Mr. Olson Goes to Washington #4

The final installment of Chris Olson's Councilor report from ALA.


ALA-APA MEETING:
(American Library Association – Allied Professional Association)
The ALA Council also serves as the governing board for the ALA-APA. ALA-APA Treasurer gave the financial report and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the four-year old organization. The organization needs to be marketed more extensively in order to get more voluntary contributions. Council passed the budgetary ceiling for the APA organization ($323,914). The Committee on Organization made a report to ALA-APA Council and two votes were taken on some changes in wording and reporting. The Certified Public Library Administrator Certification Review Committee gave their report. There are currently 33 courses offered by 8 providers. There are 76 candidates actively enrolled in the program. Total course enrollment is 161 students. The ALA-APA Standing Committee on the Salaries and Status of Library Workers also reported on the salary surveys that the organization has produced.

COUNCL III: The Committee on Organization made its report to Council and had two action items:
(1) To revise the composition of the Chapter Relations Committee by requiring someone to be an ALA member who is also a member of an ALA Chapter or Division affiliate. (As a side note: I have been appointed to serve on the Chapter Relations Committee for the next two years.)
(2) To recommend that Council adopt a report on e-participation, which asks for a formal task force charged with examining existing documents and developing recommendations to adapt association policy so as to help ALA move forward with effective e-participation practices.

The Committee on Constitution & Bylaws made its report to Council with four action items.
(1) The Catholic Library Associate applied for ALA affiliate status, and this was granted.
(2) A request that names on ballots be prepared under the direction of the nominating committee instead of randomly. Passed.
(3) A change in wording to clarify the committee listings in the bylaws. Passed.
(4) A request for councilors to comment on potential bylaws changes. Councilors have the responsibility to ask their constituents about the changes as well. There was some discussion about a whether or not a "Constitutional Convention" is necessary.

International Relations committee reported that 450 people from 87 countries were at ALA this year. The committee supports ALA having a full time person supporting international relations.

A resolution on the use and abuse of National Security Letters on the need for legislative reforms to assure the right to read free of government surveillance was passed unanimously.

Policy Monitoring Committee (chaired and reported to Council by Minnesotan Rory Litwin) had two action items:
(1) An addition to the policy manual recommending a statement that supports Immigrant rights. (2) This item addressed the committee's recommendation that a policy on the role of libraries in providing e-government and emergency services be added to the policy manual. Both items were adopted.

A resolution came forward from the ALA Division, ASCLA, on accessible digitization projects. This recommended that ALA encourage libraries engaged in digitization projects adopt Section 508 regulations to ensure that they are creating versions of materials that are accessible to persons using screen-reader or other assistive technologies. The resolution was adopted.

A resolution on Representation came forward from AASL Division Councilor, Sylvia Norton. It asks the Committee on Committees to clarify the processes of selecting committee members. This resolution was adopted.

Emily Sheketoff from the Washington Office spoke on Legislative Day on the Hill. There were almost 2000 library supporters. There was tremendous attendance by Congressional staff and members of Congress. One of the most important messages was the introduction of school library legislation by a bipartisan House and Senate group that introduced the SKILLS Act, which will amend NCLB, and calls for a school library in every school headed by a state-certified media specialist.
Minnesota had a small organized group to make congressional visits. Throughout Tuesday afternoon, visits were made to both Senator Klobuchar and Coleman’s offices… and individual visits to see Representatives Peterson, McCollum, and Walz.
Future Mid-Winter Meetings (January) will be held in Philadelphia (2008), Denver (2009), Boston (2010), San Diego (2011), Dallas (2012) and Seattle (2013). Future Annual Conferences (June) will be held in Anaheim (2008), Chicago (2009), Washington DC (2010), New Orleans (2011), Anaheim (2012) and New York City (2013).

Once again, it was my pleasure to serve as your Chapter Councilor during the past three years. Please feel free to contact me with any questions about ALA.

Chris Olson.