Council III - June 30, 2015

Council III

June 30, 2015

San  Francisco, CA

7:45 am

All reports, memorials, and tributes are available on ALA Connect here:  http://connect.ala.org/council  

Memorials and tributes were recognized.

ALA Treasurer's Report - BARC and the Executive Board have all approved the 2016 budget.  ALA's programmatic priorities are the budget's guide.  The total budget is $50.7 million and is a 2% increase from the current year.  The budgetary ceiling is $67,087,027.  There will be increased attention and funding given to advocacy.  The Communications & Member Relations department will become the Advocacy and Member Relations.  The buget was approved.

The following Council members were elected to the Committee on Committees:
Gladys Smiley Bell, Maria Carpenter, Stephen Matthews, Rocco Staino.

The following Council members were elected to Planning and Budget Assembly:
Jennifer Alvino, Ben Allen Hunter, Patricia Wong, John DeSantis, and Eric Suess.

Committee on Legislation - A report was presented.  A manual for the committee is being created.  The Committee brought forth a new substitute resolution to replace the Resolution Against Mass Surveillance of the American People.  The new document is: Resolution on the Passage of the USA Freedom act and Reaffirming ALA's Commitment to Surveillance Law Reform.  Councilors spoke against the substitution and want to return to the original resolution.  The whereas phrases for both resolutions were combined.  The resolution was referred back to the Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee.

The Intellectual Freedom Committee - A report was presented.  The 9th edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual is now available.  The Committee presented interpretations to the Library Bill of Rights for Internet Filtering, Labeling Systems, and Rating Systems.  Council approved the interpretations.

Council approved the Resolution on Gun Violence, the Resolution to Endorse Statement from the Movement for Black Lives on Charleston Shooting, the Resolution on Improving Access to Spanish, Bilingual and Books in Various Languages for Children in Detention Centers.

Keith Michael Fiels reported the final total for conference attendance was  22,696.

Chapter Council Forum - June 29, 2015

Chapter Relations Committee - The Chapter Relations Office is for Chapters - we are encouraged to contact Chapter Relations with any questions.  Don Wood can offer support to Chapters.

There was a discussion about the Chapter Relations Committee.  The role of the board members is not clear, although members must be members of their own chapters.  It would be good if there was better communication between CRC and the Chapter Councilors.  CRC meetings are supposed to include the CRC membership and the Chapter Councilors.  Is CRC advisement to the Chapter Relations Office?  This needs to be clarified, because it isn't currently working in that direction.  Without these committees Chapters have been left out of ALA activities and planning.  It is important for Chapter Councilors and former Chapter Councilors to be on the ALA Executive Board.

What are the expectations of hosting an ALA President at a Chapter annual meeting?  Who pays and what kind of hospitality is expected.  ALA pays for the President's travel, and the Chapter pays for the housing.  ALA has underwritten a coffee service at the conference.  The ALA President, when they visit, do an ALA update session and usually a legislative information lunch.

Statewide Friends Organizations - There is a statewide organization in Georgia.  They are trying to merge several Friends groups.  Do other states have experience merging these kinds of organizations?    New York and Tennessee have two different organizations that are state-wide for Friends and Trustees.  They participate in library conference events and have their own sessions.

Tennessee has a board retreat and they revisioned a new structure and build from the ground-up.  Do any Chapters have new structures that are working well?  Wyoming did away with committees that haven't been very active.  The committees became "advisers" and ad hoc committees are put together if there was an issue.  The IFC committee is an example of this in Wyoming.

Tennessee talked about having a Chapter board retreat.  The association pays for part of the rooms and meals.  It is a 2-day meeting (each discussion occurring for 1/2 day).  It is 1 overnight.  Other states have similar retreats with in-coming and out-going officers.  Some states just have a 1/2 day retreat that is about planning.  North Carolina only has an annual conference every other year, so the time that would be used for a conference - every other year - is used for a board retreat.

Organizational Memberships - New Jersey is doing strategic planning.  They are looking at the organization structure and a membership structure.  Some Chapters are getting rid of organizational membership.  New York has an organizational package based on library size, it gives membership to a certain number of staff members.  Texas offers discount legal services, insurance rates, accepting purchase orders, grant/foundation services, and some other benefits are specific to things organizations are interested in.  I described NM's new structure for organizational memberships.  Associations talked about having all of the libraries join as organizations - and calling out organizations that do not join as organizational members.  Some organizations have recently stopped offering all organizational memberships.

