ACRL 2007-2008 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

Julie Todaro
ACRL’s 69th President

ACRL continues to grow, gaining increased respect and recognition as the premier academic and research library association. This is no coincidence. This continued expansion—engineered by a hardworking, talented, and giving (in many ways) Board, an extraordinary staff, and led by an extraordinary executive director—is a 24/7/365 job.

I am proud of the cutting edge, creative work that ACRL has accomplished this year. I have been honored throughout this multi-year process to work with ACRL chapter leadership from the Sustainable Forest (yes, me – in a forest) to hotel retreats and people’s homes. These travels have been a learning experience and a reaffirmation of the expert work that academic and research librarians accomplish every day for their constituents. I was also honored to travel to Mexico where a technology innovation conference (over 200 in attendance) humbled me with its design, delivery, hospitality, cutting-edge information, and energizing messages for academic librarians from all over the world.

So. . .do Presidential initiatives go away? No. I am continuing to work on the recruitment and retention initiative with ACRL’s Membership Advisory Committee and a subcommittee of the Board. I talked about the competitive academy/ positioning the library in the 21st century to academic librarians in Mexico and will submit that work to the ACRL Board with a proposal to add the content to the ACRL wiki. I am continuing to lead the diversity discussions within ACRL to generate additional ideas for Strategic Planning initiatives.

And finally, in my year as past president, I will make three trips including: speaking at the Michigan Library Association annual meeting on ACRL’s Power of Personal Persuasion toolkit; presenting at the “21st Century Library Trends” ACRL/NY Greater New York Metropolitan Area Chapter; and – finally – I will be traveling to the Montana ACRL Chapter in the spring of 2009.  I am also very excited that Vice President/President-elect Lori Goetsch is committed to continuing the recruitment and retention focus throughout her presidency.

I can only close by thanking all of my colleagues and supporters for this experience and by recommending an ACRL membership and especially an ACRL leadership experience to everyone. I have often said that I absolutely know that I achieved what I have achieved in my career for many reasons, but a major reason has been because of the opportunity to work with professional associations to learn, grow, and experience. One of the basic tenets of “professionalism” in general and certainly figured prominently in “the roles and responsibilities of professionals” IS commitment to and involvement in professional associations. Don’t miss this opportunity! Join and participate in ACRL!

   Message from the Vice President

Erika Linke
Vice-President/President-Elect

Tempus fugit. This vice-presidential year has flashed by more quickly than I could have imagined.  From the glow of election to the reality of the office, this year has been filled with actions and initiatives for members and ACRL governance. First let me acknowledge and thank everyone who has made the year possible. I owe a debt of gratitude to many—especially colleagues and staff at Carnegie Mellon and individual ACRL members —for their support and encouragement. ACRL staff and leadership deserve special mention for their insightful, helpful and tireless support.

The appointments process was ably directed by Dan Lee (University of Arizona) with the help of Liz Chabot (Ithaca College) and Trevor Dawes (Princeton University). Thanks to their hard work member appointments were made to many ACRL committees. ACRL’s success in achieving its strategic plan rests on the ACRL leader and member work. ACRL would not be the association it is without member involvement.

The Leadership Recruitment and Nomination Committee under the leadership of Cynthia Steinhoff (Anne Arundel Community College) prepared a slate of candidates for the 2009 ACRL election this spring. 

The President’s Program Committee is chaired by Barbara Preece (Boston Library Consortium). The focus for my presidential year is advocacy—purposeful advocacy, specifically in the ways that librarians can best use their voices, personally and collectively, to influence the issues that matter to academic and research librarians, be they professional, governmental, national, or local. Times change quickly and speaking up effectively is essential. This advocacy initiative will enable ACRL members to “exert greater influence on the higher education and research environment.”

The role of ACRL’s standing committees is a key component in addressing the challenges that academic and research libraries and librarians face today. The appointments process crystallized for me the fundamental contribution committees make to organizational success. Their work on behalf of the ACRL Board and members is critical to positioning ACRL for today and tomorrow. One focus of my presidential year will be to examine the relationship behind the Board and ACRL division-level committees. Division-level standing committees facilitate the association’s ability to perform at a high level, to make progress on the strategic plan, and to address the critical issues facing academic and research libraries and librarians. This initiative will address the association’s organizational effectiveness goal, namely, that “ACRL will have the fiscal resources, staff expertise, and organizational structure to advance the association’s strategic plan.”

As president, I look forward to keeping the association poised for action, addressing the issues that matter to academic and research librarians, and continuing to meet with academic and research librarians. I am proud and honored to serve ACRL and its members and will do whatever I can to forward our collective voice and our association.

