InULA President's Report

1994/1995

The InULA Executive Board chose as its theme this year, "Tradition and Innovations: The Role of the Librarian." In selecting this theme, the Board was setting the stage for an InULA that was not only responsive to the traditional, ongoing demands and needs of librarians but also attentive both to the unexpected, unpredictable, needs of librarians and to those needs that might be anticipated or assumed based on prior experience and concerns continually throughout the year.

Tradition

The membership year was formally kicked off with the September 30 Membership Meeting at IU-Bloomington's Wylie House. Attended by between 20 and 30 people, the event was a big success, with InULA members and prospective members enjoying period food and drink, music from a string quartet, and a tour of this historic home. InULA's membership rose steadily throughout the year, with 105 people ultimately joining InULA. While the Program and Social Committee, chaired by Mary Ann Danner-Fadae, got off to a bit of a late start this year, its re-institution of the Cuisine Club on April 7 proved to be delightful gathering for everyone who attended. It is my hope that future Program and Social Committee work will continue successful projects like the Cuisine Club but also explore new ways of reaching out to InULA's membership.

The previous InULA Board had allocated $2800 for Research Incentive Fund grants, and I am happy to report that we were able to fund RIF grant requests in the amount of $2,535--over 90 percent of our total allocation. Helping librarians accomplish their research goals is one of InULA's most important contributions to librarianship at Indiana University. While I am pleased InULA was able to provide this level of assistance, broader participation in the RIF application process would no doubt be beneficial for all. To that end, I encourage future efforts to increase awareness about these important research monies.

On March 20, InULA awarded its annual $1000 SLIS Scholarship to Beau Case, whose winning essay, entitled "The Goal and Reward of Librarianship--Service," was published in the April, 1995, issue of InULA Notes. This year's scholarship was extremely competitive, with nineteen students at all three campuses of the School of Library and Information Science submitting applications. I hope to see this award remain competitive, and I further hope that InULA sees even more interest from SLIS students at IU-South Bend and IUPUI.

InULA held its annual Book Sale on April 2 and 3. The Book Sale Committee chaired by Andrea Morrison, succeeded in raising over $3,100 in new money for InULA. While I am encouraged by the continued success of the Book Sale, I urge future InULA Boards to continue investigating additional or alternative fundraising methods. Not only would other means of raising funds provide InULA with some security (by not relying on a single major fundraising campaign), they could also result in a greater operating budget for the organization, or even the beginning of an endowment.

The Continuing Education Committee, chaired by Tony Stamatoplos, began preparation for a Fall, 1995, workshop tentatively called "Writing for Publication." This will be the first large continuing education program for InULA in two years and should signal a return to InULA's involvement in such efforts. While I encourage InULA to continue promoting and presenting large workshops of this nature, I also hope that the organization will broaden the scope of its continuing education activities. It would be good to see InULA involved in a variety of programs, panel sessions, workshops, and discussion groups--all with the aim of furthering the professional education of librarians.

On May 22, at Librarians Day in Indianapolis, I was honored to present Dean Jim Neal with a check for $400 for the Dean's Fund. This traditional gift is used in support of Librarians Day, workshops, orientation programs, and promotion and tenure activities.

Innovation

InULA was fortunate to be able to lend support to worthwhile projects throughout 1994-95. On November 15, InULA co-sponsored the "Teleconference on Distance Education," broadcast on the IHETS system, with interactive participants throughout the IU system. This was an important presentation/discussion session, bringing to life the possibilities of distance education and involving librarians at several IU campuses. One June 21, InULA sponsored a hospitality event for rare books and special collections librarians attending the 36th annual Rare Books and Manuscripts Section ALA Preconference. It is my hope that InULA will continue to be open to such worthwhile requests for support.

The Publications Committee, chaired by Jian Liu, published regular issues of InULA Notes throughout 1994-95, including a special issue on distance education, published just prior to the distance education teleconference. Jian also arranged to obtain an internet address for InULA on the World Wide Web (http://www.indiana.edu/~inula/). InULA now has a place for a home page on the Web, just waiting for development. This promises to be a wonderful resource for InULA, offering a possible home for InULA Board Minutes, an electronic version of InULA Notes, Research Incentive Fund and SLIS Scholarship application forms, links to other library-related resources on the Web, and more. Increasingly, I have come to believe that electronic communications can really energize InULA. This past Spring saw InULA members contributing to the InULA listserv, InULA-L, with great spirit and in good numbers. I would hope that InULA-L might be used more heavily in the future--by the President, the InULA Board, committee chairs and committee members, and other members of InULA, for issues related to librarian research and service, and much, much more. I would also endorse the recommendation of the 1992-93 Revitalization Committee to rename the Publications Committee the Communications Committee. This would place the proper emphasis on this important effort.

At our May 30 Business Meeting, in addition to the business of nominating officers for the 1995-96 InULA Board, a discussion was held on suggestions for future directions for InULA. A number of good ideas were raised, ranging from specific fund-raising suggestions to general philosophical orientations. An interesting contrast presented itself at this meeting, with some people suggesting ways to broaden InULA participation and another group suggesting that broad participation may not be necessary--or desirable. I feel there is value in both these perspectives. While I agree that InULA should encourage member involvement from as diverse a population as possible, I think there is wisdom in acknowledging that certain kinds of activities--valuable and important activities--tend to result in limited participation.

Librarian

InULA must continue to place its emphasis on the librarian, and I believe that we have accomplished that this past year. The career needs of librarians must always be at the forefront of InULA decision-making. With that as its cornerstone, InULA cannot fail.

But the determination of librarians' needs and the proper expression of the fulfillment of those needs by InULA is an ongoing problem.

Without direct, interactive communication between the InULA Board and the general InULA membership and without broad member participation in InULA committees and events, the determination of librarians' needs becomes as best an educated guess. I encourage future InULA Boards to seek to involve InULA members at every opportunity. While it is important to inform the InULA membership about upcoming events, I urge you to go one step further. Ask them questions, engage them in discussions, challenge them, argue with them if you have to--but whatever you do, get them to talk to you. The more people talk to you, the more engaged they are in InULA; and the more engaged they are, the more likely they are, not only to participate in InULA, but to contribute to InULA in an active manner and to embrace it as an important part of their professional lives.

Respectfully submitted,
Frank Quinn