How are Chapter Councilors getting information out to Chapters during ALA?  The DC Councilor have "townhalls" and he invites all of the Councilors in the DC area to come to the townhalls.  Part of our job is to be a filter for ALA information, and selectively sending out information to the Chapter members.  It is ideal when Chapter presidents can come to ALA and information can be shared with at least one other person in the Chapter.  California shares Keith's report with the association and does a session at the annual conference.  The State Library in Iowa is doing a webinar for people who are attending ALA - what happened, and what was learned.  The Chapter Councilor is a speaker in that webinar.  LA creates a "readers digest" version of attending ALA for the newsletter.  Another Councilor collects comments from the listserv about things that are happening at other state conferences and she shares that information with the conference planning committee.

Joint State and ALA Student Memberships - Students get both memberships for a low price.  Iowa offers free memberships to the Iowa association.  Councilors talked about the importance of having students pay at least a small fee to get them to commit to the organization.

State and regional conferences - Is there conference fatigue? Are regional conferences competing with other conferences?  People going to the regional conferences don't usually go to national conferences - everyone agreed this is fairly true.  Some states just have conferences every-other year with heavy programming in the non-conference years.  Some associations see that conferences attract non-members to conferences - a large number of non-members.  Conference isn't just continuing education, it is an important time to network regionally.

The Ohio Chapter Councilor's blog: alaohchapcoun.wordpress.com

Council II - June 29, 2015

Council II

June 29, 2015

San  Francisco, CA

8:30am

All reports, memorials, and tributes are available on ALA Connect here:  http://connect.ala.org/council  

The Council had a moment of silence for Cynthia Hurd and the 8 people who were killed in South Carolina.

Retiring Councilors and Executive Board members were recognized.

The International Relations Committee presented its report.

The Committee on Organization presented its report.

The Freedom to Read Foundation presented its report.  The Foundation is involved in 3 different cases outlined in the report.

• Prison Legal News v. Kane
• Antigone Books v. Horne
• Arce v. Huppenthal

Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Office, Barbara Jones, will be retiring from ALA  this year.

Keith Michael Feils announced there are 22614 attendees at this conference.

Council I - June 28, 2015

Council I

June 28, 2015

San  Francisco, CA

8:30am

All reports, memorials, and tributes are available on ALA Connect here:  http://connect.ala.org/council  

ALA Awards Committee - A new award has been created, Ernest A. DiMattia Jr. Award for innovation and Service to the Community and Profession.   It will be given to one person annually.  The new award passed.

Adoption of the ALA Strategic Directions was presented by Barbara K. Stripling.  The plan will guide ALA for the next 3-5 years.  The plan is to remain flexible.  The document has been created with ALA Council and ALA Member input. The strategic plan passed.

Constitution and Bylaws Committee - An amendment to Article X. The change was made to clarify how ALA can affiliate with another organization.  This change to the bylaws will go on a ballot for the ALA membership to approve the change in Spring 2016.  The change was referred back to the committee to bring back to Council.  The amendment was referred.

Keith Michael Fiels - Presented a review of the actions of the Executive Board since the 2015 Midwinter meeting.  He also highlighted the implementations of actions from 2015 Midwinter.  Roberts Rules of Order change was approved by the membership and that changes is being implemented.

Resolution on the Importance of Sustainable Libraries - a resolution that encourages libraries and library organizations to think about operating with a lens to sustainability.  The resolution passed.

Resolution Denouncing the Systemic Racism that Motivated the South Carolina Shootings - Denouncing the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17 and working to understand racism in American culture and it s potential for violence.  There was lengthy discussion about addressing the specific event in South Carolina.  There is a belief that systemic racism should be generally addressed, not specifically addressed in the resolution.  The resolution was amended and passed.

Resolution on Libraries and Schools Affected by the Conflict in Gaza and Israel in 2014 - The resolution did not pass.

Resolution Against Mass Surveillance of the American People - There are aspects of the USA Freedom Act that allow mass surveillance of Americans.  The resolution was referred to Committee On Legislation/Intellectual Freedom Committee for review and representation.  These committees are either meeting at this moment or will meet later in the next 2 days.