   Letter from the Executive Director

Mary Ellen K. Davis
Executive Director

ACRL advanced “Charting Our Future: ACRL Strategic Plan 2020”  in each of the three strategic areas: higher education and research, the profession, and the association.

Through presentations and collaborative projects, ACRL strengthened its relationships with key higher education associations. President Julie Todaro addressed provosts at the Association of American State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) annual conference. AASCU and SCUP (Society for College & University Planners) asked ACRL to develop a webcast for their members highlighting contemporary library issues. ACRL also partnered with CHEMA (Council of Higher Education Management Associations) to develop a Women’s Leadership Institute that will be offered in December 2008.

With expanded programming, ACRL demonstrated commitment to continuous learning for the profession. ACRL added two new forums to its e-learning portfolio: ACRL SpringBoard and OnPoint. SpringBoard, a free, member-only benefit, was a direct response to member feedback requesting more online learning  opportunities. The inaugural SpringBoard, offered in April 2008, featured Henry Jenkins of MIT, exploring the future of higher education. The program was highly rated by participants: “Although I consider ACRL one of the ALA’s best divisions, I particularly feel honored to receive this offer to attend such a wonderful and valuable learning event.”

OnPoints are free online chats, hosted by a facilitator, open to all on topics of current interest. These chats provided another means for academic and research librarians to connect and collaborate on topics such as the NIH public access policy, copyright section 108, green libraries, and licensing.

ACRL continued to support leadership development by offering an advanced leadership institute in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in March 2008, to excellent reviews.

As an association, ACRL took several exciting steps this year. ACRL members overwhelming supported an overhaul of the bylaws which created new structures to help members establish communities of practice that best meet their needs. ACRL also entered into a purchase and sale agreement to buy office space in Middletown, Connecticut, for the Choice operation. The property, on the top (third) floor of a newly built condominium, features many “green” enhancements. The new space offers much needed room to the Choice staff, including meeting space that accommodates the entire staff of 23 (something they have not previously enjoyed). This purchase is an exciting investment in the future.

ACRL enjoyed a very strong year programmatically and did well financially considering it is not a National Conference year. It is gratifying to see that librarians expressed their support for ACRL and its initiatives by renewing or adding ACRL to their professional memberships.

Thanks to all of you for choosing to join ACRL. I especially want to thank ACRL President Julie Todaro and the ACRL Board for their leadership in advancing the strategic plan. I also want to acknowledge the generous support provided by ACRL’s many corporate colleagues and Friends. Finally, thank you to the ACRL staff who, in partnership with our members, enabled ACRL to accomplish the many activities that you will read about in this report. 

   Year in Review

This report highlights the activities undertaken to advance “Charting Our Future: ACRL Strategic Plan 2020” in FY 2008 and is organized by three broad categories–higher education and research, the profession, and the association.

2007–2008 Highlights

ACRL 2.0
ACRL took several steps into the world of Web 2.0 in the 2007-08 fiscal year to improve service and outreach to members. A selection of these efforts is highlighted below.

SpringBoard Event
In an effort to respond to member requests for additional professional development opportunities, the inaugural ACRL Springboard Event was held April 2, 2008. The 90-minute Webcast was free for ACRL members and began with a welcome to the association by President Julie Todaro and a chat between Todaro and ALA Emerging Leader and newer ACRL member Char Booth. After this discussion, the event moved to the featured presentation on New Media Literacies by Henry Jenkins, codirector of the Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities at MIT. All registrants received access to an archived version of the presentation shortly after the live session and Jenkins participated in a post-event podcast recording made available on the ACRL Insider blog (www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/2008/04/02/acrl-podcast-a-conversation-with-henry-jenkins/).

Five hundred twenty-nine people pre-registered for the event, and 268 was the peak number logged in during the live event. This 50.6% participation for a free online professional development event is quite impressive, as industry standard is in the 20 to 30% range for similar sessions. The event had an overwhelmingly positive impact on participants, with 91% of evaluation respondents rating the Webcast as either “excellent” or “very good” (the two highest ratings), while 89% would “definitely” or “very likely” attend future Springboard Events. When asked to identify the one best aspect of the Webcast, responses included, “Our time is stretched and valuable and online is the only way I can do something like this now,” and “I particularly like the fact that it was free. Although I consider ACRL one of the ALA’s best divisions, I particularly feel honored to receive this offer to attend such a wonderful and valuable learning event. Keep up the good work, including offering on occasions free and useful workshops.” Plans are underway to offer another Springboard event during the 2009 fiscal year.

