ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 401 M em ber-at-Large (one-year term): Anna H. Perrault, Humanities Bibliographer, Louisiana S tate U niversity L ibrary, Baton Bouge, LA 70803; Richard Bruce Warr, Humanities/History Bibliographer, Alexander Library, Rutgers - The S tate U n iv ersity , College A venue, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. The View from HQ Hal Espo ACRL Deputy Executive Director Editors Note: Written in response to membership requests, this column features news fro m ACRL headquarters and discusses features o f the office’s operations. We have all had similar experiences. One finds oneself at a party and someone asks what you do for a living. In the past I have easily replied that I was a librarian, and though m ost people conjure up the stereo typical images of librar- ianship, at least they knew something about what I did at a refer ence desk or occasional ly in classroom instruc tion. I am still a librar ian by train in g of course, yet what I do as the d ep u t executive director of a national li Hal Espo brary association has very little in common with what most librarians do and how they were irained in library school. I have discovered that not only do my friends not know what I do on a daily basis, but more importantly many if not most of the ACRL membership does not know what role I play within ACRL. With the oppor tunity to tell my story, I hope the membership will have a g reater appreciation for the size, complexity and scope of the Association. Since I arrived at ACRL in May, 1978, the As sociation has grown in responsibilities, programs, budget, and staff. The position of deputy execu tive director is of a managerial nature in assisting the direction of the headquarters office. Perhaps the best way to describe some of what it is that I do each day is to review my programmatic and administrative responsibilities and to briefly out line what these entail. 1) S upport of ACRL com m ittees, sections, ch ap ters, discussion groups, editorial boards, and the Board of Directors. A major responsibil ity of any administrative position is to make cer tain that the structure of the organization is main tained sufficiently so that the people who are re sponsible for programs will be able to function adequately. In order to provide proper support to various ACRL u n its, we have d ev elo p ed a monthly calendar file. Through the approximately 150 mailings in the file the headquarters office keeps in touch with various unit chairs about ACRL’s seemingly endless organizational detail. To further explain, listed below is the description of what is listed in a single month (May) of the file: 1) reports which have been submitted to head quarters by section and com m ittee chairs are prepared for distribution at annual conference; 2) ACRL Guide to Procedures and Policies is updated and distributed to all officers and ACRL unit chairs; 3) an announcem ent of th e recipient of the ACRL Academic or Research Librarian of the Year Award is prepared for C&RL News and dis tributed to the national library news media; 4) a mailing is sent to section and division elec tion candidates informing them of the election schedule and their responsibilities should they be victorious; 5) thank you letters are sent to all ACRL com mittee members whose terms have expired fol lowing annual conference; 6) all ACRL units are notified of the budget and board orientation meetings at annual confer ence to assist them in becoming accustomed to how ACRL operates; 7) notice of the annual conference board meet ing is sent to all ACRL units with information on how to place items on the board agenda; 8) annual conference board agenda and support materials are sent to board members and section chairs; 9) the Speakers Bureau is prepared and dis tributed to chapters; 10) file folders are prepared for the upcoming program year (250 files); 11) midwinter board meetings are scheduled by the ACRL President; 12) signs for annual conference program and board meetings are prepared; 13) information on the spring activities of ACRL chapters is solicited; 14) discussion group chairs are rem inded to submit incoming officers’ names for inclusion in next year’s ALA Handbook o f Organization; 15) next year’s ACRL Academic or Research Li brarian of the Year nomination form is prepared 402 and distributed; 16) budget information is sent to new members of the budget committee; 17) guest registrations at annual conference are forwarded to the ALA Executive Office. As you can imagine, simply keeping ACRL and its various parts functioning on schedule is a fairly time-consuming task. W ithout our having d e signed such a system of reminders, the office would be unable to assist units in meeting ALA and ACRL deadlines and as a result we would be unable to provide any of the programs or services we know today. 2) Supervision of ACRL membership services and promotional activities. There are actually two operations here though they are certainly related. ACRL must work very hard to retain its mem bership each year and at the same time encour age new people to join. Though exact figures are not available, approximately 25% of the division’s membership in any given year fails to renew the next year. Several years ago we undertook a campaign to reduce the number of non-renewals. At the same time, ACRL began to actively recruit new members through chapters, state association meetings, the division’s national conferences, and the expansion and development of programs. Let ters are sent encouraging people to renew, wel coming new members, and following up on non renewing members. Brochures have been created seeking new members. Advertisements in library newsletters have been produced. Programs of the association have been expanded—a Fast Job List ing Service and telephone Jobline have been in stitu ted , two national conferences have been held, a continuing education program has been developed, preconference activity is increasing— all of these are partially responsible for the 800 personal membership increase over the past three years (500 this year alone). Along with the increase in promotion and re tention activities has come a concerted effort to provide b e tte r m em bership service. Though ACRL has no direct control over ALA’s mem bership, order or subscription department rec ords, we make every effort to assist members if their records are not in order. One of the roles this office takes most seriously is providing ACRL members a place to seek help in their dealings with ALA. 3) Coordination of ACRL publications including production, m arketing, sales and distribution. Here too ACRL’s operation has expanded greatly in recent years. From a time where we were dis tributing little more than library standards and position papers, the office now is responsible for a wide variety of publications ranging in scope from a survey of academic status among librar ians, to materials on collection developm ent, travel policies, bibliographic instruction, and con tinuing education. Because of our success in this area, we find ourselves at headquarters responding to approxi mately fifty orders daily for one kind of publica tion or another. We are very excited about the outcome of our publishing endeavors, yet we realize that a great deal of time is spent at both the clerical and professional level in support of the program. Editor’s Note: This m onth’s “View fro m HQ" column will be concluded in the January issue. News from the Field ACQUISITIONS • Bowling Green State University’s Library and C enter for Archival Collections, Bowling Green, Ohio, was recently presented an exten sive Ray B radbury collection by jwilliam F. Nolan, author of the Logan series of science fiction novels. Believed to be the most complete collection of B radbury books, m anuscripts, periodicals, pamphlets, records, and memorabi lia, it was gathered by Nolan, a close friend of Bradbury, over a period of 37 years. Nolan chose Bowling Green as the recipient of his collection because of the university’s reputation as a center for the stuey of popular culture in the United States. • The State University of New York-Stony Brook Library has been given the public papers, manuscripts, and memorabilia of Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.). The materials will be housed in the library’s D epartm ent of Special Collec tions. Two to five years of cataloging work will be required before the vast collection, housed in over 1,300 cartons one cubic foot in size, can be made available to scholars. The materials include legislative bills sponsored by Javits, extensive correspondence with international leaders, manu scripts, plaques, scrolls, photographs, tapes, and films. • Temple University’s Central Library Sys tem, Philadelphia, has acquired the archives of the magazine Seven Days as part of its Contem porary C u ltu re Collection. Seven Days first appeared in 1975 and was considered the succes sor of Ramparts. The leading name on the edito rial board was David Dellinger, one of the defen- dents in the Chicago Conspiracy Trial. The col lection includes office files, correspondence, editorial files, published materials, and a selec-