The 154th ARL Membership Meeting was held May 20–22, 2009, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, Texas. ARL President Thomas C. Leonard, University Librarian, University of California, Berkeley, developed the program working in consultation with the ARL Board of Directors. The meeting organizers hope that the “Transformational Times” program encourages and facilitates inter-institutional collaboration and creative responses to funding challenges.
“Transformational Times” was a meeting that departed from the norm. The meeting organizers hope that it will stand not as a mere event, but rather the beginning of conversations among ARL libraries that focus on sustained, collaborative actions—actions that will transform libraries in ways that help navigate the current financial shoals and, more importantly, redefine what research libraries are and do in an environment where information is defined principally in terms of networked access. Now is the time to seek actions that establish robust roles for libraries—roles that position libraries as integral to research and higher education.
The Membership Meeting opened on Wednesday afternoon with a report on the recent ARL survey of member budgetary pressures, presented by Charles B. Lowry, Executive Director, ARL. This was followed by a discussion of Game-Changing Strategies and Challenges, moderated by Brinley Franklin, Vice Provost, University Libraries, University of Connecticut. The two panelists were Kenneth D. Crews, Director, Copyright Advisory Office, Columbia University Libraries, who spoke on "Google and Books: Legal Settlement or Information Revolution?", and Paula Kaufman, University Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who presented "Carpe Diem: Seizing Opportunities from Crisis."
On Thursday morning, all meeting participants were invited to bring breakfast into the meeting room for a briefing and conversation with OCLC trustees and ARL member library directors Larry Alford, Betsy Wilson, and Sandra Yee, as well as ARL member library directors Jennifer Younger, Chair of the OCLC Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship; Brian E. C. Schottlaender, member of the OCLC Review Board; James G. Neal; and Carol Mandel.
Thursday morning also featured a panel on opportunities for libraries to work together in new ways to reduce redundancies, align resources, and take collective action toward a desired, innovative future. Moderated by Carole Moore, Chief Librarian, University of Toronto, the panel included Wendy Lougee, University Librarian, University of Minnesota; Anne Kenney, University Librarian, Cornell University; and Kevin Guthrie, President, Ithaka.
The ARL Business Meeting was held on Thursday morning. The ARL President, selected committee chairs, and the ARL Executive Director presented reports. There was also time for member representatives to raise topics for discussion with colleagues.
The Thursday luncheon program was a panel discussion of leadership lessons learned through natural disasters. Moderated by ARL President Thomas C. Leonard, the panelists included Nancy L. Baker, University Librarian, University of Iowa; Paula Mochida, Interim University Librarian, University of Hawaii; and Lance Query, Dean of Libraries and Academic Information Resources, Tulane University.
Early Wednesday afternoon, each of ARL’s three Strategic Direction Steering Committees sponsored a briefing and discussion of a key issue: digital repository services, the Google Book settlement, and DataNet. On Thursday afternoon, concurrent discussions were held on topics of current interest: collective storage, discovery and resource-sharing strategies, and emerging and multi-institutional technical services
Friday morning featured the keynote remarks of noted economist James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Galbraith was introduced by Stephen W. Littrell, Head of Access Services and Public Affairs Librarian, University of Texas at Austin.
The Membership Meeting concluded late Friday morning with a session on sharing digital data. Wendy Lougee, University Librarian, University of Minnesota, introduced and moderated discussions by Chris L. Greer, Director, National Coordination Office, Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, on "Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society"; Chuck Humphrey, Data Library Coordinator, University of Alberta Libraries, on "Canada’s Emerging Research Data Framework"; and Clifford A. Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information, on "Implications for Research Institutions & Their Libraries."
The five Texas ARL member libraries organized very special events for all meeting attendees on both evenings of the meeting. The University of Houston Libraries hosted a reception, dinner, and library tour in the M. D. Anderson Library on Wednesday evening. The libraries of Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, and Texas Tech University cosponsored a reception and dinner on the Rice University campus on Thursday. There were also tours of the Fondren Library Thursday evening.