ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries July/August 1983 / 233 by the insertion of a book-high, shelf-long piece of acid-free matboard or binder’s board.—Alexandra Mason, K en neth Spencer R esearch L ibrary, Uni versity o f Kansas L ibraries, L aw ren ce. ■ ■ Executive Director’s Report Ju lie C arroll Virgo Executive D irector, A C R L Although the climate for many academic li braries has remained a difficult one during the past year, the range of activities of our members con tinues to demonstrate a commitment to, and en thusiasm abo u t, our chosen profession. The activities of the ACRL committees, sec tions, and discussion groups have been out lined in the Association’s report handed out at the A CRL Program Meet ing in Los Angeles. (Members unable to at tend the meeting may Ju lie Virgo obtain copies of the re port by w ritin g the ACRL office.) President Stoffle in her report has described specific ACRL activities that reflect the values of this organization. My report focuses on the operational aspects of the Association and pro vides a glimpse of the challenges I see facing us in the year ahead. M e m b e r s h i p ACRL membership has been maintained at a constant level. If we continue to follow last year’s pattern we can expect to have approximately 8,700 members at year’s end (August 31). Personal mem berships are up, but organizational memberships are falling. B u d g et Both ACRL and C h oice finished the 1982 year in a strong fiscal position. ACRL had revenues of $478,000 and expenses of $391,000, for a net in come of $87,000. C h o ice achieved revenues of $870,000 and expenses of $822,000, for a net in come of $48,000. Balanced against these encouraging results has been the decision by the ALA auditors that money must be set aside for deferred subscription and ac crued vacation liabilities for C h oice, and deferred membership dues and accrued vacation time for ACRL. In short, during 1982 we built a healthier funds balance, but a significant portion of it must be set aside for these deferred liabilities. The 1983 fiscal year, with projections based on the first eight months performance, looks as though revenues and expenses will both be about $50,000 below budget, with the net income remaining as budgeted— a negative $20,000. ALA I n d ir e c t C o s t St u d y ALA has just completed its most recent indirect cost study. Indirect costs for ALA to support divi sions range from a low of 54 % (ACRL) to a high of 105 % (LAMA) with a median of 84 % for all divi sions. This means that for every dollar that ACRL spends, ALA provides 54¢ in additional services. Divisions are not actually charged that amount as it is recognized that divisions contribute to many members joining ALA (which they must do before they can join a division) and that divisions provide services to ALA members who may not necessarily join the division. The indirect cost figure for C h oice fell from 6.4% to 5.3% ‚ which translates into actual savings for C h oice of almost $10,000 a year. C h oice does pay ALA for its indirect costs. St a f f i n g Several important staff changes have taken place. In August Rebecca Dixon assumed the posi tion of editor and publisher at C hoice. Claire Dud ley joined the C h oice staff as assistant editor for non-print materials. Cathleen Krzyminski was ap pointed deputy executive director in April (her first week on the job was at Annual Conference) and Anne Garvey has been promoted to program assis tant, working with all ACRL units and assisting with chapter and member relations. We have ap preciated the warmth and enthusiasm Donna Harlan brought to her position as the acting deputy executive director and wish her well as she leaves ACRL and returns to her home institution this summer. A n n u a l O p e r a t in g P l a n The Planning Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee have begun work on develop ing a mechanism for tying the planning and budg eting processes together in a more coordinated and systematic way. Such an approach should be of as sistance to the Board in implementing the Associa tion’s priorities. P u b l i c a t i o n s New ACRL publications appearing in the past year have included: 234 / C &RL News •M anagem ent and S taff D evelopm ent; •B ack to the Books: B ibliographic Instruction an d the Theory o f Inform ation Sources; •ACRL University L ibrary Statistics, 1981-82; •Building a C h ild ren ’s L iteratu re Collection, 3rd edition (published by C h o ice); •Library Statistics o f C olleges and Universities: S u m m a ry D a ta 1979 (published courtesy of NCES). An ACRL standing order program has been es tablished to assist libraries in maintaining full cov erage of ACRL materials. C o n t i n u i n g E d u c a t io n Courses were held for the first time at an ALA Midwinter Meeting and by two ACRL chapters. Seven courses were scheduled for presentation in Los Angeles. Continuing education units (CEUs), Certificates of Attendance, and credit towards re certification by MLA are now available for all ACRL courses. Most ACRL courses have associ ated workbooks which are available for purchase at $10 for A CRL members and $15 for non members. As library travel budgets become increasingly slimm er, we are looking towards other cost- effective delivery mechanisms. We are studying audio and video teleconferencing and working with the Public Service Satellite Consortium to ex plore other teleconferencing applications within ACRL. NEH G r a n t s ACRL received a second NEH grant to conduct workshops aimed at assisting librarians and hu manists to work together to produce public pro