Keith Michael Fiels reported 22363 attendes were registered at the end of the day yesterday.  This is higher than the conferences in Chicago and Las Vegas in the last 2 years.

Council III

Council III

February 3, 2015

Chicago, IL

9:30am

Resolutions:

Resolution Urging Library Directors to Encourage and Support United for Libraries Membership for Each of their Trustees - Resolved that the ALA on behalf of its members, urges all library directors to encourage and suport United for Libraries membership for each of their Trustees.

Election results for Executive Board:

Loida Garcia-Febo 

Jullius Jefferson Jr.

Mark Marlin

International Relations Committee Report - IFLA activities.  SIBF-ALA Conference.  The first one was held in Sharjah United Arab Emirates.  IRC/IRRT is creating a new international mentoring program.  Resolution on attacks on Charlie Hebdo is being supported by IRC.  The IRC is not supporting the forthcoming resolution on libraries in Gaza.  A motion was made for ALA to support UNESCO in its anniversary celebration.  The motion passed.

Intellectual Freedom Committee - New IF Manual will be published this spring and will be available in San Francisco.  Choose Privacy Week will be May 1-7.  OIF is receiving up to two new incidents per day - reports to challenges.  Resolution against the attacks on Charlie Hebdo.  Resolution passed.

Committee on Legislation - FLAG is a new committee that is a group of advocates across the country who can be called to action to speak to elected officials.  They are looking for members of people who are already in contact and have personal relationships with legislators so that information can be give to legislators quickly when issues arrive through these people.  They aren't looking for "typical library directors" but people who are related to legislators or have working relationships with legislators.  May 4-5 is Legislation Day.  Resolution on Preserving Public Access to Scientific and Technical Reports Available Through the National Technical Information Service.  Resolution passed.

Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion - Formed in response to ALA's decision to have ALA Annual in Orlando.  The report defines equity, diversity, and inclusion.  The task force is continuing its work with conversations and surveys.

Resolution on Destruction of Libraries and Schools in Gaza in 2014 - There was a lengthy discussion of the political aspects and specifics of naming Gaza in the resolution.  The "where as" clauses were discussed as tilting the resolution in a political aspect.  The resolution failed.

Keith Michael Fiels:  Final attendance 10,637.   Lower than the last 2 mid-winter meetings.

Chapter Council Forum

Chapter Council Forum

February 2, 2015

Chicago, IL

4pm

IRS Forms - The federal government cut the budget for producing paper forms in an effort to move to e-government.  This has pushed new needs to public libraries.  Passing the funding of forms on to public libraries or on to people who probably don't have funds for printing anyway.  This  year the issue is a "done deal" but what statement do we want to make next year?  This is an issue public libraries are struggling with.  There is a phone conference set up with the IRS to discuss these issues.  We need to keep ourselves aware of other ways e-government may be pushing services to public libraries.

Confederation of Southern States - States in several regions are looking at having reciprocal groups for sharing membership and conference activities.  The states that are talking about this are:  Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee.  Tennessee is thinking about having this kind of agreement with states that share their boarder.

Chapter Relations Committee - The ALA Office uses it to gather information.  What do Chapter Counselors want out of the Chapter office and/or ALA.  Suggested orientation sheet for new Chapter Councilors.  There needs to be communication between the Chapter Relations Committee and the Chapter Counselors.  Should Chapter Counselors attend that meeting?  There is confusion about who should go to this meeting.

Aspen Institute has hard copies of their report that we can request.

Gaza Issue - Destruction of libraries - a resolution that will come before Council III.  The  resolution coming before Council will be biased.  The resolution went before IRC today - but that committee did not approve it.

Salaries - Studies are comparing underpaid people to other underpaid people.  Reference to the Library Journal study that was published last year.  There was a discussion about how the APA looks at salaries.  Confusion about weather ALA is about libraries or librarians.

Term Limits for Chapter Counselors - About 1/3 of states have term limits for Chapter Counselors.

Membership Value - Reciprocal agreements with other organizations.  Offering liability insurance,   Renewaal rates are less expensive than starting a new membership.  Peer revivew journal publication opportunities..  Many associations are using the book Race for Relevance as a guiding source for planning.  Diversified revenue streams - not completely dependent on membership.  Membership, conference, publications, summer reading program that the association managed and sold it to other organizations/states/countries.  Illinois had a summer reading program that was sold to all of the millitary institution libraries.  Library Luminaries - ways to recognize people and fund the endowment program.  Special rates for library support staff.  Rates for students.

