Council III

Council III
Tuesday January 28, 2014
9:30am

Meeting documents are available here:
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/council-documents-midwinter-2014

The following people were elected to the ALA Executive Board

Peter Hepburn
Gina Persichini
Gail Schlacter
Mike Marlin

Intellectual Freedom Report
Working on a 9th edition of the he Intellectual Freedom Manual
Whistleblower resolution
Passed.

Committee on Legislation

Resolution Curbing Government Surveillance and Restoring Civil Liberties
Passed.

Resolution: Government websites will remain up during a government shutdown
-Questions about - will these government workers be expected to work for free?  Who is and who is not paid? Who is and who is not essential personnel?
-Recognition that government documents are essential.
From the Committee on Legislation: The concern was government information was not available during the shutdown.  Some information is so essential that there needs to be a plan so this never happens again. No one could tell what was up and what was down and what resources were still being updated.
The word "paid" was added to the first section of the resolution
The resolution passed as amended.

This is the 40th anniversary of National Library Legislation Day.  There are usually about 400 people who come to support the day.  Legislative Day is May 5-6, 2014

Question about why it is too soon to be taking action on net neutrality.  There isn't enough understanding about the action.  It will be a point of discussion at Annual.  It has been discussed a lot at Midwinter, but the decision was made not to bring forward a resolution.

ALA Awards
New award:  Establish the Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity
Passed.

ALA Executive Director Report
Attendance at Midwinter
8407 - registered
3800 - exhibitors
12,207 - total attendees