june07b.indd


Miranda Bennett 

Charting the same future? 
The
ACRL
Strategic
Plan
and
the
Report
of
the
Commission
on
the
Future

of
Higher
Education



Two recent documents of potentially great significance for academic libraries 
have adopted the metaphor of “charting” to 
describe efforts to prepare for an uncertain 
future: the ACRL strategic plan, “Charting our 
Future: ACRL’s Strategic Plan 2020,” and the 
Report of the U.S. Secretary of Education’s 
Commission on the Future of Higher Edu­
cation, “A Test of Leadership: Charting the 
Future of U.S. Higher Education.”1 The shared 
metaphor invites comparison of the two and 
reflection on their key points uncovers sev­
eral outstanding opportunities for librarians 
to work toward the strategic goals of ACRL 
and take leading roles in the future of higher 
education. 

“A Test of Leadership,” released in pre­
publication form in September 2006, is the 
work of a commission appointed by Secretary 
of Education Margaret Spellings “to consider 
how best to improve our system of higher 
education to ensure that our graduates are 
well prepared to meet our future workforce 
needs and are able to participate fully in 
the changing economy.”2 Commissioners 
included representatives from the business, 
education, and government sectors, and they 
engaged in a “national dialogue” on issues 
relevant to the future of higher education, 
such as affordability, accessibility, account­
ability, and quality. 

During its yearlong investigation and 
analysis of American higher education, the 
commission inspired controversy and criti­
cism. For instance, its early consideration of 
mandatory standardized testing of college 
students met with outrage from many pro­
fessors, and this recommendation does not 

appear in the final report. Aspects of the 
report remain problematic, and it deserves 
critical scrutiny from anyone with an interest 
in higher education. Among its most notable 
weaknesses, it strongly emphasizes the eco­
nomic value of higher education, while pay­
ing scant attention to less tangible benefi ts 
such as enriched appreciation for culture, 
more informed participation in civic life, and 
clearer understanding of the “big questions” 
of transcendent meaning. 

Nevertheless, the report refl ects common 
views of higher education today, and its 
recommendations ought to be taken seri­
ously. Although its policy implications remain 
unclear, they could be profound. Given the 
emphasis the ACRL strategic plan places on 
advocacy, including the goal of “increas[ing] 
ACRL’s influence in public policy affecting 
higher education,” association members 
should consider carefully the ways this call for 
reform of higher education may affect their 
work. When policymakers turn their atten­
tion to the report, librarians’ familiarity with 
it will enable them to argue cogently for the 
interests of their libraries and patrons. 

The commission’s report also offers col­
lege and university librarians a number of 
opportunities for leadership and partnership 
initiatives, which align well with the ACRL 
strategic plan’s call for its members to be “rec­
ognized as flexible, dynamic, and progressive 
leaders in their institutions and in scholarly 
communities” and “as essential partners in 

Miranda Bennett is instruction librarian at the University 
of Houston, e-mail: mhenry4@uh.edu 
© 2007 Miranda Bennett 

370C&RL News June 2007

mailto:mhenry4@uh.edu


learning and scholarship with faculty and 
other colleagues.” In particular, librarians 
can target the areas of student learning, in­
novation, outreach to the K–12 education 
community, and lifelong learning. 

Student learning 
The commission affirms that student learn­
ing is central to the future of U.S. higher 
education. Its report emphasizes the role of 
institutions of higher education in preparing 
students for success in their careers and notes 
that the academy is currently falling short, 
with “[e]mployers report[ing] repeatedly that 
many new graduates they hire are not pre­
pared to work, lacking the critical thinking, 
writing, and problem­solving skills needed in 
today’s workplace.”3 Librarians familiar with 
the ACRL “Information Literacy Competency 
Standards for Higher Education” will see this 
as a great opportunity for working with fac­
ulty to improve students’ skills in information 
evaluation and use.4 

Assessment of student learning is also 
key to the report’s recommendations, and 
here, too, librarians are well positioned to 
collaborate with teaching faculty and model 
exemplary practices. The report declares, 
“Faculty must be at the forefront of defi n­
ing educational objectives for students and 
developing meaningful, evidence­based 
measures of their progress toward these 
goals.”5 In the area of information literacy, 
librarians have an established track record 
of creating learning standards, both general 
and discipline­specifi c.6 As more colleges and 
universities (and accreditation agencies) re­
quire professors to build their courses around 
measurable outcomes, librarians can serve as 
valuable, experienced partners and support 
the creation of a campus­wide “culture of 
assessment.” 

