Council III

Clarification request:

ALA-APA stands for American Library Association- Allied Professional Association. (The Organization for the Advancement of Library Workers - see previous post.)

This final Council meeting started with Memorials and Tributes. The announcement of the newly elected board members was made and newly elected members are Larry Romans and Charles Kratz.

Next, committee meeting reports were given from the following: Committee on Organization, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, the Committee on Intellectual Freedom, the Committee on Legislation, and the International Relations Committee.

Significant resolutions that came forward include
(1) Resolution in support of "orphan works" legislation. "Resolved that the American Library Association urges Members of the US Senate and the US House of Representatives to introduce legislation to amend the Copyright Act to facilitate the use of "orphan works" if the user has made a reasonably diligent, good faith search to locate the owner of the work but was unable to find the owner." I voted in favor of this.
(2) Resolution in support of Immigrant Rights. There was a great deal of discussion on this resolution's wording. An amendment was introduced by Michael Gorman, former ALA President, to leave out the word "immigrant" to make it less controversial and insert a term that includes all "residents" in the broadest sense of the word. The amendment passed and so did the resolution. The exact wording of this will come out in another document. I voted in favor of this.
(3) Resolution Affirming the role of libraries in providing E-Government and Emergency Services. "Resolved that the American Library Association urge governments at all levels to acknowledge and support the essential role local libraries play in providing e-government and emergency response/recovery services, as well as include libraries in relevant legislative or other policy actions; and be it further...Resolved, that the American Library Association encourage continued research documenting library needs and capacity to provide effective e-government and emergency response/recovery services, and help libraries develop best practices and train staff to deliver these essential services." I voted in favor of this.

Eli Mina, ALA Parliamentarian, gave his report with an explanation of an unusual procedure that occurred at the second Council meeting. The procedure occurred during the introduction of the Resolution to impeach George Bush. A movement was made to strike the resolution as inappropriate. President Burger called for a vote on this and the majority voted in favor of this. This led to great displeasure from several council members because it no longer allowed for discussion and several felt as if this was a form of censorship, certainly anathema to the principles of our profession. In the end, the body overruled this, but it appeared to be out of order. Eli explained today it was not.

The "Accessible Digitization Projects Resolution" was discussed. Exact wording is forthcoming since there were some changes from the originally submitted resolution. Basically it encourages all libraries engaging in digitization projects to create versions of all materials that are accessible to persons using screen-reader or other assistive technologies.

I am honored to be a part of this body of librarians who care deeply about our profession and democracy.