ACRL 2005-2006 Annual Report

(also published in the December issue of C&RL News)

ACRL’s Core Purpose
The core purpose of the Association of College & Research Libraries is to lead academic and research librarians and libraries in advancing learning and scholarship.

Message from the President
Message from the Vice-President
Letter from the Executive Director
Year in Review
Meet the Staff
Board of Directors
Financial Report
Executive Summary

Message from the President

Camila Alire
ACRL’s 67th President

Passion is the word that best describes why I have involved myself in various activities throughout my career. To be able to transfer that passion to an organization like ACRL doesn’t get any better. That has been my experience both in academic library work and in leading ACRL as its 67th president.

In this annual report, I cover my presidential focus that was tied directly to ACRL’s Strategic Directions, my travels, and other highlights of the year. However, I want to start the report by expressing my gratitude to the ACRL staff and our executive director, Mary Ellen Davis. They are the ones who help us look and do good. Additionally, I thoroughly appreciated working with the ACRL Board of Directors, who as a volunteer group contributed efficiently, collaboratively, and tirelessly for ACRL.

As an academic library dean, I envisioned three approaches to making academic libraries more effective in providing the best services and resources possible. They included library strategic planning, library marketing, and advocating for academic libraries. My presidential focus concentrated on grassroots advocacy and preparing frontline library librarians/staff with the effective persuasion skills and self-confidence to do advocacy successfully on their respective campuses.

Pat Smith and Nancy Davenport cochaired an advocacy task force that successfully offered a workshop at ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. Julie Todaro, our current ACRL president-elect, wrote the advocacy toolkit, which every ACRL member received. The University Libraries Section (ULS) is furthering this work by offering a similar workshop at the forthcoming 13th National ACRL Conference in Baltimore and working with ACRL chapters to offer similar workshops at the state/regional levels after the conference. The work has just begun.

Other highlights for this past year included my travels. I visited several chapters—South Dakota, Ohio, and Illinois. I was also able to talk to library and information science graduate students at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Catholic University about possible careers in academic librarianship. I not only thoroughly enjoyed talking and sharing with the practitioners in academic libraries but was also excited about talking with potential academic librarians. Talk about the best of both worlds!

Other travels included an invitation to attend the Guadalajara International Book Fair and speak at the XXII International Librarians Colloquium. I also met with CONPAB, the organization of academic library directors of Mexico, with which ACRL had previously signed a formal agreement for future collaboration. Part of this work was influenced by my vision for ACRL to take a lead in ALA’s Sister Library Program and work with ACRL’s International Relations Committee. We were able to establish six sister library partnerships between Mexican and American academic libraries.

One of the most rewarding parts of serving as ACRL president was bestowing ACRL awards to some of the award winners at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. Among the awards given were the ACRL Librarian of the Year Award conferred to Ray English at a special reception in New Orleans in his honor and the Excellence in Academic Libraries Awards granted to Rochester Institute for Technology Libraries and to Augustana College Library.

Lastly, it was my distinct honor and pleasure to serve as your president. ACRL truly is an organization that allows the opportunity for members to share their passion with others for the good of academic librarians and libraries!

Message from the Vice President

Pamela Snelson
Vice-President/President-Elect

The year of vice-president/president-elect can be characterized as one of deliberate design and thoughtful preparation for the presidential year. Thanks to a great team of "architects," "designers," and "builders," I am pleased to share with you the resulting blueprint for my presidential year.

My Appointments Committee, chaired by Laverna Saunders (Duquesne University) worked hard to match member volunteers with openings to build strong and effective committees. ACRL members accepted 175 appointments to division committees. Nineteen percent of those appointed reported that this was their first ACRL committee assignment.

Tyrone Cannon (University of San Francisco) graciously accepted the chair of the newly charged Leadership Recruitment and Nominations Committee. This committee has taken a more active role in encouraging and vetting candidates for office and issued a call for nominations in C&RL News. The resulting slate of candidates will go before the ACRL membership in spring 2007.

