June and July saw the completion of the Delphi Center for faculty development on the second floor of Ekstrom Library and the start of construction of the writing center on the third floor. The new carpet on the first floor is a welcome update and looks wonderful. Finally, Special Services has moved to the first floor for the convenience of our users and to provide a more up-to-date environment for these services.

As part of the budget for next year several library positions were eliminated to accommodate salary upgrades of staff and faculty. The eliminated positions were all from Ekstrom Library and other libraries were not affected although they received the benefits. This may change in the future.

Several of us have recently attended the American Library Association Conference (ALA) held in Chicago from July 6-12, 2000 and attended by more than 20,000 librarians.

On Thursday, July 6, I participated as ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) representative in the ALA Information Literacy Partnership Assembly. Approximately 100 representatives from all types of libraries and non-profit organizations focused on building information literacy partnerships for SMART communities. Speakers from Arizona, California, New York, Virginia, and Illinois discussed information literacy partnerships between libraries, schools, and businesses. An information literacy community partnership toolkit was developed for use with a variety of groups. Strategies for action for ALA were developed. Participants took the information gained at the assembly back to their ALA Divisions in order to develop programs for next year's ALA conference.

On Friday, July 7, I participated in the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards Training Session to help librarians become familiar with the standards and to guide them in using the standards with their constituents.

During the remainder of the conference I participated in the ALA Task Force on Competencies and on several committees, task forces and hearings accreditation. I attended ALA Council meetings and visited the many exhibits.

The ACRL Intellectual Freedom Committee presented its final version of the Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries and I will share that with the Faculty Senate in the fall.

The Council agenda was very full at this conference and included many controversial issues such as the core values report, financial reports and socially responsible investing, privacy and confidentiality in the electronic environment, the professional certification process, accreditation, outsourcing, library services for people with disabilities, and literacy.

As usual it was a very busy and educational conference and Chicago was at its best in terms of restaurants, shopping, weather and diversity.

--Hannelore Rader, University Librarian