ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 666 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003 PARTNERSHIPS AND CONNECTIONS Expanding our role in the learning community by Jon E. C aw thorne I n the wake of the technological changes that have allowed dramatic increases in access, academic librarians must find new ways to communicate their resources and services to users who do not enter their doors. As critical members of their learning com­ munities, libraries must develop new strate­ gies for teaching students the important in­ formation skills they will need for future suc­ cess. As a result, marketing and outreach have become essential library tasks. This year ACRL President Tyrone H. Can­ non chose “Partnerships and Connections: The Learning Community as Knowledge Builders” as his theme, and it is certainly timely. Collectively, we are beginning to see progress in our efforts to build effective re­ lationships throughout our campuses. Re­ cently, outreach has come to mean an activ­ ity focused on the entire learning commu­ nity. Librarians are developing new strate­ gies to reach out to administrators, staff, stu­ dents and teaching faculty, all of whom have critical roles in supporting our goals for more effective use of library resources and ser­ vices. Librarians are now regularly making valu­ able conn ections to undergraduate and graduate students. We are spending more time understanding how the library can ben­ efit international students, student athletes, honors students, students from under-rep­ resented groups, and students with disabili­ ties, just to name a few groups. Librarians are partnering with student services staff to welcome students to their campuses and provide valuable orientations. Librarians and administrators are more often seeking input and feedback from students by meeting stu­ dent government leaders and other student organizations. Some library directors are es­ tablishing student advisory boards. In turn, students become stronger library support­ ers. Our outreach to academic departments and faculty continues, but librarians are also building strong partnerships with campus research centers and institutes. Despite the differences in our learning communities, there remains a common thread, and we can learn from each other. At the ALA A nnual C o n fe re n c e in Toronto, the ACRL Board of Directors ap­ proved the formation of an Academic Li­ brary Outreach Discussion Group to sup­ port its sixth strategic direction, which as­ serts that “ACRL is an effective and dynamic organization that continually enhances its ca­ pacity to create its future and assess and improve its performance in caπying out its mission.”1 Clearly, more librarians are inter­ ested in discussing how to reach our users and how to increase appreciation for the value of our services, thereby creating a broader base of support and a better future for libraries. A b o u t th e a u th o r Jon E C awthorne is associate university librarian a t San Diego State University, e-mail: jcawthor@ rohan.sdsu.edu © 2003 Jon E. Cawthorne Integrating outreach and building partnerships mailto:jcawthor@rohan.sdsu.edu C&RL News ■ N o v e m b e r 2003 / 667 Elizabeth Salzer, university librarian at Santa Clara University, captures the impera­ tive when she says, “It is no longer suffi­ cient for 21st-century academic librarians to simply advertise their services within the physical confines of their buildings. Librar­ ians must take a proactive approach, view­ ing the strategic marketing of their services and resources as critical to their continued survival. Librarians cannot simply talk about their importance to the ‘learning community,’ they must become a part o f it, actively learn­ ing the skills needed to market their librar­ ies.”2 It is a challenge academic librarians have embraced as a measure of leadership in the learning communities they serve; a challenge that, when met, will make their collabora­ tions with students, teaching faculty, and the entire learning community more productive, more rewarding. O u treach a n d th e a cad em ic lib ra ry Through meaningful partnerships with stu­ dents, teaching faculty, departments, research centers and institutes, library outreach can have its greatest impact on the manner in which the educational community deals with lifelong learning. Today, librarians must ac­ knowledge that many of our users are con­ vinced they have found “all that’s out there,” after only a click o f the mouse and a .34 second wait for a Google search to be com­ pleted. The truth is, academic libraries provide access to a range of information that is unri­ valed by the modern explosion of online material. A truly informed citizemy requires the ability to assess and interpret informa­ tion in all its forms. We understand this, yet faculty complain that students look for easy ways around research; they lift, clean, and copy essays and term papers off the Internet. Business leaders complain that too many young professionals