As a focus for my presidential year, I decided to concentrate my energies and attention on the objectives under the leadership area of the ACRL Strategic Plan—"ACRL members achieve recognition as leaders and advocates for academic and research libraries." The 2007 President’s Program Planning Committee, cochaired by Michael LaCroix (Creighton University) and Lisa Stillwell (Franklin & Marshall College) spearheaded a research study on the value of libraries that will form the foundation of a program at ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. This committee worked with Leigh Estabrook at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Library Research Center to plan and conduct interviews with provosts and chief academic officers. These interviews will provide data to help ACRL members determine how to best communicate the value of their libraries.

During this year I have had the opportunity to represent ACRL at many events, such as award ceremonies, chapter talks, conferences, and meetings with library school students and higher education executives. Each was very rewarding and focused on ACRL’s core purpose: to lead academic and research librarians and libraries in advancing learning and scholarship.

I am very fortunate to have had the support of a wonderful team of builders in Chicago and Middletown, Connecticut. Without the superb skills and tireless energy of the ACRL staff, all of the work I have mentioned would not have been possible.

As president, I look forward to meeting more ACRL members, furthering the goals of our strategic plan, and speaking out on the value of academic libraries. Thank you for allowing me to do so.

Letter from the Executive Director

Mary Ellen K. Davis
Executive Director

It is exciting to watch the entire association strive to align itself with "Charting Our Future: ACRL Strategic Plan 2020." The Research Committee now prepares environmental scans for the Board with input from the units. The entire membership is invited to weigh in on issues and member services. The Board reviews this information and adjusts the strategic plan accordingly. Units submit proposals to advance the strategic plan. The Board reviews them, setting priorities for allocating resources to implement approved initiatives. Such coordination greatly facilitates the ability of ACRL to fulfill its mission of leading academic and research librarians and libraries in advancing learning and scholarship.

ACRL members consider professional development the most highly valued membership benefit (and it is prominently featured in the strategic plan). To meet the growing demand for varied and flexible professional development, ACRL responded with a number of initiatives this year.

• ACRL offered its first Virtual Institute, "Innovate and Motivate: Next Generation Libraries," attended by more than 250 individuals. Evaluations were very positive, with 77% of respondents giving it the two highest ratings for quality. Participants liked not having to travel, enjoyed the focus on new technologies, and valued access to the conference session archives. In keeping with its goal of expanding outreach to other higher education organizations, ACRL developed this institute jointly with Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) and EDUCAUSE.
• ACRL partnered with the Association of Research Libraries to offer its first Institute for Scholarly Communication. The initial response was so overwhelmingly positive that a second institute has been scheduled. Participants praised the institute: "I very much applaud this institute! . . . Truly a great way to help faculty and administrators."
• ACRL expanded its e-learning seminars program, offering 28 courses and Webcasts.
• ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) worked with the American Association of Museums (AAM) and explored "Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Twenty-First Century: Intersecting Missions, Converging Futures" at its record-breaking 47th annual preconference. Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) support enabled ACRL to offer more than 30 scholarships to library and museum professionals.

ACRL’s strategic plan also focuses on reaching out to other higher education organizations. As noted above, ACRL partnered with several organizations for professional development and also presented at various conferences. ACRL worked with other higher education associations to identify collaborative projects, including developing "The Future of Higher Education: A View from CHEMA" survey and report (along with 22 other higher education associations). ACRL worked with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to expand its "Greater Expectations Institute" to include librarians in the faculty teams and to include a librarian presenter. Discipline-specific standards for information literacy have been received with great interest by a number of discipline associations, and ACRL’s sections have taken a leadership role in reaching out to the teaching faculty to jointly develop these standards.

Thanks to all of the ACRL members who gave so tirelessly of their time and expertise to develop and support ACRL’s many programs and services. I especially want to thank ACRL President Camila Alire for her energy, enthusiasm, and leadership, and the entire ACRL Board of Directors as we worked together to advance the strategic plan.

I also want to thank ACRL’s many corporate colleagues and Friends for their generous support. Finally, thank you to the ACRL staff who, together with our members, helped ACRL accomplish the many activities that you will read about in this report.

Year in Review

Overview

This report highlights the activities undertaken to advance "Charting Our Future: ACRL Strategic Plan 2020" in 2006 and is organized by three broad categories—higher education and research, the profession, and the association.