OnPoint Chat Series
The ACRL OnPoint chat series launched in March 2008 as an opportunity for librarians to connect with colleagues and experts to discuss an issue of the day in academic and research librarianship. The 30- to 45-minute chat sessions, held in a Meebo chat room, are free and open to the public. Sessions have convenors but are unmoderated, allowing for free exchange of ideas between all participants. OnPoint chat topics during the fiscal year included the NIH policy (March), Section 108 Study Group report (April), green/sustainable libraries (May), and ACRL 101 (June). The first series of chats was very well attended and received, with positive comments from participants, such as, “Thank you for the great chat. Good to find others who are in the same boat!”

The series will continue in FY09 with topics such as renewing and negotiating licenses (October), find your niche in ACRL” (November), student learning outcomes, the culture of assessment, accrediting agencies (January 2009), and the new Congress, library issues, and you (February 2009). Additional information and chat archives are available on the OnPoint Web site (www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/onpoint/index.cfm).

Online Member Outreach
In January 2008, ACRL launched a new Weblog, ACRL Insider (www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider). The mission of ACRL Insider is to keep ACRL members, and other interested parties, current and informed of the activities, services, and programs of the association. ACRL Insider fosters a sense of openness and transparency by providing an outlet for connection between members and staff. The blog works in tandem with the well-established ACRLog to provide a big-picture view of the association.

ACRL also launched presences on several social networking sites during the fiscal year. The ACRL Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-College-Research-Libraries/23457798708), went live immediately before the ALA Annual Conference and has proved quite successful. ACRL boasted 1,754 fans on October 7, 2008. ACRL’s Twitter presence (twitter.com/acrltweets) features posts from ACRLog and ACRL Insider, along with additional updates. Members can subscribe to ACRL (friendfeed.com/acrl) on FriendFeed to receive blog posts as well as Flickr pictures and additional association information. Finally, the ACRL group on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=687427) provides a new way to connect and network with academic and research library colleagues. These new presences provide avenues for information dissemination and connection with, and between, members.

New Publishing Models
ACRL Publications entered the 2.0 world during the fiscal year with two online projects. Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester, edited by Nancy Fried Foster and Susan Gibbons, was released both as a print publication and online as a free, open-access download. A wiki created in conjunction with Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries, edited by Laura Cohen, allows chapter authors to keep readers up-to-date on their projects. In addition, interviews with chapter authors and editors of several publications were produced as part of the ACRL Podcasts series.

New Choice Building
In early 2008, the ACRL and ALA Boards authorized the signing of a purchase and sale agreement for office space in Middletown, Connecticut, to house the offices of Choice magazine, concluding a three-year search for suitable space. The new construction, known as Liberty Square, is located on Main Street in downtown Middletown, just two blocks from Riverview Center, Choice’s home for the past 42 years. The 7,635-square-foot Choice office unit occupies the entire third floor of the building. The ground floor houses “It’s Only Natural,” a well-regarded, independent local natural food store. Irving Rockwood, Choice editor and publisher, and Greg Calloway, ALA chief financial officer, attended the Liberty Square ground-breaking in March, along with the Choice staff. 

Liberty Square has been designed in accordance with “green building” principles and features an innovative “green” exterior wall system, a high-efficiency heating and cooling system, insulating windows, and the use of recycled steel materials. The Choice office unit uses energy efficient lighting and switches, low volatility paint, green window treatment and furniture, and extensive use of natural lighting with all but one of the offices in the new unit having an exterior view. Construction is currently scheduled for completion in late October 2008, with staff moving into the building by the end of November. Following the move, Choice’s street address will be 575 Main Street, Suite 300, Middletown, CT 06457.

Predictably Irrational
The ACRL President’s Program at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim featured Dan Airley, author of the bestselling book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. Airley regaled the audience with examples of how seemingly irrational decision-making is often predictable and explored strategies to enhance creative thinking, innovation, and vibrancy in the workplace. Following his talk, Airley participated in a discussion of how his theories impact libraries with a panel of new librarians and program audience. A detailed summary of the well received session appears on page 442 of the September 2008 issue of C&RL News.

Making the Meeting
The Making the Meeting project, a suite of Podcasts, tip sheets, checklists, and additional resources designed to help ALA and ACRL members improve their skills as meeting and committee managers, debuted June 6, 2008. The project was a joint effort of 2007/2008 ALA President Loriene Roy and Lisa Romero (2007 chair of the ACRL Education and Behavioral Sciences Section). Funded with support from ALA and ACRL, the materials were developed by ALA Parliamentarian Eli Mina. The Making the Meeting series is available on the Web for ALA members at
www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/resources/makingthemeeting/index.cfm.

