ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 347 A Conversation with Le Moyne W . Anderson E d ito r s N ote: W hen L e M oyne W. A nderson, president o f ACRL, came to Chicago in O ctober f o r a meeting o f the ACRL Executive B oard, I was a ble to talk with him about his recent trip to China and about his career. Anderson is d irector o f l ib r a r i e s a t C o lo r a d o S ta te U n iversity, F o r t C o llin s. H e b e g a n his term o f o ffice as p r e s i­ dent o f ACRL at the An­ nual C onference in June. In O ctober he com pleted a y e a r as p r e s id e n t o f ARL. Thus, f o r a period o f several months during 1979 h e h a d the unique distinction o f being pres­ ident o f ACRL and ARL L e Moyne at the same time. Anderson E d.: May I ask you about your career? How did you start out in the library profession? LA: I came back from the experience of World War II, as did many young soldiers, with a seri­ ous outlook and a desire to get on with a career, but librarianship was something I hadn’t thought of. A counselor guided me toward library science at the University of Minnesota, and two o f the lum inaries at the library school th ere, Donald Strout and E rrett McDiarmid, were very kind to me and stimulated my interest in the profession. W hen I got out of library school, my first ob­ jective was to work with an outstanding librarian. Charles Harvey Brown was at Iowa State then. I went down to Iowa State as seriáls librarian to work with him. That was my first job. E d.: What experiences were the best preparation f o r the administrative post you h old now? LA: The best preparation was the grounding I re­ ceived in the fundamentals by working in the trenches at Iowa State and later at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I gained a foundation in technical services at Iowa State and then in pub­ lic services at Illinois. I think that the journey­ man experience of working in various positions is most important. I don’t know how library schools can prepare you for an administrative position. E d.: Did you have a mentor? LA: I had several o f them and they were very important to me: I have mentioned the influence o f Strout and McDiarmid at library school and Brown at Iowa. I also had the opportunity to work at Illin ois when B ob Downs was there. They w ere very important influences. They were persons who excelled. Then when I got on the job in 1957 as library director at Colorado State (I think I may have the record for longevity as a li­ brary director), Ralph Ellsworth, who was library d irector at the U niversity of Colorado, was a great help to me and an important influence. Colorado State was then an “em erging institu­ tion.” It was my jo b to develop the library pro­ gram. W e have had some success, but it was a long process that culminated, in a sense, when we were finally admitted to ARL. E d.: You ea rn ed a Ph.D. while you w ere a li­ brary director. LA: I was kind of young when I went to Colorado State as library director. I used my first sabbatical to fulfill the course requirements for the Ph.D . at the University of Illinois, and I wrote my disser­ Now R e p r e s e n t i n g the B o o k House A R C H IE M c N E A L form er director of libraries of the University of Miami. He can show you w hy more and more academic libraries depend on the Book House fo r fast, efficient acquisi­ tion services. – C t all h 5 1 7 - e 8 4 9 - 2 1 1 7 C o lle c t – BOOK H SINCE 1962 OUSE JOBBERS SERVING LIBRARIES WITH ANY BOOK IN PRINT 206 WEST CHICAGO STREET JONESVILLE, MICHIGAN 49250 348 tation back on the job , working every Friday and Saturday for two years. The push to go for the P h .D . was largely self- inflicted. I had the feeling that I hadn’t com ­ pleted the whole experience of higher education, and now I ’m glad I did. I have a feel now for what research is all about, can identify with the faculty I work with, and have been able to en­ courage my staff to do a lot of things in the li­ brary on the basis of research. E d.: B efore letting you go, may I ask you about the American L ibrary Delegation Study Trip to the P eople s R epu blic o f C hina in S eptem ber? You went on the trip as a representative o f ARL. W hat are your impressions? LA: W e visited fourteen C hinese universities in five c it ie s . O u r hosts at ea ch stop w ere so friendly; they wanted us to see everything. Invar­ iably the first point that they made during the briefings was that the cultural revolution had been devastating to them. They are very much aware that China has fallen behin d , and they agree that China must open its doors to the world and learn from it. They are serious about this. They want to learn about library practices in the W est, especially in the area of automation. It took us a while to realize how basic their needs are— where they are starting from. After a while we didn’t assume anything. They know that learning W estern methods is not enough; they n e e d th e te ch n o lo g y th at lie s b e h in d i t — computer hardware, and so on. Moreover, they have an especially difficult p roblem , since the task o f c o n v e r tin g C h in e s e c h a r a c te r s to m a c h in e -re a d a b le form is d efy ing the w hole world. W e kept telling them that China could make a special contribution in this area. One of the purposes of the trip was to establish a communication link betw een librarians of the two countries. The next step in the process will come when our Chinese counterparts visit the na­ tions of the W estern world to see what we are doing. ■■ A cadem ic/R esearch L ib rarian of the Y e a r Award The Association o f C ollege and Research L i­ b raries invites nom inations for the Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award, presented jointly by ACRL and the Baker & Taylor Com ­ pany. Anyone wishing to subm it nom inations should request a nomination form from the ACRL office, 50 E . Huron S t., Chicago, IL 60611. Keyes D. M etcalf and Robert B. Downs shared the first Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award in 1978. H enriette D. Avram and F red er­ ick G. Kilgour were named corecipients of the second Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award in 1979. The Awards Committee selects persons to re­ ceive the award in accordance with the following guidelines: P U R P O SE : To recognize an individual m ember of the library profession who has made an out­ standing national or international contribution to academic and research Iibrarianship and library development. C r i t e r i a : P e rso n s n o m in a te d should have demonstrated achievements in such areas as: 1. Service to the organized profession through ACRL and related organizations. 2. S ig n ific a n t and in flu e n tia l r e s e a rc h on academic or research library service. 3. Publication o f a body o f scholarly and/or theoretical writing contributing to academic or research library development. 4. Planning and im plem enting a library pro­ gram o f such exemplary quality that it has served as a model for others. 5. N om inee does not have to m eet all four criteria stated above. R u l e s : The award shall be made each year at a time and place to be determined by the ACRL Board of Directors. Announcement of the award shall be made by the ACRL president at a time and place to be determined by the ACRL Board o f D ire c to rs. If, in th e opinion o f the Award Com m ittee, no worthy candidate is nominated in a given year, the award will not be made that year. N o m i n a t i o n s : Nominations for the award must be returned to the chairperson of the Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award Comm ittee and must be postmarked no later than April 1, 1980. Nominations must be submitted in quintup­ licate. Nominations must b e complete on the ap­ plication form. The presence o f attachments will disqualify the nomination. Secondary letters will not be considered in the Award C om m ittee’s de­ liberations. N a t u r e o f t h e A w a r d : T h e Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award shall con­ sist of $2,000 and an appropriate citation. ■■