ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


243

C ontinuing E d u ca tio n — XVI
I have been asked to write a few words about 

continuing education for academic librarians, I 
suppose because the person who asked thought 
this question must have come up during my years 
on the Academic Status Com m ittee and as a li­
brary d ir e c to r with an activ e lib rary  faculty. 
Right, but less often than you might think. In any 
event, having a few words at the ready on almost 
anything, I’ll come C L E N E  on continuing ed.

There are two “in” phrases these days about li­
brary personnel— s t a f f  d e v e lo p m e n t is one and 
c o n tin u in g  e d u c a t io n  is th e oth er. I have the 
same problem with both: I don’t know what they 
mean. What is continuing education? Is it reading 
this issue o f C & R L  N ew s? O r the C h r o n ic le ? Or 
the J o u r n a l o f  H ig h e r E d u c a tio n ? Or the Tim es 
E ducation Su p p lem ent? O r the T im es H igher 
Education Su pplem ent? Is it attending a class; 
taking a course (auditing for credit); attending a 
conference, workshop, institute (with or without 
C EU s)? Is it talking with colleagues from across 
town or from across the state; visiting the Bod­
leian or the Vatican Library (or LC or the Folger 
for provincials like me who haven’t gone beyond 
this continent); using the local public library (for 
the best-selling novel we academics won’t deign 
to acquire)? Enough!

W hat is more important than “what it is” is 
whether we do it, any of it, how much, and why. 
To take the last first, we do it (if we do) because 
continuing education is part, some would say the 
essential part, of being a professional. To recog­
nize that our formal professional education (li­
brary school) is the base, but that it is necessarily 
tim e-b o u n d , how ever w ell in te n tio n e d  and d e ­
signed, is to acknowledge the responsibility for 
and th e  c o m m itm e n t o f th e  p ro fe ssio n a l to 
c h a n g e. T h is p ro fession al ob lig ation  is co m ­
plemented and reinforced by the three primary 
objectives o f the academy: the preservation, dis­
se m in a tio n , and g e n e r a tio n  o f in form atio n . 
Philosophers will note here the word in form ation  
rather than k n o w le d g e. Therein lies another de­
bate.

Back to the point. Given the why, how much 
continuing education do academic librarians do? 
Alas, not enough, notw ithstanding the faster- 
than-rabbits proliferation of library organizations, 
but about as much as many doctors, dentists, and 
lawyers, judging from the stories around. In a 
typical academic library faculty, the same faithful 
few carry the c o m m ittee load, a tten d  co n fe r­
ences, publish, and hold offices. Another cadre 
measures its work by the clock, neither reading 
nor su bscribing to any professional litera tu re. 
This cohort is widely believed to be the rank and 
file who insure the continuation of the basic op­
erations and serv ices o f the library. A fter all,

everybody can’t be a star, so some have to stay 
hom e and mind th e  store. Ju d ging from who 
stays home, the marvel is the level o f quality of 
the s e rv ic e . provided in academic libraries, and 
the wonder is that this level isn’t lower than it is.

There are no easy answers to how to make lo­
cals more cosmopolitan. Tim e, money, constant 
prodding, reinforcem ent, reward, and opportu­
nity are a few o f the necessary conditions, but 
above all an act of faith that continuing education 
(read professional activity) really makes a dif­
feren ce in the quality o f serv ice our lib raries 
provide.— C. Ja m e s  S chm idt.

E d it o r s  N ote: C. J a m e s  S chm idt is u n iversity li­
b ra r ia n  a t B row n  U niversity, P ro v id en ce, R h o d e 
Islan d . ■■

Model Mission Statem ent 
for U ndergraduate Lib raries

At th e  1978 M id w in ter M e e tin g  o f the 
A C R L Undergraduate Librarians Discussion 
Group (U GL), a group of librarians expressed 
in te re s t in w riting a model statem en t that 
would d efine th e scope and a rticu la te the 
U G L purpose in the academic library.

F or the past year and a half the group has 
met, corresponded, and worked on improving 
successive drafts of a mission statement. We 
have tried to address the key factors in the es­
tablishment of the U G L  and develop a service 
philosophy that reflects the specific needs and 
the major components of an undergraduate li­
brary operation.

L ib r a r ia n s  may use th e  m od el m ission 
s ta te m e n t for com parison w ith th e ir  local 
statements, as evidence to support the pur­
pose of the U G L, and as a starting point for 
continued definition and advocacy of the U G L 
at local and national levels. W ith these ends 
in mind, the study group has kept the text 
general. W e have tried to provide distinctions 
u n iq u e to th e  U G L , w h ile e n co u ra g in g  
breadth in interpretation to suit local situa­
tions.

Copies of the M ission o f  an  U n d erg rad u ate 
L ib r a r y  (D ra ft M od el S tatem en t) are available 
from Donna Senzig, College Library, Univer­
sity of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 N. Park St., 
Madison, W I 5 3 7 0 6 .— L an  D yson (B e rk e le y ), 
M onty M axw ell (B loom in g ton , In d ia n a ), L in d a 
P h illip s  ( K n o x v ille , T e n n e s s e e ) , J a y  P o o le  
(A u stin , T ex a s), T im  R ic h a r d s  (A nn A r b o r , 
M ichigan), Liz S a lz e r (S ta n fo r d ), D on n a Sen­
zig (M ad ison , W iscon sin ), a n d  Y orum  Szekely 
(C orn ell).