Council II

ALA Council II
Monday January 27, 2014
10am
Philadelphia, PA

Documents for the meeting are available here:

http://www.ala.org/aboutala/council-documents-midwinter-2014

Programmatic Priorities for 2014
- for budget and planning
Passed. CD #13

Policy Monitoring Committee
-A resolution refraining from public prayer at ALA meetings.  Moments of silence may be observed.
Passed.

Freedom to Read Foundation Report
-Work done since 2012 in relation to the Tucson school district prohibiting Mexican-American Studies Program.  Many organizations joined in supporting the amicus brief including ALA.
-Encouraged to join the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Resolution to Improve Membership Access to ALA Unit
-Drafts of meeting minutes on ALA hosted web page within 30 days of meeting
-Final versions of meeting minutes on ALA hosted web page within 30 days of approval
-Require governing bodies to maintain easily-available historical records.
-Exempt sub-units of the divisions and sub-units of round tables from the policy.
Passed.

Resolution on Whistleblower Edward Snowden
-That he is a whistleblower who has performed a valuable service in launching a dialogue about transparency, government  surveillance, and overclassification.
-Discussion:
     -Supporting the issue, but not to include Snowden's name, but to support the actions and issues related to what he did.  The story is not over and there may be unintended consequences of supporting Snowden as an individual. Desire to support whistleblowers and revelations.
     -A call for focusing on issues more directly related to librarians and libraries.
     -ALA needs to support reform in surveillance and national security.
     -ALA has supported whistleblowers by name in the past
     -This is a  divisive issue and could be damaging to small rural and/or conservative community libraries.
Failed.

Reslution to Allow Programs at ALA Midwinter Meetings
-ALA should change policy to allow continuing education programs in the fields of library service.
-Vote to refered to BARC for budget impact consideration
Passed

Moved to closed session 11:25

Announcement:  Total registered for this conference (including vendors) 12,189.