ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 143 L C also looks to the future Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has announced a comprehensive review and planning process to chart the future course for the Library th a t will include staff members, Library constitu­ ents, and a professional m anagem ent consulting firm. Basic to the planning and review process will be a L ibrarian’s M anagement and Planning C om m it­ tee, consisting of 25 mid-level Library managers and other staff selected throughout the Library, w ithout formal representation of any given unit or constituency. Ellen Plahn, chief of the General Reading Rooms Division of the Research Services D epartm ent, will serve as chair of the Committee, and W inston Tabb, chief of the Inform ation and Reference Division of the Copyright Office, will serve as vice chair. Billington said th a t the success of the Committee will be judged by its members’ ability to work to­ gether to address the broadest and highest interests of the Library as a whole. The Committee has been asked to 1) find ways to increase the Library’s effec­ tiveness in serving the Congress, the Federal Gov­ ernm ent, the nation’s libraries, scholars, the entire creative community, and all citizens; 2) review the L ibrary’s legislative, national, and international roles and responsibilities; and 3) recommend broad goals the Library should strive to achieve by the year 2000, and practical steps to im plem ent them. Billington challenged the Committee, and the Library’s entire staff, to seek realistic ways to sus­ tain and extend the Library’s collections, to im­ prove m anagem ent for enhancing the L ibrary’s re­ sponsiveness to its constituencies, and to reach “inw ard more deeply” by assisting users to exploit collections fully and by attracting more research­ ers. He has also charged the Committee to examine ways in which the Library can “reach out more broadly” by sharing its resources and disseminating its wisdom more widely and effectively in ways th a t raise educational levels, tie expects the Com­ m ittee to recommend priorities for the allocation of the L ibrary’s resources in light of present and fore­ seeable budget stringencies. Two other advisory groups are being named. One consists of people representing the L ibrary’s broader national and international constituencies, and one will be an outside consulting firm asked to make recom m endations on adm inistration and management. Billington called on staff members for sugges­ tions they may wish to make at any tim e regarding any aspect of the process. Reports on planning and review activities will appear in the Library o f Con­ gress Inform ation Bulletin. ■ ■ Letters Inform ation for administrators To the Editor: As a librarian who has crossed over into another area of inform ation services, I was particularly pleased to see the article, “Inform ation for Admin­ istrators,” in the January issue of C&R.L News. Technologies will present librarians w ith ever ex­ panding opportunities to provide inform ation sup­ port to college and university administrators. I would encourage, however, th at we not limit ourselves to isolated support of the adm inistrative function. Rather, we should take the initiative to become p art of Strategic Inform ation Systems (SIS) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) being devel­ oped at many universities. By incorporating our services w ith those provided by other campus in­ formation providers, we can truly have an im pact on decision-making at the highest organizational levels.—Judith A. Copier, Manager o f Inform a­ tion Technology Planning. Backlogged books To the Editor: Since the middle sixties the Orange Public Li­ brary (New Jersey) has been organizing and dis­ playing its non-fiction backlog by accession num ­ ber. (A backlog assures a constant flow of books for the cataloger, maximizing the cataloger’s time.) After a book is received, the ply of the order form previously filled by title as an “on order” notice is replaced w ith another ply of the order form now bearing the accession num ber (see my “Backlog to Frontlog,” Library Journal, September 15, 1969). Daniel Gore seized upon this idea and adapted it for Macalester College. Gore provided rough sub­ ject classification to the Frontlog by preceding the accession numbers w ith the LC class letters (see G ore’s “In H ot Pursuit of FASTCAT,” Library Journal, September 1, 1973). Displaying the backlog makes new books brows­ able, and browsing is a major factor in book circu­ 144 lation. At the O range Public L ibrary I find th a t new books in almost all subjects circulate more th a n old books. M any of our Frontlog books circu­ late more w ith a single title entry th a n they do w hen they get their proper classification num ber and full catalog entry. “ Ask a t R eferen ce for B acklogged B ooks,” C & R L News, January 1988, pp. 12-15, implies th a t books do not lose their usefulness w ith age. I find the opposite is the case: circulation of books in most subjects weakens w ith age. The prom pt avail­ ability of new books is an enormous attraction for our users. T rinity’s program provides access only if an a u ­ thor or title is known, it requires tw o trips (48 hours apart) to the library, and interaction w ith library staff. I ’ll w ager th a t if T rinity displayed its backlog in a public area they w ould have a far higher circu­ lation th an 103 books over a fifteen-m onth period from a collection of 8,000 to 25,000 b o o k s.