The ancient walls between types of institutions and between users and providers of information have broken down, and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is helping forge new relationships among traditionally unrelated groups. Librarians, publishers, museum directors, and scholars must begin to talk to one another, and during the past year CLIR has sponsored meetings that brought together members of these groups.
Perhaps the most challenging and potentially fruitful of these dialogs is that between librarians and scholars. In both teaching and research, faculty must now use material in electronic and Web formats, and increasingly they use images as well as texts. Librarians must support these new activities and must understand how they relate to traditional research methods. Supporting the dialog between information users and providers, especially between scholars and librarians, is a primary objective of CLIR’s current work.
19992000 was a year of significant “firsts” for CLIR. The first of 10 annual sessions of the Frye Institute at Emory University was a grand success. Fellows of the Institute are drawn both from libraries and from academic computing organizations, because we believe that these two groups now share the task of acquiring and managing information for teaching and research. CLIR also inaugurated its annual Sponsors’ Symposium in May. The symposium, which focused on library services of the future, drew 120 representatives from sponsoring institutions. Also in May, CLIR and the Digital Library Foundation (DLF) launched a new Program for Distinguished Fellows. The program will support senior information professionals for up to a year to pursue research that furthers the agendas of CLIR and the DLF. Finally, CLIR staff this year began to integrate international components into all of its areas of activity. Begun in 1989, the international program previously had been devoted almost exclusively to preservation and access issues. Reflecting this broadened scope of activity, three years ago the Board added a second international member. It will continue to have at least two members from abroad.
You will see from this annual report that CLIR’s finances are in very good shape. President Marcum and the staff have found solid financial support for CLIR’s core expenses and projects. The Board congratulates the president and staff on a stellar year.
Stanley Chodorow
Chairman of the Board
