ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


J u n e  1 9 9 3 /3 3 3

Re-engineering academic 
The W a y and research libraries
I See It

By Jacq u elyn  McCoy

Technology continues to change 
the n a tu re o f  o u r jobs

A cadem ic libraries are at a crossroads.
Technology, finances, and the changing 

academy are forcing the library profession to 
reevaluate virtually every feature and function 
of librarianship. Decisions being m ade during 
this turbulent time will produce perm anent im­
pacts on the academic library as w e know  it. 
There is one certainty in all of this: academic 
libraries will not remain as they have been. It 
is not clear at this time w hether we as a profes­
sion will shape that future or w hether w e will 
adopt a reactive stance. I am convinced that 
we academic librarians must address the issues 
discussed below if w e are to play a role in mak­
ing the choices that changing technology, re­
duced financial resources, and new  academic 
priorities will thrust u pon us.

In the late 70s, an article in The Chronicle o f
Higher Education caught my eye and fascinated 
me. The article explained that mathematicians 
had finally solved the “four-color map prob­
lem.” This was evidently a “problem ” that math­
ematicians had b een  trying to solve for over a 
hundred years. Can one draw a map of any 
country and use only four colors with out any 
tw o borders that touch having the same color? 
It was thought to be true but could not be 
“proved.” What interested me about the story 
was that it concluded that the com puter had 
performed calculations that w ould have taken 
several generations of mathematicians to ac­
complish. The editors then w ent on to ask a 
bold question . . .  Are computers actually chang­
ing the way w e work?

At the time the four-color math problem  
w as being solved, there w ere libraries that had

autom ated certain functions and a few even 
had early forms o f online catalogs. However, 
most of the academic library world was still 
struggling with how  to acquire an OCLC termi­
nal and a printer. In fact, over the next several 
years as more and more libraries developed 
access to online databases and staff expertise 
to use them in searches; the library world had 
indeed begun a radical shift in the way it func­
tions.

Technology and its ever expanding impacts 
have been changing the shape and the focus 
o f libraries for many years. The move to type­
writers eliminated the need for Dewey to teach 
“Library H and.” Manual typewriters w ere re­
placed over the years by electric machines. 
However, the use o f the com puter to set in 
type the In d ex Medicus manuscripts in the mid- 
60s can no doubt be considered the beginning 
o f this epoch-making shift in the use of tech­
nology in libraries. The realization that the 
medical information could be packaged informs 
for specific purposes led to the concept of on­
line searching.

It is interesting to note that the 1976 Stan­
dards f o r  College Libraries mentioned the need 
for a photocopy machine in the library. The 
battle for the photocopy technology is one that 
many have long since forgotten, yet it was so 
important that our profession wrote it into the 
standards. I doubt that fax machines will be 
written into the next set of standards, but it is 
likely that online catalogs will be considered a 
“standard.”

Higher education is in the midst of a “re­
e n g in e e rin g .” As th e academ y attem p ts to 
“reinvent” itself for the 21st century, it will 
struggle with new  teaching methods in an in­
creasingly consumer-oriented marketplace, new 
curriculums that take into account the chang­
ing demographics, and financial realities that

Jacquelyn McCoy is director, Occidental College Library, Pasadena, California, a n d  president ofACRL, e-mail: 
Jackiem@oxy.edu

mailto:Jackiem@oxy.edu


3 3 4  /  C&RL News

will p rev e n t se re n d ip ito u s or u n co n tro lled
growth. For the foreseeable future, the pie can­
not grow and thus competition for resources is 
fierce am ong various units on campus. A spe­
cific exam ple of this struggle w hich many of us 
are already facing is the expansion of the li­
brary vs. the developm ent of the com puter cen­
ter. An interesting question is w hether the aca­
demic library will be a partner in the changes 
that are challenging the academy. Many o f our
colleagues have taken some bold steps in an
attempt to engage the higher education com ­
munity in meaningful dialogue about the fu­
ture. In “Preferred Futures” Richard Dougherty
and Carol Hughes illustrate how  librarians may
adopt the pro-active approach. “Preferred Fu­
tures” is based u pon a meeting that included
both library leaders and higher education ad­
ministrators.

The netw orked environm ent raises a num ­
ber of vexing questions. How will standards
be applied to libraries (and eventually accredi­
tation o f the academy) with greater access to 
remote databases and full text information via
the network? How will libraries teach patrons
to evaluate the usefulness of this larger body
of material that for now  is unorganized and
unevaluated? How will faculty adjust to the in­
finitely larger array o f materials that their stu­
dents discover on the network and then use in
their research papers?

