College and Research Libraries


Editorial 
Say Hello 

Writing editorials is easy. Writing articles that point to a better future while being critical 
of aspects of traditionallibrarianship is easy. The hard work is done daily as you and I per-
form our nonnal responsibilities. As we select material, process material, help users, and 
manage the interconnections, we give academic librarianship its heart. Oh yes, and let me 
add, as we teach as library educators. 

Forgetting those who contributed to our own development as people and as profession-
als is also easy. During the time in which I was working on the September editorial I was 
preparing a paper for the ACRL National Conference in Baltimore next year. The theme 
"Hard Facts, Hard Work: Librarians and A Nation at Risk" led me to read several reports 
about our educational system from the elementary through the higher education levels. 
Weaknesses in our current educational system were cited in report after report. The whole 
system seemed suspect. How did we let ourselves arrive at such a state? 

Suddenly, at one point, for some strange reason, my eyes filled with tears. I thoug~t, 
''My Lord, all we have forgotten about is the people who have given their lives to us as 
teachers.'' They have given their best and we seem to have turned aside to build a pie-in-
the-sky reality that has little to do with what teachers experience daily. Suddenly, I felt that 
all these reports were abstractions. Suddenly I remembered my teachers who had given me 
so much. I remembered them in the classroom, in the hallway, and in their homes. I had 
forgotten about the strength of our educational system; the heart of that system. 

Sometimes as humans we seem to assume an enlightenment and ability that is far above 
what we can do in the reality of daily life. We construct models. We forget what we really 
know about life. 

I went to library school at Syracuse from 1970 to 1972. Marta Dosa taught me about acqui-
sitions. She is the godmother of my son. Pauline Atherton Cochrane taught me about cata-
loging with a vision that is more true today than it was yesterday. We played tennis to-
gether. In her class I wrote what turned into my first published article. It just happened to 
appear in C&RL. Another faculty member, Richard Dougherty, then editor of C&RL, pub-
lished that paper and has been a close friend for over fifteen years. I remember my wife, 
Pam, hovering over Dick at a table in the Westcott Inn, lambasting him with the merits of 
heartfelt women's issues. 

The dean, Roger Greer, carried forth his dream of library education. He built a faculty 
that included young people with doctorates in behavioral science, communications studies 
and information science-Jeff Katzer, Brenda Dervin, Ken Cook, Dave Sherrill. He blended 
the traditional and the innovative into a creative, dynamic faculty with strong and caring 
links to their students. The dream did not last: the tensions were substantial. But, as stu-
dents, my classmates and I benefited greatly. 

Time passes and we forget. But most of us carry around in the recesses of our mind simi-
lar memories about what has been given to us by former teachers. Perhaps this week we 
should pick up a telephone and call an old teacher. 

Say hello. 
CHARLES MARTELL 

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