ACRL Washington State Chapter History: A Look Back at the Early Years, 1980-1984
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ACRL Washington State Chapter History: A Look Back at the Early Years, 1980-1984 |
October's Pack Forest conference is the 20th annual joint Oregon/Washington State fall conference. During the next three issues of the newsletter we will publish articles on the history of the Washington State Chapter. In this issue the early years of the chapter are covered, from its establishment in 1980 through the 3rd National ACRL Conference held in Seattle in April 1984. The article is composed of excerpts from the Chapter History compiled by Cynthia Fugate from newsletters and archival records and is reprinted from the March 1992 (no.30) issue of the ACRL Washington Chapter Newsletter.
Chapter Formation
Impetus for the organization of the Washington State Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries came from Gary Menges of the University of Washington. He organized an informal brownbag meeting of ACRL members at the UW’s Suzzallo Library which, on May 16, 1980, approved the idea of petitioning for chapter status. At the time, most academic librarians in Washington State were not members of the Pacific Northwest Library Association or the Washington State Library Association, so the decision was made not to affiliate with any state or regional association, but to form a separate chapter. Following this decision, a petition was circulated among ACRL members in the Pullman, Seattle, and Ellensburg areas. The petition, with 41 signatures, was approved by the ACRL Board at its June 30, 1980 meeting in New York. At the same time, the Board approved Seattle as the site for the third national ACRL conference, to be held in 1984. Clearly, the Washington State Chapter was formed just in time!
The University of Washington Libraries served as the site of the first official chapter meeting which was held at Suzzallo Library on October 18, 1980. At this meeting, which drew 25 members, three essential committees were formed. Virgil Dedas, Nancy McGill, Betty Shinn, Betty Wagner and Thomas Yeh agreed to serve on the By-Laws Committee. The Planning Committee consisted of A. Gerald Anderson, Audrey Dibble, Carolyn Mateer, Caitlin Robinson, and Bill Scott. Finally, members of the first Nominating Committee were: Bartley Dobb, Donna Hanson, Sarah Michalak, and Margaret Tjaden. The By-Laws Committee and the Planning Committee began work immediately, while the Nominating Committee awaited approval of the bylaws before it could compile its list of nominees.
At this initial meeting Gary Menges reported that the Oregon State Chapter of ACRL had expressed interest in sponsoring a joint meeting with the Washington Chapter in the fall of 1981. Members were very enthusiastic and Gary agreed to pursue the idea with the Oregon Chapter Board, which had invited him to attend its October 31 meeting in Menucha. Thus began a ten-year tradition of joint fall meetings which have provided some of the Chapter’s most memorable speakers (and parties).
Organization and Early Meetings
On May 9, 1981, the chapter held its spring meeting and first program. Pamela Darling of the Association of Research Libraries was the speaker. Her topic, "Creativity vs. Despair: Preservation Administration and Cooperation," focused on the preservation of library materials and the ARL Preservation Project. The 40 librarians in attendance approved the new bylaws and set annual dues at $5.00 for ALA/ACRL members and $10.00 for non-members.
Carolyn Mateer presented the results of a questionnaire sent to 451 academic librarians in the state. Most respondents were ACRL members who considered contact with other academic librarians in the state and region to be the most important benefit of participation in the State Chapter. Other results of the questionnaire indicated an interest in program topics on the effective use of bibliographic utilities for bibliographic control, communication with users, and evaluating library services. Respondents were fairly evenly split between preferring an annual to a semi-annual meeting, but there was a definite preference for one-day over two- or half-day meetings. Given the geographic distribution of the membership, it is not surprising that Seattle was the overwhelming favorite for a meeting site, but as the organization grew, meetings were held on both sides of the mountains. It is now customary for the spring meeting to be held in Eastern Washington and the fall meeting in Western Washington or Oregon.
Elections for Chapter Officers for 1981/82 were held at the meeting, with Eleanor Chase selected as President and Audrey Dibble as Vice President/President-Elect. The meeting was followed by a wine and cheese reception.
During 1983/84, planning continued for the ACRL Third National Conference. Several Chapter members were actively involved in the conference both as speakers and organizers. The Chapter also hosted a party for the members whose efforts had led to the success of the conference. One lasting remembrance of the conference is the attractive thunderbird logo which appears on the Chapter newsletter. It was designed by local artist Harry J. Calkins who gave permission for the logo to be used on the newsletter, a practice which began with issue number 16, April 1986.
By the beginning of 1983 the membership stood at 113, of whom 108 were national members and 5 local. By the end of 1984, there were 188 members, including 15 institutional memberships and 21 local members. A variety of reasons may have contributed to the growth experienced during this period: the high quality of programs presented by the Oregon and Washington Chapters, heightened awareness of ACRL in general due to Seattle’s hosting the national conference, and the publicity generated by the Chapter’s well-written, informative newsletter. The first officially appointed newsletter editor, Marilyn von Seggern, included in her first issue, February 1983, an appeal for news items from across the state. Due to her efforts and the contributions of members, the ACRL Washington Chapter newsletter became a storehouse of information about the activities of academic librarians in the state. In addition to the regular fall and spring issues, a winter issue was added.
Ed. note: thanks to Gary Menges and Cynthia Fugate for supplying this text.
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