ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 16 / C&R L News Chapter Topics ACRL chapters provide forum for electronic information discussions By Gail Junion-Metz C leveland State University and Ray E. Metz Case W estern Reserve University O v er 40% o f A C RL’s chapters have held p ro ­ grams on access to electronic inform ation, n e t­ w orked inform ation, new technologies, faculty ex­ pectations relating to new inform ation resources, an d how libraries will respond to the challenges these new resources p resent. M uch has b e en w rit­ te n in th e professional literatu re an d r e c en t ALA, E D U C O M , an d CA USE meetings have devoted m any hours to discussions on th e se an d related issues. M any o f you w ho atten d national m eetings p ro b ­ ably feel th a t th a t’s w h ere th e definitive discussions o f electronic inform ation an d netw orking occur. H ow ever, a fte r read in g and publishing ch ap ter m eeting reports in C hapter Topics since 1989, it’s clear th a t th e A C RL chapters are also holding im p o rtan t an d practical discussions on th ese topics. R ath er th an m erely following th e lead o f th e na­ tional m eetings an d replicating discussions initiated at th e national level, chapters have b een holding m eetings which b rin g new ideas on electronic infor­ m ation an d netw orking forward for discussion, while a t the sam e tim e bringing aw areness o f th e basic issues to those unable to a tte n d national m eetings. (Som ething w e feel th e chapters do unbelievably well.) By looking a t ch ap ter m eeting rep o rts dating back to th e fall o f 1989 (w hen ALA was starting to featu re m ore discussions o f netw orking, databases, and th e inform ation society) w e found th a t th e 41 A C RL chap ters h eld m ore th an 17 m eetings on such issues as th e relationship b etw een libraries and co m p u ter centers (3 m eetings); electronic links b etw een libraries and publishers, linked systems, and h y perm edia (4 meetings); an d a n u m b e r o f oth ers including scholar’s w orkstations, th e fu ture o f prin t, how th e copyright law needs to resp o n d to electronic inform ation availability, an d th e Intern et. T h e re w ere at least 13 c h ap ter m eetings during 1991 on th e topics m en tio n ed above, b u t also m eetings on th e creation o f an inform ation elite, th e n e e d for a national inform ation policy, access to g o v ernm ent inform ation, N R E N , an d cam pus n e t­ w orking planning. N ationally known speakers— P a u l E v an P e te rs, W illiam A. M o ffett, Sally M cCallum , Evan Farb er, Sharon Rogers, Patricia G lass S c h u m a n , T h o m as M ich alak , R e b e c c a Lenzini, a n d Rick W eingarten— spoke and led dis­ cussions at chapter m eetings. (T hese are also th e sam e peo p le found leading discussions at national m eetings.) … chapters have been holding meetings which bring new ideas on electronic information and networking fo rw a rd fo r discus­ sion. In te re st in electronic inform ation an d access was a p p aren t w hen w e surveyed th e chapters to see w hich topics th ey w ere m ost in te re sted in p re sen t­ ing to th e ir m em bers. W hen th e results w ere tallied, cam pus networking, hypertext, artificial intelligence, expert systems, and C D -R O M netw orking p ro ­ gram s w ere top vote-getters in a list o f over 50 p rogram titles. (The top vote-getter, by th e way, was faculty views o f th e academ ic library, a topic th a t ties into netw orking and access to e lectronic infor­ m ation m ore each day it seem s.) O n e high-quality program on this topic was orga­ nized by th e M etropolitan N ew York c h ap ter and h eld on N ovem ber 14, 1990. T h e title o f th e p ro ­ gram was “Access to Excess? Issues o f th e Inform a­ tion E xplosion.” T he program featu red ALA Presi­ January 1 9921 17 d e n t Patricia Glass Schum an an d th e title o f h e r talk was “T h e Inform ation Explosion: Fantasies an d Realities.” She characterized as “m yth” som e com m on beliefs o f th e inform ation age: th a t w ide­ sp read use o f co m puters will m ean th e e n d o f p aper, books, and libraries; th at th e confused p a ­ tro n will b e rep laced by th e w ell-defined e n d u ser w ith a w ell-defined inform ation need; th a t te c h ­ nology will b e usable, affordable, desirable, an d a c c e ss ib le ; a n d t h a t te c h n o lo g y is o u r b e s t h o p e for im proving an d equalizing access to infor­ m ation. Schum an was c o n cern ed th at technology may, in fact, b e w idening th e gap b etw een th e inform ation- rich and th e inform ation-poor. She questio n ed w h e th er th e explosion o f data constitutes a grow th o f inform ation o r a grow th o f knowledge. As an analogy to th e “inform ation oligopoly” w e live with, she q u o te d B. Begdildan’s article, “T he Lords o f th e Global Village,” (The Nation, June 12, 1989) in w hich h e says: “N e ith e r C aesar nor H itler, Franklin Roosevelt n o r any Pope, has com m anded as m uch p o w er to shape th e inform ation on which so m any p e o p le d e p en d to m ake decisions about everything from who to vote for to w hat to eat.” Schum an co ncluded h e r talk by stressing the n eed for lib rar­ ians to forge th e ir own agenda, not as business people, b u t as service professionals using creativity, synthesis, ju d g m en t, an d technical know ledge to solve inform ation problem s. Nancy K ranich, d irecto r o f public services, New York University, exam ined th e fu tu re o f public access to governm ent inform ation if tu rn e d over to th e private sector, w h ere th e m arketplace and p ro f­ itability will becom e a determ in in g factor in avail­ ability. M ary Biggs, directo r o f libraries, M ercy C ollege, suggested th a t publishers p ractice “biblio­ graphic b irth control” an d th a t th e inform ation glut m ay b e tem porary, a sym ptom o f th e early stages o f th e inform ation society. Biggs th e n asked why m ore academ ic librarians are not w orking on th e se p ro b ­ lems. She stated th a t m ost librarians are not trained to co nduct original research, an d to com m unicate th e ir know ledge to oth ers b oth w ithin th e profes­ sion an d to o th e r professions. O n e ch ap ter program idea seem s w orthy o f re p ­ lication an d distribution by A C R L N ational. T he Illinois c h ap ter has organized and is cu rren tly h old­ ing a series o f regional hands-on instruction sessions to teach academ ic librarians how to use a n d access th e various inform ation resources available on the In te rn e t. H ands-on sessions on this to p ic w ould be easy to plan, teach, a n d sim ple to package for distribution. T h ey could also b e sponsored by ACRL as “drop-in” sessions (hands-on p o ster sessions if you will) d u rin g upcom ing ALA m eetings. ■ ■