Report on the XXII Annual Conference of ACURIL
| Date | 01 April 1992 |
| Pages | 255-256 |
| Published date | 01 April 1992 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045174 |
| Author | Ketty Rodriguez |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Conference Report
Report on the XXII Annual
Conference of ACURIL
Ketty Rodriguez
School of Library and Information Studies, Texas
Woman's
University,
Denton, TX, USA
The Association of Caribbean University, Research and In-
stitutional Libraries (ACURIL) held its XXII Annual Con-
ference in Port of Spain, Trinidad from 17 to 23 May 1992.
The conference honoured the founder of ACURIL, Dr Alma
Jordan, the former librarian of the University of the West
Indies in St Augustine, Trinidad.
ACURIL is a Caribbean regional organization which was
formed in 1969, with several categories of membership in-
cluding libraries, archives, organizations and individuals. Its
primary purpose is the development, collection and preserva-
tion of information resources and services. Each year the an-
nual meeting is held in a different Caribbean country, a recent
exception being in 1990 when the annual meeting scheduled
to be held in Port au Prince, Haiti had to be cancelled due to
political instability in that country.
The meeting in Trinidad was organized by two commit-
tees:
a steering committee of seven members and an organiz-
ing committee often members. The theme of the meeting was
'Management of resources in Caribbean libraries and infor-
mation centres'. Twenty-two papers were presented from six
perspectives: (1) Management and planning; (2) Manage-
ment of human resources; (3) Executive information systems;
(4) Executive information systems in action; (5) Resource
sharing; and (6) Creative management.
Twenty years ago in 1972, ACURIL selected a similar
theme for its annual conference: 'Personnel management of
libraries in the Caribbean'. It is interesting to compare the
content of and participation in these two annual conferences
briefly. In 1972 the papers presented dealt with the topic from
the perspective of participants coming from the Spanish,
French and English sub-cultural areas of the Caribbean. In
1992
a
balanced participation from the region was lacking but
the discussion was enriched with input from a wide spectrum
of academia, as well as participants from the public and pri-
vate sectors of the US and the International Federation of
Library Associations (IFLA).
Another obvious contrast between the two meetings was
the narrow focus of the first (management of personnel) and
the broader topic of the second (management of resources).
The primary concern of both conferences was focused on the
practical and the theoretical aspects of managerial problems
as seen from different sub-cultural viewpoints.
One of
the
highlights of the 1992 conference was the pres-
entation by Dr Robert Wedgeworth, President of IFLA, who
spoke on the state of librarianship in the United States, par-
ticularly in the light of the closing of several library schools
including the one which he directed at Columbia University.
He observed that the library managers of today must be pre-
pared to manage in an environment of uncertainty brought
about by economic restrictions and the demand of new costly
technologies. To cope with this uncertainty he suggested the
need to quantify all relevant factors in the environment pre-
cisely; to address the question of specialization and to manage
through the tools of planning, motivation and personnel
evaluation. More than ever before, continuing education is a
necessity for the librarian faced with the uncertainty of to-
morrow. He also recognized the necessity of addressing the
enormous discrepancy in the needs of the diverse groups of
our societies.
The regional perspective was brought by Richard Gibson's
presentation. He pointed out that there is a chronic lack of
managers within the Caribbean. This fact
is
aggravated by the
constant brain-drain from the region. In addressing this prob-
lem he stressed three essential aspects which must be coordi-
nated simultaneously: (1) the purpose or mission of the infor-
mation institution; (2) the need for efficiency in all levels of
work; and (3) the social impact or responsibility of the infor-
mation institution.
Two papers were presented on planning. The one by Char-
les McClure focused on strategic planning; the one presented
by Benita Weber Vasallo was titled 'Planning in practice:
tools and techniques' and covered such essential points as the
mission of the library, budgetary and annual reports, organiz-
ational charts, and professional as well as non-library lit-
erature.
The session which
I
found to be the most interesting, since
it included points of view from the French, English and Span-
ish subcultures of the Caribbean, presented
two
diverse points
of
view:
that of management of human resources and that of
the unionised library worker. This latter point of view, not
frequently heard in professional conferences, was very adroit-
ly presented by Carlos Echevarria, a Puerto Rican labour
leader currently involved in negotiating a new collective bar-
gaining contract for the non-professional librarian workers of
Puerto Rico. Echevarria placed his perspective in a proper
The Electronic Library, Vol. 10, No. 4, August 1992 255
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