ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ September 2003 / 533 PARTNERSHIPS A N D CO N N ECTIO N S The learning community as knowledge builders The 2003– 04 ACRL President’s theme by Tyrone H. Cannon A s this issue o f C&RL N ews arrives in your mailbox, you are probably in the throes of gearing up for another busy academic year on your campus. For many of us, this includes announcing new programs and services, orienting new faculty and students to core library services, learning new technologies and databases, and perhaps fondly remembering our great summer vacations which now seem like ancient history! While those days at the shore or camping in the mountains are distant memories, we are invigorated about the new and continuing partnerships and connections that each fall semester or quarter brings to our academic lives. Partnerships and connections My presidential theme of “Partnerships and Con­ nections: The Learning Community as Knowledge Builders” will promote the partnerships, connec­ tions, and collaborations that academic and re­ search librarians have on their campuses and be­ yond them to promote information literacy and lifelong learning. We all know that continuity gives an organization its strength and vitality. In that spirit, the theme that I have chosen is in­ spired by the themes o f past-presidents: Betsy Wilson’s “Community and Collaboration” and Mary Reichel’s “ACRL: The Learning Community for Excellence in Academic Libraries.” Partnerships, connections, learning, and knowledge building define present-day higher edu­ cation. While my theme is externally focused, it is important that we not forget the crucial internal partnerships and connections that we must have with our co-workers in reference, acquisitions, cataloging, library systems, ILL, and circulation/ access services. These partnerships ensure just-in- time access to needed resources for our users and keep our organizations team-based and healthy. Beyond the library’s physical walls, “academic and research librarians have a long and rich tradition o f collaborating with disciplined-based faculty members to advance the mission and goals of the library. Included in this tradition is the area of information literacy, a foundation skill for aca­ demic success and a key component of indepen­ dent lifelong learning.’’1 As academic and research librarians, we recog­ nize that student learning and access to informa­ tion requires the ability to find and critically evalu­ ate information in all formats. This ability, if truly integrated, becomes a part of the student’s skill set and equips him or her to succeed as a self- sufficient consumer of information. This self-suf ficiency is demonstrated by one who can navigate a Web-based search engine, directory, database, or print resource and evaluate the information and appropriately apply it to a life task. Susan Barnes Whyte reported on her August 2000 experience as an Immersion Institute faculty member. She said, “Information literacy or criti­ cal thinking is a way to connect students with About the author Tyrone H. C annon is dean o f unive rsity libraries at the U niversity o f San Francisco a n d A C R L president, e-mail: cannont@usfca.edu mailto:cannont@usfca.edu 534 / C&RL News ■ Septem ber 2003 information through a process that is not about the right way to do research. Rather it teaches students to think about—to create meaning—from the information they find.”2 This meaning provides the intellectual con­ nection for the student and excitement about what they are learning. The learning partnership with the librarian and the intellectual connection with meaningful information are key steps towards the student becoming comfortable with his or her new set o f skills and can promote true mastery o f new subject or content areas. In a recent article, Kitty McNeil and B eth Haines discuss the benefits o f successful part­ nerships for librarians and faculty members. “Li­ brarians can develop successful partnerships with faculty and publicize the library’s role in teaching and learning by participating in the campus and national discourse on the scholarship o f teach­ ing. The key benefits for the library include: higher visibility on campus, inclusion in the discussion about curriculum, a better understanding by fac­ ulty about how the librarians support the educa­ tional purpose and objectives o f the teaching, learning, and curricular concerns o f faculty.”3 At ACRL’s 11th National Conference, “Learn­ ing to Make a D ifference,” in Charlotte, North Carolina, there were a number o f presentations about the partnerships and connections academic and research librarians have on their campuses. The presentations included “Practical Ways to In­ tegrate Information Literacy into the Curriculum on a Shoestring Budget—Three Community Col­ lege Approaches,” “The Librarian as Teacher: Per­ sonalized Library Instruction Program s,” and “Ideas, Incentives and Interaction: Integrating In­ formation Literacy into the Curriculum through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration. ”4 Another very successful presentation at the ACRL National Conference was by John Gardner, director o f the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University o f South Carolina. Gardner chal­ lenged academic librarians to becom e more in­ volved with the freshmen experience programs found in many colleges and universities. As a re­ sult o f Gardner’s challenge, a new ACRL Task Force on the First-Year Experience, chaired by Ja n e A. Carlin, will explore librarians’ involve­ ment in freshmen-year experience programs. The Task Force will study the w ork o f the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and then promote to the center and others involved in first-year experience programs the work that librarians have done. In addition, the AASL/ACRL Information Lit­ eracy Joint Task Force lias become a joint standing committee to continue this partnership to prepare K -20 students to be information literate. In the San Francisco Bay Area, w e recently celebrated the opening of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Library at San Jo se State University. This project has been described as a unique example of creative partnerships and resource sharing and a model for academic and public libraries o f the future.5 ACRL members should be proud o f the inno­ vative partnerships and connections that we have established. In the coming months, this column will feature