ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


58/C & R L  News

In the News
“Part o f th e reason libraries . . .  are suffering 

is that w e  are so invisible o n  o u r cam p u ses” 
an d  “n o w  is no t th e time to b e  a multi-million- 
d o l l a r  in v is ib le  e l e p h a n t , ” s t r e s s e s  J a n i s  
A pted in h e r article “N ational Library W eek at 
W ork.”

N ational Library W eek (NLW), April 18-24, 
1993, offers librarians an ex cellen t o p p o rtu ­
nity to  im p ro v e th eir visibility b y  p ro m o tin g  
th e ir libraries a n d  services. T h e th e m e  “Librar­
ies C h an g e Lives” is co m p ellin g  a n d  this issue 
in c lu d e s a n u m b e r o f articles to  g e t y o u  th in k ­
ing a n d  p la n n in g  for NLW.

A p ted  d escrib es th e  NLW activities carried  
o u t at th e  U niversity o f M ichigan. ALA’s P u b ­
lic In fo rm atio n  O ffice director, Linda W allace, 
p ro v id e s so m e  in fo rm atio n  a b o u t th e  NLW 
th e m e  a n d  th e  Library o f C o n g ress’ c o m p le ­
m en tary  th e m e  “B ooks C hange Lives.”

Articles b y  Susan V azakas, G ary M ayhood, 
a n d  K aren Stabler p ro v id e  p ro m o tio n  ideas 
th a t can  b e  im p le m e n te d  y ear-ro u n d .

Creating a positive im age for the library is 
m ore th an  an isolated PR activity. Jackie K inder

an d  Catherine Eckman claim that a goo d  signage 
system  is o n e  o f th e m ost im portant elem ents 
in prom oting u ser satisfaction in any building 
o p e n  to  th e  public. To help y o u  determ ine the 
effectiveness of yo u r signage they offer a basic 
checklist.

A variety o f articles covering n etw ork train­
ing, com puter-assisted instruction, ideas for re­
search, a n d  using video projection for instruc­
tio n  are also featu red  in this issue. Laverna 
S aunders provides us w ith a report from  the 
recen t CAUSE conference.

N ational Library W eek provides us w ith an 
o p p o rtu n ity  to  have som e fun an d  to rem ind 
o u r library users o f th e  services w e can  p ro ­
vide. As Susan V azakas suggests, “It is very 
adm irable that w e take o u r jobs seriously; h o w ­
ever, w h e n  w e take ourselves lightly, the p a ­
trons enjoy it, a n d  w e  b eco m e m ore a p p ro a c h ­
able. A nd this m akes us b e tte r able to  d o  o u r 
jo b s.”

—Mary Ellen K. Davis 
E ditor & P ublisher

U38398@ uicvm .uic.edu

mailto:U38398@uicvm.uic.edu