would rather click, copy, and submit materials off the Internet rather than read, interpret, and adapt information from the variety of sources to produce solid conclusions. The trend to “click and run” on the part of so many is counter to librar­ ians as “knowledge builders,” who give us­ ers the skills to practice “lifelong learning.” This notion was confirmed in April 2003, when the Academic Library Advisory Com­ mittee (ALAC) of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) commissioned a study by Outsell, Inc. that focused on mar­ keting and outreach. Acknowledging that an inordinate number of our current and po­ tential users rely much too heavily on Internet search engines, the study recognized that the ultimate goal of library outreach is to raise awareness and increase use of the li­ brary.3 One of the key findings was, “If we de­ fine outreach in the broadest sense of pro­ active communication and interaction with library stakeholders, the study reveals that many forms of outreach are embedded into provision of library services and collections. Library services provide a natural intersec­ tion between library collections, technology, facilities, and professional and other service staff and thus provide prime opportunities for promotion and outreach.”4 In an even more recent briefing of Sep­ tember 19, 2003, entitled “The Changing Roles o f Content Deployment Functions: Academic Information Professionals,” Outsell notes that the “academic mission is broadening. This year’s study shows more academic libraries are focusing on serving multiple units or their entire institution globally, rather than one department or operating unit. Expanding service in the shadow of today’s funding constraints will require new ways of reach­ ing users and broadening access via new technologies and business models.”5 Later, in the same Outsell briefing, there is more reason to be optimistic that some efforts are beginning to pay off. In this study, libraries claim an average of 10,236 poten­ tial users and 4,944 actual users. Outsell notes that we are reaching “nearly half our poten­ tial users with information services, a very healthy market penetration percentage that shows that these libraries are successfully creating awareness and attracting users.”6 The briefing goes on to note, “Academic libraries made significant progress in the past year, getting critical management and mar­ keting practices in place. Nearly half of li­ brary administrators prepare formal business plans and more are engaged in business and strategic planning than before. They are making a strong push to conduct user needs assessments, along with formal tracking and user satisfaction studies. With resource con­ 668 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003 straints prevailing, libraries need to pay more attention to implementing ROI studies to en­ sure they have the information they need to measure and increase their value proposition, along with building more formal marketing/ outreach plans to reach their targeted users.”7 As a result of remote and improved ac­ cess to information, we are beginning to see fundamental changes in the way libraries en­ gage our respective learning communities. Outreach and marketing have become essen­ tial parts of our daily duties. Partnerships and connections between academic librarians and teaching faculty are essential for future suc­ cess. We are beginning to realize that partner­ ships and connections with students have some remarkable outcomes as well. C onnections w ith stu d ents Establishing partnerships and connections with students begins with listening and ends with the delivery of a consistent message. Students must know the library has welcom­ ing, inviting spaces for study. They also have dedicated faculty and staff who work directly with users and those who work behind the scenes; all of them committed to quality in­ struction, outreach, and reference. Academic libraries are increasingly providing a great service to the learning community through access to electronic journals. According to Laurie A. Machining, “Even with continual electronic access (24/7), stu­ dents still demand longer library hours to have a place to study. Academic libraries are a refuge for those who live in noisy dorms or need a place conducive for study.”8 While the request for study space is con­ stant, rarely do we find cases where students are actually willing to pay for it. But that’s exactly what happened at San Diego State University (SDSU). In a university-wide survey of students, the library was rated as the most important campus resource. In March 2002, the Asso­ ciated Student Council leaders at SDSU pro­ posed an important student fee increase to $10 to support the survey results on the spring ballot. When the vote passed, the library used the funds to provide 24-hour access to a portion of the library whenever school is in session. “Student leaders at SDSU, particularly the Associated Students Council, deserve much credit