---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 11:03:48 -0400
From: Joan Reyes <jxr@psulias.psu.edu>
Subject: Librarians Who Make a Difference

ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The American Library Association's (ALA) Association of College
and Research Libraries (ACRL) Professional Enhancement Committee
is looking for stories similar to the following:

Melba Jesudason is a public service librarian at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison College Library which serves undergraduates.
Since 1981 she has made it her personal goal to help the
university recruit and retain minority students.  Her initial
activities related to her library instruction responsibilities in
College Library.  In the 1980s she developed instructional
outreach programs for international and English as a Second
Language (ESL) students, and student athletes.  She then
began working with younger people through pre-college programs
offered during summer sessions.  In 1994 she received state
funding for a pilot project on campus to admit local Southeast
Asian high school students to the campus ESL program.  In 1996
she was appointed to the UW-Madison Council on Pre-College
Programs.

In 1994, Melba Jesudason received the campus Student Personnel
Association's Norman Bassett Award for outstanding achievement in
student services, the first librarian to be recognized thus since
its inception in 1981.  The citation reads:  "The fact that Melba
has accepted the challenge of making library resources more
accessible to ALL UW students as well as potential students has
benefited the library, the University and most importantly, the
students themselves. ... [She] has always concentrated her public
service efforts on work with the neglected, slighted and
overlooked in the society. ... Her work has made this campus a
better place, and has improved the quality of life for her
neighborhood, her city, her country and the wider world."

The ALA/ACRL Professional Enhancement Committee is looking for
more stories like this.  We know they are out there.  We want to
find academic librarians who have made a visible positive
difference on their campuses and/or in their communities through
involvement and leadership.  We see them as role models who can
help the rest of us who have the potential to do the same thing.
We want to know why and how they got involved in activities
beyond the library, what impact they have made, what library
skills and/or opportunities helped them succeed, and what they
brought back to the library from the experience.

Do you know academic librarians who have influenced campus
decision-makers, development opportunities, legislation, business
leaders, social agencies, etc.?  Send us their names and
information on how to contact them (e.g. email address,
telephone/fax number, address).  We want to share their stories.
Perhaps you are one of these librarians.  Send us your name so
that we can learn more about you and have you as a role model for
others.

The ACRL Professional Enhancement Committee is charged with
assisting ACRL in identifying methods for informing appropriate
audiences about who academic librarians are and what they do.
Human interest stories like the one above will help us inform
decision-makers of the valuable and varied contributions academic
librarians make every day.  With the assistance of the stories
and the role models identified through this process, we expect to
develop programs and publications for academic librarians and
those audiences who need to know us better.  We also plan to
work closely with ACRL and ALA staff and share the stories with
them for use with the ADVOCACY NOW campaign.

Joan Reyes, Pennsylvania State University Libraries, (E506 Pattee
Library, University Park, PA 16802; Email:  JXR@psulias.psu.edu;
Phone:  814/863-4697; Fax:  814/863-7293) is the ACRL
Professional Enhancement Committee member who is collecting the
stories.  Please contact her as soon as possible if you have one
to share.  If you are aware of local listservs which include
academic librarians, feel free to send them this announcement.
We appreciate your support and assistance.

Joan Arlene Reyes
Access Services Librarian
The Pennsylvania State University Libraries
Voice:  (814) 863-4697
Fax:  (814) 865-3665
E-mail:  JXR@psulias.psu.edu