Innovation 
A second broad area of opportunity is in­
novation, which, in the words of the report, 
encompasses “new pedagogies, curricula, and 
technologies to improve learning.”7 Similar 
language appears in the ACRL strategic plan, 

particularly with regard to technology. For 
instance, a strategic objective for the com­
ing three to five years is to “[s]upport the 
development and recognition of academic 
and research librarians as leaders and experts 
in information technology applications in 
libraries.” 

In addition to working with cutting­edge 
technologies, including blogs, wikis, and 
other social networking programs, librarians 
can spearhead innovation in teaching and 
learning. Because librarians often teach under 
different conditions than professors, with 
single­session information literacy classes a 
common model, they have greater room for 
experimentation in the classroom. Centers for 
teaching excellence, especially if housed in 
the library, can also give librarians the chance 
to bring their innovative approaches before 
a larger audience. 

Academic libraries, contrary to stereotype, 
have great potential as engines of innovation, 
and by using appropriate emerging technolo­
gies, trying out new approaches to teaching, 
and promoting collaboration with teaching 
faculty to develop and revise curricula, librar­
ians can fulfill the commission’s recommen­
dation to “embrace a culture of continuous 
innovation and quality improvement.”8 

K-12 education 
“A Test of Leadership” devotes consider­
able attention to the need for members of 
the higher education community to work 
together with K–12 educators to ensure that 
students are well prepared for the challenges 
of postsecondary academic life and aware 
of the opportunities available to them. Col­
lege and university librarians can help their 
institutions meet this goal—and develop new 
ways to communicate their value to higher 
education—by creating outreach programs 
to the K–12 community. 

As colleges and universities seek to 
implement the report’s recommendation for 
“seamless integration between high school 
and college,”9 librarians can work with school 
media specialists and elementary and high 
school teachers to give students opportuni­

June 2007  371 C&RL News 



ties to become familiar with academic library 
resources well before enrollment in college. 
For instance, academic librarians can invite 
classes from local high schools to visit the 
library, participate in instructional sessions, 
and learn about resources available to them 
both today and in the future. 

As part of its focus on the issue of the 
accessibility of higher education, the com­
mission also addressed the need to increase 
awareness of educational opportunities, es­
pecially among underserved groups. While 
the report “calls on businesses to partner with 
schools and colleges to provide resources 
for early and ongoing college awareness 
activities, academic support, and college 
planning and financial aid application as­
sistance,”10 this role could also be effectively 
fi lled by both academic and public libraries. 
By leading community outreach initiatives 
that build awareness of higher education, 
academic librarians can contribute positively 
to the reputation of their institutions and 
raise their libraries’ profiles in the eyes of 
their colleagues. 

Lifelong learning 
While outreach to the K–12 education com­
munity addresses the needs of students 
before they get to college, lifelong learning 
initiatives seek to support students after they 
leave. The commission’s recommendations 
in this area focus on the evolving require­
ments of the workplace, as “more and more 
adults are looking for ways to upgrade and 
expand their skills in an effort to improve or 
protect their economic position.”11 Librarians 
can contribute to the “national strategy for 
lifelong learning” advocated by the commis­
sion in at least two general ways. 

First, they can develop and support 
information literacy initiatives on their cam­
puses. Members’ “ability to teach and assess 
lifelong learning skills” appears among the 
strategic objectives of ACRL’s “Charting our 
Future” plan, and, according to the ACRL 
“Information Literacy Competency Standards 
for Higher Education,” “information literacy 
forms the basis for lifelong learning.” By 

working with teaching faculty to incorporate 
information literacy knowledge and skills 
into curricula, librarians can contribute to 
students’ ability to thrive in the emerging 
information economy. 

Second, librarians can offer expanded 
access to library resources and services, en­
suring that graduates, prospective students, 
and members of the general public can take 
advantage of the library’s wealth of informa­
tion sources. Increasing access to expensive 
resources, such as proprietary databases, 
will present challenges, but librarians should 
make a concerted effort to develop projects 
such as those described in the recent article 
“Alumni access to databases: The time is 
now,” since these provide new options for 
lifelong learning.12 

The commission’s recommendation for 
colleges and universities to commit to life­
long learning, as well as to reach out to the 
K–12 education community, calls upon the 
academy to broaden its vision to include far 
more than the students offi cially enrolled 
at any given moment. Academic libraries 
should also seek to serve not only their 
primary patron population, but also the 
wider community, since the future of higher 
education depends on support from all parts 
of society. 

