The ARL Visiting Program Officer (VPO) program provides an opportunity for a staff member in an ARL member library to assume responsibility for conducting part or all of a project for ARL. The program provides a highly visible professional development opportunity for an outstanding staff member and serves the ARL membership as a whole by extending the capacity of ARL to undertake additional activities.

Typically, the member library supports the salary of the staff person and ARL supports or seeks grant funding for travel or other project-related expenses. Depending on the nature of the project and the circumstances of the individual, a VPO may spend extended periods of time in Washington, DC, or may conduct most of the project from her/his home library. In either case, contact with ARL staff and a presence in the ARL office is encouraged as this has proved to be mutually beneficial for the VPO and for ARL.

The ARL Strategic Plan reflects the scope of ARL's current agenda and suggests the range of issues where a Visiting Program Officer project could make a contribution. Individuals who wish to propose a project they could advance for ARL, or those who wish to nominate a librarian to serve as a VPO, may contact Sue Baughman, Associate Deputy Executive Director. Each appointment has its own time frame and will be dependent on securing support from the potential VPO's home library and identifying the financial resources needed to undertake the assignment.

Current VPOs

• Christine Avery, Penn State University, is working with the 21st Century Research Library Collections Task Force to develop an action plan that promotes a new understanding of the content and emerging functions that research libraries provide in the 21st Century digital networked environment.
• Lisa Carter, Ohio State University, is working with the ARL Special Collections Working Group to promote collaborative integration and enduring access to comprehensive research collections and resources in all formats.
• Jolie Graybill, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is working with ARL Diversity Programs and Leadership Initiatives. She will enhance ARL's Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce, further develop ARL's career placement services, contribute to marketing and communications, and provide guidance in curriculum development and programming for the annual ARL Leadership Symposium.
• Steve Hiller, University of Washington, and Jim Self, University of Virginia, are leading a service to help libraries develop sustainable assessment efforts that demonstrate their contributions to teaching, learning and research.

• Janice Pilch, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is conducting research and formulating policy on international copyright issues relating to libraries. This includes identifying further strategic directions and potential alliances in which ARL and the Library Copyright Alliance may seek to influence legislation, as well as identifying public policies governing use of copyrighted materials at the national and international levels.

Former VPOs