2005–2006 Highlights

ACRL/CNI/EDUCAUSE Joint Virtual Conference

ACRLog

On October 17, 2005, ACRLog, the official blog of ACRL, made its debut with a post titled "Come on in and Enjoy the Posts." Since then the blog team has written another 352 posts, and more importantly, readers have contributed 756 comments. ACRLog serves as one of ACRL’s primary vehicles for communicating major trends and issues in libraries. Initially, ACRLog averaged approximately 1,500 sessions and 3,000 page views a day. As of September 2006, the blog averaged 3,000 sessions and 6,700 page views a day. This is a clear indicator that ACRLog is achieving success. The most popular post, "Makeover for the Academic Library," was read more than 9,200 times. As one member wrote on the ACRL membership survey, "ACRL blog was the biggest improvement in years. Staying informed about useful ideas has never been easier."

JobLIST

ALA’s new career site, JobLIST (joblist.ala.org) was officially launched in August. The new site is a joint project between C&RL News, American Libraries, and ALA’s Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) office. JobLIST is a combined advertising site for the three entities, allowing employers to place print ads for both magazines as well as online ads through a single interface. Job seekers no longer have to search both American Libraries’ "Hot Jobs" and C&RL News’ "Career Opportunities" for online jobs postings, but can find all ads through the JobLIST site. JobLIST also replaces the communication tool used by HRDR’s Placement Service during conferences and expands on this by allowing communication between employers with a paid subscription and registered job seekers (free registration) at all times.

More than 3,400 job seekers have registered on the JobLIST site since its inception, enabling them to save search criteria, upload résumés, and communicate with employers. More than 900 employers have created accounts and placed ads through the JobLIST site.

Resources for College Libraries

Development of Resources for College Libraries (RCL), a new core collection of just over 62,000 recommended titles for academic libraries, neared completion in FY 2006 and was successfully launched in early FY 2007. Copublished with R. R. Bowker, RCL is the long-awaited successor to Books for College Libraries 3rd Edition and includes, for the first time, electronic resources. RCL is available in three flavors. RCLWeb (www.rclweb.net) is an online database with sophisticated browse, search, and list management features. RCL Print, the seven-volume print edition, is scheduled for release in late November. In addition, the RCL list is available in the academic library edition of Bowker’s new collection analysis tool, BBAS. The RCL project editor, Marcus Elmore; the entire 300-plus members of the RCL editorial team; and Bowker are to be commended for bringing this major new project to market on schedule. For additional information about RCL, please visit rclinfo.net.

Higher Education & Research

ACRL advocates for a strong role for librarians in learning and scholarship, as well as advocates for the value of libraries in the higher education, legislative, and regulatory communities.

Learning

ACRL strives for its members to be recognized as collaborative leaders in teaching lifelong learning skills, improving techniques for assessing learning outcomes, and creating environments for discovery. Specific objectives call for ACRL to expand adoption, use, and development of information literacy standards and to increase members’ ability to teach and assess lifelong learning skills.

Information Literacy Standards

ACRL expanded the use of "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" by publishing four additional translations, including Chinese, Farsi, Italian, and Japanese, bringing the total number of translations to eight. A ninth translation (in Malay) is under review.

Work continued on developing the standards for specialized subject disciplines. The Information Literacy Advisory Committee, working closely with sections and staff, devised a process for developing subject-specific information literacy standards to align subject standards and the original "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education." These guidelines were approved by the Board at the 2006 ALA Annual Conference.

Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS) members met in New Orleans with a sociologist and a representative of the American Sociological Association to develop standards for the discipline. The Law and Political Science Section (LPSS) members met with teaching faculty at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference to gather additional feedback. The Science and Technology Section (STS) continued to revise its information literacy standards based on feedback from reviewers, and these standards were approved in June 2006.

Institute for Information Literacy

To help librarians and institutions develop and implement information literacy programs on their campuses, ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy offered both a regional and national Immersion Program in 2006. These four-and-a-half day programs provided two tracks of intensive training and education. The Teacher Track focused on individual development for librarians interested in enhancing or extending their individual instruction skills, while the Program Track focused on developing, integrating, or managing campus-wide and programmatic information literacy programs.