for strongly endorsing the fee. The stu­ dent newspaper also contributed to the posi­ tive outcome. The Daily A ztec not only en­ couraged students to open their pocketbooks by voting for the fee, but spent much of a long editorial encouraging more university budget support for the library as well. SDSU students have demonstrated where their pri­ orities lie,”9 said Library Dean Connie Vinita Dowell. In 2003, the library continues to provide 24-hour access, and it has proved very popu­ lar. With limited publicity, the students man­ aged to find the 24-hour facility on campus, and use increased as the semester contin­ ued. The connection between student needs and library and information access would not have happened without strong leader­ ship. More importantly, says Dowell, “given the opportunity, today’s SDSU students ex­ hibit the same commitment to education shared by their parents and previous gen­ erations.”10 With such a commitment on the student side, connections between teaching faculty and librarians becom e equally im­ portant. L ib rarian an d te a c h in g fa c u lty Partnering with teaching faculty is one way to ensure students are exposed to informa­ tion competence. Earlier this year, Califor­ nia State University held a series of suc­ c e s s fu l w o rk s h o p s o n in fo r m a tio n competency.11 Librarians were paired with teaching faculty from biological sciences, counseling and education psychology, his­ tory, and the first- year experience. During the workshops, participants discussed in­ formation competence projects and resolved to bring what they learned back to their re­ spective campuses. When teaching faculty and librarians work together closely, students benefit. Patrick Sullivan, one of the part icipants at the first- year experience workshop and a SDSU ref­ erence librarian, said the discussions and outcomes were effective. “One of the cen­ tral pieces was evaluating the assignments given to students from faculty. After interest­ ing discussions about incorporating infor­ m atio n c o m p e te n c y c o n c e p ts , facu lty seemed very open to consider changes to their assignments, particularly when the sug­ gestions came from other faculty.”12 C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003 / 669 This is an excellent, effective model cre­ ated by the California State University sys­ tem. The challenge for college and research libraries across the country is to build part­ nerships and connections with teaching fac­ ulty who are enthusiastic not only about in­ tegrating information competency, but cham­ pioning the potential with their colleagues as well. These workshops were successful be­ ca u se lib rarian s and te ach in g facu lty worked together to create an effective li­ brary assignment. As Evan Färber once said, “When that cooperative relationship works well, it can result in assignments that approach, if not reach, what I con­ sider the ideal: where both the professor’s objectives and the librarian’s objectives are not only achieved, but are mutually reinforcing the teacher’s objectives being those that help students attain a better understanding o f the course’s subject mat­ ter, and the librarian’s objectives being ( “Navigating a tight j o b m a rk et” con tin u ed fr o Perhaps most importantly, you should not get discouraged, but should be persistent in your search. In the current market, it can take an average of three to six months to find a job, so new graduates might not ex­ pect to have a job lined up upon gradua­ tion. But with time and patience, they will find openings. Asked what advice he would give new graduates looking for library jobs, James Matarazzo, former dean of the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and In­ formation Science, said to make concessions about “where you will live, how far you will drive, what kind of library you will work in. Make those concessions up front and then apply. There’s a job for you.”11 Notes 1. Rebecca T. Lenzini, “The Graying of the Library Profession: A Survey of Our Pro­ fessional Association and Their Responses,” Searcher, 10, no. 7 (2002): 88-97. Library Lit­ erature Database, WilsonWeb (accessed April 28, 2003). 2. James Matarazzo, “Libraiy Human Re­ sources: The Y2K Plus 10 Challenge,” The Jo u r n a l o f A cadem ic Librarianship, 26, no. 4 those that enhance the students’ ability to find and evaluate information.”13 Conclusion These examples of partnerships and con­ nections represent only a few of the thou­ sands developing at colleges and universi­ ties. We must constantly learn how to better market our services and resources. As 1 stated earlier, collectively we are beginning to see progress in our outreach effort as we build effective relationships throughout our campuses. Administrators, staff, teaching fac­ ulty, and students— all important members of our learning communities— have critical roles in encouraging the support and effec­ tive use of libraries. Notes 1. “ACRL Board of Directors’ actions, June 2003,” C&RL News 64, no. 8 (September 2003): 518-521. (con tin u ed on p a g e 681) p a g e 663) (2000): 223-4. Library Literature Database, WilsonWeb (accessed April 28, 2003). 