Correspondence, 1966-1971
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Brief Description: General correspondence of Lester Asheim, Director of Office for Library Education (1966-71), relating to library education within the United States, libraries outside the United States, curricula, committee meetings, employment opportunities, publications, and visits to ALA headquarters and American libraries.
Held at:
The American Library Association Archives
19 Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61802
Phone: 217 333 0798
Fax: 217 244 2868
Email: ala-archives [at] library.illinois.edu
Record Series Number: 8/1/5
Created by: Library Education, Office for
Volume: 0.5 Cubic Feet
Acquired: 1/28/81
More information is available at https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/alasfa/0805001a.pdf
Arrangement: Chronological
Biographical Note for Library Education, Office for :

The Office of Library Education (OLE) was formally established on September 1, 1966 as an office in the Library Education Division. The Office was established with the aid of a grant from the H.W. Wilson Foundation, Inc. in 1965 to support "an enlarged ALA program in library education and related fields." The Foundation grant of $75,000 was to be matched over a period of six years, after which time ALA would take over full support of the office (1).

The OLE was slow to solidify its mission and purpose due to an initially inadequate staff, but a Statement of Responsibility was eventually adopted in June, 1968. This statement defined the Office's goals as:

"To coordinate the Association's activities in the field of library education broadly defined; to study and review changing needs in library education and recommend new programs and courses of action to meet them; to carry out or stimulate programs of the Association and its membership units in this field; and to work with the appropriate ALA unit in such related fields as recruitment, accreditation, and manpower utilization where those matters touch upon library training and education at any level" (2).

In 1969 the H. W. Wilson Foundation, Inc. earmarked an additional $128,400 in supplemental grant money for the Library Education Division, specifically "to provide for additional needed staff in the Office for Library Education . . . to give full time to such pressing problems as the need for revision of standards, the development of procedures, and the exploration of more effective patterns of administrative organization for accreditation activities" (3). A second supplemental grant in 1970 provided funds in support of the OLE's project on the "Revision of the ALA Standards for Accreditation" (4).

In 1970 the Final Report of the Activities Committee on New Directions for ALA and Subcommittee Reports (ACONDA) was accepted by the Membership and Council. It recommended that ALA's existing staff activities relating to personal welfare, library education and training, and recruiting be combined into a new "Office of Library Manpower." The term "Personnel Resources" was subsequently substituted for the term "manpower" when the new office was finally established in 1973 (5). The former goals and duties of the Office for Library Education were met by this new office, therefore the OLE ceased to function as a separate entity.

Sub-Groups:

1-Director's Office

Subject Index
Asheim, Lester E.
Education for Librarianship
Library Education, Office for
Library Employment
Languages of Materials
English [eng]