ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 496 / C &R L News F o u r decades as an acad em ic lib rarian By Ed w ard G. Holley C hapel Hill, North Carolina Remarks at the presentation of the Academic /Research Librarian of the Year Award, ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, July 1 1 ,1 9 8 8 . F i r s t of all, let me thank the ACRL Awards Com- mittee for selecting me as the 1988 recipient of the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award. My special thanks to the chair, Donna Goehner, to ACRL President Joanne Euster, and to the Baker and Taylor Company, which makes the award possible. Their expressions of approval at my selec tion would gladden the heart of any awardee. I also thank my family, represented here today by my wife, Bobbie Lee, and my daughter Beth, as well as many friends and colleagues whose encourage ment and support have played such an important part in my career. No one could have enjoyed more dedicated and generous co-workers than I have ex perienced. What does a recipient say in response to such ac colades as Gary Kaenzig, of Baker and Taylor, has just read? Words of appreciation, certainly, which are surely in my case more than perfunctory. But also, perhaps, some words of reminiscence and gratitude for the privilege of being an aca demic/research librarian in the post-World War II period, an era which George Bobinski has called “a golden age of librarianship,” an assessment with which I very much agree. In 19491 entered the pro fession and became a member of ACRL. That is a decision I have never regretted. The four decades since have been a period of tremendous accom plishment for academic/research librarians. They have participated in several revolutions of which the technological revolution has been only the most recent. Consider only a few of the changes in aca demic libraries in the postwar period: extraordi nary expansion of buildings, collections, services, and personnel; increases in student enrollment and faculty size; organizational and technological breakthroughs of almost unimaginable propor tions. Through all the peaks and valleys, the down turns and the upswings, there has been steady progress in providing L ibraries fo r Teaching, L i braries fo r R esearch , as the title of ACRL’s contri bution to the ALA Centennial proclaimed. The zest and enthusiasm for our profession, yes, even the battles to make the academic/research library a more important part in the higher education enter prise, have played an important part in that prog ress. To have contributed to expanding the hori zons of our profession and to prom oting the profession’s goals has been both privilege, and for the most part, pleasure; certainly more pleasure than pain, more joy than sorrow. Always in those four decades there were the people—librarians and support staff, teaching fac ulty and administrators, donors and politicians. Together, we were partners in a common cause: the transmission of our heritage, the advancement of knowledge, and the provision of information and recreational resources which a democratic so ciety must have for its survival. We may not have used such current words as “mission,” “goals,” “ob jectives,” but we had the same principles as we car S eptem ber 1988 / 497 ried out our respective tasks. In observing the dili gence with which colleagues carried out their tasks, I have never ceased to be impressed with the capable, committed, and competent librarians with whom it was my privilege to serve. They have been far more numerous than those who have dis appointed me. We probably do too much wringing of hands about the problems of the present-day academic/ research libraries. Our predecessors had problems as difficult, and we can certainly take courage from the manner in which they solved them. In an ever-changing postwar world, academic/research librarians developed ways of dealing with their problems, both creatively and impressively. As a library historian, I think it is appropriate to conclude these remarks with a quotation from Jus tin Winsor, one of the major academic/research li brary leaders of the 19th century. Writing on col lege libraries in 1879, Winsor noted: “A collection of good books, with a soul to it in the shape of a good librarian, becomes a vitalized power, among the impulses by w hich the world goes on to improvement.”— L ibrary Jou rn al, 3 (1879): 15. My hope for the bright young people now joining our ranks is that they may find Winsor’s principle as valid for themselves as it has been for me and many other ACRL librarians. And they may also discover that the academic/research library, with a soul to it in the shape of a good librarian, continues to be a vitalized power by which the world goes on to improvement. The Association of College an d R esearch Libraries aw ards p ro g ram , 1 9 8 9 A C R L opportunities and honors fo r you and your colleagues. The Association of College and Research Li- braries sponsors a number of award programs on behalf of academic or research librarianship to rec ognize special achievements and outstanding pub lications and to foster professional growth. Some one you know is deserving of special recognition for their contributions to academic and research li brarianship. Take a moment to nominate these outstanding individuals so that they can get the rec ognition they deserve. Award-winning opportunities for members of ACRL are described on the following pages. Please review the requirements for each award program and take note of the programs for which you or a colleague are eligible. G en eral submission procedures. Unless other wise indicated send nominations and applications to: Name of the Award, Association of College and Research Libraries/ALA, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2795. S taff contact. If you have questions or need help in compiling information for a nomination, con tact Mary Ellen K. Davis, (800) 545-2433; (800) 545-2444 in Illinois; (800) 545-2455 in Canada; or (312) 944-6780.