articles about more o f the creative partnerships and connections involving ACRL members. C o n t in u in g in itia t iv e s The ACRL @ your Library Task Force and the ACRL Spectrum Scholar Mentor Task Force, past- president Helen Spalding’s milestone initiatives, will both continue as new ACRL standing com ­ mittees. The ACRL Marketing Academic and Re­ search Libraries Committee will be chaired by Ken Marks and the ACRL Spectrum Scholars Com­ mittee will be chaired by Theresa Byrd. The Focus on the Future Task Force, chaired by Lee Hisle, made its final report to the ACRL Board in Toronto. ACRL is committed to keeping the seven top is­ sues6 identified by the task force at the forefront o f our activities and will explore ways this coming year to do so. ACRL’s scholarly communication initiative will continue its partnerships with li­ braries and higher education organizations to ad­ vocate for changes in the system of scholarly com­ munication and encourage increased participation of academic and research libraries in scholarly com­ munication issues. S t r a t e g ic p la n n in g In 1995, John Bryson wrote, “Leaders and manag­ ers o f governments, public agencies o f all sorts, nonprofit organizations, and communities face difficult challenges in the years ahead. Upheaval and change surround them. Organizations that want to survive and prosper must respond to these changes. Their response may be to do what they have always done, only better; it may also involve important shifts in organizational focus and ac­ tion. While organizations typically experience long periods o f relative stability, they may also typi­ cally encounter periods o f rapid change. These C&RL News ■ Septem ber 2003 / 535 periods of organizational change can be exciting, but they can also be anxiety-producing or even terrifying. ”7 Eight years later one thing has re­ mained constant, rapid change! Academic and research libraries and ACRL members can cer­ tainly identify with this phenomenon. Techno­ logical innovations, budget reductions, increased competition for students, assessment and out­ come demands, recruitment and diversity issues, and demographic concerns are some that come immediately to mind. Bryson defined strategic planning as a “disci­ plined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organi­ zation is, what it does, and why it does it. To deliver the best results, strategic planning requires broad yet effective information gathering, devel­ opment and exploration of strategic alternatives, and an emphasis on future implications of present decisions.”8 This last statement has special signifi­ cance for member organizations as they strive to be flexible and sensitive in order to meet changing member needs and demands. The current ACRL strategic plan expires in 2005, and the process to revise the plan has started ACRL has contracted with Tecker Consultants to help with the process. Tecker Consultants LLC is an international consulting practice that focuses on meeting the special needs of organizations man­ aging change. With more than 20 years’ experi­ ence, Tecker has provided associations, compa­ nies, and public agencies with insightful counsel and talented facilitation. Employing a variety of techniques and tools carefully selected for each assignment, Tecker pro­ vides a combination o f consultation, facilitation, and education to address key areas like leadership and governance, organizational design, staff de­ velopment, and marketing. The major milestones of the process include the following: Data/Infoimation Collection (steps 1–4 ) ; Strategic Planning Session (step 5); Prod­ uct/Program Assessment (step 6); Strategy Ses­ sion (step 7); and an Action Planning Session (step 8), which produces an action planning report and a final strategic plan. To date, we have conducted focus groups at the ACRL National C onference in Charlotte, North Carolina, and held a thought-provoking leadership session in Toronto, conducted by Tecker principal partner, Paul D. Meyer, CAE. The next steps include conducting a Web-based survey of ACRL members and conducting qualitative phone interviews with members, nonmembers, ALA-lony members, inactive members o f ACRL, and new members o f ACRL. We are working with the ACRL Membership Committee, ACRL Re­ search Committee, Chapters Council, and the ACRL Board to assist with this part o f the pro­ cess. At the annual ACRL Board Retreat sched­ uled for late October 2003, Board members will work with T ecker and Meyer on step 5 in the planning process. Later this fall, ACRL members will have the opportunity to com m ent on the draft strategic plan and more w ork will occur during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Di­ ego. The process is expected to conclude in early spring 2004. This is an exciting and challenging time for ACRL. I am honored to be the association’s 66th president and to be working with a strong Board, membership, and staff to set the course o f action for the next five-to-ten years. When we look back upon our summer travels and fun, I know we will also recall the exciting partnerships and connec­ tions that we explored this year and the 2003-04 dynamic strategic planning process. Notes 1. Ilene F. Rockman, “Strengthening Connec­ tions Between Information Literacy, General Edu­ cation, and Assessment,” Library’ T ren ds 51, no. 2 (Fall 2002): 185– 198. 2. Susan B arnes W hyte, “From BI to IL: T he ACRL Institute for Information Literacy,” OLA Q u a rterly 61, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 14– 15. 3. Kitty McNeil and B eth H aines, “Sch ol­ arship o f Teach in g and Librarians: Building Successful Partnerships with Faculty,” G eo r­ g i a L ib r a r y Q u a r te r ly 39, no. 4 (W inter 2 003): 4– 8. 4. For more information about theses excel­ lent sessions, see the June 2003 and July/August 2003 issues o f C&RL N ews. 5. A news release entitled “First Co-Managed City/University Library in the Nation Opens Its Doors” can b e found at http://www.sjsu.edu/ news_and_info/releases/072803.htm. 6. Lee Hisle, “Top Issues Facing Academic Li­ braries: A Report of the Focus on the Future Task Force,” C o lleg e a n d R esea rch L ib ra r ies N ew s 63, no. 10 (November 2002): 714– 15. 7. Jo h n M. Bryson, S trateg ic P la n n in g f o r P u b lic a n d N on p rofit O rg a n iza tion s: A G u id e to S tren g th en in g a n d S u sta in in g O rg a n iz a tio n a l A ch iev em en t (Jossey-Bass, 1995). 8. Ibid, 4– 5. ■ http://www.sjsu.edu/