ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


237

 for their own career developm ent, li­
b raries have a v ested  in te re s t in assuring co n­
tinued staff com petency. R esearch into continued 
education for librarian s has d em on strated  that 
administrative support is a necessary factor in as­
suming adequate staff developm ent. (See the fol­
lowing publications o f E lizabeth W . Stone: F a c­
tors R ela ted  to the Professional D evelopm ent o f  
L ib r a r ia n s  [M e tu ch e n , N .J .: Scarecro w  P ress, 
1969]; and “ A dm inistrators F id d le  W hile E m ­
ployees B u m — or F le e ,” ALA Bulletin, 63 [ F e b ­
ruary, 1969], p. 1 8 2 -8 3 .)

Ju st as libraries invest substantially in co llec­
tion developm ent, they must also invest in staff 
developm ent i f  they are to provide quality ser­
vice. I t  should b e  kept in mind that most librar­
ies spend two to four tim es as much money on 
p erso n n el as on th e  co lle ctio n . L ik e  all la b o rintensive

 organizations, lib raries m ust pay par­
ticular attention to m aintaining and developing 
their human resources if  they are to assure high 
performance.

Given that rationale, AALS believes that every 
type o f library standard should include a forth­
right statem ent acknowledging as necessary the 
library’s financial support for staff developm ent. 
T h e following statem ent might be used as a point 
of departure for drafting such a standard: “T h e li­
brary shall provide support, financial and other­
wise, at least sufficient to assure that the staff at 
all levels maintains cu rren cy as library philoso­
phy, services, programs, and technology ch an g e.”

F o r  fu rth e r inform ation, co ntact M. P. M ar­
chant, School o f Library and Information Scien ce, 
B righ am  Young U n iv ersity  (AALS C o n tin u in g  
Education C om m ittee), Provo, U T 84602. ■■

ACRL Chapters
• A d in n e r  m e e tin g  co sp o n so re d  by th e  

S o u t h e r n  C a l i f o r n i a  C h a p t e r  o f th e Associa­
tion o f C ollege and Research Lib raries and the 
Sou thern C alifornia T ech n ical P ro cesses Group 
was attended by 170 librarians. T h e  m eeting was 
held May 3 0  at the U C LA  faculty center.

Prior to the dinner th ere was a cocktail hour 
reception for U C LA  Librarian Russell Shank, in­
coming ALA president. M ichael Gorman, head of 
t e c h n ic a l s e r v ic e s , U n iv e r s ity  o f  I llin o is  at 
Urbana-Cham paign, and coeditor o f the abridged 
A nglo-A m erican C atalogu ing Rules, second edi­
tion (AACR II), was the featured speaker o f the 
m eeting.

In  speaking on “ C losin g  the C ard C a ta lo g ,” 
Gorman stated that the costs for card catalogs are 
too high and that th e  form at is no t adaptable, 
th u s p r o h ib it in g  c h a n g e s . W h a t h e  fe e ls  is 
needed  is a single autom ated, in tegrated  tool, 
which contains not only the bibliographic record 
of any given item  but all files on that item  main­
tained by the library. H e briefly d escribed the 
plans for closing the card catalog at the U niver­
sity o f Illinois.

After his presentation, questions on AACR II 
w ere raised. H e views it as the b e st summary of 
“prem achine’’ cataloging we have, though im per­
fect. T h e cu rrent concern surrounding AACR II, 
in his opinion, is not with the rules them selves 
b u t rather the p ro blem s o f integrating the old 
and new.

A C R L  will have a final m eeting o f the year in 
Sep tem ber. Chapter m em bership is automatic for 
cu rrent A C R L  m em bers. O thers wishing to join

may do so upon paym ent o f $5 dues mailed to:
Philip M. O ’B rien , C ollege Librarian, W hittier
College, W hittier, CA 90608. ■■

Buy T h re e  D o llars W o rth  of 

B o o k s fo r  E a c h  D o lla r You S p en d .

Best Buys In Print is a guide to quality 
books available at discount prices. It is 
also an indispensable acquisitions tool 
which offers an average savings o f  65% or 
more on 2 0 ,0 0 0  titles during 1978. BBIP 
belongs on the shelf next to Books In 
Print because it complements Books In 
Print in three ways:

1. It identifies sources o f  books that 
have been remaindered by original 
publishers.

2. It provides access to the special im­
port and reprint titles from remain­
der houses, and

3. It provides information on special 
sales and pre-publication discounts 
available from original publishers.

A subscription to Best Buys In Print 
is only $25.00/year (any four consecu­
tive issues). Foreign postage is extra. 
Subscribe now and save!

P IE R IA N  P R ESS 5000 Washtenaw Ave., 
Ann Arbor, Ml 48104