ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


8 0 /C & R L N ew s

Turock urges su p p o rt f o r e q u ity
No ones knows better than college and uni­

versity librarians that the information superhigh­
way is not about the fu­
ture; it’s about now. You 
have been at the cutting 
edge of information tech­
nology for decades strug­
gling to k eep  students 
and scholars current in 
their disciplines. But the 
public is not nearly as 
well versed. W hen asked 
by an AT&T survey team, 
“Can you help me find Betty Turock
the inform ation su p e r­
highway?” members of the public responded, 
“Just turn left on Forty-Second Street” and “I 
travel it all the time, but I can’t tell you how  to 
get there from here.” Decisions are being made 
now  by legislators and policy-makers that will 
affect the quality of library service in higher 
education well into the next century. Unless 
w e take on the job of informing the American 
public w hat is at stake, those decisions will be 
made without informed public participation— 
and they may not be the decisions w e desire. 
As part of ALA Goal 2000, I have focused my 
year as president on ensuring that all libraries 
are major access points to the information su­

perhighway. I am meeting with media in 10 
cities to take this message to the American 
people. I will also host a summit called “A Na­
tion Connected: Defining the Public Interest in 
the Information Superhighway” that I hope will 
becom e a model for other such discussions. 
But I cannot do it alone. I need—ALA needs— 
college and university librarians to play a lead­
ership role in achieving ALA Goal 2000. As 
members of ACRL, you have already made a 
strong financial contribution. But ALA cannot 
succeed without your individual commitment 
as well. We need you to:

• become members of the Library Advo­
cacy Now! Network and to provide advocacy 
training for academic librarians;

•  urge administrators to make information 
technology a priority for libraries;

•  visit or write state legislators and Con­
gressional representatives to urge their support 
for libraries o n  the information superhighway;

•  sponsor a summit on your campus;
•  participate in “Log on @ the Library Day”;
• collect signatures for the Equity Petition.
O ur libraries need your commitment now. 

Together we must make certain that librarians 
are partners in designing, implementing, orga­
nizing, and navigating the information super­
highway.— Betty J. Turock, President, ALA

Prizes offered for NLW media placements
The 1996 observance of National Library 

W eek (NLW), April 14– 20, co n tin u es the 
theme “Libraries Change Lives” with the ad­
dition of a tagline— “Call. Visit. Log o n .”—to 
highlight the role of libraries in making infor­
mation technology available to the public. This 
is the fourth year for the theme that the NLW 
Committee claims has been the most popu­
lar—and powerful—ever.

To focus attention o n  how technology is 
helping libraries change lives, ALA will award 
an Encarta 96 Encyclopedia Multimedia CD- 
ROM (retail value $54.95), compliments of Mi­
crosoft, to every library that submits a story, 
editorial, column, or interview carried by non­
library media—newspapers, magazines, news­
letters, radio, or TV—about how  the public is 
benefitting from computers, the Internet, and 
other information technology at the library.

A grand prize, consisting o f a complete 
Microsoft CD-ROM library— m ore than 30 
p ro d u c ts  (re ta il v a lu e  $ 1,300)— w ill be 
aw arded for the best placement. The top 10 
entries will receive the Microsoft Reference 
Library (retail value $164.85). All types o f li­
braries are eligible to enter.

Placements must appear after January 1, 
1996, in nonlibrary media. Copies o f articles 
or tapes (audiocassette or VHS videotape) 
should be submitted by May 10 to the ALA 
Public Information Office, 50 E. Huron St., 
Chicago, IL 60611, along with a letter docu­
menting how  the placement originated and 
contact information for the library. A certifi­
cate will be given to the local media that pub­
lished/aired the story. For more information, 
contact the ALA /PIO  at (312) 280-5044/5040; 
fax: (312) 944-8620; e-mail: pio@ala.org. ■

mailto:pio@ala.org


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