ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


In this issue:

Annual Report of the President, 
1974-75 ........................................ 213

L e t t e r s ............................................... 214
ACRL Internship Program . . 215
Inside W a sh in g to n ........................... 217
News From the Field . . . . 220
P e o p l e ............................................... 229
Classified Advertising . . . . 231

ISSN 0010-0870

C OL L E G E  
& R E S E A R C H  

L I BR

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NO. 7 •  JULY/AUGUST 1975

Annual Report of the President, 1974-75
D uring 1974-75, A CRL continued to re­

spond to issues more or less d ictated  by  the 
changing economic and  social conditions of the 
late 1960s and  the first years of th e present 
decade. Substantial progress was achieved in 
th e  area of developing standards for comm unity 
college and  college libraries w hich clearly rec­
ognize th e  need for a to tal integration of tr a ­
ditional library  services and a w ide array of 
new  educational technology. T h e  pu rsu it of the 
elusive goal of full faculty status for all academ ­
ic librarians continued to be a m ajor ACRL 
goal and th e  problem  of governance in all of 
its intriguing complexity w as d eb ate d  an d ex­
plored throu gh  traditional an d  nontraditional 
media.

Perhaps of m ore significance th an  m any will 
realize are th e  exciting plans for th e  C enten­
nial Convention developed by  th e Rare Books 
and  M anuscripts Section for a display of books 
and  docum ents w hich contain th e political and 
philosophical corpus o f ideas w hich produced 
th e  uniqu e experience in self-governm ent 
know n as th e  U nited States of America. In  a d ­
dition to recreating an aw areness th a t th e re  was 
a tim e in history w hen A m erica’s position in  the 
w orld rested on th e  intellectual an d moral q u al­
ity  of its leadership, this outstanding display 
g ath ered from libraries all over th e w orld ho pe­
fully will serve to rem ind the entire profession 
of its ow n intellectual an d  hum anistic origins 
and  responsibilities— som ething th a t is some­
tim es forgotten in  th e  headlong rush to  em ­
brace, in  toto, th e  fantastic tools of a techno­
logically o riented society. Perhaps, in d eed  it is 
to b e ho ped, th e outstand in g historical display 
p lanned b y  th e  Rare Books an d  M anuscripts

H. W illiam  A xf ord

Section m ay cause some reflection on th e  fact 
th a t no t all revolutions, irrespective of th eir 
origins, p roduced th e  kind of results w hich 
bu rst upon th e  w orld on July 4, 1776. T h a t his­
toric event h a d  long roots in th e  intellectual 
life a n d  hopes of W estern m an and  rep resen t­
e d  in its finest sense th e ringing challenge of a 
rational an d  hum anistic idealism to a basically 
cynical world. Perhaps, just perhaps, th e  ex­
h ib it will serve as a rem inder th a t th e  p ast has 
m eaning for th e  individual librarian as well as 
th e  historian, th e archivist, and  th e  antiquarian; 
as w ith o u t it th e possibility of self-understand­
in g  a n d  self-renew al is impossible.

In  this latter connection, th e  latest trends in 
m em bership are b o th  encouraging an d  discour­
aging. Very encouraging is th e fact th a t one out 

C o ntinu ed  on page 216

News Issue ( A ) and ( B ) of College & Research Libraries, vol. 36, no. 4



216

Travis, periodicals librarian, F lorida M emorial 
College, Miami, are th e  second-year interns.

D u rin g  th e  period o f th e  internship, w hich 
ranges from six to nine m onths, each in tern  will 
w ork closely w ith  th e  director of a m ajor aca­
dem ic library. T he host libraries in  th e  second 
year of th e  program  are A ustin P eay S tate U ni­
versity; E astern  M ichigan U niversity; O berlin 
C ollege; State U niversity of N ew  York a t Al­
bany; Syracuse U niversity; th e  U niversity of 
C alifornia, San D iego; th e  U niversity of M assa­
chusetts, Am herst; an d  th e  U niversity of W is­
consin, M ilwaukee. T h e M ellon Foundation 
g rant provides salaries, benefits, an d  approved 
expenses for th e  intern. T he host library pro­
vides th e  train in g  experience. Several w ork­
shops for th e participants are also planned.

