ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 982 / C&RL News photographs, cartoons, advertisements, and news­ paper clippings to illustrate his point that major inventions are rarely used for the purpose antici­ pated by their creators and quoted from Marshall McLuhan: “W hoever discovered water, it wasn’t a fish.” Technology enables change, Saffo asserted; it is th e cultural response to the technology that drives the change. Giving examples from th e past, he w ondered aloud with the audience, “How are we m isinterpreting th e future of information technol­ ogy?” H e referred to today’s developm ents as “electronic incunabula” and suggested we must all leam to live with a constant state of incom plete­ ness, an ever-evolving concept of things. H e closed by citing his own concept of “information surfing,” or learning to be selective about information. One is successful at this if one no longer feels guilty about all the books and articles one has begun, skimmed, and never finished! Planning panelist E d Wall (Pierian Press) ad­ dressed th e group on Sunday afternoon on the topic of environmental monitoring. Suggesting that it is absolutely necessary to keep ahead of progress, to keep abreast o f enabling developments, to keep updated on issues with an impact on planning, and to maintain the lead time needed for decision­ makers to becom e champions o f our objectives, he handed out a list of literally hundreds o f organiza­ tions whose work is having an effect on the informa­ tion environm ent and thus, potentially, on librar­ ies. JoAn Segal’s “Doing the Planning” segm ent gave participants some nitty-gritty advice on how to go about a planning process. She told the audience, “we m ust change,” supported planning as neces­ sary and beneficial, described a model planning process, asked those present to make a com m it­ m ent to take the first step in planning on their re tu rn hom e, and announced a major planning activity by ACRL’s College Libraries Section in conjunction with the Office of M anagem ent Serv­ ices of th e Association of Research Libraries. On M onday morning, the group heard from a panel of their peers on staffing aspects to be consid­ ered in planning. Michael Kathman, Ann de Klerk, Richard Werldng, and Suanne M uehlner identified key topics. Kathman asserted that library schools could not possibly carry out all th e training needed by librarians, and advised that on-the-job training and staff developm ent activities are of prim e im ­ portance (he ventured that we might com pare the 15 % requirem ent for equipm ent m aintenance with th e need for staff development). W erldng cited the work of several recent ACRL task forces in drawing a picture o f future public service staffing needs, m entioning new formats, translocal collections, user expectations, and added responsibilities. H e com pared staff growth in liberal arts college librar­ ies over a twenty-year period, showing a total in­ crease o f about 25%, b u t slowed increases betw een 1977 and 1987, with a zero increase in nonlibrari­ ans during th at period. H e also com pared job requirem ents as found in classified ads o f 1978 and 1989, looking at criteria such as th e second m aster’s degree (little change) and suggesting possible rea­ sons for this. F or instance, the person who has had an unsuccessful career experience in another field and has made a career change may not be a more valuable librarian than one who is com m itted to librarianship p er se. M uehlner concentrated on job broadening in h e r presentation. She described some changes m ade in staffing patterns in h er library that have encouraged librarians to take research project leave, have brought them closer to strict faculty comparability in length of contract, and have con­ centrated professional work on student interaction. At a business meeting, m em bers of the group agreed to hold their next m eeting at Rollins College in late F ebruary 1991, to design a statistical survey, to afford non-directors at th eir libraries the oppor­ tunity to m eet together, and to consider criteria for m em bership in the group. ■ ■ A C R L executive summary Fall came to Chicago very gently this year. Many groups held m eetings around the country in which ACRL m em bers and staff participated. M uch agi­ tation surrounded L C ’s threat to license th e MARC database in a restrictive fashion. Although a m ora­ torium was declared, the issues will need to be openly debated; a start will be m ade at Midwinter at th e ALCTS forum on Saturday afternoon. Many of AC R L’s chapters m et in October. T hree sites hosted visits from the ACRL Speakers Bureau: the Oregon/W ashington joint m eeting was addressed by Bill Moffett, who also w ent to Louisi­ ana; and the Georgia C hapter speaker was JoAn Segal. Copies o f th ree ACRL standards: for university libraries, college libraries, and two-year institu­ tions, were mailed to all m em bers of th e Council on Postsecondary Accreditation. The H. W. W ilson-funded study on Alternative Sources o f F unding for Academic Libraries began with a m eeting of the