Council III

The last meeting of ALA Council during 2007 Annual was called to order at 8:00 a.m. on June 27th.

The Committee on Organization made its report to Council and had two action items:

(1) To revise the composition of the Chapter Relations Committee by requiring someone to be an ALA member who is also a member of an ALA Chapter or Division affiliate

(2) To recommend that Council adopt a report on e-participation, which asks for a formal task force charged with examining existing documents and developing recommendations to adapt association policy so as to help ALAmove forward with effective e-participation practices.

The Committee on Constitution & Bylaws made its report to Council with 4 action items.

(1) The Catholic Library Associate applied for ALA affiliate status, and this was granted.

(2) At Council III, the second item of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee was solely with regard to the order of the names on the ballot. It was to change the words "by lot" to "randomized", and to make it apply to all names on the ballot, not just the names of ALA Councilors. The preparation of the ballot was, is and remains under the oversight of the elections committee. This was passed.

(3) A change in wording to clarify the committee listings in the bylaws - this was passed.

(4) A request for councilors to comment on bylaws changes. Councilors have the responsibility to ask their constituents about the changes as well. Much discussion followed, and some even discussed whether or not a "Constitutional Convention" is necessary. Others felt that this is not necessary.

International Relations committee.

450 people from 87 countries were at ALA this year. The committee supports ALA having a full time person supporting international relations.

Intellectual Freedom Committee

There is a new toolkit on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people. It is mounted on the OIF website. http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?Section=oif A resolution on the use and abuse of National Security Letters on the need for legislative reforms to assure the right to read free of government surveillance. This resolution passed unanimously.

Policy Monitoring Committee

Two action items: The first is an addition to the policy manual recommending a statement that supports Immigrant rights. This was passed. The 2nd item addressed the committee's recommendation that a policy on the role of libraries in providing e-government and emergency services be added to the policy manual. This was passed.

A resolution came forward from the ALA Division, ASCLA, on accessible digitization projects. This recommended that ALA encourage libraries engaged in digitization projects adopt Section 508 regulations to ensure that they are creating versions of materials that are accessible to persons using screen-reader or other assistive technologies. This was passed.

A resolution on Representation came forward from AASL Division Councilor, Sylvia Norton. It asks the Committee on Committees to clarify the processes of selecting committee members. This was passed.

Final announcements: For ALA D.C. figures are 21,466 registrants, 7, 169 vendors, for a grand total of 28,635, which is the largest conference ever in ALA history.

Emily Sheketoff from the Washington Office spoke on Legislative Day on the Hill. There were almost 2000 library supporters. There was tremendous attendance by Congressional staff and members of Congress. The most important thing was the introduction of school library legislation by a bipartisan House and Senate group that introduced the SKILLS acts, which will amend NCLB calling for a school library in every school headed by a state-certified Media Specialist.

Council II

The Committee on Legislation presented the following resolutions, which were passed with some discussion. These include

(1)a Resolution on Funding for the National Library Service (the resolution calls upon Congress to fund the $19.1)

(2)a Resolution on Principals for Digital Content (the resolution adopts a declaration, Principles for Digital Content, which deals with values, intellectual property rights, sustainable collections, collaboration, advocacy, international scope, continuous learning, preservation and importance of standards.)

(3)a Resolution on Government Printing Office FY 2008 Appropriations (this resolution reaffirms its commitment to Government Printing Office and Federal Depository Library Program services anad collections and urges full funding at $182M)

(4)a Resolution on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (this resolution urges the passage of the SKILLS Act, which would include school library media specialists who meet the criteria established by the state educational agency as highly qualified in NCLB, require school districts to employ at least one highly qualified school library media specialist, allow state and local Title II funds to be used to assist in recruiting and training highly qualified school library media specialists)

(5) Resolution on the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program FY 2008 Funding (this resolution urges Congress to restore full funding of $47M to enable the program to complete its activities)



I have copies of all the resolutions if anyone is interested in seeing them in more detail.