Professional Development

Three e-learning seminars provided opportunities to learn more about assessing student learning outcomes, as well as building a comprehensive information literacy program. ACRL continued to offer online information literacy seminars in partnership with the TLT Group. ACRL also published Student Engagement and Information Literacy (edited by Craig Gibson). Three annual conference programs provided additional focus on information literacy.

Scholarship

ACRL is working to support and develop new scholarly communication models; play a leadership role in promoting research and publication in academic and research librarianship, thereby creating and disseminating tools and a body of knowledge for the field; and strengthen ACRL’s relationships with learned societies.

Scholarly Communication

ACRL and ARL cosponsored the first Institute for Scholarly Communication at UCLA July 12–14, 2006. Since applications far exceeded available places, a second institute is taking place December 6–8, 2006, in North Carolina with plans for a third in summer 2007. Participants come to the institute in teams and create plans for their institution focusing on ways to encourage faculty to support change in the system of scholarly communication.

The ACRL Scholarly Communication Committee developed and administered a brief survey on the ACRL Scholarly Communication Program and Future Agenda in March. A report on the results is online ("Assessment of ACRL’s Scholarly Communications Program" at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/scholcomm/scholcomminitiative.cfm). All 14 specific issues in the survey were rated very important or somewhat important by a large majority of ACRL member respondents.

Members of the Scholarly Communications Committee have worked with the American Association of Community Colleges to pass a resolution on open access to scholarly communication. They also coordinated a program on scholarly communications issues at the AACC conference.

ACRL supported SPARC and ARL in revising the Create Change Web site over the summer. The revised site is targeted to faculty and researchers, asking the question, "Shouldn’t the way we share research be as advanced as the Internet?"

Efforts to strengthen ACRL’s role in supporting and developing new scholarly communication models received media coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Library Journal.

Standards and Guidelines

The development and dissemination of standards and guidelines for all areas of academic and research librarianship is a core service ACRL provides to the profession. Our members look to ACRL for these standards and see them as a key contribution to the profession. Standards and guidelines revised, approved, and published this year include "Guidelines for the Security of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Other Special Collections," adopted in 1999 and reapproved with no major revisions except for word changes and updating information in the appendices. Revision of the "Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services" is underway.

Relationships with Learned Societies

ACRL worked at all levels to develop and create new partnerships within higher education. Most notably, ACRL partnered with Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) and EDUCAUSE to offer the Joint Virtual Conference, "Innovate and Motivate: Next Generation Libraries." The two-day online conference was held April 20-21, 2006, and explored how revolutions in technology impact academic librarianship and higher education (see write-up in the "Highlights" section of this report).

ACRL sections are important liaisons to the higher education community. This year, ACRL section members and staff worked to build and sustain relationships with many organizations, including Association of American Colleges and Universities, American Association of Anthropology, American Association of Community Colleges, American Association of Museums, American Educational Research Association, American Political Science Association, American Sociological Association, Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (North American Chapter), Beijing Association of Libraries in Higher Education Institutions, Council of Higher Education Management Associations, EDUCAUSE, and the German North-American Resources Partnership.

Of special note: the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) partnered with the American Association of Museums (AAM) on the development of the 47th Annual RBMS Preconference program. The two-and-a-half-day preconference entitled "Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Twenty-First Century: Intersecting Missions, Converging Futures?" brought together leading practitioners from the library, museum, and archival fields to investigate common concerns relating to their shared missions to acquire, preserve, and make accessible the world’s cultural artifacts and historical documents.

Advocacy

In support of its advocacy goal, ACRL aims to increase its communication on major trends and issues in libraries and increase its influence in public policy affecting higher education. ACRL’s work this year in the legislative arena has helped us to meet these objectives.

Legislative Advocacy

ACRL has voiced strong support for the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (FRPAA) S. 2695, endorsing it after it was introduced May 2, 2006, by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). FRPAA is an extraordinary development in the ongoing effort to establish public access to government-funded research. Passage of FRPPA would mean that final manuscripts of virtually all federally funded research would be made openly accessible within six months of publication in peer-reviewed journals.