A pplications from  librarians an d  host institu­
tions w ere review ed b y  th e p ro ject’s advisory 
com m ittee, chaired b y  Virginia L acy Jones, 
dean, School of L ibrary Service, A tlanta U ni­
versity. O th er m em bers of th e  com m ittee are: 
Phyllis B. C artw right, Miami, F lorida; R ichard 
M. D ougherty, U niversity of California, B erke­
ley; Jam es F. M cCoy, H udson Valley C om m u­
nity College; A nnette L. Phinazee, N orth C aro­
lina C entral U niversity; K atharine M. Stokes, 
A lexandria, Virginia; and D avid C. W eber, 
Stanford U niversity. C asper L. Jordan, univer­
sity librarian, A tlanta University, serves as 
pro ject director. B everly P. Lynch, executive 
secretary, Association of College a n d  R esearch 
L ibraries, is principal investigator. A pplications 
for th e th ird  year of th e  program  are now  being 
received. All inquiries should b e  addressed to 
Mr. C ásper L. Jordan, U niversity L ibrarian, 
T revor A rnett L ibrary, A tlanta U niversity, A t­
lanta, GA 30314. ■ ■

Annual Report
C ontinued from  page 213

of every five individuals w ho have joined this 
year is a new  m em ber. V ery discouraging is an 
absolute loss of m em bership over th e previous 
year, th e  im pact of w hich is som ew hat softened 
b y  th e  new  dues stru ctu re of ALA, w hich has 
p roduced slightly increased operating revenues.

T h e n u m b er of new  m em bers and th e  ex­
traordin ary interest w hich has developed in  re­
cent m onths in  th e  establishm ent of local an d  
regional chapters are clear indications th a t 
A C R L  is experiencing a new  surge of vitality 
w hich, if properly nourished, could w ithin a 
relatively short tim e p roduce a solidly based 
grass roots organization. T his is th e  crucial is­
sue. D u rin g  m y term  of office it has becom e u n ­
avoidably clear th a t it is at th e  local level 
w here th e  g u t issues of academ ic librarianship 
w ill b e  solved a n d  th a t ou t of this arena will 
come A C R L ’s fu tu re  leaders.

O ne of th e  most discouraging aspects of m y 
term  of office has b een  know ing of th e great 
n u m b er of interested individuals w ho w ould 
like to  serve th e  organization in some w ay and 
th e  organization’s inability to exploit this re­
source w ithin its p resen t structure. A nation­
w ide netw ork of local an d  regional chapters, on 
the o th er hand, w ould provide opportunities 
fo r all w ith  a serious interest in  advancing th e  
goals of the profession. T he role of th e  p a re n t 
organization w ould b e  to  nourish an d  sustain 
these chapters th ro u g h  th e  provision of a w ide 
array of services w hich cannot b e  p roduced at 
th e  local level, e.g., speakers, consultants, and 
an arsenal of program  m aterials utilizing a va­
riety of formats.

C lear evidence of w h at can b e done along 
these lines can be seen in A C R L ’s tw o precon­
ferences for th e  San Francisco convention; one 
on th e  problem s, challenges, a n d  opportunities 
of collective barg ain in g  sponsored b y  th e  Aca­
dem ic Status C om m ittee and one on issues in 
eig h teen th -cen tu ry  bibliography u n d e r th e  aus­
pices of th e  R are Books and M anuscripts Sec­
tion. Reflected in  these program s is A C R L ’s 
ability to bridge th e  scholarly, professional, and 
institutional interests of academ ic librarians. 
T h ey represent, in  th e  finest sense, th e profes­
sion’s intellectual interests an d  capabilities and 
its ability to respond to  th e  social, political, and 
econom ic forces w hich are m olding a new  in ­
tern al and external environm ent.

P erh ap s th e  u p w ard  tren d  in  new  m em ber­
ships indicates an aw areness of this. In  any 
event, one can hope so and u rg e A CRL to do 
everything possible in  th e  m onths im m ediately 
ahead to support th e  developm ent of a netw ork 
of local chapters w here th e  problem s a n d  is­
sues discussed an d  d eb ate d  at th e  national 
m eetings can continue to  be d ealt w ith after th e  
convention itself has becom e history, an d  out 
of this process p ro d u ce new  problem s an d  is­
sues to bring before the profession and th e  
leaders n eed ed  to galvanize A CR L in to  action.

II. W illiam  A xford  
President, A C R L  

■ ■

N ew  Addition
A ground-breaking cerem ony was held 

recently a t th e  U niversity of H aw aii for 
an addition to  th e  Thomas H ale H am il­
ton L ibrary. T h e ap p ro p riated  funds in­
clu d ed  $10,800,000 for th e  b u ild in g  and 
$1,200,000 for eq u ip m en t an d  furniture. 
This six-story addition w ill increase th e  
to tal gross area o f th e  library b y  167,200 
square feet.