ACRL Washington State Chapter History: A Look Back at the Early Years
Part II: 1982-1990
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ACRL Washington State Chapter History: A Look Back at the Early Years Part II: 1982-1990 |
October’s Pack Forest conference is the 20th annual joint Oregon/Washington State fall conference, and to celebrate we are providing a look at the history of the Washington State Chapter. This is the second of three articles, and is composed of excerpts from the Chapter History compiled by Gary Menges and Cynthia Fugate from newsletters and archival records; much of the following is reprinted from the March 1992 (no.30) issue of the ACRL Washington Chapter Newsletter.
1982/84
The 1983 spring meeting was held at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane and focused on publishing. Donald Ellegood, Editor, the University of Washington Press and President, Association of American University Presses, was the keynote speaker. Audrey Dibble of Washington State University served as the 1982/83 President.
The publishing theme was continued at the Pack Forest conference in October, 1983, which was attended by 65 librarians. "Electronic Publishing and The Library" was keynoted by Frances Spigai, President of Database Services and editor of the newsletter Publishing Trends. Spigai predicted that "librarianship will develop into a consulting and advising profession as computers take over technical aspects...in the not-so-distant future database producers will offer index, abstract and full-text of articles all in one database." Carla Rickerson of the University of Washington served as the 1983/84 chapter President. Instead of a spring meeting, members participated in the Third ACRL National Conference held in Seattle, April 4-7, 1984. Many chapter members participated as members of the Conference Executive Committee and as volunteers.
1984/85
The 1984 conference with the Oregon Chapter was in Menucha with "Professional Ethics and the Changing Information Technology" as the theme. It attracted 95 participants. Futurist Robert Theobald was the keynote speaker. ACRL national president, Sharon Rogers, University Librarian at George Washington University, spoke at both the Menucha conference and at the spring meeting at the Evergreen State College in Olympia. University administrators and legislators were also featured speakers at the spring conference program on "Coping with Funding Authorities." Plans for the fall conference at Pack Forest were announced, with the theme "Changing Course: Restructuring Academic Libraries" and featuring B.J. Busch from the University of Alberta as the keynote speaker. Busch had recently completed an ARL OMS study on the organizational relationships between technical and public services. Virgil Dedas of Whitworth College served as Chapter President.
1985/87
Despite the Chapter’s creative programs and lively newsletter, the Nominating Committee for the 1986/87 Board of Directors was forced to issue an appeal for candidates in the March 1985 newsletter. The problem of member involvement had reached a critical level. Susan Perry was prevailed upon to run for Vice-President/President-Elect at the spring meeting and she along with John Backes, President, and those who filled the other vacancies constituted an able incoming Board.
An attempt to assess the quality of the fall conference from the attendees’ point of view elicited generally positive responses, but some desire was expressed for a more urban setting, at least for some of the meetings. President John Backes commented in the February 1986 newsletter that although there are several other conference sites available, they are considerably more expensive and would result in a $150 registration fee instead of the $50 all-expenses-included fee currently charged. There has been little demand for more sophisticated settings since that point was made.
The 1986 spring conference, "Meeting the Needs of the Non-Traditional Learner," was held in sunny Walla Walla. Keynote speaker Elizabeth Diffendahl challenged those in attendance to begin thinking about meeting the needs of the video generation, as well as the new "minorities" who may soon comprise the majority of college students in the United States. This thought-provoking program was co-sponsored by CCLAMS and AARL, in what was becoming a fairly common pooling of resources.
Due to the resignation of Susan Perry, Vice-President/President-Elect, who had accepted a position at Stanford University, it was necessary to elect both a President and a Vice-President for the 1986/87 term. The winners were Arley Jonish of Whitman College and Dale Burke of Edmonds Community College, respectively. Recruiting new members continued to be an issue for the Board, and concern was expressed that while members were attracted by the interesting programs offered, few chose to become more actively involved in making any of those programs or other events happen.
1986 also saw the appointment of a new newsletter editor, Donna Packer of Western Washington University. Ms. Packer was to serve ably in that role through the May 1989 issue, a Chapter record.
1987/88
For the first time in Chapter history, ballots for the election of the Board of Directors were mailed out in the newsletter to members, thus extending the privilege of voting to those unable to attend the spring meeting. As the membership remained fairly stable at 175 and the average attendance at spring Chapter meetings remained fairly small, this change effectively franchised the majority of members.