49th Annual RBMS Preconference
The 49th Annual RBMS Preconference, “Rare and Special Bytes: Special Collections in the Digital Age,” took place June 24–27, 2008, in Los Angeles. The conference sold out with 413 registrants and 26 people on the waiting list, and continued to raise the bar and set a new standard for excellence. RBMS awarded 22 scholarships (a $12,015 value) funded by an ACRL Action Plan, profits from the 2007 RBMS Preconference, and $885 in donations by individual RBMS members. Conference evaluation results showed an increase in every outcome area when comparing pre- and post-conference self assessment (with increases anywhere from 14 to 22 percentage points). Select outcomes included increasing knowledge and interest in the topic of digitization. Attendees were again quite pleased with the preconference, with 93% indicating they would be likely to attend the event in the future. Evaluation comments included, “The plenary speakers were superb; knowledgeable; engaging; thought provoking,” and “Thank you for making my first preconference one to remember. That’s it, I’m a lifer. I’M HOOKED!!!!! See you next year.” The 50th RBMS Preconference will be held June 17–20, 2009, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Higher Education and 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
Information literacy-related standards and guidelines approved and published this year include “Information Literacy Standards for Anthropology and Sociology Students” (approved January 2008) and “Political Science Research Competency Guidelines” (approved July 2008).

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 its annual national Immersion Program at the University of California-San Diego from July 27 to August 1, 2008. For the first time, the four-and-a-half day program provided three tracks of intensive training and education for the 124 attendees. 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. A third track, The Intentional Teacher: Renewal through Informed Reflection, was added, as well. Previously offered as a stand-alone program, the Intentional Teacher track offered professional renewal for experienced academic librarians who want more self-awareness in their teaching. The pool of 160 applicants represented a 46% increase in the number of applicants over 2007.

Professional Development
Five e-learning seminars and Webcasts provided opportunities to learn more about information literacy-related topics. Topics of the seminars included assessing student learning outcomes, creating a comprehensive plan for information literacy, best practices in information literacy, and the role of the librarian in combating student plagiarism.  ACRL also published Information Literacy Programs in the Digital Age, edited by Alice Daugherty and Mike Russo; Practical Pedagogy for Library Instructors, edited by Doug Cook and Ryan Sittler; and Handbook of Information Literacy Instruction, edited by Elizabeth Lindsay and Christopher Cox during FY08. “Library Instruction 2.0: Building Your Online Instruction Toolkit,” a program at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference, provided additional focus on information literacy issues.
 
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 continue to cosponsor the Institute for Scholarly Communication with a national event in summer 2008 and the first regional event, hosted by the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois, December 5–7, 2007, in Chicago. 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 Institute on Scholarly Communication released “Scholarly Communication Education Initiatives,” a study written by ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication alumni Kathleen A. Newman, Deborah D. Blecic, and Kimberly L. Armstrong, as a free online resource. The study provides a survey of outreach activities among ARL member libraries and gathers examples of documentation from respondents in the form of proposals for educational initiatives, scholarly communication and copyright Web pages, job descriptions, and education materials. The study is available online at www.arl.org/sc/institute/instres.shtml.

ACRL partnered with the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) to release interviews and analysis exploring in depth the views of three major open-access publishers on the challenges of sustainability. The materials, produced in conjunction with the 15th SPARC-ACRL Forum on Emerging Issues in Scholarly Communication, offer insight into the three publisher’s business models and explore each organization’s approach in detail along with a matrix comparison of the publisher’s views on 11 aspects of maintaining their operations. The materials are available at www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala08.

The 16th SPARC-ACRL Forum at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim examined “Open Access Policies: The Harvard Experience and How to Get There.” Co-sponsored by the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services-Continuing Resources, the forum provided an up-close look at the vote by Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences enabling open access to scholarly articles in an institutional repository.

ACRL is also working with SPARC to cosponsor the second annual Sparky Awards, a contest organized to recognize the best new short videos illustrating the value of information sharing and copyright. The contest aims to broaden the discussion of access to scholarly research by inviting students to express their ideas creatively.

ACRL, ARL (through the joint Institute on Scholarly Communication), and SPARC released a short video in mid-March to help librarians effectively engage disciplinary faculty and researchers on the topic of author rights. To increase local impact, libraries were invited to adapt and customize the video for their needs by inserting logos and contact information, adding examples from their faculty and their disciplines, or providing details about an author addendum used on their campus. The two-minute video presentation is available at blip.tv/file/743274. ACRL also worked with ARL and SPARC to update the Create Change Web site (www.createchange.org/), including adding new faculty interviews. A series of Create Change bookmarks was issued in June 2008 as a new tool for librarians to use while talking with faculty about scholarly communication issues.

In November 2007, the ACRL Scholarly Communication Committee issued a white paper, “Establishing a Research Agenda for Scholarly Communication: A Call for Community Engagement.” It explores the gaps in our understanding of the ways that scholars create and share new knowledge, laying out a preliminary research agenda.  The paper resulted from a one-day invitational meeting in July 2007 to collectively brainstorm the evidence needed to manage and influence the changing environment. The white paper was released in wiki format (www.acrl.ala.org/scresearchagenda) to encourage public comment.

