College and Research Libraries


Looking Forward/Looking Back 

The social unrest which occupied the country's attention during the late 
sixties challenged many venerated social traditions. Likewise, the profes-
sional ferment which manifested itself first during the 1968 ALA Annual 
Conference in Kansas City produced protracted professional reexaminations. 
Although the profession now seems to be backing away somewhat from the 
social related activities proposed by ACONDA and ANACONDA, many of 
the reforms advocated by the activist leadership have been implemented. 

ALA has demonstrated in numerous ways its ability to play a leadership 
role in professional concerns such as legislation, intellectual freedom, and 
personnel development. But despite the strident, often persuasive rhetoric 
which is echoed through the halls of Council, ALA has not proven itself to 
be an effective agent for producing social change. Although librarians have 
continued to labor at the grass roots level and have achieved some measure 
of success, their achievement is largely due to their own intellectual vigor 
and persistence rather than the fact that they happened to be librarians. It 
is becoming increasingly apparent that ALA is not organized as a social 
action . group. ALA might be better advised to turn its undivided attention 
to the advancement of library related objectives. In reviewing the CRL 
editorials of the last five years, I was struck by the fact that almost none of 
the concerns addressed has been solved. In fact, most are now worse. For 
example, library schools are still graduating students who cannot be ab-
sorbed into the market. The situation has become so serious in some parts 
of the country that graduates of library schools are asking, even demanding 
appointments to nonprofessional positions. What effect will this trend have 
on professional status and salaries? The list of unsolved problems is long 
and growing longer. The crisis within higher education is already upon us. 
Student enrollment and financial support are declining. It is now anticipated 
that enrollment may drop by almost 20 percent during the next decade. 
Society seems no longer as willing to pour money into higher education as 
it once was. More interest in other national priorities such as energy, 
ecology, law and order, and health have preempted our positions. Our pleas 
for more funds are falling on deaf ears. Now is the moment for ACRL to 
assume a leadership role and to develop alternative solutions to the com-
monly perceived "bottomless pit" syndrome of librarianship. It is a chal-
lenge which we cannot afford to refuse, but it is one I am .convinced aca-
demic librarians are capable of meeting. 

fuCHARD M. DouGHERTY 

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