Mr. Olson Goes to Washington #2

A second installment of Chris Olson's Council report from the ALA National Conference

ALA MEMBERSHIP MEETING I:

ALA Councilor Steven Matthews and ALA Past President Michael Gorman spoke with great skill in defense of their respective positions in a discussion of “Should ALA take stands on ‘non-library’ issues.” Both the featured speakers and those who addressed the issue from the floor were cogent and insightful. The issue wasn’t resolved, but was given a very respectable presentation by all parties concerned. -- Surprisingly, no resolutions were presented from the floor despite the fact that a full quorum was present. The Resolutions Committee was available and ready to act, but the meeting remained quiet and uneventful. The attendance was 235 and by any measures a very successful venture. Councilor Larry Romans and his Membership Meeting Committee did an excellent job of planning for this Conference."

COUNCIL I:

This is the first of three official meetings of ALA Council. The ALA Executive Director, Keith Michael Fiels, made his report to Council. Included in his report are the following:

(1) The launching of LoveLibraries.org where people can learn more about the excitement and vitality of today's libraries. The website includes feature stories on the great things happening in today's libraries, book reviews, links for viewers to share their story about their library, and much more!

(2) The usability and redesign of the ALA website. This process began in August 2006. The consultants designing the site, UserWorks, will be conducting 18 meetings with 2007 Annual Conference attendees to walk through the "wire frames" and observe their reactions. No date has been announced as to its launch.

(3) Membership. Membership has remained relatively stable - down 1.35% from April 2006. We currently have 66,569 members.

(4) ALA Tech Sources along with ACRL (Assoc. of College and Research Libraries) will hold its first annual Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium in Chicago at the Chicago Marriott O'Hare hotel on July 22 - 23.

(5) Office of Government Relations (OGR). IMLS was funded at $253.5M, which was an increase over last year. ($167.5M for State Programs, $3.6M for Native American and Hawaiians, $12.3M for national leadership grants, $23.7M for Laura Bush recruitment and education programs and $2 for research and analysis.) Improving Literacy Through School Libraries is level funded at $19.1M. With No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization underway, the Washington Office (WO) is working to include school libraries in these ways: (a) an amendment calling for a school library in every school library in every school headed by a state-certified school library media specialist, (b) as part of a "highly qualified" section of NCLB.

(6) Office of Intellectual Freedom. Banned Book Week will be 9/29 - 10/6/07. You can go to ALA Graphics for resources.

(7) The Emerging Leaders Program. This program takes promising young leaders and works with them to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership. Applications for the second round of emerging leaders will be available July 1, 2007. Deadline is August 15, 2007.

(8) Public Information Office. The 2000 libraries selected for the "Pursuit of Happiness Bookshelf" were announced. 23 libraries were selected to receive the "Lewis and Clark" traveling exhibit. More Information

(9) American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Early registration deadline for the AASL National Conference is July 6, 2007. This conference will be held in Reno, Nevada, October 25 - 28.

(10) Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). ACRL has published User Surveys in College Libraries. Ordering information: www.ala.org/acrl (Click on Publications/books & Monographs / CLIP Notes. ACRL and ARL (Association of Research Libraries) are sponsoring the third Institute on Scholarly Communication in Washington, DC, July 18-20. An ACRL Task Force has begun review of information literacy standards. If there are any questions about the task force or thoughts to share electronically, please send them to Lori Goetsch, Task Force Chair at lgoetsch@ksu.edu.

(11) Association for Library Service to Children. (ALSC). A one-time grant has been announced for library doing exceptional outreach to underserved populations. The "Light the Way" grant will be funded by Candlewick Press. The application for this will be available during ALA Midwinter Meeting 2008 in Philadelphia.

(12) Library and Information Technology Association. LITA's tenth National Forum is scheduled for October 4 - 7, 2007 at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Denver. Registration has opened. It includes two pre-conferences, 30 concurrent sessions, three general sessions +! More Information.

(13) Public Library Association (PLA). PLA is now accepting applications for its Results Boot Camp 3, a weeklong interactive workshop designed to teach participants practical library management skills. Results Boot Camp 3 is scheduled for October 29 - November 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Early registration ends July 1.

Registration is now open for the PLA-sponsored Certified Public Library Administrator (CPLA) courses. These courses support both the learning outcomes defined in CPLA standards and the principles and practices of the "Results" series. To satisfy CPLA requirements, candidates must complete seven of the nine courses offered including four core courses (Budget and Finance, Management of Technology, Strategic HR, and Planning and Management of Buildings.)

You can view the current course schedule and register online at PLA.org. Use the same URL to get up-to-date information about the 2008 annual conference (March 25 – 29, 2008) to be held in Minneapolis.

(14) Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). YALSA has published Get Connected: Tech Programs for Teens. This is available for purchase on Neal-Schuman's website.