In June 2008, ACRL sent a letter of support to the organizers of SCOAP3, the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics, expressing interest and support of their effort to facilitate open access publishing in High Energy Physics (HEP). The letter states that ACRL “welcomes this experiment in new funding models and recognizes its potential to inform scholarly publishing more globally” and “believes that SCOAP3 is a valuable addition to the heterogeneous mix of strategies being undertaken by scholars, publishers, libraries, and others to ensure the future of high quality journals.” The text of the letter is available on the ACRL Web site at  www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/ACRL_Support_for_SCO.pdf

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. 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 are listed in the accompanying table.
 

Relationships with Learned Societies
ACRL worked at all levels to develop and create new partnerships within higher education. Work in the areas of scholarly communication, legislative advocacy, and continuous learning is described on pages 713, 714, 716, and 717.

ACRL’s application for membership in the American Council of Learned Societies was accepted in October, and it is listed as an affiliate on their Web site as of spring 2008. The ACRL Executive Director met briefly with ACLS Vice President Stephen Wheatley while both were attending a meeting in Washington, D.C.

ACRL President Julie Todaro and Executive Director Mary Ellen Davis attended the Association of American State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) February conference on Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA). Todaro gave the luncheon plenary address before 250 provosts and chief academic officers on  the library of the future and issues libraries have in common with other campus units. Davis followed up on the conversations begun at the conference by writing to NASULG and AASCU to inquire about how the library’s role might be included in the VSA template. This inquiry resulted in a prompt response that indicated 1) it was too soon to change the form, 2) a question about what data points libraries could contribute to show student learning, 3) a suggestion that perhaps libraries could contribute to the optional information section of VSA.

The American Institute of Architects created a link to the ACRL/LAMA Guide for Architects (“Guide for Planning Higher Education Library Spaces”) in the online knowledge community for their Committee on Architecture for Education in January 2008.

ACRL was invited to partner with five other higher education organizations, including the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, the American College Personnel Association (ACPA), APPA: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers, and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in sponsoring a special leadership institute for women in higher education that will be offered in December 2008.

ACRL currently maintains liaison relationships with 11 professional associations. A complete list of ACRL’s Council of Liaison organizations is in the accompanying table.

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 scholarly communication arena has helped us to meet these objectives.

Legislative Advocacy
Through its membership in the SPARC-led Open Access Working Group (OAWG), ACRL continued its strong support of language that successfully made the NIH Public Access Policy mandatory through the LHHS appropriations bill. In late December 2007, President Bush signed into law an omnibus appropriations bill, which includes the language desired by OAWG. In February 2008, OAWG thanked Senator Tom Harkin, Representative David Obey, and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt for their leadership and support of the policy. ACRL continued its support for the policy by soliciting and submitting comments from member groups to NIH during the implementation phase.

ACRL President Julie Todaro and past Board member Nancy Allen represented ACRL at  Deliberative Dialogue, a facilitated invitational meeting sponsored by the ALA Committee on Legislation. Held at the ALA Washington Office on December 12, 2007, meeting participants discussed how ALA can develop an ongoing process for the consideration and articulation of policy positions regarding government information. The intent was to identify common ground among ALA units and to encourage the use of this process on government information and other issues within ALA in the future.

Michael McLane began work as ACRL’s new visiting program officer in April 2008. He is working to assess the ACRL legislative advocate program, along with recruiting and training new advocates. Former director of libraries at Catholic University, McLane is a member of ACRL’s Government Relations Committee and helped develop the ACRL Legislative Advocates program. His extensive experience in legislative advocacy includes serving as executive director of the Central New York Library Resources Council.

In May 2008, ACRL Executive Committee members and staff participated in ALA’s 2008 National Library Legislative Day in Washington. Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the Division of Government and Public Affairs at the American Council on Education, spoke at the ACRL luncheon on “Higher Education and the 110th Congress” during the May 13 briefing day.

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.

A variety of opportunities
ACRL debuted several new continuous learning activities in 2007-08. The ACRL Springboard Event, a free Webcast for members, and the OnPoint chat series are discussed in detail in the Highlights section of the report. “Leading from the Middle: Managing in All Directions,” the ACRL/LAMA Spring Virtual Institute, focused on issues and challenges facing middle managers. The ACRL Institute for Information Literacy added a new track to its popular Immersion program this year, and this was another record-breaking year for the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Preconference as the event sold out with 413 registrants. ACRL also offered a variety of face-to-face professional development opportunities at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and ALA Annual Conference, in addition to continuing to provide a number of  e-Learning offerings. ACRL offered 11 Moodle-based online seminars and 10 Webcasts, as well as the popular Online Information Literacy Seminar Series, cosponsored with TLT Group (see chart on pages 718 and 719 for a full listing of events).