Conclusion 
In each of these areas—student learning, in­
novation, K–12 education, and lifelong learn­
ing—librarians can use the recommendations 
of the commission’s report on the future 
of U.S. higher education to accomplish the 
goals of the ACRL strategic plan, particularly 
the special focus of ACRL President Pamela 
Snelson on “communicating the value of 
academic libraries.”13 The changes to higher 
education in the wake of “A Test of Leader­
ship” are not known, but librarians can use 
the report’s chart of the future to ensure that 
they are not only in the same boat with others 
in the higher education community, but also 
capably and confidently at the helm. 

(continued on page 377) 

372C&RL News June 2007

http:learning.12


the Indian Ocean. The index covers articles 
from 1969 to the present and is searchable 
by author, work studied, country, article 
title, and issue. Article is not available in full 
text. Access: http://www.adpf.asso.fr/librairie 
/index­articles00.html. 

• Persée. Established by the Ministère 
de l’éducation nationale, Persée provides 
full­text access to the back files of French 
journals in the social and human sciences. 
The interface is available in both French and 
English. Access: http://www.persee.fr/. 

• Revues.org. Like Persée, Revues.org 
provides full­text access to French journals in 
the social and human sciences. It is possible 
to search all journals or a specific title. The 
entry for each journal title includes a timeline 
of dates for which only abstracts are available 
and dates for which full text is available. Ac­
cess: http://www.revues.org/. 

Discussion lists 
• Afrique. French language discussion list 

about African literature. Access: to subscribe, 
e­mail listserv@univ­lyon1.fr. Message: “SUB­
SCRIBE Afrique fi rstname lastname.” 

• Francofil. A bilingual general discus­
sion forum based in the United Kingdom. It is 
intended for scholars and teachers of French 
and Francophone studies. Topics include 
social issues, linguistics, history, and philoso­
phy, as well as teaching. Access: http://www. 
bristol.ac.uk/francofi l/. 

Professional organizations 
• American Association of  Teachers of 

French (AATF). “The largest national asso­
ciation of French teachers in the world with 
nearly 10,000 members.” It is intended for 
both secondary and post­secondary teach­
ers. Access: http://www.frenchteachers. 
org. 

• Association des Bibliothécaires de 
France (ABF). ABF, founded in 1906, is the 
oldest library association in France. Its mem­
bers come from all types of organizations. 
Access: http://www.abf.asso.fr/. 

• M o d e r n  L a n g u a g e  A s s o c i a t i o n  
(MLA). MLA is the major national organiza­
tion for students, teachers, and scholars of 
modern languages and literatures. Access: 
http://www.mla.org/. 

(“Charting the same future” cont. from page 
372) 
Notes 

1. ACRL Board of Directors and ACRL 
Executive Committee, “Charting our Fu­
ture: ACRL Strategic Plan 2020,” ACRL, 
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/whatisacrl 
/acrlstratplan/stratplan.htm (accessed Novem­
ber 6, 2006). The Secretary of Education’s 
Commission on the Future of Higher Edu­
cation, “A Test of Leadership: Charting the 
Future of U.S. Higher Education,” United 
States Department of Education, www. 
ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture 
/reports/pre­pub­report.pdf (accessed Octo­
ber 31, 2006). 

2. “A Test of Leadership,” 30. 
3. “A Test of Leadership,” 3. 
4 .  A C R L ,  w w w . a l a . o r g / a l a / a c r l  

/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompe­
tency.htm (accessed November 6, 2006). 

5. “A Test of Leadership,” 23. 

6. See, for instance, “Information Literacy 
Standards for Science and Engineering/Tech­
nology,” developed by ACRL’s Science & 
Technology Section (www.ala.org/ala/acrl 
/aboutacrl/acrlsections/sciencetech/stan­
dards.htm), and “Draft Research Competency 
Guidelines for Literatures in English,” devel­
oped by ACRL’s Literatures in English Section 
(www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections 
/literaturesineng/lescompetency.htm). 

7. “A Test of Leadership,” 24. 
8. Ibid, 24. 
9. Ibid, 16. 
10. Ibid, 17–18. 
11. Ibid, 8. 
12. Catherine Wells, “Alumni access to 

research databases: The time is now,” C&RL 
News 67 no. 7 (2006): 413–16. 

13. Pamela Snelson, “Communicating the 
value of academic libraries,” C&RL News 67 
no. 8 (2006): 490–92. 

June 2007  377 C&RL News 

www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections
www.ala.org/ala/acrl
www.ala.org/ala/acrl
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/whatisacrl
http:http://www.mla.org
http:http://www.abf.asso.fr
http://www.frenchteachers
http://www
mailto:listserv@univ-lyon1.fr
http:http://www.revues.org
http:Revues.org
http:Revues.org
http:http://www.persee.fr
http://www.adpf.asso.fr/librairie