The Committee on Membership reported that there were 2 membership meetings with a total of over 400 members attending. There was discussion on whether or not ALA should discuss and vote on non-library issues, although very few people were willing to speak up on this issue. There was some discussion on a recommendation to reorganize the meetings.

The Freedom to Read Foundation Report. (ftrp.org) This foundation is ALA's First Amendment legal defense arm. John Berry informed Council on the current activities including Youth and the First Amendment, Freedom to Read Freely, Protecting Privacy and Anonymity, Religion and the Public Library, and State Legislation.

Teri Switzer presented her report. ALA programmatic priorities include diversity, literacy, intellectual freedom, equity of access to information and library services, education and life-long learning, and organizational excellence. The budget proposal addresses first the 2010 strategic plan. Goals in the plan include:
(1) Advocacy/Value of the Profession
(2)Education
(3)Public Policy and Standards
(4)Building the Profession
(5) Membership
(6) Organization Excellence

The key internal developments for this year include the completion of Joblist Online; completion of online database project - Choice and Booklist; Year 3 of publishing department "Content Centric" business plan; complete the business plan of a magazine promoting library usage to the public; better utilization of the Association Management System as a tool to exploit cross marketing opportunities. There has been little change in ALA's total revenues. Last year they made $47M from dues, publishing and meeting and conferences. Teri recommended that additional scholarships be offered from the Spectrum fund, which would help in increasing the diversity in our profession.

ALA-APA Meeting

Terri Switzer, ALA Treasurer (and fellow Coloradoan!) gave the financial report for ALA-APA. She discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the 4-year old organization. The organization needs to be marketed more extensively in order to get more voluntary contributions. Council passed the budgetary ceiling for the APA organization. The Committee on Organization made a report to ALA-APA Council and two votes were taken on some changes in wording and reporting. The Certified Public Library Administrator Certification Review Committee gave their report. There are currently 33 courses offered by 8 providers. There are 76 candidates actively enrolled in the program. Total course enrollment is 161 students.The ALA-APA (Allied Professional Association) Standing Committee on the salaries and Status of Library Workers also reported on the salary surveys that the organization has produced. (Referred to in another posting.)

Council I

This is the first of three official meetings of ALA Council. The ALA Executive Director, Keith Michael Fiels, made his report to Council. Included in his report are the following:

(1) The launching of http://ilovelibraries.org/ Please check out this new website where people can learn more about the excitement anad vitality of today's libraries. The website includes feature stories on the great things happening in today's libraries, book reviews, links for viewers to share their story about their library, and much more!

(2)The usability and redesign of the ALA website. This process began in August 2006. The consultants designing the site, UserWorks, will be conducting 18 meetings with 2007 Annual Conference attendees to walk through the "wire frames" and observe their reactions. No date has been announced as to its launch.

(3)Membership. Membership has remained relatively stable - down 1.35% from April 2006. We currently have 66,569 members.

(4) ALA Tech Sources along with ACRL (Assoc. of College and Research Libraries) will hold its first annual Gaming, LEarning and Libraries Symposium in Chicago at the Chicago Marriott O'Hare hotel on July 22 - 23. http://gaming.techsource.ala.org/

(5) ALA Chapters (the State organizations, like CAL - Colorado Association of Libraries) and ALA have joined together to advocate for libraries. The effort will enhance federal, state, and local advocacy through the creation of an online package of legislative tools. In addition, ALA will sponsor workshops at chapter annual conferences. They will be coming to CAL in November to do a half-day workshop on Advocacy. Stay tuned for details!

(6)Office of Government Relations (OGR). IMLS was funded at $253.5M, which was an increase over last year. ($167.5M for State Programs, $3.6M for Native American and Hawaiians, $12.3M fo national leadership grants, $23.7M for Laura Bush recruitment and education programs and $2 for research and analysis.) Improving Literacy Through School Libraries is level funded at $19.1M. With No Child Left Behind(NCLB) reauthorization underway, the Washington Office (WO) is working to include school libraries in these ways: (a) an amendment calling for a school library in every school library in every school headed by a state-certified school library media specialist, (b) as part of a "highly qualified" section of NCLB.

