarily their interests. 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