grams that would utilize the people and collection resources of academic institutions. Workshops were organized by Barbara Macikas in New Or leans in February and in Madison, Wisconsin, in April of 1983. A similar proposal, jointly sponsored with the Public Library Association, is currently under con sideration by the Endowment. L ib r a r ia n s ’ E x c h a n g e P rogram As a result of requests received from the profes sion, the ACRL office has initiated a modest ex change program. We have on file the names of li braries and lib ra ria n s in English-speaking countries who will host or exchange positions with librarians in the U.S. In a time of decreasing job mobility, a job exchange program may offer a new perspective on a familiar job. For further informa tion, contact Sandy Whiteley at the ACRL office. N e w A w a r d s Two new awards have been announced this July /August 1983 / 235 year. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) is sponsoring with ACRL the Samuel Lazerow F el lowship for outstanding contributions to acquisi tions or technical services in an academic or re search library. The award, presented for the first time at Annual Conference in Los Angeles, will provide practicing librarians a fellowship for re search, travel, or writing. A second award co-sponsored by ISI is the ACRL Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. The purpose of this fellowship is to foster research in academic li brarianship by encouraging and assisting doctoral students with their dissertation research. It too was awarded for the first time in Los Angeles. W h a t L ie s A h e a d It should not require an accurate psychic to fore see our immediate future. The economy might be rebounding, but it is going very slowly, and higher education is not one of the growth areas in that economy. As a profession we will have to find bet ter and more compelling ways to articulate our contributions to our parent institutions and to the public at large. W e need to identify and delete those activities done by tradition alone, and focus on and communicate those that have the highest payoff to our profession. Librarians cannot be all things to all people; we must use our resources judi ciously. Most importantly, we need to be sure that the choices we have made are relevant to the per ceived needs of our users and our funding agencies. The Association of College and Research L i braries needs to make those same decisions, so that we can continue to serve and advance our profes sion wherever the economy may lead. ■ ■ Humanities Programs for Libraries: An ACRL/NEH Workshop Paula Elliot Humanities Reference Librarian Kansas State University April on the shores of Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, was its own season, ’mid winter and spring, and a low gray sky wrapped the Yahara Center in a com fortable isolation. The setting was entirely condu cive to the activity of the ACRL/NEH workshop on humanities programming, where librarians and humanists gathered to learn from the experts, and from each other, the ways in which the National Endowment for the Humanities makes funds avail able for library programs. Twenty-five institutions were represented (in most cases) by an academic li brarian and a faculty humanist. They met with ex perienced consultants and NEH representatives for two days of discussion and practice, which focused on the writing of grant proposals to enhance and promote libraries’ humanities holdings. The workshop was the last of a series of four made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The first two were held in late 1981 and early 1982, in Massachusetts and California, respectively (the latter was reported on by George Eberhart in CirRL News, May 1982, pp. 169-72). Following their successful completion, ACRL re submitted its proposal for two additional work shops, which were funded by a grant for $62,423, and were held this year in New Orleans and Madi son. The gracious and informal setting of the Yahara Center established the friendly atmosphere for the conference. Librarians and their humanist team mates were barely distinguishable one from an other. It was initially entertaining to try to guess which of a pair was the librarian, but it soon be came refreshingly evident that such a distinction was unimportant. A collaborative spirit, some times missed on our own campuses, was greatly ev ident. Participants introduced themselves to the group by relating what special interest had brought each team to the workshop. Concerns ranged from public policy to regional history, women’s studies to musical comedy. Many came to the workshop with programs in mind, and were eager for infor mation on implementation. All were committed to the promotion of the humanities; all recognized the vital worth of public programming. The workshop director was Peggy O ’Donnell, Chicago library consultant, who coupled her own experience at grant writing with organizational and teaching skills to produce a combination of lec tures, panel discussions, and role-playing. Open ing the first session with the assurance that “Money is available,” she went on to describe the work of the NEH as a funding agency for programs aimed at the out-of-school adult public. Grant applica tions have diminished due to inflated rumors of budget cutbacks. ACRL staff on hand were Sandy Whiteley, program officer, and Barbara Macikas, continuing education officer. Their advance plan ning and on-the-spot coordinating efforts moved events along smoothly. Huel Perkins, assistant vice-chancellor for aca demic affairs, Louisiana State University, deliv