Petition on ALA's Self-Study

We, the undersigned members, while acknowledging the need for positive change and growth and acknowledging flaws in the current ALA structure, request that ALA's Executive Board and Council cease current plans to drastically overhaul our Association by immediately disbanding the Self- Study Committee and the Structure Revisioning Task Force.

We further strongly believe that the $30,000 annual cost of the Self- Study and projected similar costs for the Task Force, as well as the effort and time spent on this initiative, are misdirected at this time when ALA, libraries, and librarians face great challenges from a changing federal structure, the emerging electronic information infrastructure, and other challenges of a new millennium.

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Please circulate this petition among your colleagues. Please feel free to make additional copies of this petition for distribution. Please post to any lists where ALA members discuss issues of concern. Petitions, letters, and cards (be sure to include ALA membership number) should be returned to Stephen Stillwell, 2021 Rumson Dr., Arlington TX 76006 by 1 January 1996. OR use e-mail -- send responses (with ALA membership number) to IY20@JOVE.ACS.UNT.EDU.

Editor's Note: This petition was submitted to the LIRT newsletter by Stephen Stillwell for inclusion. Mr. Stillwell has been a member of ALA since 1985, and he is currently a full-time doctoral candidate in history. He received his MLS from Simmons in 1991, worked at Harvard University 1984-1993, and has worked on committees of ACRL and SRRT. A discussion of whether to include the petition in our newsletter took place electronically on LIRT-L, a listserv for LIRT officers, coordinators and committee chairs. Comments from the listserv discussion have been printed here to provide additional information and different perspectives on the ALA reorganization.

LIRT News, December 1995. Volume 18, number 2.
To report problems, please contact the LIRT News Production editor at edwards@ufl.edu

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