may07b.indd


conference circuit 
J. Michael Thompson 

Building
our
presence
on
campus


The University Libraries Section’s (ULS) groups address advocacy 
and leadership issues at the ALA Midwinter Meeting 

One of the most interesting aspects of modern academic librarianship is the 
constantly evolving and, many would argue, 
expanding, role that libraries play on our 
university campuses. The academic library 
has traditionally been regarded as a place of 
research, study, and quiet reflection; and to 
some extent, libraries still can, and do, serve 
these functions. However, through the cre­
ative application of new computer and com­
munication technologies, university libraries 
have begun to position themselves in a man­
ner that is more central to the educational and 
intellectual goals of our institutions. This is 
evidenced by the expansion of library­based 
instruction and outreach programs, by the 
repurposing of physical space to allow for the 
housing of digital learning commons areas, 
by the leadership positions librarians have 
accepted in arenas such as the development 
of institutional repositories and the evolution 
of intellectual property rights, and so on. 

The result of this repositioning is that to­
day’s academic library is viewed not merely as 
a physical space in which to warehouse items, 
but a central location from which the delivery 
of various forms of informational content can 
be directed in an effort to enhance the edu­
cational missions of the university. It is with 
this repositioning in mind that ULS appears 
to be focusing a large amount of its efforts on 
developing conference programs, workshops, 
and discussion group topics. 

In looking at activities and programs 
sponsored by various ULS groups in 2007 
at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual 
Conference and the ACRL National Confer­
ence, a pattern of supporting the expanded 
focus of librarianship emerges, especially in 

the areas of promoting campus advocacy and 
leadership at all levels within the library. This 
report includes summaries of the activities 
at the ALA Midwinter Meeting of two of the 
ULS groups that are focusing on these topics, 
as well as additional information regarding 
upcoming ULS events and workshops. 

ULS Executive Committee 
It is widely recognized that a majority of the 
leadership positions in academic libraries 
are currently held by members of the “baby 
boom” generation. With the expectation of 
a mass retirement of these individuals oc­
curring over the next decade, there exists 
a real concern about how our nation’s li­
braries will respond to such a large amount 
turnover in upper administration. In recog­
nition of this issue, the ULS Executive Com­
mittee reported at its Midwinter meeting that 
the section will be sponsoring a program at 
the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, 
D.C., June 21–27, 2007, entitled “Leadership 
or Management: Which Is It?” 

The focus of this session will be on what 
libraries can do to address the impending 
retirement of a generation of library leaders. 
The typical program agenda of keynote­
speaker­followed­by­panel­reaction will be 
reversed for this session. The members of the 
panel will speak fi rst, followed by a reaction 
from the keynote speaker. During the two­ 
hour session, the presenters will fi rst establish 
what defines good leadership and effective 
management, and go on to explore various 

J. Michael Thompson is head of acquisitions at the 
University of Houston, e-mail: jmthompson@uh.edu 
© 2007 J. Michael Thompson 

294C&RL News May 2007

mailto:jmthompson@uh.edu


methods and means of developing future 
managers and leaders. During the program, 
the speakers will be addressing how leader­
ship can be developed at all levels of an 
organization. As such, librarians at all career 
stages are being encouraged to attend. 

The panel will consist of Karen Williams 
(associate university librarian at the Uni­
versity of Minnesota) and Sheldon McCorn 
(head of access services at the University of 
California­Los Angeles). The keynote reac­
tion will be given by Julie Todaro (dean of 
library Services at Austin Community College 
and ACRL vice president). The program is 
scheduled for Saturday, June 23, from 1:30 
to 3:30 p.m. The annual ULS Social will be 
held immediately following the program. 

The Executive Committee also reviewed its 
plans for a workshop on advocacy that was 
held during the ACRL National Conference 
in Baltimore. Entitled “Campus Advocacy: 
Involving All Staff in Infl uencing Campus 
Dynamics,” the free workshop addressed 
the importance of involving all library staff 
in campus advocacy programs. With a group 
of speakers from a range of backgrounds, 
one goal of this session was to explore the 
benefits that can be achieved when a more 
holistic approach to advocacy is employed. 
During the session, the participants also 
reviewed different ways in which library 
staff at all levels can assist with efforts to 
promote library initiatives more effectively 
on campus. 

The members of the Executive Commit­
tee have realized that there is an inherent 
complication with producing a workshop 
for a national conference that is designed 
to promote the involvement of all levels of 
library staff: not everyone, particularly non­
professional staff and students, have the time, 
money, and inclination to attend a national 
library conference. As a result, the committee 
is attempting to use this initial workshop as 
a model for future workshops that could be 
offered at the local level through the various 
ACRL chapters. The results of such an initia­
tive would be exciting if it could be effectively 
implemented to reach the various members 

of the library community who are unable to 
participate at the national level. 

For individuals who missed the workshop 
at the ACRL National Conference but will be 
attending ALA Annual in Washington, D.C., 
there will be an Advocacy Institute held on 
Friday, June 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. 
The price of advanced registration is $35 and 
on site registration is $50. This institute is not 
a part of the ULS workshop discussed above 
nor is it being sponsored by the ULS itself, but 
it does offer another chance to learn about 
advocacy. Additional information regarding 
this institute can be found under the “Issues 
& Advocacy” tab on the ALA homepage. 

Campus administration and 
leadership discussion group 
Discussion group convener David Gleim 
(dean/director of the Auraria Library in 
Denver, Colorado) runs a strictly “classic 
style” of discussion group meeting: a topic 
is announced and individuals who want to 
discuss that topic show up at the appointed 
meeting time to discuss it. There are no 
designated presenters, facilitation exercise 
leaders, or PowerPoint presentations. The 
meetings consist solely of a discussion of the 
topic by those in the group. I found this ap­
proach quite refreshing. And judging by the 
attendance and level of participation that was 
exhibited at the group’s Midwinter meeting, 
I was not alone. 

