WELCOME
BACK ISSUES
ALA COUNCIL/EXECUTIVE BOARD/MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION SESSION & COUNCIL I
These Sunday morning meetings contained several reports of the year’s activities, including those by William Gordon, ALA executive director; the Budget Analysis and Review Committee; the Endowment Trustees, the Freedom to Read Foundation and the outgoing and incoming ALA presidents.
Highlights
Outgoing ALA President Sarah Ann Long discussed the success of her
term and her theme ‘Libraries Build Communities’. Incoming president
Nancy Kranich reported that her presidential theme would be ‘Libraries:
The Cornerstone of Democracy’. Plans for an ALA promotional
campaign ‘@your library’ were announced, with libraries encouraged
to place their own words in front of the @ (i.e. smart voting begins @
your library; learn the magic of books @ your library etc.). ALA
membership has now exceeded 60,000, and the organization appears to be
quite fiscally sound. There was much discussion concerning the endowment
trustees report, as several councilors called for more socially responsible
investing. Council also voted to continue its new program of mentoring
new councilors.
COUNCIL II
Much of the discussion at this Tuesday morning meeting centered on
the core values statement, but the meeting also contained reports from
ALA Treasurer Bruce Daniels and a request for changes in organizational
dues.
Core Values Statement
The Core Values Task Force was appointed to clarify the core values
of the profession, as a result of the 1999 Congress on Professional Education,
and was instructed to prepare a draft statement targeted for approval at
this conference.
The statement, presented in its 5th and 6th drafts, was quite controversial and a major topic of Council. Many questions concerning the draft – its necessity, its audience, its comprehensiveness - consumed much of the morning debate. A resolution eventually passed - building on the work of the current talk force and other ALA documents to refer the core values document back to a group (assigned by the president) which will discuss the topic across the Association and present to a new proposal at 2001 Annual Council.
Other items
A LITA task force presented a document concerning the impact of new
technologies on patron privacy and the confidentiality of electronic methods.
The document recommended, among other items, to revise ALA’s policy statements
related to confidentiality to include Internet privacy; for ALA to develop
model privacy policies and to urge all libraries to adopt privacy policy
statements on their web sites. The Council voted to refer these recommendations
to the Intellectual Freedom Committee.
After debate, a resolution from the membership committee, which would have raised dues for organizational memberships, was referred back to committee.
A report from the ALA Electronic Meeting Task Force, which contained 5 recommendations concerning chat based tools for committees passed. Once of these recommendations calls for future chat-room access for committees that request it.
COUNCIL III
Much of the debate of this Wednesday morning meeting centered around the Outsourcing Study and a policy for Library Services for People with Disabilities.
Outsourcing Study
ALA commissioned this study in response to a motion passed by Council
at the 1999 Midwinter meeting. The study was done by the Texas Woman’s
University School of Library and Information Studies.
The study concludes that, “in general, we found no evidence that outsourcing per se has had a negative impact on library services and management. On the contrary, the evidence supports the conclusion that outsourcing has been an effective managerial tool and, when used carefully and judiciously, has resulted in enhanced library services and improved library management.”
Councilors raised much concern with many Councilors urging ALA to take a firm stance on the issue and many calling for more passion in the document. After lengthy debate, Councilors voted to receive the document. Instead of the study’s recommendations for further research, Council passed a resolution that ALA would bring together guidelines for outsourcing, making them widely available and also develop a definition of outsourcing. An additional amendment also called for increased research on the subject. (the report in its entirely is available on the web at www.ala.org/alaorg/ors/outsourcing/).
A resolution for Library Services for People With Disabilities was presented . Council’s primary concern with the document was the desire to replace of language stating that libraries must provide these services to language that stating that ALA strongly recommends that libraries provide these services. By a narrow vote (by 1 vote), the document was sent back to ALSCA for more revision.
A motion for stronger reporting on socially responsible investing failed; a resolution to establish a standing committee on literacy passed as did resolutions for several organizational committee missions and charges. Changes to wording in several documents from the Intellectual Freedom Committee were also passed by Council.
LIRT News, September 2000. Volume 23, number 1.
To report problems, please contact the LIRT News Production editor
at jronan@ufl.edu