ACRL is working actively with the Alliance for Taxpayer Access to strengthen the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy, under which NIH-funded researchers are encouraged to deposit their final peer-reviewed manuscripts in PubMed Central, the digital archive of the National Library of Medicine.

The ACRL Board endorsed an ALA resolution opposing any legislation or codification of documents like the Academic Bill of Rights, as it undermines academic and intellectual freedom, chills free speech, and interferes with the academic community’s well-established norms and values of scholarship and educational excellence. ACRL joined American Federation of Teachers’ Free Exchange on Campus coalition as a means to continue to oppose these types of legislation at the state level.

ACRL, together with ARL and ALA, opposes the extension of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) wiretapping to broadband networks by submitting comments to the FCC as part of the rule-making process and in petitions through the D.C. Court of Appeals. Since academic institutions are often Internet service providers, there were numerous questions in higher education circles about compliance with this regulation and whether public access terminals in campus libraries expose institutions to greater CALEA obligations. Legal counsel to the library associations issued opinions that libraries are exempt from CALEA and that user authentication is not necessary to maintain private network status.

The Profession

Continuous learning, leadership, and information technology define ACRL’s strategic goal area of the profession.

Continuous Learning

Continuous learning is important to every individual, and ACRL has initiatives to increase professional development opportunities focused in the areas of advocating the value of the library and information technology. ACRL is working to provide cutting-edge content and delivery formats for programs and publications.

Grassroots Advocacy

To provide training for academic librarians in influencing, persuasion, and advocacy, ACRL sponsored a half-day workshop, "The Power of Personal Persuasion: Advancing the Academic Library Agenda from the Frontlines," at the ALA Annual Conference for 450 participants. The workshop featured Robert B. Cialdini, an expert on the science and practice of influence. In addition, an ACRL task force developed a Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit designed to provide librarians with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to integrate power and persuasion into their organizations. The reach of the workshop and toolkit will be extended through ACRL chapter presentations in 2007.

Continuing Education

ACRL held a Joint Virtual Conference, "Innovate and Motivate: Next Generation Libraries," April 20–21, 2006, cosponsored by EDUCAUSE and Coalition for Networked Information. This was the first time ACRL offered an entirely online conference (see the write-up in the "Highlights" section at the beginning of this report). ACRL also offered a varied slate of face-to-face professional development opportunities at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference, in addition to increasing its e-learning offerings. ACRL offered seven WebCT-based online seminars as well as the popular Online Information Literacy Seminar Series, cosponsored with TLT Group. The association also offered five Webcasts on topics ranging from reference interview strategies to Web design to technology trends. Most sessions were offered multiple times, with a total of 28 e-Learning opportunities being provided to the academic library community (see chart on the next page for a full listing of events).

Publications

ACRL published three new monographs in FY 2006, including CLIPNote #36 Managing Student Employees in College Libraries, compiled by Michael D. Kathman and Jane M. Kathman, and Student Engagement and Information Literacy, edited by Craig Gibson. ACRL 2005 Academic Library Trends and Statistics was published online and in print (as a three-volume set).

Association members continue to receive College and Research Libraries News, ACRL’s news magazine and publication of record, and the scholarly journal, College and Research Libraries, as a perquisite of membership. Both serials are also available by subscription. ACRL also publishes RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage twice yearly, which is available through subscription. RBM published an expanded spring issue compiling papers from the 2005 RBMS preconference, "Bridging the Gap: Education and Special Collections." The issue was subsidized by John Hoover.

To provide a forum for major trends and issues, ACRLog was launched in October 2005 with the tag line, "Blogging by and for academic and research librarians." The blog is authored by a group of academic librarians serving on the Blog Advisory Board. (See the write-up in the "Highlights" section at the beginning of this report).

