College and Research Libraries


At the Brink of Federation 
The dues structure proposed by Copes and endorsed by Council at Mid-

winter represents the first step toward a federated American Library As-
sociation. The dues structure provides for a basic personal membership of 
$35 plus the option of joining divisions at a cost of $15 for each division 
selected. The new dues schedule should produce several short-range im-
pacts. Many librarians who are not now members of ALA should be willing 
to join or rejoin the association. The $15 division charge will discourage 
some members from participating in divisional activities. It could also 
signal the end of one or more ALA divisional journals. CRL and the CRL 
News will be placed in a precarious financial position. The division could 
no longer offer its two publications to nonmembers at the current rate of 
$15 without reducing the incentive for belonging to ACRL itself. An increase 
in the journal subscription will produce a further reduction in nonmember 
subscription income. Also, if divisional membership declines initially, which 
is not an unreasonable assumption, the burden on ACRL's budget to support 
its publications will increase. It is estimated that approximately $25,000-

.--$30,000 from membership dues will be needed to finance the journals as-
suming that the expenditures remain at approximately the same level. If 
the ACRL personal membership were to decline to the 8,000 level, the 
total revenue available to division activities, once publication costs are sub-
tracted, would amount to $70,000. Obviously ACRL cannot hope to develop 
vigorous programs of activities at this budgetary level. The solution to the 
problem is more members. 

Academic librarians have grumbled over the current status of ACRL 
within ALA for many years. It has always been my conviction that it 
would be a mistake if ACRL completely severed its relations with ALA. 
Today professional librarians must speak out on national issues such as 
legislation, intellectual freedom, and international librarianship as one 
voice. A series of fragmented, independent librarians, such as those in 
academia, law, music, school, and public groups, will not be able to 
generate clout at the national level. 

The immediate challenge to ACRL is to develop program activities which 
can be offered to academic librarians at the regional and the state levels. 
ACRL must become more active at state and regional meetings. ACRL 
must also promote a vigorous campaign to -recruit new members. The 
recent success of the AASL should serve as an incentive to ACRL and other 
divisions. 

The proposed dues structure represents both risks and benefits. To suc-
ceed, ALA must increase its membership, but the proposal offers some of 
the operational flexibility that many of us have desired. As a personal mem-
ber of ACRL, I recommend a yes vote on the dues proposal. 

RicHARD M. DouGHERTY 

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