ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


5 6 4  /  C&RL News

In the News

T
here is a myth that it is difficult to get 
appointed to an ACRL committee and that 
you have to “know someone.” While it is t

that not all 11,000 members of ACRL could have 
a committee appointment at the same time, the 
fact is that 84% of the people w ho volunteered 
for an ACRL division-level committee in 1992 
were appointed. And the appointment rates for 
those seeking section-level committees were 
even higher (although perhaps not everyone 
received their first choice).

Now that you know there is a very real chance 
of being appointed to an ACRL committee, take 
a moment to review the “ACRL wants you!” ar­
ticle on pages 592-95, select an area that inter­
ests you, and send in your volunteer form(s).

ACRL depends on volunteers like you to 
set its goals and plan its activities. Without the 
work of volunteers, ACRL would not have the 
statements, standards, guidelines, publications, 
and programs that many academic librarians 
have come to rely upon.

In this issue we have two tangible results of 
the efforts of volunteers. A committee of ACRL’s

r

Education and Behavioral Sciences Section pre­
pared a document outlining what information 

urete rieval and evaluation skills students of edu­
cation need to have. “Information retrieval and 
evaluation skills for education students” (page 
583-88) is the result of academic librarians per­
ceiving a need for a document that would as­
sist them in their job, volunteering to work on the 
document, polling their colleagues to ensure the 
document was representative, and completing it.

A nother group o f volunteers serves on 
ACRL’s Professional Education Committee. This 
group developed a statement about the educa­
tional needs of academic librarians that is in­
cluded here on pages 590-91.

This issue also describes some publicity cam­
paigns hon o red  by the Jo h n  Cotton Dana 
Awards, takes a look at a simple recycling pro­
gram, examines how the library can benefit from 
student projects, and concludes our summary 
of ACRL programs at the Annual Conference.

—Mary Ellen K. Davis 
Editor & Pu blisher