Publications
ACRL’s publications program was very active during 2007–2008, publishing eight new books (including the first release in the new ACRL Active Guides series), which are listed in the accompanying table. As noted in the highlights section, ACRL continues to experiment with new publishing models and technologies, releasing online components to two publications.

Association members continue to receive College & Research Libraries News, ACRL’s news magazine and publication of record, and the scholarly journal, College & 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. RBM is available through subscription.

An open access, preprint service for articles accepted to College & Research Libraries launched in March 2008. C&RL preprints are available openly to all without password protection or membership requirement on the ACRL Web site at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crljournal/preprints/preprints.cfm. This service provides timely access to research articles and continues ACRL’s experiments with its access and business models as a publisher.

Beth Whitaker (Ohio State University) was appointed editor of RBM, succeeding Richard Clement (Utah State University). Whitaker began her term as editor following the 2008 ALA Annual Conference.

A new ACRL Publications Agreements FAQ (www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/publicationsfaq.cfm) was released in June 2008. The FAQ provides information on ACRL author agreements for serial publications, book chapters, book editors, and Podcasts.

ACRLog, now almost three years old, is the firmly established issues voice of ACRL online, receiving more than 5,000 visits each weekday. During the past fiscal year, four first-year librarian bloggers added their voices to ACRLog, providing a variety of perspectives on the profession from its newest members. In addition, Stephanie Willem Brown joined ACRLog in a “regular guest blogger” capacity, contributing reviews and summaries of issues being discussed on faculty blogs approximately once a month.

As noted in the highlights of the year, the ACRL Insider blog debuted in January 2008. There were 118 posts to ACRL Insider during the fiscal year, including information on publications, events, conferences, and other association activities. A Member of the Week feature was launched in March, highlighting the diversity of the ACRL membership.

The ACRL Podcasts series continued to grow during the past fiscal year. Podcasts released in 2008 include discussions of publications such as Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester and Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries, along with C&RL News articles “Party Photo Phenomenon” and “Eradicating the Rogue Assignment”; information on legislative advocacy, scholarly communication initiatives, and ACRL interest groups; and an interview with Springboard keynote speaker Henry Jenkins. ACRL Podcasts are available on the ACRL Insider blog (www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/) and through iTunes.

Choice published in excess of 7,000 reviews for the second consecutive year in FY 2008. Volume 44 (September 2006 through August 2007) contained 7,183 reviews. Volume 45 (September 2007 through August 2008) contained 7,093 new reviews, an average of 591 reviews per issue. This increase in Choice’s review output has been achieved with no increase in staff.

Bowker and Choice are proceeding with the editorial development of the Vo-Tech edition of Resources for College Libraries (RCL). Marcus Elmore, RCL project editor, who assembled the editorial team with the enthusiastic assistance and support of CJCLS, is now working on the Vo-Tech project from Boulder, Colorado, where he relocated this summer. Elmore also continued to serve as RCL project editor on a temporary basis until full-time replacement Anne Doherty was appointed to the position in November 2008. The target release date for the Vo-Tech edition is spring 2009.

The summer 2008 revision of the RCL database was released in late September. Work will begin on the 2009 revision cycle immediately upon appointment of the new project editor.

Choice recently added a series of three new electronic newsletters to Choice Reviews Online Version 2.0 (CRO2): Forthcoming Titles, Editor’s Picks, and Hot Topics. All three newsletters are free and available for subscription from the CRO2 Web site at www.cro2.org/. Choice also continues development of the Publisher’s Choice Online (PCO) program that will provide CRO2 users with access to the full-text of titles reviewed in Choice. The PCO program is now scheduled for launch in January.

Scholarships
ACRL’s scholarship program continues to support the continuous learning goals in ACRL’s strategic plan, as well as reflect the association’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the profession.

RBMS awarded 22 scholarships (a $12,015 value) that were funded by an ACRL Action Plan, profits from the 2007 RBMS Preconference, and $885 in donations by individual RBMS members.

Eighteen individuals received scholarships (a $10,800 value) for the Institute for Information Literacy National Immersion Program. These scholarships helped offset registration fees for the four-and-a-half-day program held at the University of California- San Diego.

For the fourth 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 ($2,300 value) to the institute. ACRL awarded two scholarships to the 2008 institute.

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 2008, 22 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 Peter Hernon, professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College, for his substantive body of research and contributions to the profession. The award, sponsored by ACRL and YBP Library Services, was presented during the ACRL President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference June 30, 2008, in Anaheim.

