ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS – How are they related and why should I join?

By Elizabeth Leonard

Since I became ACRL-NJ President in July (2015), the most frequent request I’ve had, from students through Deans, has been to explain the relationship of ACRL-NJ to NJLA College and University Section (CUS). Many librarians are also confused about which organization to join and whether they might be a member already. I hope this short overview will help everyone understand how they are related and why membership to them is vital to your job.

ACRL organizations cannot receive or spend money without incorporating as a 501(c)(3) organization (this provides us with an official tax status, among other things). Some ACRLs, including ACRL/NY, have taken the steps to incorporate themselves. Other states, like North Carolina and New Jersey, have chosen to align themselves with another organization-usually the state library association. The second option is the better one for ACRL-NJ because incorporating an organization in New Jersey is a very difficult process. IACRL-NJ was first part of NJLA in the 1950s, and has had a continual relationship with NJLA since 1979.

So, how are NJLA-CUS and ACRL-NJ affiliated? Technically, they are the same organization. The “twist” that confuses many a librarian is that there are several paths to membership. The first path is through ALA, which has an ACRL membership “add-on” for $60 to the annual ALA membership. If you choose that option, you can join here http://www.ala.org/acrl/membership/applications. The second path to membership is for librarians to join NJLA-CUS directly. The cost to join is income dependent and there are library student and retired librarian membership levels. While joining NJLA, librarians can choose to join the College and University Section for no additional charge. Third, librarians who are already ACRL members can join NJLA for only $60. Join NJLA/NJLA-CUS here http://www.njla.org/content/join-us.

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Why should librarians join? First and foremost, membership saves you money. ACRL/NJLA members are eligible for discounted rates for conferences and other programs, such as webinars. Members also receive newsletters, updates, and have opportunities to develop leadership skills which can further their careers. However, I think the most important reason to join is intangible; ACRL and NJLA advocate for NJ academic librarians.

In the last few weeks, ACRL/VALE/NJLA discovered that the Secretary of Higher Education is planning to rewrite the higher education licensure requirements and fully remove the requirements for information literacy education. Without information literacy required for licensure, many of our IL programs could be discontinued, which would negatively affect NJ higher education students and make precarious the jobs of many academic instructional librarians. ACRL-NJ and the Executive Council wrote directly to the office of the Secretary of Higher Education, as did the leadership of NJLA. While we do not yet know the outcome of our advocacy, I am quite certain that had we not acted,  the jobs of many NJ academic librarians would be threatened.

 Any NJ Academic librarian can participate on a ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS committee without joining. But if you can, the cost of joining NJLA/ARCL is less than one weekly fancy coffee per year. And without your membership dues, there would be no one to protest policy changes and quite likely a future with fewer NJ academic librarians. Your membership helps support the work our national and state library organizations do advocating for your jobs.

Elizabeth Leonard, President of NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ, is Asst. Dean for Information Technologies and Collection Services at Seton Hall University Libraries.