The ARL (Association of Research Libraries) review team visit from October 3-5, 2001 was a success, thanks to everyone who worked so hard to prepare for this important event. The team members, Sarah Pritchard (University of California, Santa Barbara), Chair, William Potter (University of Georgia) and Ken Frazier (University of Wisconsin, Madison), were quite impressed with our diverse special collections, user services, facilities, statistics, and most of all with the valuable support of President John Shumaker and Provost Carol Garrison. The team appreciated the meetings with faculty and students, as well as library faculty and staff regarding collections, research and services. We will be informed sometime in May 2002 whether or not we will be accepted as a member the Association of Research Libraries.

We have recently begun the planning process for an addition to Ekstrom Library. This will be a lengthy and complicated endeavor and we will keep you informed about the progress. At this time we are trying to select a planning consultant.

October 8-10 I met in Washington, DC with representatives from the National Forum on Information Literacy, the National Commission on Library and Information Science (NCLIS) and UNESCO to plan a major international conference on information literacy in the latter part of 2002. This planning process will be most complex since it involves countries from all continents and information literacy initiatives for the total populations. The project although quite ambitious is a very urgent and important one in this new century of information and technology.

On October 26 I will be the keynote speaker at the Tennessee Library Association conference in Dickson, Tennessee with the theme: Reaching Out: Across Campus and Beyond. The conference will address new ways for libraries to reach out to faculty, students and others including distance education and related programs.

--Hannelore Rader, University Librarian