(7) Office of Intellectual Freedom. Banned Book Week will be 9/29 - 10/6/07. You can go to ALA Graphics for resources. http://tinyurl.com/qrqb4

(8) The Emerging Leaders Program. This program takes promising young leaders and works with them to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership. Applications for the second round of emerging leaders will be available July 1, 2007, at http://wikis.ala.org/emergingleaders .Deadline is August 15, 2007. CAL has supported two candidates this year - Nikki Van Thiel and Dianna Fricke. Both of these exciting young librarians attended the Colorado get-together at the Council suite on Saturday night.

(9) Public Information Office. The 2000 libraries selected for the "Pursuit of Happiness Bookshelf" were announced. 23 libraries were selected to receive the "Lewis and Clark" traveling exhibit. Get more information at www.ala.org/publicprograms

(10) American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Early registration deadline for the AASL National Conference is July 6, 2007. This conference will be held in Reno, Nevada, October 25 - 28.

(11) Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). ACRL has published User Surveys in College Libraries. Ordering information: www.ala.org/acrl (Click on Publications/books & Monographs / CLIP Notes. ACRL and ARL (Association of Research Libraries) are sponsoring the third Institute on Scholarly Communication in Washington, DC, July 18-20. An ACRL Task Force has begun review of information literacy standards. If there are any questions about the task force or thoughts to share electronically, please send them to Lori Goetsch, Task Force Chair at lgoetsch@ksu.edu

(12) Association for Library Service to Children. (ALSC). A one-time grant has been announced for library doing exceptional outreach to underserved populations. The "Light the Way" grant will be funded by Candlewick Press. The application for this will be available during ALA Midwinter Meeting 2008 in Philadelphia.

(13) Library and Information Technology Association. LITA's tenth National Forum is scheduled for October 4 - 7, 2007 at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Denver. Registration has opened. It includes two pre-conferences, 30 concurrent sessions, three general sessions +! Please see: http://www.lita.org/forum07

(14) Public Library Association (PLA). PLA is now accepting applications for its Results Boot Camp 3, a weeklong interactive workshop designed to teach participants practical library management skills. Results Boot Camp 3 is scheduled for October 29 - November 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Early registration ends July 1. Please see http://www.pla.org/ . Registration is now open for the PLA-sponsored Certified Public Library Administrator (CPLA) courses. These courses support both the learning outcomes defined in CPLA standards and the principles and practices of the "Results" series. To satisfy CPLA requirements, candidates must complete seven of the nine courses offered including four core courses (Budget and Finance, Management of Technology, Strategic HR, and Planning and Management of Buildings.) You can view the current course schedule and register online at http://www.pla.org/

(15) Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). YALSA has published Get Connected: Tech Programs for Teens. This is available for purchase on Neal-Schuman's website: http://www.neal-schuman.com/ .

ALA Annual 2007

ALA-APA Informational Meeting June 24, 2007
This organization provides information on salaries and benefits in our libraries and is the official body that can certify individuals (ALA is a 501C3 and cannot do this.) There is a salary tooklit on the ALA-APA website http://www.ala-apa.org/ . You can use this to help your library administration make the case for increasing salaries for librarians and library workers. You can support this organization by purchasing their salary surveys available at http://cs.ala.org/websurvey/salarysalary/salarysurveyform/form.cfm for $30. Every councilor is expected to support this organization via a personal donation. If you're interested in joining an open forum for ALA members who want to discuss salary issues, please go to http://moneytalks-subscribe@ala-apa.org .

