During April, students, faculty, administrators and the libraries have worked hard to finish the spring semester and gear up for graduation. Use of the libraries was at an all time high as all library staff can certainly verify.

Simultaneously with the preparations for final exams and graduation, the University is continuing the planning process to determine reallocation/reinvestment strategies to upgrade salaries, provide more financial aid for students and help the libraries to achieve membership in the prestigious Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Discussions continue regarding budget planning for the next biennium. The recently formed Blue Ribbon Commission is working with recommendations from previous planning meetings to finalize the process.

Nationally, the American Library Association members are working on setting core values and core competencies for the profession. It is hoped that drafts of these values will be available for discussion at the annual meeting in July in Chicago. Work on these values is very timely as we enter the 21st century, the digital age and the information society. Librarians must clarify their role in the newly developing technological society. Librarians must also determine what type of education and training will appropriately prepare them for success in the 21st century. I am sure that all of you can understand the importance of developing these values and how difficult it is for more than 60,000 professionals to arrive at a consensus. Similar discussions will occur at the International Federation of Library Associations annual meeting in Jerusalem in August.

Another major interest within the library profession is information literacy. Both ALA and ACRL are addressing the importance of educating an information literate population to work and function successfully in the information age. At the annual ALA conference various special work groups and task forces will be working on integrating the information literacy standards developed by school librarians and academic librarians into all levels of education.

Other national discussions deal with accessing electronic information in the most effective way and integrating print and electronic information to achieve successful collection building and efficient information access and delivery. These are difficult issues that will require concentrated effort from all library professionals.

--Hannelore Rader, University Librarian