Council II

Council II

February 2, 2015

Chicago, IL

10am

Committee on Accreditation 

- The Council approved the Revised Standards for Accreditation.

Policy Monitoring Committee 

- A resolution that requires ALA committees to submit reports.  Adding it to the ALA Policy Manual.  The Council approved the revision to the Policy Manual.

-Lifespan of Membership Initiative Groups - that a group can exist for 3 years and renew every 3 years, or disband.  Adding it to the ALA Policy Manual.  The Council approved the revision to the Policy Manual.

-A new interpretation of the Code of Ethic was adopted in 2014.  Adding the revised interpretation to the Code of Ethics to the ALA Policy Manual.  The Council approved the revision to the Policy Manual.

Committee on Organization (COO)

-Proposing a revision to the composition and description of the Budget Analysis & Review Committee (BARC). The resolution would restrict people from only serving 4 years on BARC in a lifetime unless a person is elected to serve as Treasurer.  There was discussion about concerns about this limitation.  The issue was referred back to COO for revision based on discussion.

Constitution and Bylaws Committee

-The by-law change recommended by this committee will go to the ALA membership for a vote if the Council approves the language change.  The current bylaws refers to "Sturgis Parliamentary Procedure" in the bylaws.  The Committee Recommends that the ALA Council and its committees be governed by Robert's Rules.  There was discussion about this change: some state chapters use Sturgis because ALA has been  using it, people on Council are used to using Sturgis, this change will impact all committee work done by ALA, Robert's is easier to use.  The Council approved the change to go to a vote to the ALA membership.

Freedom to Read Foundation Report to Council

-Antigone Books v. Horne - the laws was written was to target "revenge porn" but has a wide net that impacts historic and artistic photographs.  FTRF is filing as a plaintiff.  There is currently a stay in this case.

-Arce v. Huppenthal - The Tucson Unified School District Case.  Hoping for restults in March or April 2015.  FTRF has filed an amicus brief on this case.

-November 17 - FTRF began celebrating its 45th anniversary.  There are a series of events to mark this anniversary.

-Supporting local activism - a parent group in Texas that is saying they do not want books banned in their schools:  HP Kids Read.

-Provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act continue to be watched by the FTRF.

-Krug Memorial Fund - supports education.  Supported a class at the University of IL library graduate school in 2014.  Provide funds for events during Banned Books Week.

-Strategic Plan Review occurred this week.

Programmatic Priorities

-Looking at the FY 2016 budget.  A motion that the budget will reflect the programmatic priorities for the FY 2016 budget.  The Council approved the motion.

New Business

-Resolution Encouraging Library Directors to Join their Trustees to ALA and United for Libraries, ALA Councilors Susan Schmidt and Emily Bergman.  Urges all public library directors to include membership for each of their trustees in United for Libraries in their budgets.  This referred back to the committee for presentation at Council III.

APA Meeting

ALA-APA

February 1, 2015

Chicago, IL

11:00am

Director's Report highlights 

-April 14 will be National Library Workers Day.  This campaign is supporting library workers advocating for status and salaries. #nlwd15

Treasurer's Report highlights

-Budget for 2014 was $120,320 - there was a decrease in revenue from 2013 to 2014

Council I

February 1, 2015

Chicago, IL

8:30am

Executive Board Report 

- The Midwinter meeting was discussed, but for now the "footprint" will remain the same.

The Council spent about 1.5 hours discussing strategic directions for ALA.  The Council broke up into small groups of 5-8 people and then reported out highlights of the small group discussion.

Some highlights include:

Advocacy:

-Need a national marketing campaign

-Change library stereotypes for public and people looking for a career

-ALA supporting grassroots effort for advocacy

-A need for a unified message across libraries and library group

-Tie every action in ALA to stratigic plan

Information Policy:

-Relevant to the every day member

-Successful lobbying at local, federal, and state levels

-All library professionals understand the significance of policies - and complicated issues are made clear

Professional Leadership Development:

-ALA and the library profession should represent diversity

-ALA not looking at professional development as a revenue-stream but as an investment

-Cost of professional development was mentioned many times

10,552 is current registration for this conference.