ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


710 / C&RL New s ■ Novem ber 2002

and distributed. Although not heavily used, 
when the board is employed both the patron 
and the staff involved agree that it facilitates 
communication efforts and contributes to suc­
cessful interactions.

While technology has been a boon to per­
sons with disabilities, after working with this 
project and determining its effectiveness in serv­
ing patrons with mobility and speech impair­

ments, it is apparent that a low-tech approach 
has definite benefits.

N ote
1. United Cerebral Palsy Associations o

New York State. Rochester-LeRoy Area Study 
Group. A phonic C om m unication F or Those With 
C erebral Palsy. New York: United Cerebral Palsy 
Associations o f New York State, 1967. ■

f 

Letters to the editor

E d ito r’s  note: W e receiv ed  sev era l letters in 
resp o n se to “Rethinking library developm ent: the 
eth ica l im plications o f  libraryf u n d raisin g , "by 
P hillipJ. Jon es, w hich ran  in  the “Th e W ay I  See 
It” colu m n  in Septem ber. W e follow in g  a r e  ex- 
cerpts f rom som e o f  these responses.

Mr. Jo n es expresses a concern that col­
lection growth may be dictated by the do­
nor, not the librarian. This concern can eas­
ily be overcome by developing guidelines in 
advance and then sharing those guidelines 
with prospective donors. I have found that 
donors interested in donating their collec­
tions, or portions thereof, understand the 
need to focus collections. According to the 
Donor Bill o f Rights, donors have the right 
to be informed of the organization’s mission, 
of the way the organization intends to use 
donated resources, and of its capacity to use 
donations effectively for their intended pur­
poses. I would encourage Mr. Jones and other 
librarians to review this document as well as 
the “Code o f Ethical Principles and Stan­
dards of Professional Practice.” These can 
be found on the Web site of the Association 
o f Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Every 
fundraiser who is a member of AFP adheres 
to these standards.— C arolin e J . P unches, San 
Jo s e  State University, cpunches@ sjsu.edu

As a library development officer, I object 
to Mr. Jo n es’s characterization o f library de­
velopm ent as the corruptor o f librarians' 
ethics. Every library development officer Fve 
met has worked very hard to build strong 
collegial relationships with library faculty, 
and an article like this one, published with­
out any counterpoint, can do real damage to

those relationships. Also, development pro­
fessionals work even harder to create rela­
tionships with prospective and current do­
nors that will allow us, when the right time 
comes, to match the donors’ needs (e.g., for 
recognition, to “give something back’’)  to the 
library resource needs o f our students and 
faculty.— T in a S u rm an , U niversity o f  M iam i, 
tsurman@miami.edu

Are librarians and fundraisers incompat­
ible bedfellows? No doubt the quest for money 
can undermine a library. It can equally mis­
lead a school, a church, a hospital, the United 
Way, the Red Cross, families, and individuals. 
Libraries are no more and no less susceptible 
to the seduction o f money. Choosing to ig­
nore fundraising may provide libraries with 
an escape from temptation, but noble budget 
shortfalls will hobble their attempts to imple­
ment their missions.

The choices are not really that stark. I be­
lieve that discourse about mission and ethics 
provides a secure, high ground. Just like a li­
brarian, a fundraiser must know  what her 
organization’s mission is. Librarians have the 
advantage over fundraisers of internalizing 
their discourse in the process o f studying 
librarianship. Fundraisers need to receive ex­
plicit communication about the nature of their 
particular library’s mission …  Development 
professionals know that mission drives fund­
raising and that ethics are its bedrock. With­
out these two things institutional advance­
ment is by definition unprofessional and in 
reality unsuccessful. By valuing both, librar­
ians and fundraisers share essential habits of 
thought.— D a k  W alker, University o f C hicago, 
d walker 1 @midway.uchicagρ.edu

mailto:cpunches@sjsu.edu
mailto:tsurman@miami.edu