The session, entitled “What Do You Do 
When…?”, was a discussion of the various 
successes and failures that attendees had 
encountered when trying to approach uni­
versity administrators with library initiatives, 
especially in cases where the administrators 
were neither aware of the importance of an 
initiative nor the basic issues surrounding it. 
The discussion moved along quickly. One 
meeting participant would put forth a situa­
tion he or she had encountered, and others 
would respond with solutions and ideas for 
addressing it. 

As might be expected, one of the major 
topics of the discussion was the need to 
build stronger relationships with those across 

May 2007  295 C&RL News 



campus. Group members stressed the need to 
get out of the library building itself. Librarians 
were encouraged to interact regularly with 
others in the university community as a means 
of fostering more effective lines of communi­
cation regarding library issues and concerns. 
Members also encouraged others to seek out 
and take advantage of any opportunity to talk 
with university administrators. 

A few of the suggestions for building bet­
ter relationships on campus were: 

• joining university committees to ensure 
the library’s perspective is represented; 

• using direct involvement with campus 
celebrations and activities (e.g., anniversaries, 
homecoming, etc.) to market library resources 
and services; 

• partnering with other groups on campus 
to help address larger (and often nontradition­
al) issues, such as preventing plagiarism or 
developing an institutional repository; and 

• maintaining previously established 
relationships both as a means of keeping 
the library in people’s minds and as a way 
of learning more about opportunities and 
changes occurring around campus. 

Another item stressed during the discus­
sion was that communication with univer­
sity administrators is far less effective if not 
presented in a manner that they understand 
and that fits with their concerns. Discussion 
group members pointed out several times 
that librarians should be able to show how 
each proposed library initiative will benefi t 
the campus before bringing those initiatives 
before the administration. Librarians will want 
administrators to see easily how the outcome 
of a project fi ts into the mission and goals of 
the university as a whole. This was deemed 
especially important when dealing with more 
esoteric topics (e.g., federated searching), 
where the benefits of the initiative may not 
be immediately apparent to an individual 
outside of the library community. 

It was also mentioned that periods of 
administrative transitions can provide great 
opportunities for library advocacy. Transition 
periods often provide both potential forums 
to revisit how the library serves the campus 

and chances to bring library issues to new, and 
potentially receptive, individuals. 

Focusing on outcome­based communi­
cation is also important when talking with 
faculty. If the faculty can see how a library 
project can help them, the library stands a 
better chance of getting additional faculty 
“back up” for proposals. All discussion group 
members appeared to agree that taking the 
time to speak to faculty in ways that show 
how the library can address their concerns is 
a great first step to gaining their understanding 
and eventual support. 

For initiatives that the library feels are not 
being given the proper level of support at the 
university level, one meeting attendee sug­
gested that the library consider setting up a 
smaller pilot program. The idea is that once a 
successful pilot has been established, it should 
be easier to demonstrate the results that can 
be achieved by the initiative and how a larger 
version of the project would be implemented. 
The pilot can provide a concrete example 
that the library can use as a discussion point 
when trying to advocate for the larger, more 
far­reaching program. 

One of the last issues discussed was the 
use of a library’s student workers as a means 
of gathering and disseminating information. 
It was suggested that this group represents a 
generally underutilized base of communication 
and support for library causes. The student 
workers are a particularly useful resource be­
cause they find themselves in “both camps.” 
They are, at once, internal and external to 
the library. They are likely to have fi rsthand 
knowledge of the concerns and needs of their 
fellow students. They also are likely to have a 
fairly good understanding of the basic opera­
tion and function of the library. Discussion 
group attendees put forth that the knowledge 
and ideas of student workers might be elicited 
by forming a student­library advisory commit­
tee or by holding regular student worker­based 
focus groups. 

Overall, this hour­long discussion covered 
many interesting ideas and practical sugges­
tions for working with others on campus to 
help achieve library initiatives. For individuals 

296C&RL News May 2007



interested in attending this group’s meeting 
at the ALA Annual Conference, the meet­
ing is scheduled for Saturday, June 23, from 
10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The proposed topic is a 
review/discussion of the management­related 
presentations and workshops from the ACRL 
National Conference, including but not limited 
to the following: 

• “Campus Advocacy: Involving All Staff 
in Influencing Campus Dynamics” 

• “Perceptions of Campus­Level Advocacy 
and Influence Strategies among Senior Admin­
istrators,” and 

• “Inside the Academic Administrator’s 
Mind.” 

It is hoped that individuals who were able 
go to these sessions will come to the meeting, 
provide a brief summary, and then initiate the 
discussion. The discussion group convener, 
David Gleim, is encouraging the attendance of 
those who missed the ACRL National Confer­
ence, too. The discussion will be opened up 
to the entire group after each brief summary 
is given. 

Given the new outwardly focused stance 
toward which many academic libraries are 
moving, it is good to see that ULS is making 
a concerted effort to support its members 
through various workshops, presentations, and 
discussion groups focusing on administrative 
issues, such as campus advocacy and leader­
ship. These ULS sessions appear to cover the 
relevant material well and deliver very practi­
cal information and suggestions that can be 
applied when the librarians return home after 
the conference. In the near future, it will be 
especially interesting to see the impact that 
conducting advocacy workshops at the lo­
cal level will have on getting all members of 
a library’s staff to advocate for the library’s 
agenda. 

I would definitely encourage those inter­
ested in the issues surrounding library advo­
cacy and leadership to make efforts to attend 
and participate in the upcoming ULS events 
reported above, as well as any of the other 
ULS sessions at the ALA Annual Conference 
this summer. 

May 2007  297 C&RL News