From the President

Bill Robnett, ALCTS President

The ALCTS Executive Committee had a highly productive spring meeting the weekend of April 20–21 in Chicago. Joining the committee were Genevieve Owens, chair of Publications; Jane Treadwell, member-at-large; Jimmie Lundgren, chair of the Council of Regional Groups (CRG); and Brian Schottlaender, chair of Planning. Peggy Johnson, chair of Education, and Miriam Palm, our newsletter editor, participated by conference call. Together we examined and discussed our planning and continuing education initiatives, the publications program of ALCTS, and the very important place of the CRG within our association.

As the Education Committee continues to develop the new (for ALCTS) concept of the workshop, CRG can play a significant role in identifying appropriate venues and relevant audiences for these workshops through its relationship with our various regional affiliates. According to Lundgren, CRG can facilitate the ALCTS–regional affiliates educational and other relationships through its established communication channels. This ALCTS–affiliates relationship may be one of the oldest in existence within ALA, and it is all the more valued and valuable in its fourth decade if it can help to bring ALCTS information and continuing education opportunities to members of the forty-seven affiliate organizations in various parts of the country. The Executive Committee fully supports this enhancement of the role of CRG and believes that it is essential in carrying the ALCTS message to current and potential members of our association.

The recent creation of a two-year ALCTS Web Editor position will also provide opportunities to communicate with our current and potential membership through the now almost ubiquitous Web. In reviewing the multiple components of the ALCTS publications program, it is abundantly clear that the time has come to contribute to the professional knowledge and skills of members through their desktops. The very successful WebCT-based Fundamentals of Acquisitions is evidence that these opportunities are heartily endorsed by ALCTS members, and that distributing appropriate ALCTS publications through this medium is one more step in supporting the collective knowledge base of library technical services and collections professionals.

The Executive Committee and guests also discussed the roles of the ALCTS Newsletter Online (ANO) and AN2 in terms of how we may effectively and efficiently keep our members up to date when we are all deluged by electronic communications in all forms and fashions. Miriam Palm, ANO editor, and Kirsten Ahlen, ALCTS office staff, have each analyzed the two publications and have very sound ideas of how the association could maximize the benefits of both through a more streamlined delivery. These discussions will continue at the board meetings to be held at the Atlanta summer conference.

In our professional lives we all have a vested interest in planning and communicating “smart rather than hard!”