ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


N ovem ber 1 9 9 2  /  6 3 9

Letters
place ourselves, w e  will have m ade a passage, 
but will w e have m ade an impact?” Davis asked.

Both Marilyn Miller (president, ALA) and Rob­
ert W edgew orth (president, International Fed­
eration o f Library Associations) h ad  greetings 
for the conference at its closing session. Miller 
delivered hers in person, fresh from h er trip to 
India, an d  W edgew orth delivered his via vid­
e o tap e as he w as still in India presiding over 
the IFLA conference. Both sp o k e o f the sights 
an d  sounds o f India an d  o f the universality of 
librarianship. And both w arn ed  against being 
o v erw h elm ed  by the responsibilities o f our 
position, the im mensity o f our task o f bringing 
know ledge an d  inform ation to  all p eo p le on 
the globe. “I have seen,” W edgew orth said, “how  
p eo p le die from lack o f routine inform ation.”

In his final, emotion-filled rem arks to the 
culture keepers attending the conference, Dr. 
Axel Boyd (BCALA president) spoke of the “fam­
ily” that h ad  gathered in Columbus. He said, 
“This is a defining m om ent in the history of 
African American librarianship, b u t it is only a 
p oint o f departure. We have b e e n  em pow ered 
here to m ove into the future.” Boyd closed by 
announcing that the next BCALA national co n ­
ference will be h eld  in tw o years on Labor Day 
w e e k e n d  in M ilwaukee, W isconsin. ■

The importance of acting
To the Editor:

As a form er librarian turned investigator, I 
often peruse th e professional literature o f both 
fields. Thus, I read  w ith considerable interest 
Trudi E. Ja co b so n ’s excellent report o n  “G ood 
acting secret o f successful BI” in the July/Au- 
gust issue. By citing D ean William E. C onnor’s 
contention that teaching is theater, Ms. Jacobson 
is quite correct. H ow ever, I w ould ad d  that an 
im portant, b u t som etim es overlooked, p art of 
investigative w ork is also theater or acting. The 
intent, goals, an d  results of th e theatrics in my 
field an d  in Ms. Jaco b so n ’s m ay differ, but the 
techniques, such as focusing o n  your subjects 
an d  role playing, are similar. In m ore than 15 
years as an investigator I have learned that act­
ing, especially spur-of-the-m om ent im provisa­
tion w h en  n eed ed , is a h andy skill to possess, 
an d  if o n e is g o o d  at it, the results can b e  sat­
isfying. After all, w h at’s the old goo d  g u y/bad 
guy routine b u t acting?— M ark H. W innegrad, 
associate investigator, N. Y.C. Dept. o f  Transporta­
tion