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 the Shatford Library at Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California, in the community college category; Laurence McKinley Gould Library at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, in the college category; and the McMaster University Libraries, Hamilton, Ontario, in the university category. The award, sponsored by ACRL and Blackwell’s Book Services, includes a presentation ceremony on the campus of the award-winning library.

ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute
The latest edition of the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians took place August 3–8, 2008. The Institute remains quite popular, selling out its capacity of 99 participants by late February 2008. ACRL awarded two scholarships (a $2,300 value) for the institute to individuals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and/or Hispanic-Serving Institutions. The institute continued to be well received, with 94% of participants giving the institute the highest overall experience rating, while the remaining 6% gave the program the next-highest rating. A reunion for alumni of the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute was held at the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. The reunion included presentations by Harvard faculty member Joseph Zolner and Harvard Education Librarian John Collins.

The inaugural ACRL/Harvard Advanced Leadership Institute for Senior Academic Librarians was held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 26–29, 2008. This new institute is designed exclusively for senior library leaders and alumni of the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians. The institute addressed critical leadership issues, including collaboration and alliances, influence and leadership, managing expectations of presidents and provosts, and the future role of the academic library.

ACRL/LAMA Spring Virtual Institute
The ACRL/LAMA Spring Virtual Institute was held April 28–29, 2008. The institute, “Leading from the Middle: Managing in All Directions,” focused on issues and challenges facing middle managers and leaders. The two-day event included 17 live, interactive Webcasts and 10 asynchronous online poster sessions. Total registration was 92 paid registrants, with an estimate of 192 attendees (based on an estimate of an average of five attendees for each group registration). Seventy-seven percent of evaluation respondents indicated that the quality of the Spring Virtual Institute was “stimulating” or “above average” (the two highest ratings).  Eighty-eight percent would be likely to recommend this type of online learning (two-day institute with concurrent sessions) to their colleagues.  Ninety percent felt the institute had the right amount of program sessions.

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 library 2.0, screencasting, designing Web sites for the academic library, virtual reference competencies, and electronic collection development.

ACRL Publications published Information Literacy Programs in the Digital Age, edited by Alice Daugherty and Mike Russo, Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries, edited by Laura Cohen, and The Desk and Beyond, edited by Sarah Steiner and Leslie Madden, during the fiscal year, all of which contain a wealth of information on technology issues. 
 

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 second year of a three-year ALA dues increase, ACRL experienced a 4.69% decrease in the number of members. As of August 31, 2008, ACRL membership decreased over FY 2006–07, declining from an all-time high of 13,411 to 12,782 members. This is the largest drop since 1982 and may reflect “dues increase” fatigue (FY08 was the fourth consecutive year of member dues increases) as well as recessionary pressures.

Spectrum Scholar Mentors
Fourteen Spectrum Scholars were paired with ACRL Spectrum Scholar mentors in FY2007 bringing the total number of mentor/mentee pairs to 41. Thirty-one individuals were accepted as mentors and ten mentees applied to receive mentors in FY2007. The Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Committee hosted a light reception for the group at the ALA Annual Conference.

Membership Outreach
The association continues to explore new ways to reach out to its membership. The ACRL new member wiki (wikis.ala.org/acrl/index.php/ACRL_New_Member_Wiki) launched in August 2007. As of August 31, 2008, the wiki has received more than 9,000 hits. As discussed in the highlights section, the association launched presences on several online social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and FriendFeed this year to increase online outreach. ACRL 101 programs at the ALA Annual Conference continue to educate members on the wide range of ACRL activities and opportunities for participation.

Sustainability
ACRL seeks to acquire the fiscal resources, staff expertise, and organizational structure necessary to advance the association’s strategic plan.

ACRL Staff
There were several changes to the ACRL staff during the past fiscal year. In March 2008, long-time staff member David Connolly took over the classified advertising coordinator/editorial assistant for C&RL News position vacated by Olivia Hodges in late 2007. New staff member Katie Coombes stepped into Connolly’s program officer for governance position in early September 2008. Joe Barkley joined ACRL in February 2008 as program coordinator for division-level committee appointments and provides administrative support for ACRL programs. Web services manager Jon Stahler joined the ACRL staff in January 2008.

Many of you have had phone and e-mail contact with ACRL’s staff, of which there are 15.75 ALA-approved FTE positions at headquarters. Here’s your chance to put a face with that voice or e-mail signature. Below is a listing of current ACRL staff members (including two of ACRL’s Choice 23.4 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 ACRL 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 with.