Choice, ACRL’s book review journal, has been more than just a print magazine for some time, but has made deeper forays into the online environment in the past few years. Two major projects occupied much of the Choice staff’s efforts during 2006. The first was Resources for College Libraries (RCL), a new core collection of just over 62,000 recommended titles for academic libraries. Copublished with R. R. Bowker, RCL is the long-awaited successor to Books for College Libraries 3rd Edition and includes, for the first time, electronic resources (see the write-up in the "Highlights" section at the beginning of this report). The other major project, Choice Reviews Online Version 2.0 (CRO2), has fared less well in the schedule department. However, the CRO2 rollout to current ChoiceReviews.online customers is now scheduled to begin before the end of the calendar year and to be completed prior to the 2007 ALA Midwinter Meeting. Jointly developed with Booklist Online, the new ALA Publishing Web product, CRO2 features a new state-of-the art platform that will enable Choice and Booklist to offer separate, customizable online products to their subscribers. The CRO2 live site is undergoing final testing as of this writing. The URL is www.cro2.org.

Although much time was devoted to these major projects, the Choice staff also sustained its highly productive editorial efforts, once again publishing more than 6,900 new reviews in 2005–2006. Effective in 2006–2007, Choice magazine and Choice Reviews on Cards will be published monthly, instead of 11 times per year, which will improve the timeliness of Choice’s print publishing program.

Scholarships

Forty-eight people received scholarships from ACRL, supporting the continuous learning goals in the association’s strategic plan and reflecting ACRL’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the profession.

A grant from IMLS for the RBMS 47th Annual Preconference provided funding for 30 participants to attend the preconference in Austin, Texas. At least ten of these scholarships went to those from professionally underrepresented backgrounds. IMLS funded 30 scholarships and ACRL funded an additional three through the section revenue share program, for a total of 33 scholarships.

Twelve individuals received scholarships for the Institute for Information Literacy National Immersion Program. These scholarships helped offset registration fees for the 4.5-day program held at Simmons College.

For the second year in a row, scholarships were offered for the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute. The scholarships were established to provide support for the participation of academic and research librarians from Historically Black Colleges and Universities or those employed at Tribal Colleges and Universities. The scholarships covered the cost of tuition to the institute, ACRL awarded two of the scholarships and a third was provided by the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education.

Leadership

ACRL seeks to empower members to communicate the value of their contributions to learning and scholarship and to increase recognition of the value of libraries and librarians by leaders in higher education, information technology, funding agencies, and campus decision-making.

Awards

Through its awards program, which recognizes the achievements of academic and research librarians and libraries, ACRL provides a platform for librarians to bring notice of their work to their broader communities. Since 1923, the ACRL Awards Program has recognized and honored the professional contributions and achievements of academic libraries and librarians. This special recognition by ACRL enhances the sense of personal growth and accomplishment of our members, provides our membership with role models, and strengthens the image of our membership in the eyes of employers, leadership, and the academic community as a whole.

In 2006, 27 outstanding individuals and institutions received ACRL awards recognizing their accomplishments. ACRL’s top honor, the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award, was presented to Ray English, Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries at Oberlin College. The award, sponsored by ACRL and YBP Library Services, included a reception during the 2006 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.

ACRL continues to present the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award to recognize the staff of a community college, a college, and a university library for exemplary programs that deliver outstanding services and resources to further the educational mission of their institution. This year’s recipients were Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, in the college category and the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, in the university category. There was no winner in the community college category. The award, sponsored by ACRL and Blackwell’s Book Services, includes a presentation ceremony on the campus of the award-winning library.

This year, a Special Presidential Recognition Award was approved in honor of the late Ilene Rockman for her significant contributions to ACRL and academic libraries, particularly in the area of information literacy.

ACRL also approved Emerald Publishing Group’s sponsorship of the Instruction Section (IS) Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award. The award honors the late Ilene F. Rockman and recognizes an outstanding publication related to instruction in a library environment published in the preceding two years. Previously known as the IS Publication of the Year Award, this annual award now provides a $3,000 prize.

ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute

Another very successful "Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians" was held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 6–11, 2006. The institute sold out with 92 registrants. Harvard Institutes for Higher Education faculty gave special attention to issues such as leadership, organizational strategy, transformational learning, and planning.

Information Technology

ACRL remains committed to supporting the development and recognition of academic and research librarians as leaders and experts in information technology applications in libraries. To this end, the association offered a variety of programs on technology-
related issues, including e-learning on topics such as designing effective Web sites, blogging in academic libraries, electronic collection development, and technology trends in academic libraries.