During the spring meeting the membership took up the thorny issue of librarians’ salaries, a difficult one on which to achieve consensus in a state where academic librarians’ status differs from institution to institution. In response to the Legislature’s decision to separate librarians’ salaries from those of teaching and research faculty, the Association of Librarians of the University of Washington brought a resolution to the Chapter membership, asking for ACRL’s endorsement. At various meetings held throughout the spring, this resolution was endorsed by ACRL, WLA, CCLAMS, and by the Interinstitutional Committee of Chief Librarians (ICCL).
Another issue of concern to members of the Chapter during 1987/88 was our relationship with ACRL National and WLA/AARL and CCLAMS. While acknowledging the benefits of joint conference sponsorship, members worried that if both meetings each year involved another library organization, the Washington Chapter might lose its special identity as an ACRL unit. The issue was highlighted during the presidency of Dale Burke when ACRL National’s legal counsel advised the Association to grant more independence to chapters in order to lessen its liability for chapter activities. This prompted President Burke to raise the issue of closer alliance with WLA, along with other options such as changing the name of the chapter and becoming an affiliate of ACRL rather than a chapter, and the third choice, incorporation.
By the time the spring meeting in Ellensburg rolled around it was clear that National was no longer pressuring Chapters to redefine their relationship with the parent body, but members were still interested in pursuing closer relationships with their colleagues at academic libraries in the state. President Burke had met with members of WLA’s AARL and received their support for exploring ways of unifying academic librarians in the state. This sentiment was seconded by the Washington Chapter membership and by CCLAM’s board. A committee composed of ACRL members Burke, Barbara Kemp, Sarah Pedersen, Ruth Kirk, Donna McCool, and Carla Rickerson was formed to continue the conversation with members of AARL and CCLAMS.
1988/90
In 1989 the spring meeting was held in conjunction with Technofair (actually, Technofair II or: Tourist Guide to the Land of Technology). This event, coordinated by the State Library, was co-sponsored by ACRL and featured workshops, demonstrations, exhibits, and a Lucy Booth where librarians were able to meet with automation consultants.
Also at the spring meeting the membership updated its list of legislative priorities. The list included adequate support for branch campuses, support for the concept of intellectual freedom, support for an adequate budget for the State Library, which was in desperate straits at that time, support for a proposed study of the impact of academic institutions lacking libraries on the publicly-supported libraries in the state, and the perennial issue of inflation funding for library materials.
Librarians were again active on the salary front, responding to the legislatively-mandated Office of Financial Management study which sought to establish some consistency in salary allocations in higher education. OFM recommended that there be separate categories for salary increases: faculty, academic administrators, librarians, counselors, and teaching assistants.
In January 1990 Sarah Pederson, President of the Chapter, Diane Parker (ICCL), Dana Frank (CCLAMS) and others testified before the Senate Higher Education Committee, all speaking against the classification study as proposed. As the issue now stands, librarians in the state must continue to monitor the salary allocations to be sure that they are being treated equally with the faculty.
At the business meeting during the 1990 fall conference, members voted to accept the categories and wording of legislative priorities as established by WLA. They also endorsed a new set of priorities, with support for intellectual freedom, full funding of the actual amount of inflation and purchasing price for library materials, and legislative funding for a statewide interlibrary loan network heading the list.
In 1989, for the second time in Chapter history, the newsletter changed hands. The November issue of the newsletter was the first issue for the new editor, Sue Kopp of Washington State University.
As stated in the Bylaws, the goals of the Washington State Chapter of ACRL are to "provide opportunities for the professional growth of and communication among academic and research librarians; to encourage the exchange of ideas and information relating to library development; and to enhance library service to all users of the academic and research libraries in the state." The common themes sounded during the first ten years of the Chapter—cooperation among academic libraries in the state and region, continuing education of librarians through workshops and programs, and improved service through more effective use of resources and technology—demonstrate the Chapter’s commitment to its stated goals. At the end of its first decade, the Chapter, through its Board of Directors headed by President Diane Parker, is poised to continue the tradition: plans are underway with the Oregon chapter to submit a grant proposal to ACRL National for a joint workshop in 1992, President Parker has reported on what is expected to be the first in a series of meetings sponsored by the State Library of presidents of several state library associations, and yet another education opportunity is on the horizon, the AARL/ACRL Washington pre-conference, "Front and Center: Involving Libraries in Academic Planning." With this level of projected activity, the 131 members of the Washington State Chapter of ACRL can look forward to an active and intellectually stimulating second decade.
The third part of the ACRL Washington Chapter history will appear in the spring 2000 newsletter.
Ed. note: thanks to Gary Menges and Cynthia Fugate for supplying this text.
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