— M arvin H. Scilken, Director, Orange ( N J .) Public Library. ■ ■ Nominations wanted for new Hugh Atkinson Memorial Award N om inations and applications are sought by May 15, 1988, for the H ugh C. Atkinson M emorial A w ard newly established to honor Atkinson’s life and accomplishments. The aw ard will recognize outstanding accomplishments by academ ic lib ra ri­ ans working in library autom ation or m anagem ent who have im proved library service, developm ent or research. The annual aw ard will be given for the first tim e at ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans this July. This first aw ard consists of an unrestricted $2,000 cash prize and a plaque. In d iv id u als m ay n o m in a te them selves or be nom inated by others. To be eligible for the aw ard the nominee m ust be a lib rarian employed in a uni­ versity, college or com m unity college library in the year prior to application for the aw ard and must have a m inim um of five years of professional expe­ rience in an academ ic library. The nominee must have dem onstrated achievem ent (including risk­ taking) related to library autom ation or library m anagem ent th a t has contributed significantly to im provements in the area of library autom ation, li­ brary m anagem ent, and/or library developm ent or research. Those wishing to nom inate someone (including themselves) for the aw ard should w rite a letter ou t­ lining how the candidate meets the above criteria. Letters should be accom panied by a current copy of the candidate’s vita and should be sent to: Hugh Atkinson M em orial A w ard, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. H uron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795. The deadline for nom inations is May 15, 1988. This new aw ard is funded by an endow m ent, w hich at this tim e stands at $60,000, created by in­ dividual and vendor contributions given in m em ­ ory of H ugh C. Atkinson. A dditional funds are s o u g h t to b r in g th e e n d o w m e n t to a t le a st $100,000. Send your tax-deductible contributions to the Hugh Atkinson Memorial Award at the ad ­ dress above. Hugh C. Atkinson was born on November 27, 1933, and died October 24, 1986. He was a gradu­ ate of St. Benedict’s College and of the G raduate L ibrary School of the University of Chicago. He worked in the libraries of the University of C hi­ cago, the Pennsylvania M ilitary College, the State University of New York at Buffalo, Ohio State Uni­ versity, and the University of Illinois at U rbana- C ham paign (UIUC). Especially in the la tter two institutions he established a reputation as one of the m ajor innovators in m odern librarianship. “His ideas on library autom ation, on coopera­ tion, and on the organization of libraries were a decade or more ahead of their tim e,” stated Mi­ chael G orm an, a long-time friend and colleague at UIUC, in the aw ard proposal. “In th e UIUC L ib rary , one of th e largest li­ braries in the w orld, he oversaw innovations in each of these areas. He has been described as the ‘fath er’ of the Illinois LCS netw ork (the most devel­ oped state-wide network of its kind in N orth Amer­ ica) and was certainly responsible for establishing an ethos of cooperation in the state of Illinois which has been of great benefit to the citizens of th a t state. “W ithin the UIUC L ibrary he was responsible for the creation of a m ajor online catalog and for the reorganization of the adm inistrative structure of th a t library, which has rapidly become the p a ra ­ digm for m any other m ajor research libraries. “Those who knew him will rem em ber his vision, his kindness, and his individuality.” The new aw ard is jointly sponsored by the Asso­ ciation of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the L ibrary Adm inistration and M anagem ent As­ sociation (LAMA), the L ibrary and Inform ation Technology Association (LITA), and the Resources and Technical Services Division (RTSD), four divi­ sions of ALA. For further inform ation about the aw ard, con­ tact Michael G orm an, C hair, Hugh C. Atkinson M emorial Award 1988, University of Illinois, 246A L ibrary, 1408 W . Gregory D r., U rbana, IL 61801; (217) 333-0318; or M ary Ellen K. Davis, ACRL Program Officer, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. H uron St., Chicago, IL 60611; (312) 944-6780. ■ ■