The College Libraries Section (CLS) has drafted a white paper, "Computers and Technology," to make a case for quantitative guidelines to supplement the "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Libraries in Higher Education."

The Association

To thrive as an association, ACRL must continue to grow its membership and maintain its financial stability. ACRL strives to retain and build on its core membership, while recruiting from new and diverse communities. ACRL must have the fiscal resources, staff expertise, and organizational structure to advance the association’s strategic plan.

Membership

In the first year of a two-year dues increase, ACRL saw only a slight decline in the number of academic and research librarian members. As of August 31, 2006, ACRL membership decreased 1.08% from FY 2004–05 (declining from 13,118 to 12,976).

Membership Survey

In order to find out how to expand the appeal of ACRL membership among current members, ACRL conducted a membership survey in May 2006. The online survey was completed by 37.9% of ACRL members and provided valuable insight into member demographics, satisfaction, and needs. Members indicated that it is extremely important for ACRL to take action in the following areas: creating awareness of librarians as respected authorities on knowledge management; increasing libraries’ influence on higher education and research environments; increasing the visibility of academic/research librarians; and increasing the technological competencies of librarians.

Sections

ACRL provides special connections for members, both virtual and personal. ACRL sections offer 17 vibrant and dynamic communities that nurture individual development and foster a deeper connection to the profession. Sections offering (or planning to offer) mentoring programs including CLS, IS, LES, RBMS, and STS. Sections also hosted 13 special events (tours, dinners, cruises, anniversary celebrations) at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference to create community among new and continuing members.

ACRL Membership Statistics

Sustainability

ACRL seeks to acquire the fiscal resources, staff expertise, and organizational structure necessary to advance the association’s strategic plan. As noted in the "Letter from the Executive Director," 2006 marked the beginning of a synchronized effort across ACRL to refine, implement, and advance the strategic plan. The realignment of budgeting and strategic planning has greatly facilitated the ability of ACRL to fulfill its mission of leading academic and research librarians and libraries in advancing learning and scholarship.

ACRL Staff

Many of you have had phone and/or e-mail contact with ACRL’s staff, of which there are 13.35 ALA-approved FTE positions at headquarters. New this year to the ACRL staff are Adam Burling, program coordinator; Kathryn Deiss, content strategist; and Olivia Hodges, classified advertising coordinator and editorial assistant for C&RL News. Here’s your chance to put a face with that voice or e-mail signature. Below is a listing of current ACRL staff (including two of ACRL’s Choice 22.5 FTE staff) with information about their responsibilities. Take a minute to "meet the staff." We look forward to hearing from you!

ACRL’s office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CST), Monday through Friday. All ALA staff have direct telephone lines. All prefixes are (312) 280-, followed by the four-digit extension. If you use the toll-free number (800-545-2433) you will be instructed to enter the extension of the person you wish to speak to.

Meet the Staff

ACRL Board of Directors, 2005–2006

ACRL Board 2005-06 (l to r): (back) Tyrone H. Cannon, Janis M. Bandelin, Nancy H. Allen, Karen A. Williams, Pamela Snelson, Lynne O. King, Mary Ellen K. Davis, W. Bede Mitchell; (front) Susan M. Kroll, Camila A. Alire, Lori A. Goetsch, Frances Maloy. Not shown: Dorothy Ann Washington and Rita Williams Jones.

Financial Report

Susan M. Kroll
Budget & Finance Committee Chair

The ACRL budget is the responsibility of the ACRL Board of Directors, the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee, and the ACRL Executive Director. The budget is both detailed and fluid. The following is a summary of the 2005–2006 budget and the projected 2006–2007 budget based on a fiscal year of September 1–August 31.

2005–2006 ACRL Budget

FY06 is a non-National Conference year for ACRL, which means that this was intended to be a spend-down operating budget, as typically there are expenses related to the next ACRL National Conference in the nonconference year. Any revenues for the conference are deferred until the conference is held. Despite this fact, the budget ended with a positive net revenue of $8,049 instead of the original projected budget deficit of $515,222.

Choice had a second consecutive record-setting year.

