Summary of ALA 2007 Midwinter in Seattle

The total registration affirmed the popularity of Seattle as a venue for Mid Winter. The conference had reached 12,196 by Monday, January 22 – well ahead of the 11,084 recorded for Mid Winter 2006 in San Antonio, but much lower than the 13,232 for Mid Winter 2005 in Boston. The close proximity of Boston to cities like New York, Newark and Philadelphia undoubtedly had an impact on attendance.

ALA Council I (January 21, 2007)
Among the highlights of this first group of informational sessions for Councilors was a very positive budget assessment by Patty Wong (Chair of BARC – Budge Analysis and Review Committee). Total revenue for the Association proved to be almost $1 million over budget projections with a budgetary ceiling of $56,540,976 for fiscal year 2007. The Endowment Fund report presented by Chair Robert Newlen was equally impressive with a gain from a market value of $25,454,000 in 2005 to $29,028,000 in 2006. Although the Socially Responsible Investment fund (Ariel Capital Appreciation) lagged somewhat behind the benchmark standards, the Fund Managers appear to be committed to maintaining that investment option and thereby addressing the legitimate concerns of many members. The ALA elections for 2007 will take place from March 15 to April 24 with final returns expected on May 1.

ALA-APA COUNCIL A nonbinding resolution on the endorsement of a minimum salary of $40,000 for professional librarians was passed unanimously at this session. APA currently has budget deficit of $39,552 for FY 2006 which made the ending net assets of APA a negative $235,044. The overall income of the APA was 68% higher than the previous year and repayment of the initial loan of $250,000 loan from ALA will begin in FY 2009. It is hoped that the ALA-APA will turn the corner and become self sustaining within the next few years. In the Treasurer’s Report for ALA-APA delivered to Council on January 21, two of the weaknesses noted about the ALA-APA were low awareness among ALA members and confusion about relationship with ALA

ALA Council II (January 23, 2007)
As spokesperson for the Policy Monitoring Committee, Diane Dates Casey (ALCTS Councilor) presented several changes in the association bylaws to conform to past actions by Council. These were passed unanimously.The Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC) was granted an extension of six months to study the ramifications of establishing a graduated dues structure for ALA (a dues structure similar to that of MPLA requiring members earning more to pay higher dues). The ALA Treasurer’s Report and programmatic priorities were presented by Treasurer Teri Switzer. ALA is building a very solid reserve and the growth in revenue has been on the upswing. Annual dues revenue has increased from about $5 million in 1995 to $8 million in 2006. During the 26 years from 1980 to 2006, the total net asset balance for ALA has grown from $4,728,000 to $30,812,000. Total membership in ALA has risen from 35,433 in 1980 to 64,689 in 2006. --John W. Berry highlighted the many important actions of the Freedom to Read Foundation over the past year to protect privacy rights and intellectual freedom. He urged continued support of the Foundation (http://www.ftrf.org/ with an on-line donation form). --Three resolutions were brought forward and debated for nearly two hours. Two of them were defeated by a very large majority vote of Council: “Resolution to Advocate Ending Funding for the Iraq War” and “Resolution on Impeachment of President George W. Bush”. A third Resolution called for ALA to “suspend all affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America National Council until such time as the Boy Scouts of America ends its exclusionary policy on the basis of a person’s religious beliefs or sexual orientation…” Gays and atheists are currently prevented from joining BSA. This resolution was referred to ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) for clarification on that division’s position on this issue. --- There was much sentiment on the part of Councilors during this session to reject resolutions that were not precisely related to Library issues, i.e., intellectual freedom, privacy rights, funding for libraries, preventing access to information, etc… The tendency of some on Council (particularly from the Social Responsibilities Round Table) to involve Council in broader social and political agendas was met with strong resistance.


ALA Council III (January 24, 2007)
At the start of this session, former ALA president, Michael Gorman, was honored by the California Library Association and by the Council for his long service to the profession and congratulated upon his recent retirement. Councilors Larry Romans and Charles E. Kratz, Jr. were elected to serve for three year terms (2007-2010) on the Executive Board of ALA. -- The Committee on Organization (COO) included a preliminary report from the Subcommittee on E-Participation exploring the possibilities and implications of full electronic participation on committees and decision making bodies. An E-Participation Task Force being chaired by Jim Rettig will prepare a draft report to be shared with Council at the ALA annual conference in Washington D.C. (June 2007). --- Committee on Legislation introduced several “action items” to Council: A resolution passed encouraging Congress to “amend the Copyright Act to facilitate the use of ‘orphan works’ if the user has made a reasonably diligent, good faith search to locate the owner of the work, but was unable to find the owner.” Also passed was a Resolution in Support of Immigrant Rights: “Resolved, that ALA strongly supports the protection of each person’s civil liberties regardless of that individual’s nationality, residency, or status; and be it further resolved that ALA opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA (citizens or otherwise) to use library resources on national, state, and local levels.” Approved was a “Resolution Affirming the Role of Libraries in Providing E-Government and Emergency Services.” [A resolution empowering the Executive Director to make grammatical and punctuation corrections on resolutions was passed unanimously.] --- The International Relations Committee presented an action item calling for the appointment of an ALA representative to serve on the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS). Council passed this measure. The USCBS was established in January 2006 with the mission of urging the protection of cultural property during armed conflict. ---- “Accessible Digitization Projects Resolution” was brought before Council “that the ALA strongly encourages all libraries engaging in digitization projects to create versions of all materials that are accessible to persons using screen-reader or other assistive technologies, based on Section 508.” [Council favored the spirit behind this resolution. However, it was referred to the ASCLA for clarification and more specific direction for Council at ALA Annual. ASCLA = Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies.]

Copies of the final wording of all resolutions an action items from Council Sessions will be posted and available on the ALA Web Site http://www.ala.org in several weeks.

Special thanks to Shelley Walchuk, ALA Colorado Chapter Councilor, for providing me with a crash course in setting up a blogging page, and to James Casey for sharing his succinct report, which most of the notes above originated from.