Our second Council meeting began the day on Tuesday. Judith Platt, Freedom to Read Foundation President reported litigation activity underway to defend the rights of readers and bookstores to resist challenges to their right to have access to books and information. Membership in the FTRF has fallen off in recent years. ALA Members are encouraged to join: http://www.ftrf.org/joinftrf.html

“Resolution on Support for Funding for Cataloging and Bibliographic Control at the Library of Congress” by Councilors Diane Dates Casey and Janet Swan Hill was passed unanimously. Also passed overwhelmingly were “Resolution Supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)” and “Resolution Concerning ALA Policy Opposing Sweatshop Labor” (ALA and its affiliates will not purchase products for distribution to Membership that have been created by sweatshop labor).

In the afternoon on Tuesday I attended a Chapter Councilors’ forum where state councilors get together to discuss concerns about chapter issues. There is apparently an issue with the PLA running trainings in states without the knowledge of the state associations. There was also talk of holding a chapter councilors’ reception in Denver at the Midwinter meeting. (As you may have gleaned, receptions are good—the more you get invited to the less you have to think about how to fit in eating between meetings and, of course, the more money you save on food! The ultimate score is a reception with an open bar!)

Nancy Wilson

Monday began with an ALA/APA meeting. Despite the commonly accepted concerns about the fiscal viability of ALA-APA, the good news produced at this session reflected very heavy attendance at ALA-APA programs — such as those involving “negotiating for better salaries” and “the union advantage”. One action item passed overwhelmingly at this session was the recommended minimum salary for a professional librarian at $41,680 and “a minimum wage for all library workers of at least $13.00 per hour….” I voted against this resolution, not because I don’t believe in a livable wage, but because the recommendation did not take into account the employment of student workers and other special cases.

The budgetary ceiling for ALA-APA was passed at about $265,000. Although I voted for this, the fiscal future of ALA-APA remains cloudy. Unlike, ALA-APA, the fiscal future of ALA appears to be very solid and well documented. The budgetary ceiling for ALA was approved at $67,984,278.

In the afternoon I attended the Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) committee meeting. I am a member of the advisory committee to this ALA office. This office runs the Emerging Leaders program and coordinates the job center at conference. The Director Lorelle Swader gave an exhausting report of all of the activities her office does each year. I enjoy being on the committee because of my human resource background and because it is purely advisory and does not require lots of time, which I don’t have with council obligations. In Chicago, June 2009 Annual, HRDR staff and committee members plan a reception to celebrate 30 years of HRDR being an office at ALA. Let me know if you will be in Chicago and I can probably get you an invitation!

I attended the PLA president’s program with Jamie Lee Curtis after the HRDR meeting and attended the reception following it.

In the evening I attended a lively discussion at council forum of several issues included a lengthy debate involving a new resolution calling for “Expanding Council Transparency”.

Nancy Wilson

Ala Council report–Chapter 2

Sunday morning I was up bright and early for the ALA Council/Executive Board/Membership Information Session. The Budget and Analysis Committee (BARC) report by Marilyn Hinshaw was detailed and informative.  The challenges facing ALA in this year of serious inflation have been considerable.  The Endowment Fund Report by Chair Robert Newlen was also informative and encouraging.  Despite a highly volatile market, the endowment fund only declined by 1.7% during the past year. 

Immediately following this meeting was the ALA/APA Council meeting.:  Revenue results for ALA-APA we said to have fallen short by about $11,000. There seems to be a feeling that the viability of ALA/APA, the lobbying arm of ALA, is tenuous.

The rest of the morning was taken up with the first regular Council Meeting.  Resolutions Committee Chair, Peter McDonald, presented a significant revision to the guidelines for developing Council Resolutions. The new, redesigned ALA web site is expected to be launched in September 2008.  Preview site:  http://staging.ala.org/home.cfm  Efforts are underway to reduce the length of Mid Winter and Annual Meetings for Council as early as 2010 so that Council sessions could end on Tuesday rather than Wednesday. During the afternoon I went through a small section of the exhibits and in the evening attended the ALA President’s reception. Later I attended a private screening of WALL-E the new Pixar movie at Disneyland, courtesy of MovieLicensing USA.

Nancy Wilson