3. Jennifer Jacobson, “A Shortage of Aca­ demic Librarians,” C hronicle o f H igher E du­ ca tio n C a reer Network, August 14, 2002, c h r o n i c l e . c o m / j o b s / 2 0 0 2 / 0 8 / 200208l401c.htm (accessed May 1, 2003). 4. W. Lee Hisle, “Top Issues Facing Aca­ demic Libraries: A Report of the Focus on the Future Task Force,” College a n d R esearch Libraries News, 63, no. 10 (November 2002). Library Literature Database, WilsonWeb (ac­ cessed May 1, 2003). 5. Mark Clayton, “Outlook Mixed for Nation’s Librarians,” Christian Science M oni­ tor, April 8, 2003. Lexis Nexis Database (April 23, 2003). 6. Serena Enger, “November Trustees Meeting,” The R eal Sheet 32 (2003): 5-6. 7. Clayton, “Outlook Mixed.” 8. Katharine Hansen, A Foot in the D oor (California: Ten Speed Press, 2000), 16. 9. Ibid., 67-72. 10. Kate Wendleton, Getting In terviews (New Jersey: Career Press, 2000). 11. James Matarazzo, interview by au­ thor, April 29, 2003, in Boston, Massachu­ setts. ■ m C&RL News ■ N o v e m b e r 2003 / 681 can law and culture. This supplement inte­ grates the 375 treaties recognized by the U.S. Department of State with nine other resources, and provides indexes to original sources by treaty number and tribal group. $45.95. Ep­ och Books, 22 Byron Ave., Kenmore, NY 14223. ISBN 0-9629586-4-6. Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruc­ tion o f Books and Libraries in th e Twenti­ e th Century, by Rebecca Knuth (277 pages, July 2003), argues that government-authorized book-burning often precedes or accompanies genocide, since the obliteration of a people cannot be accomplished without destroying its printed history. Knuth offers the case stud­ ies of Nazi Germany, the Croatian and Bosnian Serbs, Iraq in Kuwait, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and China’s takeover of Tibet as examples of extremist ideologies that attempted to eradicate competing cultural resources. $39.95. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-98088-X. Musings, Meanderings, and Monsters, Too: Essays on Academic Librarianship, edited by Martin H. Raish (195 pages, July 2003), con­ sists of 19 chapter-length, informal rumina­ tions on the disquieting problems that threaten to change academic librarianship as we know it— primarily the escalating need to teach criti- cal-thinking skills and information literacy to students, and the transformative effect of in­ formation technology on the profession. Con­ tributors include Barbara Fister, David Isaacson, Ilene Rockman, Diana Shonrock, C"Integrating . . co n tin u ed fr o m p a g e 669) 2. Toolkit f o r a c a d e m ic a n d research li­ braries (Chicago: ACRL, 2003): 4. 3. Outsell, Inc., “Outreach and informa­ tion resources outreach services study,’’ Cus­ tom R eport (April 4, 2003): 3. 4. Ibid., 6. 5. Outsell, Inc., “The changing roles of con­ tent deployment functions: Academic infor­ mation professionals” In form ation a b o u t In ­ fo r m a t io n B rie fin g 6, no. 20 (September 19, 2003): 6. 6. Ibid., 12. 7. Ibid., 24. 8. Laurie A. Machining, “The information commons: The academic library of the fu­ and Tony Amodeo. $24.95. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-4767-1. October 1962: The "Missile" Crisis As Seen fro m Cuba, by Tomás Diez Acosta (333 pages, O ctober 2002), presents the flip side of Kennedy’s showdown with Khrushchev from the perspective of the Cubans, who often get forgotten in accounts of the struggle between the superpow ers. Acosta was a 15-year-old lit­ eracy worker in the Cu­ ban army at the time, and since 1987 he has been a historian at the Institute of Cuban His­ tory in Havana. The author sees the drama as the Cuban revolu­ tionary governm ent’s firm stand against both U.S. plans to over­ throw Castro and the Soviets’ Operation Anadyr, which called for the deployment of 42,000 Russian troops on the island. Supple­ mented with many little-seen photographs and documentation. $24.00. Pathfinder. ISBN 0- 87348-956-X. Also from the same publisher is M arianas in Combat, by Teté Puebla (101 pages, March 2003), the highest-ranking woman general in the Cuban army, who in a series of interviews describes the women’s platoon in the Cuban revolution and the role of women in the armed services. $14.00. ISBN 0-87348-957-8. ■ ture” Portal: Libraries a n d the A cadem y (April 2003): 243. 9. Connie Vinita Dowell, “Signs of student dedication” San D iego Union Tribune, Opin­ ion Section, September 4, 2002. 10. Ibid. 11. For more information on the Infor­ m atio n C o m p e te n c e W o rk sh o p , visit www. calstate. edu/ls/Meetings. shtml. 12. Interview with Patrick Sullivan, busi­ ness librarian at San Diego State University, September 18, 2003- 13. Evan Färber, “Faculty-librarian coop­ eration: A personal retrospective” Reference Services Review (Bradford, 1999), vol. 27, chap. 3:229. ■