Arlington, Virginia
October 15–16, 2008

ARL President Marianne Gaunt (Rutgers) convened the 153rd Membership Meeting with 108 member libraries represented. The program featured remarks by two provosts, by ARL directors, and by other librarians who participated in one of ARL's leadership development programs: Leadership and Career Development Program (LCDP) and Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) Program.

Eleven LCDP alumni attended the 153rd ARL Membership Meeting (left to right): Allison Sutton, Anthony Smith, LaVentra Danquah, Jerome Conley, Karen Downing, Corey Murata, Aisha Harvey, Nevil Prendergast, Vicky Coleman, Patrick José Dawson; accompanied by: Charles B. Lowry (ARL), Karin Trainer (Princeton), DeEtta Jones-Young (ARL consultant), Marianne Gaunt (Rutgers), Jerome Offord (OCLC, formerly ARL); not pictured: Jeannie An. Copyright © 2008 Frank Sciurba Photography.

Diversity in Higher Education & LCDP Anniversary

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Provost Bernadette Gray-Little opened the meeting with keynote remarks on diversity in higher education. Weaving her personal educational experience into the larger picture of change for US higher education, she made a compelling case for the cumulative impact of many steps, even modest ones, that aim to increase diversity of the student population and the faculty and research library workforce. Her remarks were followed by a panel convened by Karin Trainer (Princeton) celebrating the 10th anniversary of ARL's LCDP. Speakers included LCDP alumni Anthony Smith (Miami), Aisha Harvey (Duke), and Jeannie An (McMaster)--who described the impact of the LCDP on their views about leadership roles as well as the future of research libraries--and Nancy Baker (Iowa) and Vivian Lewis (McMaster)--who addressed the positive experience of sponsoring or serving as a career coach for an LCDP participant. The panel concluded with a salute and standing ovation for Jerome Offord for his leadership of ARL diversity initiatives over the past five years. A reception followed where Ms. Gaunt offered a toast celebrating past and future LCDP participants and sponsoring libraries.

The Future for the Work of Extended Arguments

ARL's Scholarly Communication Steering Committee sponsored a program featuring James J. O’Donnell, Provost, Georgetown University, who, both as humanist and provost, considered the recent evolution of the role of monographs, particularly in validating the quality of scholarship. O'Donnell emphasized that the real issue for the future of monographs continues to be clearly identifying the best works to be published. The long-term trend of scholarly publishers placing increasing weight on works that appeal to broader markets has worked against the needed focus on quality, he argued, and newer issues, such as debates around the application of network technologies and business models, further distract attention from the core issue of rewarding quality work.

Leadership Roles in Research Libraries

Nancy Cline (Harvard) convened a program with Nancy Eaton (Penn State) and Martha Bedard (New Mexico) reflecting on the strategic issues and success factors associated with executive leadership of research libraries. The three directors, each at different points in their own careers as ARL library director, commented on the need and options for nurturing succession planning in the ARL community. They highlighted the particular role of ARL's Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) Program, in which they had each been involved as either sponsor or participant, citing the importance of being introduced to the complexity of leadership roles in a large research institution. The panel was followed by concurrent discussions lead by the current RLLF fellows. Sessions were on topics identified and organized by fellows on: views of future leaders; recruiting for 21st-century research libraries; opportunities and challenges of special collections; and the curriculum used in RLLF to prepare future leaders. Ms. Cline confirmed that a new class of RLLF fellows is being formed this winter.

E-Science: Trends, Transformations & Responses

Wendy Lougee (Minnesota) convened a panel to review the future of e-science and implications for library support. Speaking from the view of a multi-agency federal program, Chris Greer (NITRD) reviewed how far and fast technology has already developed and gave a preview of how future scientists will conduct their research, emphasizing the distributed, collaborative, and data-intensive nature of their work. Biologist William Michener (New Mexico) illustrated the trend lines with a case study from the multi-decadal research undertaken by the Ecological Research Network. Rick Luce (Emory) urged the participants to make "a quantum leap in repositioning their libraries to support e-research." He summarized past motivations of library collaborative actions and concluded, "the next phase requires an expanded mission of shared purpose" and "a shift from a focus on products (e.g., reference) to process (e.g., team science)." The points raised by the panelists were elaborated the following day in a separate ARL / CNI Forum, "Reinventing Science Librarianship: Models for the Future." Audio and slides of the panelists and the full forum are online.

Briefings on Image Management, Preservation Activities, Federal Depository Library Program

Also during the Membership Meeting, ARL committees held topical briefings. The Research, Teaching, and Learning Steering Committee sponsored a briefing on "Managing and Using Visual Images," presented by Anne Kenney and Karen Brummund (both of Cornell). The Scholarly Communication and Statistics & Assessment committees held a briefing on the work of Visiting Program Officer Lars Meyer (Emory) on "Describing and Measuring Contemporary Preservation Activities in ARL Libraries." The Public Policies Steering Committee invited Richard Davis and Cynthia Etkin (both of the US Government Printing Office) to provide a briefing on the "Future of the Federal Depository Library Program."

Membership Meeting background papers and speaker slides are being posted on the ARL Web site as they become available.