IMLS Grant Announcements

ALA has received three IMLS grants. They are for:
(1) additional Spectrum Scholarships,
(2)development of the support staff certification program, and
(3)the creation of an online resource center for library cultural programming.
Here is the URL for the IMLS site and some additional details: http://www.imls.gov/news/2007/061907_list.shtmAmerican

(1) Project Title: "Reach 21: Preparing the Next Generation of Librarians for 21st Century Library Leadership"Building on the success of the Spectrum Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships for ethnically and racially underrepresented students attending graduate library and information science programs,the American Library Association will initiate *REACH 21: Preparing the Next Generation of Librarians for 21st Century LibraryLeadership.* The project will foster the recruitment, matriculation, and early career development of 150 minority students in master*s-level library and information science programs; provide mentoring and coaching of sixty additional students from underrepresented backgrounds; establish a formal, year-long mentoring program that will leverage community and support networks and aide ducational and early career retention; and create an outreach services component.
(2)Contact: Ms. Nancy Bolt, Project Director - Congratulations, Nancy!
Project Title: "Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSCP)"The American Library Association, in partnership with the Western Council of State Librarians, will develop a national voluntary certification program for support staff in rural or small town public and academic libraries. Needs assessments for the last fifteen years have called for a national, standardized certification program for library support staff. The three-year project will result in a set of
core competencies and policies and procedures. It will provide alternative options for assessing current knowledge of the field and experience for non-traditionally trained library staff. The resulting plan will be tested in five sites and will be sustained by ALA.

(3) Project Title: "The Online Resource Center for Library CulturalProgramming: A Web-Based Professional Development Space for Librarians"The American Library Association*s Public Programs Office will create and administer the Online Resource Center for Library Cultural Programming (ORC), a professional development Web site to help librarians find authoritative resources for cultural programming, and will train librarians in cultural programming techniques. The ORC will organize and make accessible through links and online documents a wide array of national cultural program information and training tools, and provide access to successful "turnkey" programs developed by cultural organizations such as state humanities councils, thus extending the value of the original investment in the programs. The ORC will be particularly useful for librarians in small rural libraries who rarely can attend conferences and have little professional development funding. The three-year project includes a major evaluation of the Web site by librarians, educators, and students.

Another project of interest is the following:
Denver Public Library – Denver, CO Amount: $988,518 Building upon an earlier IMLS-funded project, the Denver Public Library will partner with REFORMA-Colorado and the University of Denver (DU) to further develop and refine the Future LEADers of America scholarship program in order to increase community access to libraries. The project will provide full scholarships for eighteen racially and linguistically diverse students to earn master’s degrees in library science at DU. Participants will sign an agreement stating their willingness to work in the public library field for at least three years beyond the program. By increasing the number of minority and bilingual public librarians, the LEADers II project will improve library services to underserved populations.

Upcoming Council Business

There is always a flurry of activity on the listservs and blogs about ALA governance before the conferences. Although this is only my second conference as ALA Chapter Councilor, it is obvious that there has been an ongoing discussion about whether Council should take up "social issues" business. I have only heard from about 5 folks from Colorado libraries on their opinions on this - 4 did not want me to vote on non-library issues, and 1 person did. As I am also a representative of CAL, their stand on this is important to me too. I see my role as a representative of library staff in Colorado and will tend to use other venues besides Council to work on social issues of importance to me (and libraries). If a social issue arises that is clearly involved with libraries, I will take a stand on it, if not I will abstain from voting. There is still a lot of dissatisfaction with how ALA is governed. Here is some discussion on the freerangelibrarian blog.
http://freerangelibrarian.com/2007/05/29/ala-what-is-to-be-done/

As of today, there are only a few resolutions that have been proposed. One calls for Congress to fully fund the National Library Service's digitization project, and the other calls for support for school libraries by passing a resolution that urges the inclusion of school library media specialists in the "highly qualified" category of "No Child Left Behind." Discussion has also started on another resolution of end the war in Iraq, but no formal resolution has been introduced.

One other bit of news - ALA will be showcasing representative possibilities for a new website design during the annual conference. There will be kiosks that will display wireframes (rough sketches) that are intended to gain feedback on the information architecture, navigation approach, and basic layout. So redesign is moving forward. Hope to see you at the Council suite on Saturday night between 6 - 7:30 (See previous post.)