Meet the Staff

   ACRL Board of Directors, 2007-2008

ACRL Board 2007–08 (l to r): (back) Locke J. Morrisey, Mary Ellen K. Davis, Karen A. Williams, Lynne O. King, Mary M. Carr, Janis M. Bandelin, Michael J. LaCroix; (front) Elizabeth A. Dupuis, Debbie L. Malone, Erika C. Linke, Julie B. Todaro, Pamela Snelson, Theresa S. Byrd, Lori A. Goetsch.

   Financial Report

Theresa S. Byrd
Budget & Finance Committee Chair

The 2007-08 budget, covering the fiscal year September 1, 2007–August 31, 2008, was carefully monitored by the ACRL Board of Directors, the Budget and Finance Committee, and the Executive Director.

2007-2008 ACRL Performance 

2007-2008 ACRL Budget Highlights
ACRL operating revenues of $2,346,123 (without CHOICE) were $227,715 more than budgeted. This is $2,006,039 less than last year, as expected in a non-National Conference year. Total ACRL expenses (without CHOICE) were $2,432,129. This is $285,882 or 10.52% less than budgeted for the year.

The net ACRL revenues (without CHOICE) were ($86,006). Included in this figure is $170,613 for expenses related to the development of the 2009 National Conference. Because the deficit, which was projected at $599,603, was only $86,006, ACRL ended the year better than expected.

CHOICE operating revenues were $3,380,640, which was $107,564 more than budgeted. This is about $75,655 or 2.29% more than last year. Total CHOICE expenses were $2,909,680. This is $226,087 or 7.21% less than budgeted and about 5.11% more than last year.

The net CHOICE revenues were $470,960. Overall, CHOICE recorded another successful year in FY 2008 with net revenues well ahead of budget.

Factors Influencing Budget Outcomes
Fiscal year 2007–08 was a non-National Conference year for ACRL. ACRL typically expects a deficit budget in a non-conference year. There are expenses related to the conference that are incurred the year before the conference is held and any revenues received for the conference are deferred until after the conference takes place. As a result, this year’s budget was planned with a $599,603 deficit, to support strategic initiatives as well as conference planning. At the close of the 4th quarter, the ACRL budget deficit (without CHOICE) was only $86,006. ACRL’s net asset balance at over $3,000,000 remains strong and will cover the deficit as planned.

ACRL, like the rest of the country, is starting to see the impact of the downward economic trend. Membership dues, which for most of the year exceeded expectations, recently took a sudden plunge in August with a 4% drop in members. Because this drop was at the end of the fiscal year, dues revenue was higher than budgeted, contributing to the smaller than expected deficit. We may feel more negative financial effects from the two dues increases (ACRL’s followed immediately by ALA’s) next year or it may be offset by new members typically gained in a National Conference year.

Revenue from ACRL Web CE course offerings was less than budgeted due to the position responsible for this program being vacant for the first five months of the fiscal year as well as competition from free Webcasts offered by commercial enterprises.

Book publication revenue is up but these revenue gains were offset by high expenses. Classified ad sales are strong at 17% above budget, due primarily to online JobLIST postings, but revenue from print classified ads continues a steep decline. The increase in JobLIST revenue also contributed to ACRL’s smaller deficit.

The Budget and Finance Committee and the Board discussed two new initiatives. The first project is to enhance access to ACRL’s three serial publications (College & Research Libraries, College & Research Libraries News, and RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage) by digitizing backfiles. This would provide improved online access to electronic versions of these publications. While funding for this digitization was discussed this year, actual funds will be included in the upcoming FY09 budget.

The second project is to establish ACRL’s new applied research publication called REAL (Research Evidence for Action in Libraries). In FY08, the Board of Directors allocated $158,000 for REAL, of which $91,934 was used, and the balance of funding for the development and launch of this publication will be included in the FY09 budget.

After several years of looking for new office space, CHOICE, with the approval of the Board and Budget & Finance Committee, is purchasing 7,635 square feet of office space with Liberty Square Condominium in Middletown, Connecticut. CHOICE, as agreed with a Memorandum of Understanding between ALA and ACRL, is using its net assets to purchase this space. The total amount to be financed, including space, furniture, equipment, and renovations, is $2,000,000.

ACRL Asset Management
Long Term Investment
The ACRL Long-Term Investment Fund (LTI), which includes award endowments, has a balance of $2,018,344; the Choice LTI ended the year with $701,496. Neither ACRL nor CHOICE transferred funds to their LTI this year. This is intended to offset the interest income ALA would not earn with CHOICE spending part of its net asset balance to purchase the Liberty Square office space.

Given the financial forecast for FY2009, ACRL will be faced with a number of financial challenges that will require us all to be vigilant in the area of budgeting. I am very grateful for the support of the members of the Budget and Finance Committee as well as members of the ACRL staff.

   Executive Summary 2007-2008