Factors Influencing Budget Outcomes

ACRL

• Support of 2007 National Conference: Expenses of $161,497 were incurred to support preparation for the National Conference.
• Membership Dues: General ACRL membership dues are 12.3% above last year, however section dues revenue are down 5.6%. This indicates that members are reducing section memberships, which could be related to the increase in division dues to $45. Overall, ACRL lost 1.08% of its membership, ending the year with 12,976 members. This was better than budgeted for the first year of a two-year membership dues increase and overall dues revenue was 11.75% more than FY 05.
• Professional Development/Web Courses: Registration for preconferences was strong and generated net revenue. Midwinter Meeting workshops had more modest income, but covered all direct expenses. Web courses generated a net of $75,546. Online course net revenue increased 39% over last year and was 9% better than budgeted.
• Publications: Overall, publications generated $136,181 in net revenue. Revenues for classified ads in C&RL News were 25% above budget, as the new pricing model, which offers more affordable ads, was not implemented, due to the delayed launch of the joint JobLIST online career center (see p. 710).
• A one-time refund from ALA of the bad debt reserve increased ACRL’s net revenue by more than $37,000.

Choice

• New Products: Resources for College Libraries was successfully launched in September 2006. Unfortunately, Choice Reviews Online 2.0 (CRO2) was delayed and is now slated for the end of December 2006.
• Building Acquisitions: Choice staff continue to seek a building to purchase with the use of nonendowment net assets. To further this goal, the search for an appropriate building will continue until spring 2007, when a decision must be made about renewing the current rental contract.
• Subscription and Ad Sales Performance: Print subscriptions and print ad net revenue were slightly above budget, while electronic subscriptions and ad revenues were less than budget, partly due to the delayed launch of CRO2 noted above.
• Strong Licensing Revenues: Licensing revenues set a new Choice record, coming in more than $70,000 better than budget.
• A one-time refund from ALA of the bad debt reserve increased Choice’s net revenue by more than $120,000.

ACRL Asset Management

Long Term Investment Funds

ACRL ended the year with an operating reserve of $2,517,675 and a general endowment or Long Term Investment Fund (LTI) balance of $1,762,340 (the LTI figure on the accompanying spreadsheet includes ACRL’s awards LTIs). The LTI generated $34,888 interest during 2005–2006. The Board has directed that interest from the LTI be used to fund strategic initiatives that advance the strategic plan, rather than reinvest that interest in the principal. ACRL transferred $150,000 to the LTI fund for this year, rather than a planned $300,000 transfer. The ACRL Board has set a Long Term Investment Fund goal of $2,000,000 by 2013.

Choice ends the year with a $2,221,508 operating reserve and $672,616 in LTI. Choice withheld its planned transfer of $50,000 to its LTI. The reductions of this transfer and the ACRL transfer are intended to offset the interest income ALA would not earn should Choice spend part of its net asset balance to purchase office space.

2006-2007 ACRL Budget

The 2006–2007 ACRL and Choice budgets, recommended by the Budget and Finance Committee, were approved by the Board at the 2006 ALA Annual Conference. Although it is a national conference year, ACRL is projected to have a deficit of $357,186, which will be drawn from the operating reserve. Revenues have been budgeted at $3,434,505 and include the final stage of ACRL’s dues increase, while also projecting some attrition in the number of members because of the dues increase and the first phase of the three year ALA dues increase.

Expenses are budgeted at $3,791,691 and include significant funding the Board has directed to advancing ACRL’s strategic plan, including more than $26,000 in funding for action plan proposals submitted by ACRL units. This budget was prepared with relatively conservative estimates of dues and conference revenues, and ACRL may see better than anticipated revenues in these areas.

Acknowledgment

Managing the ACRL budget to ensure the maximum benefit for the members requires constant attention and monitoring. ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis does an extraordinary job managing the funds with the guidance of the Board and the Budget & Finance Committee. ACRL Program Officer David Connolly is a tremendous support to all of us involved in the budget. Additionally, the members of the Budget & Finance Committee review each budget in great detail and make recommendations to the Board.

Executive Summary 2005-2006

Note: Actual numbers shown are rounded from two decimal places. Therefore, subtotals may not precisely represent column totals due to rounding.