Advisory Com m ittee, chaired by Anne Beaubien, at which th e group worked with December 1989 / 983 project director Mary Jo Lynch to develop a ques­ tionnaire. It is hoped th e study will yield a docu­ m ent to parallel “Non-tax Sources o f Revenue for Public Libraries,” which was released earlier this year as a result of an earlier W ilson-funded project. Liaison efforts included visits by President Bill M offett to the meetings of E D U C O M in Ann Arbor and th e Association of Research Libraries in W ashington, D.C., as well as by Moffett and Segal to the O berlin G roup m eeting at th e Claremont, W hittier, and Occidental campuses in Southern California. Financial reports for th e year ended August 31, 1989, showed higher revenues th an b u d g eted (mostly due to th e C incinnati C onference success) and an excess revenue for the year o f $149,000. This brings the fund balance back above its basic level, as frequently happens in the year o f the national conference. Although a deficit is projected in th e 1990 operating budget, it is expected th at this “cushion” will allow us to en d th e year with the fund balance at th e level m andated (50% o f average annual expenses). M em bership was up by 6.3% to 10,739 (9,587 personal and 1,152 organizational m em bers). President-elect candidates Anne Beaubien and Maxine R eneker visited headquarters O ctober 6 to m eet th e staff and be briefed on association affairs. O th er visitors included Mike Kathman, Planning C om m ittee chair. Pat Swanson, Professional E d u ­ cation C om m ittee chair, hosted a visit from Segal in nearby Hyde Park.—JoAn S. Segal, A C R L Execu­ tive Director. Middle States Association makes a commitment to BI At a recent m eeting for chairs o f evaluation teams and for librarians serving as site visitors, Howard Simmons, executive director o f th e C om ­ mission on H igher Education of th e M iddle States Association of C olleges an d Schools, m ade a strongly-stated com m itm ent to assuring diversity and highlighting the role of libraries through the accreditation process. The m eeting, held on Septem ber 14, 1989, in Philadelphia, opened with a general session involv­ ing th e two groups who w ere convening that day: chairs of evaluation teams and library directors, plus the Commission on H igher Education of M iddle States. Simmons set th e tone for the m eet­ ing by indicating his serious intent to pursue certain new directions, including diversity and library user education. H e defined diversity as extending to staffing, faculty, curriculum , and students and gave examples o f what he considered evidence o f diver­ sity. H e cited th e MSA Commission on H igher Education and staff itself as one such example, then introduced senior staff m em bers for presentations on th eir programs. Emphasis is being placed on such m atters as the “teaching/learning environm ent”— consideration o f the total institutional impact on student learning, including off-campus facilities, libraries, faculty attitudes, and o th er signs that this is a dynamic, interactive process. O utcom es assessm ent was addressed; although underlining th e principle that each institution is unique and must derive its own measures, both qualitative and quantitative, he pledged MSA’s com m itm ent to such assessment and expressed a concern that, if th e institutions do not dedicate themselves to the task, som eone else will impose less acceptable criteria. N eed for plan­ ning was also highlighted. Diversity and equity w ere defined in an ex­ panded fashion. One feature is a curriculum that encompasses the nontraditional and non-W estem cultures and works by women. A nother is th e crea­ tion of a comfortable environm ent, w here all com ­ m unity m em bers have th e opportunity to express themselves and to find a group of people with whom they can identify or among whom they can find role models, is of high value. Tools such as exhibits and special events w ere m entioned that raise consciousness and develop respect for women and minorities. This was a very exciting environment; a no- nonsense com m itm ent to diversity and equity was clearly broadcast. Equally exciting for librarians was Simmons’ stand on bibliographic instruction. H e announced that th e revised Characteristics o f Excellence, which constitute th e criteria for ac­ creditation, includes th e statem ent that a program of bibliographic instruction is m andatory and that he is dedicated to enforcing this requirem ent. Simmons’ familiarity with libraries reflects his stu­ dent library assistant days; his description of how he unlocked th e mystery o f how to use the library and shared his knowledge with others was significant. His awareness of the problem that faculty m em ­ bers do not themselves use or understand libraries was manifest; h e urged the librarians to infiltrate th e faculty; and to use th eir participation on ac­ crediting team s to go outside th e library to talk to faculty and students about their library and its services, to exam ine syllabi, course outlines, samples of student work, and curriculum planning