Academic libraries today find themselves
dealing with a significantly larger and more
diverse group o f vendors than was true even
two decades ago. The relationship betw een
these vendors and the library profession is much
more reciprocal than it ever was before. User
groups are polled by the know ledge industry
about the future content and developm ent of
their products. Librarians are having a say about
the product, and in turn, the product is in many
cases influencing the services w e librarians can
provide.

Library administrators are increasingly con­
fronting the rapidly changing patterns of em ­
ploym ent w hich characterize the post-indus­
trial economy. More w orkers will switch career
paths throughout their lives, the w ork w eek
and the hours of employment will be increas­
ingly varied fostering part-time employees, job
sharing, and remote w ork sites connected by
an electronic network. These many changes and
variables could result in higher turnover rates,
a need for continuous retraining and an invigo­
rated staff developm ent program. Shouldn’t w e

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

be spending on training and staff development 
at least what w e spend on hardware and soft­
w are maintenance?

It is already apparent that there needs to be 
greater flexibility and sensitivity in accommo­
dating the multiple needs of a diverse w ork­
force. An increasingly diverse workforce—ra­
cially, ethnically, and in terms of education and 
experience—will greatly enhance the w ork­
place and positively influence, as w e are al­
ready witnessing, the services w e provide. The 
role o f the paraprofessional and support staff 
will continue to evolve and those serving in 
these capacities will dem and a greater say in 
the w ork place. Professional associations like 
ACRL will need to assist in the continuing ed u ­
cation of these partners on the information ser­
vices team.

Library adm inistrators are 
increasingly confronting the 
rapidly changing p atterns o f  
em ploym ent w hich characterize 
the post-industrial economy.

The ACRL President’s program at the ALA 
Annual Meeting in New Orleans will explore 
some o f the issues that the academy will be 
addressing in the im m ediate future. Titled, 
“H eaded for the Beach?: Redirecting the Aca­
demic Whale,” the program will explore the 
challenges and realities that our partners in the 
academy are addressing. Robert Zempsky is the 
f o u n d in g  d ir e c to r  o f th e  U n iv e rs ity  o f 
Pennsylvania’s Institute for Research on Higher 
Education, one of this country’s major public 
policy centers for post-secondary education. In 
addition, he serves as senior editor of Policy 
Perspectives, a national quarterly that has come 
to play a central role in defining the nation’s 
higher education agenda. Dr. Zemsky will ex­
amine the major forces that are at work in the 
higher education community today.

T he seco n d  sp eak er will be Dr. Carole 
Barone, Associate Vice Chancellor for Informa­
tion Technology at the University of California, 
Davis. She is the past chair of the Board of 
D irectors o f CAUSE an d  a m em b er o f the 
EDUCOM Board o f Trustees. Dr. Barone will 
be presenting a hightech multimedia session 
on the changing and challenging role of tech­
nology in a higher education environment.



J u n e  1 9 9 3 /3 3 5

Many voices are calling for change in aca­
deme. Others insist that higher education can­
not reform itself, that only external pressure 
will bring about necessary reorientation and 
restructuring. The ACRL President’s Program 
considers current criticisms of our colleges and 
universities, exploring possibilities of essential 
change from within. Both Dr. Zempsky and 
Dr. Barone are dynamic speakers and will of­

fer a “non-librarian” perspective on “Headed for 
the Beach? Redirecting the Academic Whale.”

The computer has changed and is continu­
ing to change, the way we think and work. 
The impact on education has been, and will 
continue to be, profound. Academic libraries 
are at a fork in the road and it appears that we 
have the opportunity to choose among the op­
tions confronting us on the road still ahead. ■

Letters
More on class gifts
To the editor:

I noticed in the April 93 issue of C&RL 
News, the article by Jinnie Davis on class gifts 
to libraries. At Whitman College, w e have 
benefited from several classes. The Whitman 
Class of 1982 raised $20,000 to refurbish and 
equip properly a com puter lab located in the 
library in memory of their dear, departed class­
mate Kam Graves Lincoln. This class w anted 
to donate funds for more and better PCs be­
cause w hen they graduated PCs simply did 
not exist. Lincoln and her husband, a com­
puter programmer, were killed in an airplane

crash in Thailand. The door to the computer 
lab is marked with a memorial plaque.

The 1993 class at Whitman has identified 
Penrose Library as their special class project. 
All funds raised in their fundraising campaign 
will be donated to Penrose. Seniors are espe­
cially encouraged to donate their initial $100 
security deposit to the library u pon gradua­
tion. Books purchased with Class of 1993 
funds will be marked with a special book­
plate, and all donors of $25 or more may honor 
an individual w ho has changed their lives by 
having the individual listed on the b o o k ­
plate.—Henry Yaple, W hitman College Library